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A review by aeb3
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
2.0
2.5 stars
Hmmm... what did I think...
I think I don't understand what everyone loves about this book.
The pacing was nice, the world felt well-established, and it had the pleasant presence of an unexpected turn or two. But the similes were out of control and the book felt much longer than it needed to be.
I imagine my dislike stems mainly from the subject matter, and it's my own fault for not seeing that ahead of time. I feel like a Bible-belt over-bore saying this, but there were just too many paranormal/witchcraft/occult elements for my taste. I enjoy plenty of books with a focused subset of them, but with City of Bones the paranormal elements are a - if not the - central component of nearly everything.
It turns out that's not my preference.
Which is probably related to, as a late-twenty-something, living as a staff-member among college-dorm-dwelling high school students. Some of them were into wearing fuzzy cat ears in public and donning sprite wings to - uh - sneak into their boyfriends dorm rooms. That whole scene kind of makes me twitch, and for me, this book just hit too close to home on that front.
(Note: The above is not a statement about the book's content which was void of sensuality, the kinky-fairy-kind or otherwise.)
In all, if you like a wide variety of YA paranormal reads, you'll probably like this one.
If you tend to like only a small selection of YA reads and don't particularly bend toward paranormal subject matter, you should probably skip this one.
2.5 stars for innumerable silly similes and being too long for the payoff. And also because it just wasn't my thing.
Hmmm... what did I think...
I think I don't understand what everyone loves about this book.
The pacing was nice, the world felt well-established, and it had the pleasant presence of an unexpected turn or two. But the similes were out of control and the book felt much longer than it needed to be.
I imagine my dislike stems mainly from the subject matter, and it's my own fault for not seeing that ahead of time. I feel like a Bible-belt over-bore saying this, but there were just too many paranormal/witchcraft/occult elements for my taste. I enjoy plenty of books with a focused subset of them, but with City of Bones the paranormal elements are a - if not the - central component of nearly everything.
It turns out that's not my preference.
Which is probably related to, as a late-twenty-something, living as a staff-member among college-dorm-dwelling high school students. Some of them were into wearing fuzzy cat ears in public and donning sprite wings to - uh - sneak into their boyfriends dorm rooms. That whole scene kind of makes me twitch, and for me, this book just hit too close to home on that front.
(Note: The above is not a statement about the book's content which was void of sensuality, the kinky-fairy-kind or otherwise.)
In all, if you like a wide variety of YA paranormal reads, you'll probably like this one.
If you tend to like only a small selection of YA reads and don't particularly bend toward paranormal subject matter, you should probably skip this one.
2.5 stars for innumerable silly similes and being too long for the payoff. And also because it just wasn't my thing.