This book has been on my to-read list for quite a while. Then it was on offer at WHSmith, so I thought what the hell! I have to say, I was not expecting to like this book all that much. I love it when that happens. 
 So what's the book about? In short, Clary (pronounced: Clah-rie) is our ginger protagonist who sees some disturbing magical shit go down in the first chapter. Then her mum goes missing and she has to work with the Shadowhunters to save her and learn about her magical past. 
 Not only is City of Bones a lovely long and well-written book, it is faced paced with interesting characters and it is funny. Properly funny. And I love that. 
 It got a lot of hate in the Goodreads reviews because of some (alleged) similarities to Harry Potter. Ok, so our author used to do Harry Potter fanfiction back in the day. Honestly, without looking it up I wouldn't have guessed. Are there some noticeable parallels? Yes. A couple (e.g. mundanes = muggles). But they are so minor I definitely don't have a problem with them. But some people have written some pretty scathing reviews that are really out of order. 
 -- OMG Clary is ginger. That means she's Ginny! 
 -- Jace has blond hair - he's totally Draco! 
 -- There's a werewolf -- RIP OFF!!!!!!!! 
 Grow up. 
 The plot bares zero resemblance to any of the Harry Potter books. I can only speak for the first of The Mortal Instruments series, but still. Clary Frey sounds like Gallifrey but you don't see me crying wolf to the Time Lords. 
 The Hunger Games bears a massive resemblance to Battle Royale, but after all was said and done no one cares anymore because Suzanne Collins took the idea and did something completely different (and further developed) with it. That's what matters in the end. I've always said that there's no such thing as true originality anymore (but that's ok!) and if your only beef is that some of the characters in City of Bones look like some from HP, then you have really got to get off your high horse and take a look around. 
 And FYI, Jace and Draco share a hair colour and that is where the similarities end. Jace is an arrogant, yet handsome and caring warrior. Draco is an evil, whimpering, daddy's boy with no real power. But maybe all you guys still picture quite a hunky Tom Felton when thinking of Draco Malfoy. Me, I just see the divine Lauren Lopez... 
 Okay, enough on that subject. Getting back to the review... 
 As I said, I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. I love my books to be action packed and this one never seemed to stop! I really liked the characters from major to minor, so hats off to Cassandra Clare because I'm not easy to please. I managed to guess one big plot twist, but not the second one - and I love when I don't manage to guess something! It makes the reading experience so much more enjoyable! 
 It looks like I'm at the beginning of a very enjoyable journey. I hate to say 'cash cow' but it seems like Cassandra Clare has milked the ever loving shit out of this series. But if they're all equally as entertaining, more power to her! 
 So if you've been waiting to read this, just as I had, don't delay any longer!