To be fair, I read this book after I read The Hunger Games trilogy. I might have gotten a higher rating if I hadn't. City of Bones is a quick paced book that has a little bit of everything from demons to faeries. Clarissa is plunged to a world, the shadow world, that she didn't even know existed due to her mother trying to protect her. She seems to adapt fairly quickly which is good because she has to try to save her mother. There are some predictable plot twists and one that caught me a little of guard. I enjoyed the book well enough to continue on with the series.