This week’s Book of the Week, and the next few, will be a bit different. I am currently hosting a TMI Read-a-Thon, re-reading all the books of the Mortal Instruments series in anticipation of the release of City of Heavenly Fire. You can join in by clicking this link.
But instead of just reviewing the book, I will talk about why I love each book so much, what I felt when I read it, my memories from reading the book the first time.
I hope that you can all join in! For now, enjoy!
Welcome to the first official post of the What A Nerd Girl Says Mortal Instruments Read-a-Thon! Yay!
I felt kind of like Kermit the Frog writing that. I hope you felt that when you read it. I want that sort of enthusiasm to permeate off the webpage you’re reading.
For those of you who don’t know, buy information pills I’m re-reading the five books of the Mortal Instruments series (for the millionth time) in order to prepare myself for the sixth and final book, sickness City of Heavenly Fire, which releases on May 27th.
I decided that the Mortal Instruments would be taking over my blog, and I am doing that as best I can. For the next five weeks, I’m all TMI. So I hope you all can sit back, relax and enjoy all things Shadowhunter.
Every Tuesday for the next five weeks, I’ll be counting down my favorite moments in each Mortal Instruments book. As this is the first week of the Read-a-Thon, that means today is my top ten favorite moments of City of Bones.
Jace was glaring at the cat. “I told you to bring me to Alec! Backstabing Judas.”
Church rolled onto his back, purring contentedly.”
Its simple: everything Church does is absolute magic. This is the book where we meet him, where we learn that he’s a smart, silly, and loving cat that you can’t help but love and the moment that you realize that you start to ship Church with Chairman Meow. In all seriousness though, I have a weird addicting to this cat and I love the connection between the Infernal Devices when Church is first rescued, to him being part of the Lightwood family at the New York Institute.
“When she was done, it was as exact as she could make it. Driven by some instinct she didn’t quite understand, she reached for the cup and set it down on top of the paper. Then, very carefully, she began to sketch the runes beside it.”
As soon as I learned what a Shadowhunter was, and that Alec, Jace and Isabelle were Shadowhunters, I wanted to be one. And I wanted Clary to be one. When I learned that Clary was a Shadowhunter, I was squealing with excitement. I was like, she’s going to get Marks and learn to use a stele and a seraph blade and its going to be absolutely awesome. I was so into that, and I knew it was only going to make her journey in the books that much better. When Clary is drawing and discovers her ability to make the image on the page become real, I was dying of happiness. I was blown away when she pulled that coffee cup out of the pages. Not only was she a Shadowhunter, but she was special and how completely cliche that is, I don’t even care because it was beautiful.
“Yeah, well, you clearly also couldn’t be bothered to call me and tell me you were shacking up with some dyed-blond wanna-be goth you probably met at Pandemonium. After I spent the past three days wondering if you were dead.”
“I was not shacking up,” Clary said, glad of the darkness as the blood rushed to her face.
“And my hair is naturally blond,” said Jace. “Just for the record.”
This is such an awesome moment, especially now that I’ve read the rest of the series. The moment when Simon and Jace meet each other officially for the first time is beautiful because they’re both so different and so hostile toward the other, that you can’t help but hope that they become best friends. They continue to have an uneasy friendship as time goes on but the moment they meet is so great. Its kind of when you think, this book series could be all about a love triangle and oh god, these boys are just going to fight the entire series. And that does happen to a point but it all comes down to the fact that they’re so different and they see each other as competition instead of allies and its just too funny to watch. They are both so obviously trying to be cool and awesome in front of Clary at this moment and they both fail at it.
“He looked at her, not saying anything, and she remembered suddenly the wolf in the alley, all black except for that one gray streak down its side, and she remembered the disc hitting it, and she realized it.
‘You’re a werewolf.'”
Everything about Luke suddenly made so much more sense when we discover that he is a werewolf and he tells the story of his growing up, becoming Valentine’s parabatai, and becoming a werewolf and living his life as a mundane as Jocelyn’s best friend. I was so angry at Luke and the way he treated Clary but he came and saved her life from Hodge (ew) and made me absolutely happy. I love that everyone has their foot in this world somehow. We have the vampires (more on that in City of Ashes) and a warlock in Magnus and a werewolf in Luke. I loved that it just seemed so natural for him to be so and that it fit the history that we had learned from Hodge of the Circle and all that. I love also that it gave Clary the equal opportunity to try and get Jace back from Valentine.
“What welcome?” Magnus asked. “I’d say is was a pleasure to meet you, but it wasn’t. Not that you aren’t all fairly charming, and as for you-” He dropped a glittery wink at Alec, who looked astounded. “Call me?”
I ship Malec so hard and not just because I actually like them together, but because I love all the boundaries that Cassandra Clare pushes in their relationship. Besides the obvious boundary being pushed with Malec being a gay couple, I think its because it pushes both characters. Alec is gay but can’t admit it, and Magnus is in love with Alec, a Shadowhunter, something that he doesn’t really want to do. And I love the moment that they meet. Alec thinks he’s so good at hiding how he feels and that no one in the world knows he’s gay but Magnus notices so fast, and is immediately attracted to him. I love that it completely throws Alec off his game, and that it intrigues him. Its a beautiful moment.
“Turning in astonishment, she saw Jace by the door, his arm still raised, and realized he must have flung the dagger with enough force to knock the black sword out of his father’s hand.”
Finding out that Valentine Morgenstern is both Clary and Jace’s father was a huge thing that I had never seen coming when reading the book for the first time. I think I legitimately felt sick to my stomach. No, no way. There was no way that Clace was a pair of brother and sister. They were meant to be! Clary was going to break down the hard walls of Jace’s personality and make him fall madly in love with her and they were going to live happily ever after…and then suddenly they were brother and sister, and Jace is ready to do whatever his father needs him to do, and I felt like Jace was all lost. The moment that he stops his father, and disobeys him for the first time in his entire life, gave me hope that Jace was exactly the kind of character that I had hoped he was, and that I wasn’t stupid for fictionally falling in love with him.
“He was holding Alec’s bow, she realized, and the quiver was strapped across his back. He drew an arrow from it, fitted it to the string, and lifted the bow expertly, as if he’d done the same thing a hundred times before.”
I think this is the moment that the reader, even myself, realizes that there is so much more to Simon than just being a mundane. I wanted Clary with Jace from the moment she met him (see later), and I was annoyed with Simon for so long. I thought he was holding her back, to be honest, until this moment. When he comes in with the bow and arrow and shoots out the skylight and saves them from the Greater Demon, I think I gained a lot more respect for him. He’s not gifted with the blood of the angel and he isn’t a Shadowhunter, but he’s incredibly smart and incredibly brave and willing, especially when it comes to the loyalty he has to Clary. I think that’s when I vowed to give Simon a better chance than I had before. Now that we’ve reached five, nearly six books, Simon is one of my favorites and I’m happy to remember the moment that he really proved himself to me.
“There must have been something in her voice, because he turned to look at her. Her hand cracked across his face, a slap that rocked him back on his heels. He put a hand to his cheek, more in surprise than pain. “What the hell was that for?”
The other ten percent,” she said, and they rode the rest of the way down to the street in silence.”
Why do I like the moment that Clary slaps Jace? Because she’s not completely in awe of who he is. I feel like there are so many YA novels out there where the girl meets the guy and he’s so special and different that she is literally in awe of him. It doesn’t feel like love or friendship or companionship to me, it feels like worship and that sort of thing does NOT lead to an actual good, healthy relationship. Just my opinion. Seeing the way Clary obviously is attracted to Jace but isn’t willing to let him push her around was always fantastic and why I loved the both of them. Jace is so cocky and he was willing to take Clary’s life in his hands at a hunch that she was a Shadowhunter and not a normal mundane and he was really lucky that he was right. Clary recognizes this and slaps him for basically being an assuming asshole. I totally cheered at that moment, and knew that Clary was the kind of girl that I could really love as a character.
“What’s this?” he demanded, looking from Clary to his companions, as if they might know what she was doing there.
“It’s a girl,” Jace said,recovering his composure. “Surely you’ve seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one.”
Sometimes it takes more than just the first chapter for me to fall in love with a book. I have to give it at least page 50 until I’m like, okay, this book has me hooked, let’s keep this going. With City of Bones, though, that was so different. I was in a rough place when I read the book, so there is that, but I was hooked from the moment that Clary stepped through the closet at Pandemonium and witnessed the showdown between Jace, Isabelle and Alec and the demon. I was massively in love with Jace from the moment they said his name, mostly because I love that name, and have for quite a many years but also because I just knew he was going to be “IT” in the books, if you know what I mean. I knew immediately that I wanted to find out the rest.
“There is a hollow in the pit of his stomach, a nervous edginess. He wants to pull her back to himself, to pour into her everything he is feeling: his admiration, his new-born knowledge, his devotion, his need. “I’ve never been more awake.”
I mean, duh. I think I would have a cold, cold heart if I didn’t absolutely love this scene. I LOVE this scene. Its beautiful in so many ways. I love that Jace takes the time to do something for Clary’s birthday, which is so out of character for him, because he doesn’t DO those kinds of things for people, especially those he has just met. I love that he opens himself up to her in ways that he never really has before, and I just love it all. Its the calm before the storm that is Simon or Valentine or Hodge or the Mortal Cup. Just for that moment, they’re together and they’re experiencing those fragile steps into first love and it makes me so happy every time I read it. The first time that I read Jace’s POV (which is where the quote comes from), I loved it even more. For that one moment, you think everything is going to be okay between them, right before the news that they are brother and sister, or that there’s the complication of Simon, all of that. I think that’s why I love this scene so much. Its what I had been waiting for, and it gave me hope for the rest of the series because I knew how they felt for each other.
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I hope you enjoyed Stop 1 on the What A Nerd Girl Says Read-a-Thon, and that you’ll be with me the rest of the way! You can check out the rest of the “tour” schedule by clicking this link!
And don’t forget to share your own favorite scenes from City of Bones in the comments!
