In Which I Fangirl A Lot.

So...this week has been, in terms of booky really quite awesome.

We have a Longlist for the CILIP Carnegie Medal.

Things I've Read and Enjoyed

• Unrest by Michelle Harrison (Simon & Schuster Children's Books)
• Itch by Simon Mayo  (Corgi Children's Books)
• This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel (Random House David Fickling Books)
• Mister Creecher by Chris Priestley (Bloomsbury)
• Black Heart Blue by Louisa Reid (Puffin Books)
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic)

Things I've heard are good and will make a little more effort to read now.

• Dead Time by Anne Cassidy (Bloomsbury)
• VIII by H.M. Castor (Templar Publishing)
• Dying To Know You by Aidan Chambers (Bodley Head)
• After the Snow by S.D. Crockett (Macmillan Children's Books)
• Mortal Chaos by Matt Dickinson (Oxford University Press)
• Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (Hot Key Books)
• After by Morris Gleitzman (Puffin Books)
• To Be A Cat by Matt Haig (Bodley Head)
• Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Doubleday Children's Books)
• All Fall Down by Sally Nicholls (Marion Lloyd Books)
• Wonder by R.J. Palacio (Bodley Head)
• Gods and Warriors by Michelle Paver (Puffin Books)
• Burn Mark by Laura Powell (Bloomsbury)
• Black Arts: The Books of Pandemonium by Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil (David Fickling Books)
• This is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees (Bloomsbury)
• Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick (Indigo)
• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Electric Monkey)

As well as these, there#s other books that I'm sure are deserving of their place, which I'll read if they get shortlisted. My book club shadows the award, so hopefully we'll all find something to enjoy, and maybe we'll manage to guess what's going to win. Last time, we failed (We said Between Shades of Grey, not A Monster Calls).

We've had a trailer for The Host. I've not read it, but apparently it's a bit better than Twilight (I'm not sure that's saying much though.) Still, if anyone does enjoy Meyer's stuff, then maybe they should see it.


We've also had a trailer for City Of Bones, a film which I definitely plan to go and see some time (although probably won't because I have a habit of saying I'll see something, forgetting, and ending up getting it on DVD. Films that don't get this treatment get seen twice...something's wrong with my organisation skills.) Here it is.

On its own, it's awesome. After reading a couple of posts about it, I love it even more. *fangirl mode is on*

Other fangirly thing: Aurelio Voltaire's book, Call of the Jersey Devil, has a cover now! And a back one! I got into Voltaire's music a few years ago, and when he said he was writing a book, I was all *squee* (I go all fangirly very easily, in case you haven't guessed).and from the excerpts on Facebook, I'm probably going to enjoy this.

And finally, please go help a new book blogger! Anne of Grave Fables was part of my book club, until she moved to France. She's really nice and reads practically anything, so go say hello.


How's everyone this week?

Book Review- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Bones

 Author: Cassandra Clare

Series:  The Mortal Instruments

Published:  2 July 2007 by Walker (Margaret McEldery books too)

Length: 442 pages

Warnings:  13+

Source: the library

Other info: The rest of the series are: City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls.  Victorian spin-off The Infernal Devices are called Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess. Another series set in LA 2013 will be published some day. A film of City of Bones has been cast.  

Summary : When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . 

Review: You probably know the whole story anyway, but for the sake of consistency with my other reviews, I’ll recount it here it’s a normal night at Pandemonium Nightclub when Clary Fray and Simon go. But Clary starts seeing things-a boy with a knife that no one else seems to be able to see. She walks in on him,and two others, killing someone. And from there, she is pulled into the world of the Shadowhunters, demon hunters that have been in existence for many years. As well as handling this, and dealing with the disappearance of her mother, she learns a lot about lots of different thngs. For example, that a war may be on the verge of breaking out. And that her family is totally different from what she thought it was.

I read the first three in this series a long time ago, but never really getting into it. Then I started blogging. Then there was a huge hype over City of Fallen Angels and Lost Souls. And I really enjoyed the steampunk version...so I had another go with The Mortal Instruments...and I’m really glad I did.

The world is one of the best things about City of Bones. It takes into account lots of mythological creatures and works them in small degrees-I’d definitely like to see more of these obscure paranormal entities.  

The Shadowhunter world is full of likable characters. And unlikable ones. Most of these are built up in such a way that we know enough for one book, but there’s still things that can be found out later on in the series.

As with The Infernal Devices, my favourite character is Magnus Bane. He’s cocky, clever, wears glitter makeup, and holds parties for his cat. That last thing makes him, by default, awesome. Then there’s Simon, who’s really cute. Jace, Clary, Alec and Isabelle were interesting, but I didn’t really care much for them in the  present day. Backgrounds for all four of them though should definitely be explored further on in the series. And the MagnusxAlec hintings. Yay! They’d make such a cute couple...

Plotwise, there’s a lot of aspects. The race to find the Mortal Cup and Simon and Clary’s introductions to the paranormal world combined makes for a lot of exciting things. like Simon transformation- the set up to which made me laugh. Throughout, something is happening-you’ll learn something, something’ll happen which needs to be acted on, or there’s some other big hook.

Cassandra writes with a nice balance of description, action and sark. All characters are distinctive by mannerism and dialogue, and  there’s something about it that keeps you reading. You definitely need a whole day to get through this.

The Jace and Clary romance. It was going so well and seeing them all loved up was really nice. And then the big reveal. Yes, it was a good plot furtherer. But it made everything really really awkward. Incest...not really my thing. It didn’t detract from my enjoyment, but it just made me a bit uneasy about everything that happens between them.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a series I can’t wait to get back in to.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website |