(Warning: there are spoilers contained in the following review. You have been warned..)

As a Twilight Saga fan, I am only interested in books that capture my attention and force me to read them nonstop. When I picked up City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, I expected to be somewhat bored because I haven’t found any books as interesting since I read the Twilight Saga. I was, however, taken by surprise into a whirlwind of shadow hunters, vampires, warlocks, werewolves, and “mundanes” (humans without demon-killing skills). This book is, in my opinion, as good as the Twilight Saga, but don’t just take my word for it, read City of Bones for yourself! Don’t be discouraged by the title of the book, which seems quite morbid.

Cassandra Clare wrote City of Bones as the first book in a series of three. The entire series is called the Mortal Instruments. The second book is called City of Ashes and the third is City of Glass. Cassandra Clare has become increasingly popular as the books have become international. The series is available in English, Italian, German, Danish, French, and Spanish. The fourth book in the series, City of Fallen Angels is set to be published in 2011.

The best part about this great book is that, unlike the Twilight Saga, City of Bones is enjoyed by both guys and girls. For me, it is a challenge to find a book given to me by a guy to be any good. When I went to Italy this summer, I realized in the airport that I had forgotten a book. Anyone who knows me knows that a five-hour flight without a book is equal to agony for me. I graciously accepted City of Bones from a guy on my trip who had just finished the book. I was immediately taken captive by it and read for the entire five-hour flight. I expressed my astonishment of how great it is being that it came from a guy. He just smiled and said, “Guys read good books too.” Since we share an immense love of first-rate books, he and I frequently recommend books to each other. As you can see, City of Bones is not just splendid; it proves that guys and girls can have similar tastes in literature.

City of Bones is a story of Clary, a teenage girl living in Brooklyn who is exposed to a new world that only she can see. When she sees three teenagers kill another teenager, Clary’s world is changed forever. Unlike regular “mundanes,” the word used by Shadow hunters to describe humans, Clary can actually see the other teens which is remarkable and unheard of because they are hidden by “runes.” The adventure of City of Bones begins when Clary sees blue-haired boy following a girl into a storage closet at a club with two suspicious teenage boys following him in turn. She tells her best friend, Simon, to get security while she follows the teens into the closet, where they kill a demon disguised as another teenage boy. They do not notice her because they are focused on killing the demon. When Simon comes with security, they think she is crazy because they cannot see the other teenagers. After Simon leaves the teens force her to keep their secret because she has no proof that they killed the boy.

This first incident is the beginning of many similar occurrences for Clary because she finds out that she is a shadow hunter and her manic father has kidnapped her mother, Jocelyn. No book is complete without a little forbidden romance either. The book leaves you desperate to continue reading this grand adventure.