REVIEWbyU x 3!! City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #1, #2, #3) by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones

Rating: 4-5 stars

I was instantly enchanted when I read City of Bones, and that enchantment still holds. If I had to describe this book to you in one word it would be impossible because it was intense, jaw dropping, funny, amazing and so much more. Please read it!

City of Ashes

Rating: 4 stars

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

City of Glass

Rating: 4 stars

It is the third book in the mortal instruments series and is better than the first and second put together. To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.



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City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6) by Cassandra Clare

This final instalment in the Mortal Instruments series was a vast improvement on its immediate predecessor. Finally, we are rid of the angst-ridden romance between Jace and Clary (no, they haven’t gone anywhere, but they’ve finally gotten over themselves!) and we’re launched into a great, plot-driven conclusion to the whole Sebastion / Jonathan, Shadowhunter versus Endarkened saga. All our favourite, well written characters are present, as is Cassandra Clare’s witty and engaging writing. As usual, all the adults (well, the mortal ones anyway) are completely clueless and the teenagers are the only ones with a decent set of wits, brains and courage. Being the end of the series, one might expect one or two characters to be sacrificed for the story but to tell you any more would be giving it away!

Needless to say, the whole series has been great, so if you're looking for some well written escapism, you'd do well to give The Mortal Instruments a go.

Caitlin @ Balwyn Library.

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Goodreads Choice Awards, 2014! And the winners are....

Many of you will know that Goodreads is the world's largest site for readers and book recommendations, and has a whopping 20 million members. Every year Goodreads asks its members to vote for their favourite books across a range of categories, including YA Fiction, YA Fantasy and Sci-Fi Fiction and Middle Grade and Children's Fiction.

And the winners for 2014 are........

YA Fiction - We were liars by E. Lockhart, with 33,943 votes! This was a clear winner with more than 13,000 votes more than the second placed book.

For the other finalists in this category, click here.

YA Fantasy and Sci-Fi: City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6) by Cassandra Clare, with 53,247 votes! That is a big result, proving how popular this series has been.

For the rest of the finalists in this category, click here.

Middle Grade and Children's Fiction: The blood of Olympus (The heroes of Olympus, #5) by Rick Riordan, with the most votes of all three youth categories: a whopping 63,219 votes! This is the fourth year in a row that Rick Riordan has won in this category.

You know what to do to see the finalists for this category. That's right, click here.

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REVIEWbyU: Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare

Reviewer: Amy
Rating: 5 stars

Tessa Gray is a 16 year old girl living in 1878. She moves to London to start a new life following her Older Brother there, who was there setting up a life for them. But when she gets there things are not right, she gets taken away and imprisoned by two sisters. What has her brother gotten her into? Will she survive the harsh beatings of the sister and will she ever save her brother, but to save her brother someone must save her first. She gets taken in by the London institute with a group of deadly demon hunters. She will have to work with the demon hunters to destroy the enemy and try and get her brother back. Along the journey Tessa will find love, friends and enemies and she will have to figure out who she is and what she stands for. This novel is brilliant. It is a prequel to The mortal instrument series with shadowhunters and some ancestors of the characters in the Mortal instruments. The novel has all the great things a novel needs action, romance, suspense, drama, humor, amazing characters and a thrilling story line.

FAVORITE QUOTES- "What kind of monster could possibly hate chocolate?”

“Remember when you tried to convince me to feed a poultry pie to the mallards in the park to see if you could breed a race of cannibal ducks?" They ate it too, Will reminisced. Bloodthirsty little beasts. Never trust a duck.”

“There's plenty of sense in nonsense sometimes, if you wish to look for it.”

"Let me give you a piece of advice. The handsome young fellow who's trying to rescue you from a hideous fate is never wrong. Not even if he says the sky is purple and made of hedgehogs.”


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The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (The movie!)

Yes, I unashamedly enjoyed this movie, based on the first book in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare.    Forget anything you've heard about casting choices.  This is a stellar cast of mostly British actors and if you are a fan of TV shows "Misfits", "Being Human", "Gossip Girl" or "The Tudors" or indeed the "Twilight" films, then get set for some familiar faces.  The dialogue is witty, the baddy (and some of the goodies) wear black leather pants and the heroine is suitably brave and not too irritating.  What else could you ask for?  Some ripper action sequences perhaps?  Gay paranormal romance? Intrigue galore? Yes, it ticks all the boxes and isn't too long so you'll be left wanting more.  See it with a friend or your mum/dad/grandma - there is something in there for everyone.  Can't wait for the next one!  And if you haven't read the books?  Well, honestly, what have you been doing with yourself?

Katy@Balwyn

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City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Book Five of Cassandra Clare's 'The Mortal Instruments' series sees, yet again, Jace up to his eyeballs in life threatening trouble and Clary fighting hard to save him and their relationship. This time the destroy-the-world-bad-guy is Sebastian aka Jonathan/Valentine's Son/Clary's evil brother, who claims to be a good-guy (could he be?) who loves humankind but believes the Clave have abused their position as keepers of the peace amongst Downworlders and must be shown the error of their ways. Sebastian has bound to Jace to him, and only Clary and Jace's loyal friends and family believe there is any hope of saving him. Thankfully there's lots of plot developments outside of the usual Jace & Clary vs. bad-guy storyline, giving us the chance to read about Simon, Isabelle, Alec and Magnus in greater depth than in the earlier books. Entertaining and well written, fans of the series will not be disappointed.

Caitlin @ Balwyn.

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