The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare

Synopsis of City of Bones (Book 1)

"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. . . ."

Jenn: I was a little confused through the beginning of the first book, but only because things were explained as they were encountered; but it helped me connect with the main female lead - Clary - since she felt that way too. But soon things were fairly well explained and the story was very enjoyable. There is a lot of "WTF??" moments though, and there's a lot of times when what you WANT to have happen isn't exactly what SHOULD happen. But that's the beauty of the story, because the main characters are dealing with the exact same thing - so you feel very connected to them, which is great. There's a fair amount of action in the books, and though they are well written, the only thing I didn't like was that during the ending action scenes, it would jump from one character's perspectives to the next and although it was nice to know what was going on with everyone, it had moments of feeling a little scattered. But other than that, it was a great series (all three books are out now), with everything thoroughly explained by the end so that I didn't feel confused and I was very satisfied with the ending. Just remember, if you read these books, you have to keep an open mind. : )

*This series contains 3 books, all of which are available now.
**The author is currently working on a "prequel" series - The Infernal Devices. The first book - The Clockwork Angel - has a tentative release of fall of 2010.