City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

"Suddenly able to see demons and the Shadowhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into a bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster." -From the book jacket

So begins another imaginative and thrilling modern-day fantasy and the first book of a trilogy. I devoured this book just like my high school readers do. In fact, I started listening to this book on Talking/Audio CD but abandoned that method of consumption because I can read a lot faster than narrators can read. Though I literally zoomed through this book I don't give Ms. Clare an A for her writing style. A colleague who has read the other books in the series assures me that her writing improves in subsequent volumes. I know this sounds rather snobby of me since the story is so compelling why should it matter? Twilight wasn't high literature either and that didn't keep teens and adults alike from enjoying it.

As the story started to unfold I did start to notice a very interesting development. I kept noticing similarities to the Harry Potter series. Not that I am accusing Clare of plagiarism, just some obvious resemblances. Here are a few that I noticed:

-mundanes (muggles)- regular humans
-transformations (transfiguration)- changing into an animal form; both books had someone changed into a rat.
-magical motorbikes
-magical charms that hide buildings from being viewed/seen by human eyes
-birds of prey used as messengers
-very wicked being wants to take over the world- Valentine (Voldemort)
-half bloods looked down on by some full blooded Shadowhunters (Wizards)

There were also lots of differences between the two books and Ms. Clare has written a very exciting tale. I know I will make time to read the sequels soon.