The Mortal Read-Along! discussion

Hey guys! So in about a week on March 1st, this is where we can start discussing City of Bones by Cassandra Clare!

Please limit your discussions/comments to JUST THE FIRST 8 CHAPTERS. We want to be able to talk about the books without spoiling anyone who hasn't read as much as you yet!

So what are you guys thinking so far? What are your first impressions of the characters? Do you have a favorite so far?!

Interested to see what you guys think!!
-xoxo Emma

Currently on chapter 4, not going to say anything that would spoil anyone, but to everyone who is re-reading: is anyone else finding it SO easy to get back into this book? I really thought I was gonna have to struggle a bit , but it's almost as easy as riding a bike. If that even makes sense lol. So how are you guys feeling about it? Enjoying it? :)

I'm on chapter 5 and I love it so far! This is my first time reading it and I'm already hooked! Jace is probably my favorite so far hahaha

I'm starting chapter 7 and I totally agree, Sierra! Sometimes, I have other things I'd rather do than read, but now I'm just like, can life stop getting in the way so I can get my fix of Shadowhunters?! Hahaha I always found these books so easy to get into, so I never understood why people complain reading it is a drag. Like, I'm on page 99 and SOOOO much has happened! I feel like the beginning is the perfect blend between normalcy (ex. Going to Java Jones and Pandemonium with Simon) and supernatural (ex, the demons/ the institute). Anyone agree?

And Alex, I totally agree! Even from the start, Jace was my favorite character :) Don't get me wrong, I love ALLLLL of them, but I just can't get over him hahah

I am waiting till spring break to start my re read (March 6th) but yes Jace was always my fav and i loved the series from the start. it has the perfect balance like Emma said

Just finished Chapter 8, (after starting it this morning) and can't believe how quickly I'm reading it!
It is my second time reading COB, and I can't believe I ever stopped reading the series. (I only partway through the second book)
Hopefully this time I'll get all the way through the series!

I can't wait til I have time to start it but this week we have standardized tests and I'm really busy...

I starting it in a little bit... I was reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer and got hooked. But I will re-read CoB for the fourth time!

Good gods rereading City of Bones and just... Knowing how this turns out, it's so heart wrenching reading them as new characters. Loving Jace, obviously. :)

I just started the book today and honestly it is so refreshing to dive back into this world! I love that so many of you guys are participating (:

Just finished chapter 8. When I first started the book I thought it was pretty meh. Parts of it felt like it was trying too hard to be cool or unique or something. It wasn't till the end of chapter 3 that it started actually getting interesting for me.

My first impression of the characters was interested/annoyed. I kinda felt like a senior reacting the freshman in high school (especially Simon, but that one moment was really cute and made me like him). Something about them bugged me, but it wasn't because they were badly written characters. Quite the opposite. I feel like Clary especially was well written with the way she talks and reacts to what's going on.

Jace is a character I have mix feelings about. I've never read the series, but it seems pretty obvious he's going to be Clary's love interest. He's so full of himself and dark or whatever. However as I learned more about him, I found myself liking his character more.

I think Clary is my main character and Dorthea is probably my favorite side character so far.

Kaela wrote: "Omg @John H Graves Mara Dyer is the best it's soooo good."

I know right! It's so good!

(view spoiler)[Was not suspecting the ending! (hide spoiler)]

Just started Chapter 1 Pandemonium! In honor of this read-a-long I am doing the TMI Tag on my channel soon :)

Haha Sonia I love your comment! Reading people's first impressions are always so great! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the rest of the book and if anything changes :)

Starting City Of Bones today, now that I've finished Blood Promise!!!
So excited! Really looking forward to this re-read!

Just started this today and I'm currently on Chapter 4! I definitely needed these characters in my life after finishing Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy because I needed something that was familiar that I loved; otherwise I would be in a reading slump for probably a long time and all I would get done would be like 8 seasons of television. It's so weird reading this series and realizing that now I'm pretty much older than Clary because I'll be 16 in a few days...so weird because when I first read this I was about 2 years younger than her! My goal in this re-read though is to find things that I didn't see before; like my goals are whenever I reread Harry Potter. So far though I'm enjoying getting back into the world :)

I am on chapter 5, and i am enjoying my re read sl far

I started reading this to my boyfriend, coincidentally right before the readalong started. I likely won't be able to participate in the entire readalong because we're going pretty slowly, but since I've already read the series I like reading the threads of peoples' first impressions.

So far we're almost to the end of Chapter 5, and I'm picking up a lot more foreshadowing and little things that I never noticed before. I also really like Isabelle, a lot more than I did the first time. Another thing I've noticed, since I'm reading it out loud, is there is SO MUCH DIALOGUE. It's really hard to keep track of who's talking and when and why sometimes. Since I'm trying to do slightly different voices for each character, I've been getting sooo frustrated.

ALSO (I have a lot of feelings), Clary seems SO YOUNG to me. When I first read the book, I was 13/14, and 15 seemed SO MATURE, but now I'm 20 and just laugh at her all the time, like "Oh honey, no." I love her and she's also ridiculous sometimes.

Yay because I'm finally starting this re read. I'm falling in love with Jace all over again, he has been my all time favorite book character and he still is even though it's my second time around. I just love the Shadowhunters world and these characters (most of the time. Minus a few occasions)
All hail Cassandra Clare.

Yay because I'm finally starting this re read. I'm falling in love with Jace all over again, he has been my all time favorite book character and he still is even though it's my second time around. I just love the Shadowhunters world and these characters (most of the time. Minus a few occasions)
All hail Cassandra Clare.

Thanks Emma! And Alexis I know exactly what you mean about "Oh honey, no." I'm 21 and find myself reacting the same way at times. >___<

Ok I am now on chapter 9, my re read isn't giving me much new information since I just read them a few months ago, but I am really enjoying the series. Onto chapters 9-13!

I relly love Jace. who don't want to have Jace As a boyfriend. He is a Shadowhunter, and looks good.

Dorothea is one of the smaller characters I like so far because I like people who look the fourture and wish I could.

I went into this thinking it would be harder to get into this time, but the first three chapters went so quickly!

I just started this like a hour ago, I have read and finished Mara Dyer this month and have started Cinder, but I am on Chapter 3 now, it's going back so fast.

This is my fourth time reading this book again! I've only read the only books twice though... Good to read them again!

This is my first time reading, I'm just starting Chapter 7 and oh my goodness gracious so much action!! Just when I'm thinking things have slowed down a bit, NOPE! More crazy shit goes down.

I also really love all of the sass and witty comments from all of the characters. It's making it so much fun to read!

I started re-reading the book yesterday and I'm loving it just as much (if not more) as I did the first time I read it! It's weird to meet the characters again when you already know so much about them. Now I can take in the details.

This is my second time reading the series and it already love this 10x more then I did when I first read it! I didn't know Jace was this funny, I honestly just thought he was a cocky little bastard (but we all love those type of people...) but I still love Alec most... Because Alec is life. Cassandra Clare actually has left heaps of references to later books, it'a surprising when I read something and realise it relates to another book! I'm not going to include any spoilers from later books though! But for those who are reading this for the first time, I suggest you do read this series alongside the TID series. Suggested reading order is in order of publication or (in the order I read it) first 3 TMI books, the TID series and then the last 3 TMI books.

Grace wrote: "This is my second time reading the series and it already love this 10x more then I did when I first read it! I didn't know Jace was this funny, I honestly just thought he was a cocky little bastard..."
I totally agree! Sometimes I'm shocked as to how far ahead she planned! I think of certain things that come into play in City of Heavenly Fire and I'm like "is this what she always intended or did it just happen to fit in?"

I feel like I'm late to the bandwagon in starting this readalong. I'm loving the reread so far though - I just finished Chapter 7 and Clary made her first incredibly impulsive decision and there has already been so much great sarcasm and sass!

This is my first time reading and Simon is just so adorable!

loving this book so far 8 chapters in and im hooked. i dont know why but i keep visualising hodge looking a bit like barbossa from pirates of the caribean with a crow on his shoulder lol jace is by far the best character so far,really hope they delve more into the law behind it all as that really intrigues me.

Ahaha I loved your comment about Hodge and Barbossa!

karmina i dont know why it is but hes just in my head everytime i read about hodge lol

FINALLY STARTED TO REREAD. City of Bones is amazing as always....I forgot how different it was to the movie!

hi momo i completely agree ive never read the books before but i have seen the movie and it is quite considerably different already and im only up to about chapter 10 but its different in a good way, already prefer the books over the movie.

I seriously forgot how much I freaking adore this series! I'm so happy to be rereading these books! I'm finding it so easy to get back into and I don't want to stop reading!