The Mortal Read-Along! discussion

THAT'S IT. WE'RE DONE. WE HAVE OFFICIALLY COMPLETED THE FIRST BOOK IN THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS SERIES!

Let me know what you think below! First of all, HOW DID YOU LIKE IT?! Were you guys surprised by the ending? For those of you rereading, did you find anything new that you didn't notice before? How many stars would you give it?

Leave any comments about the book below, and don't forget to join us for our liveshow for a further discussion of City of Bones on Saturday, April 4th at 9pm EST!

Also, don't forget to pick up City of Ashes, which we will be starting in April as well! Thanks to all of you who participated this month, and I'm looking forward to continuing this series with you :)
-xoxo Emma

I FINISHED IT OH MY GOSH DEFINITELY ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS! This was my first time reading it and I absolutely loved it! Jace was amazing and that plot twist at the end whoa. Well, I saw it coming because my friend spoiled but still just wow. Jace is totally one of my all-time favorite characters! Is it bad that I read this book in four days when I really should have been studying for all the tests I have next week?? :/

Finished it! I actually lowered my rating from 4.5 stars to 4 because of the number of times I groaned at Clary in this book but I still really enjoyed it :)

Reading Luke's story, and how Valentine wanted him to kill himself.

Makes me wonder what Valentine would have done had the werewolf attacked HIM instead of Luke...

Okay! I finished the book! And I really liked it.

I finished the book a few days ago and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. I was definitely interested in finishing the book, but I wasn't compelled to read the next book asap (like I have with some other series I really enjoyed). If I was in middle school, or even high school, I think I would of liked this book/series a lot more. I probably will continue the series though and finish one book per month for the read along.

I guess I'll start with what I disliked... .__.;
(view spoiler)[Clary got annoying and annoying fast. She goes from this girl that never used weapon, thought of using a weapon, or killed (other than maybe a bug) to straight up wanting to kill Valentine who turns out to be her dad. I get why. The dude is bad news to say the least. However, considering how against killing another human being (or one that looked like one) she was in the beginning, the fact that this is her father, and the whole point of this adventure was to save her mother, I can't help, but feel this is a slight erratic change of character (despite I the fact she's probably gotten somewhat used to blood, death, and killing since meeting the Shadow Hunters). I mean, for me, my first thought would be to save my mom. Valentine might know why she hasn't woken up or has purposely kept her unconscious through a potion/spell. Maybe he knows a way to wake her up and I can fish the information out of him. It's a long shot, but for my mom I'd at least take a chance.

Another instance I was annoyed with Clary was how she was so angry at Luke, claiming he abandoned her and her mother. This is an understandable claim based off what he said, but does she bother to question why he said it? Or why people in general have lied to her? I didn't believe for a moment Luke wanted nothing to do with her. I assumed he was trying to protect her. Like whatever went for her mom was on his tail and he didn't want her in the crossfire. When he said he didn't care about Jocelyn, I assumed he said that just so the people didn't fish for more information. If I'm trying to rescue someone, the last people I'd want to know are that person's capturers. I guess it's easy to say this as a reader and maybe if I was in Clary's shoes I would of reacted similarly, but I got so annoyed reading, as Hodge would put it, "the moral absolution of youth" or something like that. Black and white.

I also disliked how easily swayed Jace was about Valentine being his father. I mean I'd understand if the character was naive, gullible, or impressionable, but Jace never seemed like that kinda guy. If he began to doubt his father was actually killed that's one thing, but to full on believe it so quickly and then that Valentine is his dad on top of it? Hold your horses... What happened to the know it all, pretentious, clever, charming, fighter blah blah guy I've been reading about. It threw me off. I thought maybe he was just going along with Valentine to figure out what really happened to his dad and maybe even help Clary's mom. (hide spoiler)]

For the good!
(view spoiler)[I really reeeally liked hearing Luke's story. It was such an interesting tale. I can only imagine what it was like for Clary to hear about him and her mother when they were her age. It was nice to get some backstory on Valentine and how he became who he is. It made me appreciate him more as an antagonist. It also made me really care about Jocelyn and Luke after everything Valentine put them through. The fact that Luke's best friend, his parabatai, told him to take his own life because he became a werewolf was just heartbreaking. The dude was suppose to have his back and it's not like he chose to get bitten! So sad.

I kinda liked seeing Jace as a broken character. I didn't care for how it was done, but it was definitely interesting to see him in such a fragile state. I guess it reminded me off what Clary said and how if you don't bend you'll break.

Now when I noticed Jace and Clary were going to be a couple I was like "Dammit come on... Really? You know what? I hope they pull a Star Wars." This got spoiled for me later after I had had that thought. Definitely should be more careful for what I wish for! When I got to the part what it was going to be revealed that they were related, part of what really drove me to finish the book was to see if they really were. I mean... I still kinda have doubts they are. They seem to be so clearly written for each other. While I don't like it that they're brother and sister, I really appreciate the lack of predictability. I didn't see that coming (until it was spoiled for me).

I hope they're not related, but I don't know how they can't be. My only hope right now is that Valentine is a manipulative liar and Jace's previous intense convictions to witnessing his father's death. Right now though, I just want to find a Jace and Valentine parody comic of Luke and Darth Vader. Valentine would be all "Jace... I am your father," and Jace would give him a sassy retort all Jace like.

Oh and Alec is a pretty cool guy when he doesn't flat out hate on Clary! I didn't think I was going to like him, but he's not so bad. (hide spoiler)]

Sonia you can totally post spoilers here! This is the end where everyone comes to discuss AFTER finishing the book. I'd love to hear your thoughts! As a tip, the series REALLLYYY picks up in book 3. I know it's a long time to give it a chance, but I totally recommend sticking it out. If you don't love it by then, it's a satisfying enough ending that you can put it down, but after finishing City of glass I DOUBT you'll want to :)

Kelli, I totally agree. While I wouldn't lower my rating, I totally agree I picked up on a lot more faults reading it this time, which I think is a good thing! Since this is my favorite series

Sonia you can totally post spoilers here! This is the end where everyone comes to discuss AFTER finishing the book. I'd love to hear your thoughts! As a tip, the series REALLLYYY picks up in book 3. I know it's a long time to give it a chance, but I totally recommend sticking it out. If you don't love it by then, it's a satisfying enough ending that you can put it down, but after finishing City of glass I DOUBT you'll want to :)

Kelli, I totally agree. While I wouldn't lower my rating, I totally agree I picked up on a lot more faults reading it this time, which I think is a good thing! Since this is my favorite series

-continued- I definitely don't want to be blinded to it's faults. For example, I picked on a bit more of the writing that I didn't like, especially in the beginning. It totally gets better especially throughout the series, but I'm glad I'm more aware of these things now:)

-continued- I definitely don't want to be blinded to it's faults. For example, I picked on a bit more of the writing that I didn't like, especially in the beginning. It totally gets better especially throughout the series, but I'm glad I'm more aware of these things now:)

-continued- I definitely don't want to be blinded to it's faults. For example, I picked on a bit more of the writing that I didn't like, especially in the beginning. It totally gets better especially throughout the series, but I'm glad I'm more aware of these things now:)

And Johanna that is such a good point! I feel like I want to say he'd off himself because he hates demons and downworlders that much, but I could never see him giving up for anything haha. I'm currently up to where Luke and Valentine are fighting at Renwicks and I think of Valentine a bit differently when he says "You tore my heart out years ago." Definitely makes me rethink him being an emotionless monster hahahaha

And Johanna that is such a good point! I feel like I want to say he'd off himself because he hates demons and downworlders that much, but I could never see him giving up for anything haha. I'm currently up to where Luke and Valentine are fighting at Renwicks and I think of Valentine a bit differently when he says "You tore my heart out years ago." Definitely makes me rethink him being an emotionless monster hahahaha

Just finished this and I really loved it (again) I did notice that some parts were a little slow, which is okay it was still good. Something I noticed that I didn't pick up on the first time I read it was that Valentine had short hair. I know that's such a small detail, but I somehow still pictured him with longer hair. I gave it a 5 stars again, and I cant wait to continue with the read along next month!

AHHHHHHHHGGGGGG. I don't know where to start. First of all this book was totally amazing! I loved it so much, there were a couple parts that took awhile but overall this book was great. I died when I found out Jace was Clary's brother and I accidentally threw my book at the wall but all was good. I like how it ended with the motorcycle ride on the vampire bike but it's such a cliff hanger I just can't!

Jennifer wrote: "Just finished this and I really loved it (again) I did notice that some parts were a little slow, which is okay it was still good. Something I noticed that I didn't pick up on the first time I read..."

I saw the movie before I read the books, so the first three or so times I read these books, I imagined Valentine as a brunette with long hair and no shirt, not white-blonde hair and a suit XD

Haha Emma! Yes he did look very different in the movie. In the book he was supposed to look normal, and they made him look more like a tribal warrior in the movies

I really loved reading City of Bones again! It made me realise exactly how different it was from the movie. I knew it was different, but it had been a while since I had read it. But wow! Looking forward to re-reading the next book with the read-along!!

Re-reading this was such an awesome idea every time i re-read a book i notice things i didn't notice before which makes reading this book so great! Also meeting and falling in love with Jace again was just... well fabulous :-)

LOL I love hearing your guy's thoughts about the end! I agree with emma though, you HAVE to keep reading. Even if you feel weird about everything that's happened. I promise it is worth it!

Yeah I think if you just get passed the insest(kinda) part the second book is my favourite in the series and each book gets better and better :-)

I'm so happy everyone loved it regardless of if it was their first time or if it was a Reread! I still can't even with the ending XD

It was a re-read for me, and I even loved it more this time! I have a crush on Jace,(hehe) so while I was reading there was a lot of fangirling going on.
I thought the ending was a bit too slow, but honsetly the rest of the book was so amazing that it didn't really matter. I still enjoyed the ending though :)

I just finished listening to this book today! I decided to listen to the audio book version this time around instead of reading and I'm glad a I did! (That and it was narrated by Mae Whitman and it was fantastic.) This time reading I found that I was most annoyed by Jace and Clary. Half the time I was yelling in my car for Jace to go away and stop lol. However, can I just say, as soon as Magnus Bane came into the picture I started to cheer. I love his character and Alec and him are just my otp. For reals yo.

I just... I really enjoyed this read through. :]

Jess I'm glad that you liked Magnus and Alec because they're my otp too!

Just finished about 10 seconds ago and I think that this is the first book that I have enjoyed rereading more then the first time I read it!

Cassandra Clare has anticipated/set up so many things for later books that I feel you'd only realise when you reread the series! I'm just shocked at how many references to later books there are.

I loved all the characters more then I had before! With an exception for Simon, I found him funny the first time I read it but right now he's annoying me...

I might watch the movie now...
Hmm...

Oh my goodness this book! I just finished it for the first time and I Really enjoyed the story. I gave it 4 stars the twist at the end got spoiled for me many years ago so I was just waiting for it to be revealed.

I love Jace's sass because it is just hilarious. Can't wait to continue with the series

So I must start with I hardly ever reread books other than a few tried and true favorites. However I saw this read -a-long and couldn't pass it up. I actually read this book for the first time back in January and since then I have been marathoning the series. I love this book! I think I actually enjoyed it more this time around. I feel like the Shadow Hunters are a little more snarky in this book, and the banter is amazing. Jace being full of himself never gets old, man I love that character.

Damn I know I finished this book a while back, but I totally forgot to talk about it on here. BUT WOW. It was so easy for me to fall back in love with all the characters and want to strangle others. The world of Shadowhunters is so unbelievably *cool* and I know some bad things happen later on, but even then it just makes you want to jump in and be a suffering bad ass too?? Good gods, April, I'm ready.

I HATE VALENTINE SO MUCH! And I love Luke, he is one of my favorites. After re-reading I've realized that the characters have changed a lot, and I've seen some little things in the book that I would change, but I LOVED IT AGAIN! Happy that I re-read it! And now on with City of Ashes!

And to be sincere I was a bit annoyed by the Shadowhunters' attitude. They think they are so great and they treat the Downworlders badly, and I think they are prejudiced. Even Clary, who says this: "So they're good enough to let live, good enough to make your food for you, good enough to flirt with--but not really good enough? I mean, not as good as people."
Ends up calling Luke a slimy Downworlder... But then, when Luke tells her not to be sad for Gretel's death because she was just a Downworlder, she answers: "You shouldn't have said that. About Gretel being just a Downworlder. I don't think that." And this made me really happy.

I just looked those quotes up and yeah wow aha

Yes right?

Yes right?