And there isn't even a cursory resolution at the end - you're just left with everything up in the air as you are after an episode of a soap opera. The characters are inconsistent and fluid, so you don't root for them. The world-building and backstory isn't woven into the story - it's just plonked down into pages and pages of dull as ditchwater exposition. It's tiresomely derivative - yes, we enjoyed Buffy, but not that much - and one of the plot lines is a direct borrow of one of the most famous Star Wars plot lines of all. But City of Bones is none of these things. But if it's fresh and original, if the characters grab me, if the world-building gives way to the plot, then I'll enjoy it as much as anyone. It's not that I don't like this kind of urban-horror fantasy, although if I'm honest, I'm not that keen. And Clary will need their help if she is to find her mother. Clary soon discovers that she is not like other humans - she is a Shadowhunter, a race of demon-hunters living in a world of vampires, werewolves and warlocks slap bang in the middle of New York. Unnerving as this is, it's nothing compared to going home, finding her mother gone and a vicious, horrifying monster lying in wait.

Not only that but to her shock, Clary realises that the perpetrators are walking around the club freely, invisible to everyone except her. But without a body, who would believe her? And there is nobody because the murdered boy simply shrivelled and disappeared before her very eyes. When Clary Fray witnesses a murder in a New York club, you'd think she would call the police. However, fans of the genre may enjoy it as fun and light summer reading.

It's full of plot holes and spends far too long on exposition.

Summary: A derivative Buffyverse cum Whoniverse cum Xenaverse urban fantasy that has little new to offer.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare