Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: About 35 instances of common swear words. Several crude expressions (dickhead, pissed off). Another 10 religious exclamations.

Violence: A shadowhunter’s main job is to kill demons. The book’s first scene is a murder of what looks like a teenage boy, but is actually a demon who has taken on the shape of a human. An alligator-looking demon attacks a human girl and she kills it. A giant attacks a group of teenagers but they are able to defend themselves and kill the giant. A man is killed in front of his son. The son briefly retells the story years later. Two shadowhunters fight an army of vampires. A few larger scale battles involving weapons, injuries and death. There is violence throughout the book, but it is not particularly graphic.

Sexual Content: At a club, a couple is making out on the dance floor and a boy is passing out herbal ecstasy. A kiss between two teenagers. A number of sexual comments, for example, “… it’s not like I invited you to an orgy.” One teenage boy says to another, “You just want to sleep with Isabell.” Another instance, “She was looking at him as if she were planning to drag him off into a corner to have sex.” That is not a comprehensive list of all the sexual comments, but you get the picture. This sort of flippant use of sexual language is my main concern with this book.

Adult Themes: One character is gay, but it is not a theme of the book. He doesn’t want anyone to know and keeps it hidden. Teenagers drink and get drunk. There is a complicated father-son relationship in the story. An evil shadowhunter plans to sacrifice human children in order to create a shadowhunter army he can control. He also allowed his wife’s parents to be killed.

Synopsis

Clary Fray considers herself a very average teenager, but when she witnesses the murder of a boy and discovers that she is the only one who can see the people involved, she begins to wonder just how normal she actually is. What follows is the story of Clary’s sudden immersion in a world she never know existed, a world of shadowhunters, werewolves and vampires. She learns that everything she knows about her life is potentially a lie and that her mother is the one who has perpetuated it. Wading through betrayal, her mother’s strange disappearance, revelations about the father she never knew, and an intense relationship with a boy she both loves and despises, Clary navigates the path that will hopefully help her rescue her mother and reassemble a life that seems shattered.

I thought City of Bones was just an ok read. I didn’t hate it, but there wasn’t anything in it that made me love it either. I was probably half way through the book before I started to care about any of the characters or the plot. When I finished it I planned to read the next book, but that was a couple of weeks ago and now I’m not really interested anymore. For me that’s a bad sign. My favorite books are the ones I miss reading once they have ended – definitely not the case here. I borrowed it from a teenage boy in my neighborhood and it is his favorite book ever. I know it is well loved by many, but in my opinion, unless you have unlimited reading time, this one is not a must read.

As far as content goes, I think it is appropriate for readers 16 and older. I’m concerned with the previously mentioned sexual comments, so keep that in mind if that type of content is troublesome for your youth.