Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that there is lots of fantasy violence with swords and knives here, including some that is gory, with fountains and puddles of blood, throat stabbing and cutting, etc. Also, there is some kissing, and two characters are referred to as gay.
Families can talk about the increasing popularity of the teen urban fantasy. Why are these books becoming so popular now? What do they have in common? To whom are they meant to appeal? Why do classic creatures such as vampires and fairies so often appear in them? Why are they usually present, but hidden, in our own everyday world?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
The elements of this teen urban fantasy, the first of a proposed trilogy, are becoming familiar as a new sub-genre: a teen discovers an invisible world of magical beings and monsters living hidden among us, and that she has a place and power within that world due to a past that has been kept hidden from her. It's the variations the author wrings out of the formula, and the attitude, that make the difference. Author Cassandra Clare doesn't go for the teen sarcasm and black humor (much), nor the hip urban cool, of some of the other members of this small but growing category.
Instead she offers an intriguingly complex world with reams of backstory involving numerous characters, creatures, factions, and relationships. In addition to the various sides among the Shadowhunters, there are vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks, and others, each group with its own politics, powers, and agendas. Then she wraps it all up with exciting action told in vivid, occasionally melodramatic, but always engrossing, prose that sweeps the reader along and makes even the exposition fascinating.
From The Book
"Clary?" It was Simon's voice. She whirled around. He was standing by the storage room door. One of the burly bouncers who'd been stamping hands at the front door was next to him. "Are you okay?" He peered at her through the gloom. "Why are you in here by yourself? What happened to the guys -- you know, the ones with the knives?"
Clary stared at him, then looked behind her, where Jace, Isabelle, and Alec stood, Jace still in his bloody shirt with the knife in his hand. He grinned at her and dropped a half-apologetic, half-mocking shrug. Clearly he wasn't surprised that neither Simon nor the bouncer could see them.
Somehow neither was Clary. Slowly she turned back to Simon, knowing how she must look to him, standing alone in a damp storage room, her feet tangled in bright plastic wiring cables. "I thought they went in here," she said lamely. "But I guess they didn't. I'm sorry." She glanced from Simon, whose expression was changing from worried to embarrassed, to the bouncer, who just looked annoyed. "It was a mistake."
Plot Summary:
Clary goes to an all-ages nightclub, and there encounters Shadowhunters and demons, all of whom are invisible to everyone else. This encounter, and her mother's subsequent kidnapping, brings her into a shadow world of age-old warfare between the Shadowhunters and the demons, from whom they protect humanity. Clary discovers that her mother and her own past are not what she thought, and that she is intimately involved in a power struggle among the Shadowhunters.
Related Books:
Other Books by Cassandra Clare:
City of Ashes
Magic in the Ordinary World:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
The Field Guide: The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1 by Holly Black
The Other Ones by Jean Thesman
The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 1 by Rick Riordan
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott
The Various by Steve Augarde
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
The Nixie's Song by Holly Black
Prom Dates from Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore
Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman
The Hound of Rowan by Henry H. Neff
Related Web Sites:
Author's Site
Official Site
Author's Blog
Author's MySpace Page
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Sexual ContentSome kissing, some characters are gay, a mention of having sex. |
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ViolenceLots of fantasy violence, often with swords and knives, some rather gory, including throat cutting; fountains and puddles of blood. Battles between humans and other creatures. |
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LanguageOne use of "bitch," "ass." |
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CommercialismShoe, eyeglass brands mentioned. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoHerbal Ecstasy mentioned. |
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