City of Bones (10th Anniversary Edition) by Cassandra Clare

Celebrate the tenth anniversary of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones with this gorgeous new edition, complete with special content including a new piece from Cassie and exclusive colour illustrations.

The pride of any fan’s collection, City of Bones now has new cover art, over thirty interior illustrations, and six new full-page colour portraits of everyone’s favourite characters! This beautifully crafted collector’s item also includes four bonus stories that have previously only appeared in limited distribution, and – best of all – a new piece written by Cassandra Clare.

This is the book where Clary Fray first discovered the Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of warriors dedicated to driving demons out of our world and back to their own. The book where she first met Jace Wayland, the best Shadowhunter of his generation. The book that started it all.

I first read City of Bones by Cassandra Clare many years ago; I was completely absorbed in the story and the characters, and I devoured the book. Unfortunately, I never got around to reading the rest of the series and as time went by, I forgot everything that had happened in City of Bones.

Enter the 10th Anniversary edition. This was the perfect opportunity for me to reread City of Bones and also review it for Jess Just Reads.

City of Bones is the first book in The Mortal Instruments series. This anniversary edition is gorgeous — just perfect for a Cassandra Clare fan. It’s hardback, cloth-bound, with gorgeous colour illustrations inside of the characters.

Additionally, there are black and white illustrations scattered throughout the whole book. There are whole page illustrations and there are also illustrations underneath each chapter heading.

My favourite part of the book was and always will be the dialogue between the characters. Isabelle Lightwood is bold and witty, but also self-aware and at times caring. Jace is hilarious — snarky and sarcastic and a very fun character.

“You want me to hold your hand?”
Clary put both her hands behind her back like a small child. “Don’t talk down to me.”
“Well, I could hardly talk up to you. You’re too short.” Jace glanced past her, the torch showering sparks as he moved.

City of Bones has always felt a little long to me. I did find myself getting a little exhausted in the final few chapters, even though that’s when most of the action is happening.

Despite this, though, Cassandra Clare is really great at weaving dialogue and prose together so that one doesn’t dominate the other. The dialogue is relatable, funny, and easy to read, and the prose is detailed yet necessary when building a world like this.

“Hodge, gasping, stared after him, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. His left hand was gloved with the wet dark fluid that had seeped from his chest. The look on his face was a mixture of exultation and self-loathing.”

This edition is definitely a collector’s item, so I recommend this to people who have read and loved City of Bones. If you’re not sure whether this series is for you, I’d probably recommend buying the regular paperback.

But regardless of what edition you buy, this is a really fantastic series and this first book is fun and a fantastic launch to the series.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

City of Bones 10th Anniversary Edition
Cassandra Clare
November 2017
Walker Books