City of Bones cover art

City of Bones

Mortal Instruments, Book 1

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City of Bones

By: Cassandra Clare
Narrated by: Ari Graynor
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About this listen

Clary Fray is seeing things: vampires in Brooklyn and werewolves in Manhattan. Irresistably drawn towards a group of sexy demon hunters, Clary encounters the dark side of New York City - and the dangers of forbidden love.

©2007 Cassandra Clare (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Fantasy Science Fiction & Fantasy New York Fiction

Critic Reviews

"The Mortal Instruments series is a story world I love to live in. Beautiful." (Stephanie Meyer)
"The story's sensual flavor comes from the wealth of detail: demons with facial piercings, diners serving locusts and honey, pretty gay warlocks, and cameo appearances from other urban fantasies' characters....Lush and fun." ( Kirkus Review)
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Narrator was good. Main character was very childish, more childish than all the 17 year olds I know! Story has promise though and I'm gonna attempt the next book.

great for YA

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Terrible narrator.
Flat, whinny, and brash voice.
Cannot deliver sentences properly nor can she pronounce words in the story correctly.
Really disappointing and makes it difficult to continue with what I know is a good series.

I really wish there were options for narrated voices like old school gps settings.

Bad choice for narration

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Love this story have listened to lots of Cassandra Clare books. She always has someone different narrating done really like this over the top American voice. Not enjoyable to listen :(

Great story don’t like the narration

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really enjoyed this. narrater was great! story us a bit derivative but I expected that.

performance great!

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The narrator is alright, not great, definitely not the only suitable one, she sounds like she is acting in a high school play, very dramatic. She have limited voices available for different characters. The story is for very young adults, kids refusing to admit that they're kids, wanting to be the hero instead of seeking guidance from actual adults.

The story is interesting enough...

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This was one of the first times in a book turned book-turned-movie situation where I preferred the movie and tv series. The book is about a 15/16 year old whereas the tv series was when clary turned 18. I liked the movie and tv series, and really wanted to like this book, but I found myself wanting the book to be shorter so I could move on to something else.

A few reviews spoke about the characters being juvenile, and unfortunately this was the case. It is not a young adult book, but rather a teenager book.

I also found the book lacking the works building and intrigue that more current books include. However it could also have something to do with the narrator. I found the narrator quite bland and she didn’t change her voice to different characters. I can see there is a different narrator for the second book which was a good call but I just don’t think I can persist with the series.

I really wanted to like it, but didn’t.

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I have loved every other cassandra clare book I've listened to but I couldn't make it through even 4 chapters of this one. it might be ok to read but I cant get past the voice to decide if i actually like the story or not

Childish narration

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This series is one of my favourites to reread and listen to.

This book was my first audible experience and I ended up listening to the whole series within my first month. Work, home, driving - I was hooked.

Shadow hunters is my go to series when I cannot decide what to listen to next and it’s enjoyable every time you dive back into the world this series has created.

If you have seen the movie or Netflix series then this book series is a must read as you are seriously missing out (but I still love both the movie and show for their interpretations).

One of the best series of read/listened

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I love these books - narrator was ok, not varied enough with her different voices for the characters. Enjoyed listening though.

Great story

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It took awhile for me to sink into the world and understand but now I’m there I love it. Bring on book two

Great

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