Thoughts On...City of Bones: Part 2

Today I'd like to continue my thoughts about the City of Bones novel.  This time on Part 2: Easy is the Descent.  So, let's get started.

The first thing I'd like to talk about is actually a difference I've seen in the show.  In the show the Lightwood's running the New York Institute is an honor.  Because they had connections in high places they weren't punished for being in the Circle, and were even rewarded by allowing them to run the Institute.  In the books this is actually the complete opposite of that.  Hodge tells Jace, "Although it is not as if they reside in this outpost, far from home, by their own choice.  We were  banished here."  That  doesn't sound like an honor to me.  In fact the Lightwoods, Maryse and Robert, are only allowed back in Idris for short periods of time on official Clave business.  Being forced to run the New York Institute is they're punishment, yet the show doesn't seem to realize that.

When Jace goes to get Clary so they can go to the Silent City to meet the Silent Brothers Church is in the hallway with them.  "Church was there with him, muttering and circling restlessly."  Jace then says to Clary, "The Silent Brothers make him nervous."  At first glass a reader might think that Church's behavior really does just have to do with the fact that the Silent Brothers make everyone nervous, and uncomfortable.  But having read the Mortal Instruments and the Infernal Devices several devices I wonder if there is something else going on.  If you've read the Infernal Devices than you know two things.  One, that the only Shadowhunter that Church has ever took a liking to is Jem Carstairs.  Two, that at the end of Clockwork Princess Jem becomes a Silent Brother.  So, this makes me wonder if the reason Church is so anxious is because he is thinking of his old friend, and is hoping to see Jem again.  Interesting thought isn't it?

In Chapter ten "City of Bones" Clary thinks that she "wondered if perhaps Isabelle was smarter than Jace gave her credit for."  I honestly can't figure out why Clary would ever think that Jace was saying Isabelle wasn't smart, or anything to that effect.  Jace was telling Clary that Izzy gets bored with men, but I'm not sure how that would lead Clary to thinking not smart.  I don't know why but this line just seems to bother me.  It seems like Clary is putting two and two together and five, do you know what I mean?

In Chapter eleven "Magnus Bane" as our heroes are waiting for Magnus' party to start Simon and Izzy, for some reason, to go for a walk in the park.  Simon asks Clary if she wants to go and Clary "stifling a murderous rage, she refused on the grounds of exhaustion."  Am I the only one a little curious about why Clary is so angry about Simon doing something with Isabelle?  I mean, it can' just be jealousy because at the beginning of the book Clary is the one trying to get Simon to go out with some other girl.  She was quite literally spouting off names to Simon trying to get him to ask one of these girls out.  So, what is it about Isabelle Lightwood that makes Clary feel a murderous rage here?  Is it because Jace said that Izzy would get bored with Simon?  Cause that doesn't track for me as a legitimate reason as to why Clary is so upset by Izzy showing interest in Simon.

Also in Chapter eleven Hodge is talking to Clary, in the library, about the Circle after Clary finds an old photo of the Circle when they were teenagers.  When Hodge points out Michael Wayland, Jace's supposed father, to Clary she's quick to say he looks nothing like Jace.  Hodge just as quickly tells Clary "Jace resembles his mother."  I find it interesting that Hodge makes a note of this.  Does Jace actually resemble Michael Wayland's wife?  Or does Hodge know something more?  Because as we know Jace isn't really a Wayland, so it's to be expected that he doesn't look like Michael or even his wife.  Is Hodge already aware at this point that Jace was raised by Valentine, believing him to be Valentine's son?  If he doesn't know than its really not important.  But, if Hodge does know than it begs the question as to why he didn't try to discourage a relationship between Jace and Clary.  Because if he knew about Jace's supposed past than he's going to think they are siblings.  Just something to think about.

When you think of characters that are witty and sarcastic you think of Jace, Simon, and even Alec.  But really Clary is just as witty as any of the other in the series.  in Chapter twelve "Dead Man's Party" Jace says to Clary, "Last time I left you alone, a demon attacked you."  What was Clary's come back?  "Well, I'd certainly hate to interrupt your pleasant night stroll with my sudden death."   Clary certainly has her moments doesn't she?

We also first meet the ever fabulous Magnus Bane in Chapter twelve.  I just want to make all of you swoon with this first description of our favorite Warlock.  "The man blocking the doorway was as tall and thin as a rail, his hair a crown of dense black spikes.  He was Asian, with an elegantly high-cheekboned, handsome face, broad-shouldered despite his slim frame.  he was certainly dressed for a party, in tight jeans and a black shirt covered with dozens of metal buckles.  His eyes were crusted with a raccoon mask of charcoal glitter, his lips painted a dark shade of blue."  How can someone read that and not fall in love with him?

In Chapter thirteen "The Memory of Whiteness"  we see parts of what I find so appealing  in Jace.  Like his ancestor Will, Jace always seems to have just the right thing to say in any situation.  Jace says to Clary, "If there was such a thing as terminal literalism, you'd have died in childhood."  I can just see Clary rolling her eyes at Jace's retorts.

Also in Chapter thirteen Magnus tells Clary, "Keep in mind that when your mother fled from the Shadow World, it wasn't the monsters she was hiding from.  Not the warlocks, the wolf-men, the Fair Folk, not even the demons themselves.  It was them.  it was the Shadowhunters."  Do you know what this makes me think when I read this?  Downworlders are always talking about how Shadowhunters only see Downworlders as worse then them for no more reason then who they are.  This seems to be the same thing but the other way around.  Magnus appears to be saying that Shadowhunters, just because they are Shadowhunters, are all bad people.  He doesn't know our young heroes, but he judges them anyway.  Yes, he does get to know them and changes his opinion but the point is that Shadowhunters aren't the only judgmental group in the series.

In Chapter fourteen "The Hotel DuMort" we first meet Raphael Santiago, even if at first we don't know that he is the Vampire Raphael.  Raphael says to Jace and Clary, "You go in there and do for your friends what I could not do for my brother."  Then a little latter in the same chapter Lily says, "You have broken your precious Covenant, coming in here.  The Law will not protect you."  If you've read the books than you know that Raphael is the acting head of the Manhattan Vampire clan.  In the text we clearly see Raphael telling Jace and Clary to go into to building.  Even if he is pretending to be a mundane boy he still told them to go inside.  So, wouldn't that mean that Jace didn't break the Accords by entering their territory?

In Chapter sixteen "Falling Angels" Alec says, "You mundanes are completely selfish, aren't you?  Have you no idea what he's done for you, what kind of personal risks he's taken?  I'm not just talking about his safety.  He could lose everything.  He already lost his father and mother; do you want to make sure he loses the family he's go left as well?" I get that Alec is upset because Jace, the person Alec cares about most, not only could have been killed but because he left him behind, not bringing him to the Hotel DuMort.  But it seems like Clary is getting blamed for things that can't in anyway be her fault.  Like when Alec brings up the fact than Jace lost both his mother and his father, how can Clary even be slightly blamed for that?  Alec is saying that Mundanes are selfish, not Clary but mundanes.  I think this says more about Alec needing someone to blame for his roiling emotions.  He latches onto Clary because she's new, and he doesn't know her.  You can see that he doesn't really blame Clary by the fact that he is generally blaming Mundanes and not Clary herself.  Even though he is freaking out and physically assaulting her, but I feel that has more to do with the fact that he is afraid that his being gay will be found out by the people he loves.

In Chapter seventeen "The Midnight Flower" we get a first look at the romantic side of Jace.  Knowing that the following day is Clary's birthday he takes Clary to the greenhouse to show her something special.  A beautiful one of a kind flower that only blooms briefly every night at midnight.  "The leaves on the shrub hung still and motionless.  suddenly one of the tightly closed buds began to quiver and tremble.  It swelled to twice its size and burst open.  It was like watching a speeded-up film of a flower blooming: the delicate green sepals opening outward, releasing the clustered petals inside.  They were dusted with pale gold pollen as light as talcum."  I'd love to meet a man who would do something as unique, romantic, and special as Jace does for Clary.  I think how the movie does this scene was absolutely perfect.

In Chapter eighteen "The Mortal Cup" I find it interesting that it is Jace who actually tells Clary to call Simon back to the Institute to help them.  Our heroes are on their way to Clary's house to find the tarot cards that Clary believes has the Mortal Cup painted into them.  Clary isn't sure how they are going to get there without attracting too much attention, and the only person she knows who has a vehicle is Simon's band mate Eric who has a van.  Jace gives Clary a phone and tells her to call Simon to see if he'll drive them.  Up to this point Jace has only dealt with Simon with mindful disdain and extreme annoyance.  He's always wanted to get rid of Simon, and the second he does he tells Clary to call him back.  You can't win no matter how you try Jace.

At the end of Chapter eighteen we see Clary take the Mortal Cup out of the tarot card.  What happens is, "Her hand wrapped around the base of the Cup - her fingers closed on it - and as she drew her hand back, the Cup gripped firmly in it, she thought she heard the smallest of sighs before the card, now blank and empty, turned to ash that sifted away between her fingers to the carpeted floor."  The way that the book shows this is both subtle and shocking.  But the way both the show and the movie do it is flashy and at times over the top.

In Chapter nineteen "Abbadon"  we see Alec's bravery.  Jace told Clary that Alec has never killed a demon, and Clary cruelly tells Alec that Jace told her this making it seem as if Alec isn't brave or a good Shadowhunter.  But this is not true and we see that here in this Chapter.  During the fight with the Greater Demon Abbadon we see, "The demon struck, its razored hand lashing down at Jace.  Jace staggered back, but he was unharmed.  Something had thrown itself between him and the demon, a slim black shadow with a gleaming blade in its had.  Alec.  The demon shrieked - Alec's featherstaff had pierced its skin.  With a snarl it struck again, bone-talons catching Alec a vicious blow that lifted him off his feet and hurled him against the far wall.  he struck with a sickening crunch and slid to the floor."  To protect his Parabatai, the person he cares about most in the world, Alec throws himself in between a demon a Jace.  It doesn't matter that Alec has never killed a demon because he is one of the bravest Shadowhunters, and this is only one scene that shows this.

Also in Chapter nineteen Hodge once again tells Jace that he looks like a parent.  This time he tells him that he looks like his father, even though previously in the novel he had said that he looked like his mother.  But now that Valentine is coming and wants more than just the Mortal Cup Hodge thinks he looks like his father.  Jace doesn't look any different than he did before, but somehow he thinks that he looks like completely different people because he believes his parents are different people?  That seems a little odd to me, especially since Jace isn't actually related to either of the people that Hodge has said that Jace looks like.

At the very end of Chapter twenty "In Rats' Alley" Clary tells Luke, "You're the leader of a whole pack of werewolves and you just decided she didn't even really need your help?  You know, it was bad enough when I thought you were another Shadowhunter and you'd turned your back on her because of some stupid Shadowhunter vow or something, but now I know you're just a slimy Downworlder who didn't even care that all those years she treated you like a friend - like an equal - and this is how you paid her back."  Luke immediately accuses Clary of sounding like a Shadowhunter, and by that he means self-centered and superior.  On the surface it does seem like Clary is hating on Luke because she found out that he was a werewolf, she did call him, "a slimy Downworlder," but that's not what I see.  What I see is a girl who is hurt, confused, scared, and even humiliated by a man she has loved like a father.  She doesn't hate Luke because he's a werewolf but because he has hurt her emotionally in a way that she has never been hurt before.  The parts of Clary's tirade that we should be focusing on are not the ones that Luke is clearly focusing on.  The parts that show how deeply hurt by Luke that she is are, "You just decided she didn't even really need your help?", "all those years she treated you like a friend - like an equal,"  and most importantly "this is how you paid her back."  Clary was never upset about him being a werewolf, even though she called him a slimy downworlder, she felt abandoned by the fact that she thought he had turned his back on her and her mother.

Well everyone that's the end of part 2 of the City of Bones.  Stick around and very soon I'll finish up with City of Bones part 3: The Descent Beckons.  Stayed tuned.

Till Next Time Friends,