The Mortal Instruments is a six-part series written by the infamous and apparently prolific author Cassandra Clare. The first four books in the series are already available, with City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire due for release in 2012 and 2013.
As mentioned in my review of Clockwork Angel, the Mortal Instruments series was imagined first, although set in present day New York. In City of Bones we meet our main protagonist, a young teenager named Clary Fray, at a club with her best friend Simon. Clary encounters a group of teenagers whom no-one else can apparently see, while she witnesses them murder another young man. Clary returns home to find the apartment wrecked and her mother missing, shortly before she is attacked by a demon. She is rescued by one of the mysterious teenagers, Jace, who takes her to his home and reveals that he is a demon hunter, known as a a Shadowhunter. Clary soon learns that her mother was also a Shadowhunter, who had apparently been trying to protect Clary from the same fate.
The Mortal Instruments is an ongoing saga revolving around Clary, Jace and their family and friends, in a tale of demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, faeries, magic and romance. Nothing new there you might say. And while the typical stories in this series are generally similar to much of the fantasy fiction that is available for young adult readers at present, Cassandra Clare has certainly proved herself to be a highly entertaining storyteller. Indeed this series delves into some of the more darker aspects of the genre, with gruesome murders, tragic loss and forbidden (and inappropriate!) love between two central characters.
Although somewhat predictable, the Mortal Instruments series is enjoyable, with humour and heart where it is needed. I may have fallen more for the world created in Clare's Infernal Devices, but I shall certainly be seeing this series through to the end.
(I've recently heard that Clare is working on a set of sequels called The Dark Artifices...watch this space!)
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