At the core, though, this is a compelling story about family secrets and coming-of-age identity crises.

Werewolves, vampires, angels and fairies all fit in this ambitious milieu. Clare's atmospheric setting is spot-on, informed equally by neo-gothic horror films and the modern fantasy leanings of Neil Gaiman. Great secrets abound both in Clary's past and in her own head-secrets that are gradually revealed to her about her mother, her mother's eccentric friend Luke, her relationship with Jace and, eventually, about Valentine himself. There she befriends the hunter Jace, who tells her of Valentine's intention to find the Mortal Cup, one of three Mortal Instruments the Angel gave to the first Shadowhunters (the others are a mirror and sword). An attack by a slithering beast sends Clary to the infirmary at the Institute, hidden home of the Shadowhunters. Parents need to know that City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare, is the first installment of The Mortal Instruments, an urban fantasy book series about monsters. Clary returns home to find her apartment vandalized and her mother missing, apparently kidnapped by creatures in the service of someone named Valentine. Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray witnesses a killing in an 'all-ages club' when she confronts the attackers, she learns that they are spectral Shadowhunters, charged with killing demonic creatures called Night Children. Clare's debut novel, first in the Mortal Instruments series, is a sprawling urban fantasy packed with just about every type of creature known to the genre, and still spacious enough to hold more.

Clare city of bones