City of Bones by Cassandra Clare Summary: A Gripping Urban Fantasy Saga

City of Bones Summary: The Full Plot with Spoilers

Spoiler warning: This section reveals the entire story, including the ending.

Read the Full & In-Depth Chapter-by-Chapter Summary of City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

In a New York club called Pandemonium, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray watches three tattooed teenagers kill a boy. She later learns the victim was a demon and that her friend Simon saw nothing because ordinary humans are shielded by glamours.

The next day, Clary’s mother Jocelyn calls in panic and warns her not to come home. Clary returns anyway and fights a Ravener demon before being rescued by Jace Wayland, one of the teens from the club.

Jace takes her to the Institute, a hidden cathedral-like base for Shadowhunters.

There, tutor Hodge Starkweather explains that Jocelyn was once a Shadowhunter and belonged to a rogue group called the Circle led by Valentine Morgenstern.

Clary learns her mother had the warlock Magnus Bane block her memories to hide the Shadow World. A visit to the Silent Brothers in the City of Bones fails to restore her lost past.

At a party hosted by Magnus Bane, Simon drinks a blue cocktail and is transformed into a rat. Clary and Jace infiltrate the vampire lair at Hotel Dumort to rescue him, triggering a fight between vampires and werewolves.

Clary realizes the Mortal Cup is hidden inside a Tarot card painted by her mother for neighbor Madame Dorothea. When the group retrieves it, the Greater Demon Abbadon attacks and nearly kills Alec before Simon helps banish it with sunlight.

Hodge betrays the group, handing the Cup and an unconscious Jace to Valentine. Clary follows and meets a wolf that turns out to be Luke Garroway, a werewolf pack leader and former friend of Jocelyn.

At Valentine’s lair on Roosevelt Island, Valentine manipulates Jace into believing he is his father. He then reveals that Jace and Clary are siblings, both his children with Jocelyn.

A battle breaks out between Luke and Valentine, and Jace refuses to kill either man. Valentine escapes through a Portal to Idris with the Mortal Cup, leaving Clary and Jace behind.

Jocelyn is found alive but in a magical coma at a mundane hospital. Alec recovers thanks to Magnus Bane, and Jace takes Clary on a magical motorcycle flight over New York as they face an uncertain future.