City of Bones

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, 2007 Margaret K. McElderry

     Clary Fray witnesses three mysterious teens killing a boy who turns into a pile of dust in an exclusive New York City nightclub, Pandemonium. When Jace, one of the three, appears again right before Clary's mom vanishes she clings to the mysterious boy and his friends. Clary discovers that the three are Shadowhunters: demon hunting half-angels fighting in the age-old inter-dimensional battle for humanity's survival. She joins the trio in their fight, and receiving their assistance in the search for her mother.
     Along the way, Clary discovers that her mother isn't the artist she'd always thought: Jocelyn Fray is a Shadowhunter too! Dealing with this revelation is a battle for Clary, but the revelation that her mother had taken her to a warlock to hide her memories behind a glamour throws her into the realization that her world has never been as she remembered it, and pushes her even faster along the road to join the Shadowhunters herself.
     After an encounter with a Ravener demon, Clary is taken to the Shadowhunters' Institute to recover. She spends three days in a coma, and wakes up to find her mother kidnapped by the sinister Valentine, a Shadowhunter who lead a damaging uprising and was thought to have vanished fifteen years before. He has reappeared and taken Jocelyn with the hope that she will deliver the Mortal Cup (the cup the angel Raziel used to create Shadowhunters, and gave to them to replenish the ranks). Valentine's plan to use the Cup to create a Shadowhunter army and wipe out the Downworlder population, making Earth "pure" again, and in the process killing thousands of people.
     Clary and her new friends team up with her childhood friend Simon to find the Mortal Cup before Valentine can, and keep him from getting his hands on it. They succeed, but when they are betrayed by Hodge, a member of Valentine's Circle and the children's tutor, Valentine takes both Jace and the Cup from the Institute. Clary cannot just sit and let Valentine take them, she enlists the aid of Luke--a former Shadowhunter turned Werewolf--and his pack to find Valentine and bring Jace back.
     At the culmination of the battle between Valentine's Forsworn and Luke's Werewolves Clary and Jace learn some startling truths about their lives and their family. Valentine manages to escape with the Mortal Cup, but Jace returns to the Institute and Jocelyn is rescued, leaving the battle to continue another day.
     Fifteen-year-old Clarissa Fray learns her world has never been what it seems, nor has her life been what she understood, but rather than falling into self-pity and allowing it to bring her down, Clary fights for her family and new friends. She grabs hold of the changing world around her and finds her place in it. The story is aimed toward middle school and high schoolers, but is still enjoyable for an older readership.