Hey, everyone! Welcome to the City of Bones Book Discussion! I’m so glad you could join me! Over the next two weeks, I’m bringing on some awesome-ness to spice up your life! That’s right, I’m about to get the party started, but I have to set a few ground rules first (*trying to make a stern face*). This is how each week will play out:

• Each week I will do a detailed discussion of the plot of that week’s chapters (every Monday!). I will also highlight characterization, quotes, favorite parts, random scenes, and ask/answer questions.
• Argh, thar be spoilers ahead, matey!! While each week will be spoiler-free for the next chapters in the book, all of the previous chapters I’ve read will become free game. So to keep this discussion fun for readers who have not read the amazing series try to keep your comments spoiler-free, from the next chapters, as possible.
• At the end of each post, questions will be asked. Feel free to participate every week! We’d love to hear your opinion but you don’t have to answer everything. The questions are only there as guidelines but I’d love to read your tangents on that week’s chapters. And if you feel totally inspired about this book, as much as I am, you could always discuss your own opinion in a guest post: just fill out the form HERE.

For an entire schedule of our discussion (or just in case you’ve missed a post), you can go HERE. And I am also giving away a copy of City of Bones, to enter the contest, go HERE. Finally, on to the moment you’ve all been waiting for. *drumroll*

Chapter 21: The Werewolf's Tale

Luke is about to tell us his story, so shhh... all gather around.  It's storytime!  Jocelyn, Luke, and Valentine all went to school together.  They grew up together.  Valentine helped Luke along in his studies, while Jocelyn fell in love with Valentine's kind heart (haha).  Valentine had an idea though.  He shared it with his group of friends, including other people he helped in school.  He believed that the Clave should creat more Shadowhunters because "we were a dying breed" (390). 

Luke didn't know then but "now I think he was building himself a cult" (390).  After Valentine's dad died by a werewolf attack, he changed.  He seemed always angry and not himself.  Jocelyn admitted this to Luke when she first discovered she was pregnant.  "She had grown afraid of her husband" (392).  Valentine only laughed at the accusations thrown at him.  That night Luke and Valentine searched out the same werewolves that had killed Valentine's father.  Luke got bit and Valentine gave him only one option.  Luke must end his own life, rather than become a Downworlder.  Luke refused and went his own way, joined a pack as leader.

Valentine had big plans for the Accords.  "Never had the Hall of the Angel seen such bloodshed" (396).  Luke tried to stop Valentine, but seemed to only make things worse.  Valentine escaped, setting the building to flames as well as Valentine's own home which housed Jocelyn's (once again pregnant) and Valentine's first born, Jonathon Christopher. 

Jocelyn and Luke fled Idris, the land of Shadowhunters.  Jocelyn went her own way, but Luke felt incomplete without her.  He left his wolf pack to search for Jocelyn, where he found her in New York.  "The rest you know" (402).

Chapter 22: Renwick's Ruin

So now Clary and readers are up to speed-- we must find Valentine.  He has Jace and Clary's mother and now the Mortal Cup.  Valentine is evil; he needs to be stopped. 

Clary and Luke must have some detective skills going on here because they find the whereabouts of Valentine's super-secret (not so secret anymore) lair.  Clary calls Simon to research the location: Renwick's used to be a hospital for the insane, now it's just a ruin.  As soon as they are all ready to go, getting armed for battle (even though Luke doesn't even ask if Clary has a weapon), they go to Renwick's with Luke's new wolf pack.   

You can feel that this is where it's about to all go down.  (Sorry for the slang, but just the pacing of the novel has me on edge at this chapter.)  Renwick's is described as being a castle, even though from the outside (the glamour) it looks like a dump.  The Forsaken watch the boundary, making sure no one gets in (or maybe out) of Valentine's hideout.  The wolf pack fight, while Luke and Clary make their way to the entrance in search of Valentine.  They find Jocelyn first, who doesn't look very well.  Blackwell and Pangborn show up and Luke doesn't seem too happy about that.  He throws a syringe at Blackwell (what a greeting).  Clary runs before it gets too ugly. 

She finds Jace.  He looked, well, nice.  "He was dressed in a loose white shirt and dark pants, his scrubbed hair falling all around his face, pale gold and flyaway" (432).  Valentine shows up just when Jace was going to reveal to Clary what was really going on.  Clary is not too happy about the interruption and goes for the dagger at her waist.  Jace stops her and introduces Valentine, "This is my father" (434).


REMEMBER: Please try to give a minimum of spoilers unless it is about the chapters we have read already. Also, every comment (one per post) on our discussion posts gives you extra entries if you are entered to win a copy of City of Bones.