If you were born in the early 2000s, you’ve probably come across Cassandra Clare’s books and the Shadowhunter world. If not the books, maybe the 2013 film adaptation (which got a rating of 13% on Rotten Tomatoes); or the phenomenon that was the Netflix adaptation. Or maybe you did actually come across one of her 18 Shadowhunter books (not counting the extra five companion books). But, regardless of how you stumbled across it, this saga may seem too long and time-consuming for some. If you’re wondering how to get into it, despite all this, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to Cassandra Clare 101.
The Shadowhunters Chronicles are a collection of, as previously said, at least 23 books as of Feb. 2023 (who knows what’s to come). They take readers into this fantastical world where these angelic warriors fight to defend humans, or mundanes as they call it, from demons. In this universe, Shadowhunters have existed for centuries. They are the descendants of the Angel Raziel, who gave some of his own blood to the first Shadowhunter in order to create this new race of demon-fighters in hopes of protecting the world.
It all starts with the character Clary Fray in The Mortal Instruments; our first protagonist. As a good introductory book, in City of Bones, Clary is also introduced to the Shadowhunting universe. Because, even as a Shadowhutner herself, she wasn’t raised as a demon-fighting semi-angel. So, even though it may not be in chronological order, this is the perfect place to start. In this first instalment, after Clary’s mom disappears, she is thrown into the Shadow World, where she learns she is a warrior and has to fight to help her mother.
Let me give you a quick rundown of all of the books in this incredible saga, and then I’ll tell you exactly where to start.
The Shadowhunter Chronicles is currently made up of five series that take us into the lives of a few different families. Some series are more connected than others. But in general, there are a few familiar faces you’ll find in pretty much every collection.
The Mortal Instruments
The Mortal Instruments were the first six books published in the saga back in 2007. They are set in that same year in New York and follow the adventures of Clary Fray, Jace Wayland and siblings Izzy and Alec Lightwoods. In these books, you’ll meet more of the following families: the Lightwoods, the Fairchilds and the Herondales. This series ends in an epic battle that will have ramifications in another series, The Dark Artifices.
With Clary being new to this world, these books walk you through a lot of these new elements, including superpowers, weapons, demons and secret cities. In the six books, Clary, Jace, Izzy, Alec, Magnus and Simon interact with vampires, werewolves, fairies and demons, and even go to Hell and back. You will also meet a lot of names and faces that will certainly pop up again in the series that follow. That’s the best part of this gigantic collection: it’s all connected! And every time you recognize a name or a place, you’ll feel a little warmth in your heart, like you’re hearing about an old friend. It’s delicious to follow these stories through all these books, and certainly worth your time.
Books: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire.
The Infernal Devices
The Infernal Devices series was released along the second half of The Mortal Instruments since it’s only three books. They are set in 1878 in London and follow Will Herondale, Jem Carstairs and Tessa Gray. Some of the same families appear in this one as well as new ones, but it mostly focuses on the Herondales and the Carstairs, the Lightwoods and the Fairchilds. Obviously (most of) these characters are long gone by the time The Mortal Instruments takes place, but no need to worry about not seeing them again (like we did when we first read as they were released in the early 2010s), because they will all be back in Clare’s most recent series, The Last Hours.
These books are actually a fan-favourite (though not mine — to be honest, I didn’t really connect with any of the characters) and the love triangle between these three main characters is the heart of this story.
Books: Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess
The Dark Artifices
The Dark Artifices, then, takes place five years after the final events of The Mortal Instruments, but with a whole new set of characters. Mostly following the Blackthorn and the Carstairs families, this book also has plenty of appearances from The Mortal Instruments characters. As well as a lot of mentions of the characters and stories from The Infernal Devices. After all, the Blackthorns, Lightwoods, Herondales, Carstairs and Fairchilds from these books are all long-time descendants of the characters from The Infernal Devices and their kids from The Last Hours. The Dark Artifices is set in 2012 Los Angeles and narrates the wild adventures of Julien Blackthorn and his siblings (Helen, Mark, Livvy, Ty, Dru and Tavvy) and his best friend Emma Carstairs (oh, this is also my favourite series, if you were wondering…).
These books take us deeper into the fairy world of Shadowhunters, which is quite interesting. It also dives further into the parabatai mythology, a huge part of these stories. A parabatai, according to the Shadowhunter’s Wiki, “is a pair of Nephilim (another word for Shadowhunters) warriors who fight together as lifelong partners, bound together by oath.” This is quite a powerful bond that influences a lot of the characters’ decisions, especially in The Dark Artifices. Some of the main parabatai pairs in these stories are Emma and Jules from The Dark Artifices, Jace and Alec from The Mortal Instruments, Will and Jem from The Infernal Devices and James and Matthew from The Last Hours.
Books: Lady Midnight, Lord of Shadows and Queen of Air and Darkness
The Last Hours
Originally, The Last Hours, although they are a loose continuation of The Infernal Devices, were meant to be released, intertwining with The Dark Artifices. So, much like The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, a lot of the larger plots are connected. And they end up following a lot of the same families: the Blackthorns, the Carstairs, the Lightwoods, the Herondales and the Fairchilds. These books, I believe, have the greatest number of main characters, who are all the children of the now-grownups from The Infernal Devices.
Yes, these books are once again set in London but this time in the early 1900s, 15 years after the events of The Infernal Devices. Oh, and this series, if you want to know, is also the queerest of them all. With pretty much one in three of these twentieth-century kids being queer.
One word to describe the plot of this particular series would be love. All of these characters, much like their parents and future descendants, love so deeply and so strongly that it actually changes their fates. Love is in the air in 1903 London. And all of the relationships here—and in any of these books, in fact—are what makes these stories so powerful and entertaining. Even though they are demon-fighting-semi-angel-warriors, very far from what we, humble mundanes, are, their stories and each relationship make The Shadowhunter Chronicles quite relatable.
Books: Chain of Gold, Chain of Iron and Chain of Thorns.
The Eldest Curses
These books follow one of the most loved couples (and characters) of this entire collection. Please note there are small spoilers ahead (sorry!).
It can be noticed by the end of the very first book of The Mortal Instruments that Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood are meant to be together. And as Clare narrates the lives of all their friends and families in the next few books, we get small peaks into their relationship. However, with The Eldest Curses, we follow their journey as a couple at different points in their lives. In this series, each book is set in at a different point in time, but mostly in the U.S. The first book is set after the first three books of The Mortal Instruments, and the second book is set after the events of The Dark Artifices. And the third one hasn’t been released yet, though it is set to come out in 2023.
Fun fact: Magnus is an immortal warlock, and so he is one of the biggest parts of this entire saga. Because of his immortality and his closeness with a lot of these families, Magnus is present in pretty much every single book in this collection.
Books: The Red Scrolls of Magic, The Lost Book of the White and The Black Volume of the Dead (not yet released).
And there are still a few stand-alone books that add to this evergreen universe, including The Bane Chronicles, The Tales of the Shadowhunter Academy and Ghosts of the Shadow Market. I know it seems like so many books and so many stories, but I promise you it is possible to get through all of that (and enjoy a lot of it).
As for upcoming books, a new series following the events of The Dark Artifices is in the works. The Wicked Powers, which doesn’t have a release date yet, will be the last series in The Shadowhunter Chronicles and will bring together the stories of a lot of the characters you’ll get to know and love throughout this adventure. This series will follow mostly the younger kids from The Dark Artifices, who will be a bit older here and wrap up the stories of the original gang, including Clary, Jace, Alec, Magnus and Izzy.
And where SHOULD YOU start?
If you want to get the most out of this experience, including anxiously waiting to meet some characters again, all the while you’re being introduced to a whole new world, I suggest you follow the reading order below. This is a mix of chronological order, publishing order and influenced by possible spoilers in one series about another. Of course, you could start with the first book of any of these series, but there might be a slight risk of you not picking up on something or being spoiled on an eventual plot in another book.
- The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
- The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes
- The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass
- The Eldest Curses: The Red Scrolls of Magic
- The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel
- The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Prince
- The Internal Devices: Clockwork Princess
- The Mortal Instruments: City of Fallen Angels
- The Mortal Instruments: City of Lost Souls
- The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire
- The Bane Chronicles
- Tales of the Shadowhunter Academy
- The Eldest Curses: The Lost Book of the White
- The Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight
- The Dark Artifices: Lord of Shadows
- The Dark Artifices: Queen of Air and Darkness
- Ghosts of the Shadow Market
- The Last Hours: Chain of Gold
- The Last Hours: Chain of Thorns
- The Last Hours: Chain of Iron
I hope you weren’t intimidated by any of this. I know there are SO MANY books. But that’s a good thing: it means you can stay in this incredible fantasy world for much longer. You can take your time with this or read it all one after the other.
When I first started, The Dark Artifices series only had one book published. So I ventured through all of The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, The Bane Chronicles and Lady Midnight, the only book in the series at that point, in three months. Then, I waited anxiously for the following installments, including the remaining two novels in The Dark Artfices. Thankfully, at this point, most of the books in this saga have been published, so you can do it in your own time. I wish you good luck!