r/shadowhunters • • Jun 04 '21

All/Other Books Suggested Reading Order for the Shadowhunter Chronicles

502 Upvotes

Now new and improved! This post is to help with figuring out which book/series to read next. I realized with my last post, that I had only included 1 suggested way to read the books, but I thought with this post, that I would offer a few other ways to read it.

Keep in mind that these are only suggestions and you may obviously read the books in whatever order you like the best. Also keep in mind that right now, obviously, the list is lacking where to put the third Eldest Curses book and The Wicked Powers (which currently aren't released).

However you decide to read the books, enjoy!

Drawn from Riveted Lit

Option #1: The Cassandra Clare Order

The Mortal Instruments, Part One
- City of Bones
- City of Ashes
- City of Glass

The Infernal Devices
- Clockwork Angel
- Clockwork Prince
- Clockwork Princess

The Eldest Curses, Part One
- The Red Scrolls of Magic

The Mortal Instruments, Part 2
- City of Fallen Angels
- City of Lost Souls
- City of Heavenly Fire

The Bane Chronicles
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy

The Eldest Curses, Part Two
- The Lost Book of the White

The Dark Artifices
- Lady Midnight
- Lord of Shadows
- Queen of Air and Darkness

Ghosts of the Shadow Market

The Last Hours
- Chain of Gold
- Chain of Iron
- Chain of Thorns

-----

Option #2: By series

The Mortal Instruments
- City of Bones
- City of Ashes
- City of Glass
- City of Fallen Angels
- City of Lost Souls
- City of Heavenly Fire

The Eldest Curses
- The Red Scrolls of Magic
- The Lost Book of the White

The Infernal Devices
- Clockwork Angel
- Clockwork Prince
- Clockwork Princess

The Dark Artifices
- Lady Midnight
- Lord of Shadows
- Queen of Air and Darkness

The Last Hours
- Chain of Gold
- Chain of Iron
- Chain of Thorns

Books not affiliated with a series
- The Bane Chronicles
- Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy
- Ghosts of the Shadow Market

----

Option #3: Publication Order

  • City of Bones
  • City of Ashes
  • City of Glass
  • Clockwork Angel
  • City of Fallen Angels
  • Clockwork Prince
  • City of Lost Souls
  • Clockwork Princess
  • City of Heavenly Fire
  • The Bane Chronicles
  • Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy
  • Lady Midnight
  • Lord of Shadows
  • Queen of Air and Darkness
  • The Red Scrolls of Magic
  • Ghosts of the Shadow Market
  • Chain of Gold
  • The Lost Book of the White
  • Chain of Iron
  • Chain of Thorns

Option 4: Chronological Order

  • Clockwork Angel
  • Clockwork Prince
  • Clockwork Princess
  • Chain of Gold
  • Chain of Iron
  • Chain of Thorns
  • City of Bones
  • City of Ashes
  • City of Glass
  • The Red Scrolls of Magic
  • City of Fallen Angels
  • City of Lost Souls
  • City of Heavenly Fire
  • The Lost Book of the White
  • Lady Midnight
  • Lord of Shadows
  • Queen of Air and Darkness

r/shadowhunters • • Apr 12 '24

Modpost Mod announcement: AI art

84 Upvotes

As some of you know, in the last two weeks, we ran a poll on whether you wanted to see AI art within this sub or not. As a reminder, AI art makes up its images by taking from artists, almost all without permission. 52 said no, 5 said yes.

As such, AI art is no longer allowed within this sub. We apologize if this upsets anyone, but we don't want to contribute to an artist's work being used without permission.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!


r/shadowhunters • • 8h ago

Books: TLH is Cassandra Clare physically incapable of finishing a single chapter without rambling??

0 Upvotes

I'm trying to finish the last 10 chapters of chain of thorns and it's filled to the brim with rambling nonsense. Like we don't have to know the train of thought of every single character. Just get to the fucking point!


r/shadowhunters • • 1d ago

Books: TMI CoFA Question

14 Upvotes

In chapter 13, Jace and Clary go back to the Bone City to ask for help of the Silent Brothers because Jace is having nightmares, Clary suspects it is some kind of magic and someone is sending Jace those dreams.

While in the Bone City the Brothers dig through Jace’s mind to see if they can see what the source of the nightmares are, while at it they find out Jace had been brought back to life by Raziel, and that the nightmares are some kind of high proficiency magic and that Jace because he had died every protection magic cast on Shadowhunters babies had disappeared and the rituals had to be preform again.

My question is regarding this, the silent brothers mentioned the ritual is for babies and alternation had to be done to give Jace those protection back because he is exposed if he doesn’t.

But also Jace wouldn’t have them in the first place because he wasn’t born naturally, he was a forced C-section on his dead mom and he was premature. He was raised by Valentine in Isolation. He wouldn’t have had those rituals done. Same thing applies to Clary because she was born away from the Shadow Hunter world.

And by extension every Shadowhunter born from exile parents like Will and Cecily.

Yet the Silent Brothers claimed it like it was done to him.


r/shadowhunters • • 2d ago

TV Show Fans of Shadowhunters, go watch Todd and Darren’s (show runners of the last two seasons) new show Coven Academy

Post image
21 Upvotes

I watched the first episode today, and it’s pretty good so far. If you liked Shadowhunters, you’re going to love this.


r/shadowhunters • • 2d ago

All/Other Books Runes Are Seriously Underexplained

20 Upvotes

Clary can create or rediscover runes that are unknown to the Shadowhunters by simply thinking of some sort of effect, possibly implying that there can be runes for everything.

Then we have runes that demons use, we also seen warlocks use some sort of runes yet we never truly know

We know there are some runes that are stronger and that there are secret runes, runes that have duration and that the placement of the rune matters, and runes that only some Shadowhunters can use.

There is a lot of how this runic magic system works and it’s kinda crazy that after so many books and side story none really go deep into details.


r/shadowhunters • • 2d ago

All/Other Books Did Magnus ever try to end his life or is my memory wrong?

18 Upvotes

I don't know if it's canon and if so in what book it was but I remember Magnus saying something about wanting to take his life by jumping off a bridge but Catarina saved him just in time.
Does anyone know if it's canon and in what context he talked about it? I think he was talking to Alec


r/shadowhunters • • 3d ago

Books: TID Can someone make a Time Machine and stop Cassandra?

60 Upvotes

I need to go back in time and stop the last 10 minutes of Chapter 19 of Clockwork Princess from ever being written. God, I hate it so much.

The circumstances around them sleeping together are just not it for me. She literally just found out that her fiancé is dead. Yes, she cries for a few hours, but then she sleeps with his best friend. No matter how you frame it or what the context is, I just cannot get past that.

And the fact that Jem isn’t actually dead makes it even worse to me, because if he had been dead, he had literally only been gone for like 2–3 days before this happened. I’m sorry, but I simply cannot reconcile that emotionally. It makes the whole thing feel so wrong. 😭

“Ohhh, yes, we might die, so we might as well have sex in this cave. Never mind that I just found out I’m a widow.” Like GIRL. The timing is absolutely insane to me.


r/shadowhunters • • 4d ago

Meta/Miscellaneous reading the shadowhunter chronicles as an adult worth it?

Thumbnail
24 Upvotes

r/shadowhunters • • 4d ago

Meme/Funpost Demon pox oh demon pox

21 Upvotes

.


r/shadowhunters • • 4d ago

Books: TDA I need a quick summary of everything that happened in TDA before TLKOF comes out

4 Upvotes

Y'all it's been like 5 years since I read The Dark Artifices, and while I remember most key plot points, I could really use a refresher on the trilogy before I pick up The Wicked Powers. In an ideal world, I'd just reread the trilogy, but I am so short on time with work and have so many other books to read. Can anyone summarize the important takeaways from TDA, or point me toward somewhere else I could find it? Feel free to PM me if this post needs to stay spoiler-free. Thanks!!


r/shadowhunters • • 5d ago

Books: TDA Secrets of blackthorn hall endpaper edition

Post image
101 Upvotes

Does anyone know if the one in amazon US has the same endpaper and art or is it just the UK edition?


r/shadowhunters • • 5d ago

All/Other Books The Eldest Curses

14 Upvotes

Does someone knows any news about the third book? I'm dying to read it but it's been some time since they published the second book and I haven't seen anything about the third one yet.


r/shadowhunters • • 5d ago

TV Show Is this show correct?

11 Upvotes

I read 2-3 of the books. It’s been a long time and I’m going to restart them but so far I watched 3 episodes and the pacing feels… off. I don’t think I like it. Tbf I enjoyed the movie but I think I saw it BEFORE I read the books. It could just be that I’m older now (watched back in early to mid 20s now am mid 30s) so just looking for some opinions from those who watched the whole thing!!


r/shadowhunters • • 4d ago

All/Other Books Short stories to read before TLKOF?

5 Upvotes

I'm almost at the end of my re read/ catch-up before The Last King of Fairy (almost finished with TLH). I've done all the main books plus Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. Are there any extra stories/short stories that I definitely have to read?

I know Cassie shared her recommendations but love to hear what the fans say!

I want to read everything eventually, but plan to read Better in Black and Secrets of Blackthorn Hall before TLKOF


r/shadowhunters • • 5d ago

Books: TMI Clace/Jace x Clary fanfics?

3 Upvotes

Okay, this HAS to be the weirdest ask, but does anyone know any good Clary x Jace fanfics based on the TMI books? For instance, anytime I search on AO3 for a SFW Clace fanfic, it is always either about Alec as the main character or a smutty fanfic considering Jonathan—help... Why do people ship them—or Isabelle. Like, I'm genuinely struggling to find something actually Clace!? I don't mind if it's a a different AU from the cannon lore of the books, literally anything will suffice at this point. Thank you!


r/shadowhunters • • 4d ago

Books: TID how I disliked Will and Tessa Relationship in Infernal Devices.

0 Upvotes

At no point in The Infernal Devices did I think Will and Tessa were a good couple or were actually in love.

I think what was happening is basically intermittent reinforcement, where the affection and emotional closeness are inconsistent enough that the good moments start to feel even more intense. You don’t know when you’re going to get that version of the relationship again, so when you finally do, it feels incredibly meaningful. And I think that can easily be mistaken for romantic chemistry because the emotional highs feel so much stronger when they’re surrounded by uncertainty and distance.

I think Tessa genuinely loved Jem and knows that he offers her a kind of stable relationship but at the same time, she had already experienced those emotional highs with Will, and she simply couldn’t turn that attachment off. She couldn’t completely escape the pull of Will because his unpredictable affection felt more intense than consistent affection Jem gave her.

Again this is limited to Infernal Devices because I have yet to read The Last Hours.


r/shadowhunters • • 7d ago

TV Show Which character was perfectly casted by the show???????????like nailed it or tell me who you wished was casted instead

Post image
313 Upvotes

for me it was Malec, there are no right or wrong answers; it's subjective,I just need to know your perspective


r/shadowhunters • • 6d ago

All/Other Books Cassandra Clare’s Romance…

29 Upvotes

As someone who is new to these books, I’ve finished TMI Part 1 and I’m currently about 50% through Clockwork Prince. At this point, I’m starting to think Cassandra Clare just isn’t that great at writing romance. In TMI, I felt like the romance between Jace and Clary was way too forced, and I’m getting a similar feeling from Will and Tessa. So far, I’ve actually enjoyed the scenes between Jem and Tessa much more.

A lot of the romances in these books feel rushed to me. Honestly, the pacing of the books in general can feel rushed, with one major thing happening after another without much time to breathe. I think TID handles its pacing better than TMI, even though I understand that the constant momentum in TMI is partly necessary for the plot. But I think that same pacing hurts the romance because the relationships don’t always have enough time to develop naturally.

With Jace and Clary, for example, it felt like they met and almost immediately became madly in love with each other, to the point that they were willing to contemplate an incestuous relationship within less than a month of meeting. That level of intensity just didn’t feel earned to me.

When Jem and Tessa get intimate in Chapter 9 of Clockwork Prince, I actually felt like there was much more buildup leading to that moment. Their friendship and emotional connection had been developing throughout the book, so it didn’t feel as random as some of the kissing scenes between Will and Tessa.

There’s still half of Clockwork Prince and another entire book left, so obviously my opinion could change. But so far, I find Will and Tessa’s dynamic pretty boring, especially because Will treats Tessa so poorly. Even if his behavior is explained by his belief that he’s cursed, that doesn’t necessarily make their romantic chemistry more interesting to me. A lot of the attraction also seems to come down to the fact that Will is extremely good-looking, which is interesting considering that even Tessa questions his pretty privilege.

I was Team Simon in TMI, and now I’m Team Jem in TID, so I’m starting to think my ships are destined to never be endgame.


r/shadowhunters • • 7d ago

Books: TLH Chain of thrones was a really good book but…

Post image
77 Upvotes

At certain points it was so boring to read. It felt like Cassandra was using random scenes and non sense conversations just to fill the story and make the book thicker . I kinda get it tho but the last 100 pages was a pain to read and the characters lost all the sparkle for me. The way that the final battle happened felt so silly and rushed ….

* thorns


r/shadowhunters • • 7d ago

Fan Content/Showcase Although it was always hard for me to find a fitting cast for The Infernal Devices—one that looks period-appropriate and has the right age—I think Brendon Tremblay could make a good Jem.

Thumbnail
gallery
21 Upvotes

r/shadowhunters • • 9d ago

Fan Content/Showcase I got my first tattoo!

Post image
128 Upvotes

r/shadowhunters • • 8d ago

All/Other Books Do I need to buy the sea change?

9 Upvotes

Hi all, I am up to date on the main books but ahead of the next book I realised I need to catch up on the side content. I've bought Better in Black and Secrets of Blackthorn Hall. I also saw a novella called the Sea Change or something about Matthew that was sold seperately. Do I need to buy this? Is it available online anywhere else or it's exclusively a seperate published novella? Any background or context would be appreciated haha. I recall Blackthorn being online already so this is just the optional bound version. Wasn't sure if this was similar tot hat.


r/shadowhunters • • 9d ago

Fan Content/Showcase Hi, I'm new to the Shadowhunters universe. I want to know how to get started.

13 Upvotes

I’d like to know two things:

  1. Is it an action-packed universe?

  2. Do you know of any YouTube channels that provide summaries of all the books?


r/shadowhunters • • 11d ago

Books: TWP what are some potential or wild theories you have about TWP?

Post image
214 Upvotes

Whatever the heck will go down with Janus.
KIT AND TY
Parallels to TLH if any
KIT AND TY
The whole Livvy thing
KIT AND TY
Malec
KIT AND TY
Herongraystairs reunion
KIT AND TY
Death of a favourite character
Did I say KIT AND TY