The Cassandra Clare-athon
Prior to 2024, I had been in a reading slump for years – I mean years, I can’t even remember the last time I sat down and just devoured a good book. I blame life happening (graduating uni, full-time work, moving out of home etc etc), and also a severe fanfiction addiction. Something I occasionally did is re-read an old favourite – Carry On, The Hating Game, The Foxhole Court - all books I knew I loved, safe reads that didn’t use a lot of brain power or energy. But I started thinking to myself, I have to read something new. The thought was so daunting, it paralysed me and the reading slump continued (for months!).
That’s when the Cassandra Clare-athon came to me. The Shadowhunter universe was a comfort to me, something I knew I would enjoy and a universe that had fresh books to offer me, as well as re-reads. I had read The Mortal Instruments as they were released back when I was a teenager, but hadn’t continued once the The Dark Artifices were published. So the Shadowhunter Chronicles seemed like a good idea to me: start safe with a re-read, move into a new series, guaranteed to enjoy it and it'll keep me going for a while. And so began my journey - which is yet to be completed.
There is debate about what order to read The Shadowhunter Chronicles in - release order or chronological order. What I have is is neither of those and I honestly do not recommend this for first time readers. I did it this way to break up what I was re-reading and what was new to me.
I read the graphic novels here and there, as a break in between novels. They are still being released.
I am unsure how far my Cassandra Clare-athon will go. The spin-off books do intrigue me, but aren’t a priority (excluding Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy).
While the re-reads were fun and enjoyable, I came out of this experience with a new favourite: The Dark Artifices. It’s interesting to see Clare’s writing evolve from book to book, and she truly just gets better and better with each release. But The Dark Artifices are just really special to me. Without having to dedicate as much time to world building and re-explaining the lore of Shadowhunters, Clare is able to jump right into an intriguing mystery and show new, darker aspects of the world we’ve grown to love.
The large cast of characters are lovable but also incredibly flawed in such realistic ways. The content is definitely more mature, but still sits within the YA genre - I also think the maturity has to do with her writing improving.
The only aspect that annoyed me a little, and is something that I just have to accept is a part of Cassandra Clare’s stories, is the main romance. I don’t know how she does it, but I’m always rooting for everyone’s relationships…expect the main couple. The Emma x Julian saga was a little too repetitive for me, constantly back and forth with the ‘we shouldn’t do this’ and the doing it anyway.
I’m not the only one who had issues with this relationship - my brother joined the Cassandra Clare-athon and could not stand the constant back and forth and the characters inability to control themselves and their urges.
I could overlook most of this, because of how much I enjoyed everything else – particularly the love triangle solved by becoming a throuple, because that’s how I say all those situations should be solved.
Of course there will always be a special place in my heart for the OG Mortal Instruments characters (particularly Simon) as I feel like I grew up with those guys. As well as reading the books, I did watch The Mortal Instruments film and the Shadowhunters TV show. I am not a fan of the TV show as an adaptation, but I did have a great time watching it. My brother and I watched it together and we enjoyed poking fun at the show and laughing at the goofy additions to the plot.
At the time of writing this, I am reading Chain of Iron, the second book in The Last Hours trilogy. I would say that this is my least favourite series in the Shadowhunter Chronicles so far, which is a bit disappointing, but I’m committed to seeing it through. I’m hoping to wrap up this project by early next year, so that I can hopefully come out of this de-reading slump and be able to read the countless new books on my shelf.
Who’s to say I won’t be going through this again in 2026 when The Wicked Powers trilogy’s first instalment, The Last King of Faerie, is released.
