#i haven’t even read the eldest curses. or tales from shadowhunter academy. or the bane chronicles. in fact the only spinoff i’ve read

[katnissgirlsmakedo]

ideal shadowhunter chronicles reading order for anyone i’ve somehow convinced to pick up a cassandra clare book in 2022:

ok so you wanna start with the mortal instruments, ideally you’d read the first three tmi books, then the infernal devices, and then the last three mortal instruments. but you can do all six tmi and then tid. then the bane chronicles, then tales from shadowhunter academy, then all three of the dark artifices, then ghosts of the shadow market but only the first two ghosts of the shadow market stories need to be read before the last hours. because obviously you end with the last hours, and you can pepper in secrets of blackthorn hall during the last hours. i should be telling you to only read secrets of blackthorn hall after you’ve read at least one of the last hours but clearly i didn’t even do that so i’m not about to tell anyone else to lol. and the eldest curses is tricky because you can read the first one anytime after city of fallen angels but you can’t read the second one until after tales from shadowhunter academy i think (i’m not an expert on the eldest curses i haven’t read them). and then of course the third one hasn’t been released nor has chain of thorns. anyway. just putting that out there that it’s absolutely illegal to even think about hanging out with cordelia until you’re friends with emma. you won’t get it the same.

#beth.txt #tsc

[tea-and-cats-and-books]

The Shadowhunter Chronicles rated by Alec content:

The Infernal Devices

Alec hasn’t been born yet. A true tragedy for the characters living in this time- 0/10

The Last Hours

Alec still hasn’t been born yet, and unless he time travels, will not appear. This is very sad- 0/10

The Mortal Instruments

City of Bones- We’re introduced my grumpy precious little angel child- 10/10

City of Ashes- Alec continues to be the best even though nobody properly appreciates him- 10/10

City of Glass- Yay for Alec! - 10/10

City of Fallen Angels- Alec comes back from vacation and is still the best (plus I adore those postcards)- 10/10

City of Lost Souls- This book hurts my soul, and I need this to be fixed yesterday, but Alec is still better than everyone- 10/10

City of Heavenly Fire- Alec is 100% done with everyone and tells them what’s what and I love it. Alec wins at life- 10/10

The Bane Chronicles

Alec is adorable and perfect and I love him and wow I love reading him from Magnus’s point of view (even if those voicemails cause me great pain)- 10/10

Tales from Shadowhunter Academy

Alec and Simon talking and becoming proper friends + Born to Endless Night= A+++++++++++- 10/10

The Long Conversation

pouty, considering poisoning the punch, worrying about his family Alec- 10/10

The Dark Artifices

Lady Midnight- Magnus says he’s going to meet Alec in Buenos Aires and Emma sees Alec through a portal at the end- 10/10

Lord of Shadows- Alec becomes the temporary Head of the London Institute and is the best as always- 10/10

Queen of Air and Darkness- ALEC BECOMES CONSUL AND GETS MARRIED AND IS THE BEST FICTIONAL CHARACTER EVER- 10/10

A Love That Never Tires

Alec hanging out with Jace towards the end of his wedding party- 10/10

Ghosts of the Shadow Market

BABY ALEC HIDING BEHIND A VASE AND THE LAND I LOST- 10/10

The Eldest Curses

ALEC IS A MAIN CHARACTER-  ∞/10

The Red Scrolls of Magic- ALEC IS BASICALLY A FAIRY TALE PRINCE, EXCEPT BETTER BECAUSE HE IS ALEC, AND THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 -  ∞/10

The Lost Book of the White- ALEC GOES ON AND ADVENTURE WITH THE PEOPLE HE LOVES MOST AS THE MAIN CHARACTER AND IS BEST DAD, BEST HUSBAND BOYFRIEND AND SAVES THE DAY LIKE THE FAIRY TALE PRINCE HE IS  💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖-  ∞/10

The Wicked Powers

haven’t been written yet, but Alec will be there, so- 10/10

The Shadowhunters Codex

A list of Alec’s stats is included- 10/10

Not for Humans

Alec having to deal with his idiot of a parabatai and not noticing a drunk Magnus checking him out- 10/10

Kissed

💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 - 10/10

A History of Notable Shadowhunters & Denziens of Downworld: Told in the Language of Flowers

Alec threw Magnus a surprise birthday party where the guests were cats- 10/10

Classics Reimagined in the World of the Shadowhunters

Alec is Snow White- 10/10

#Alec Lightwood #Alec Lightwood Bane #happy birthday alec! #the shadowhunter chronicles #Shadowhunter Chronicles #the mortal instruments #The Eldest Curses #the dark artifices #The Lost Book of the White #tsc post #Classics Reimagined in the World of the Shadowhunters #A History of Notable Shadowhunters & Denziens of Downworld: Told in the Language of Flowers #Not For Humans #The Shadowhunters Codex #The Wicked Powers #Ghosts of the Shadow Market

[khaleesiofalicante]

If I have only read The Mortal Instruments, will I be able to understand what is going on in The Eldest Curses? P.S.: Love your blog :)

Hello!

Thank you :)

To answer your question, it is both yes and a no.

Unlike the other tsc trilogies, TEC has time skips. A significant amount of time (and events) passes between each book. So, the books you need to read in order to understand TEC sort of changes with each book.

TEC #1 - The Red Scrolls of Magic 

Essential reading: City of Bones, City of Ashes & City of Glass

Recommended for context: Last three TMI books and TID (If you want to understand references and mentions - especially from Magnus’ perspective)

TEC #2 - The Lost Book of the White

Essential reading: TMI, TRSOM & Born to Endless Night (A story from Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy about Malec adopting Max)

Recommended for context: The Bane Chronicles & Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy (Helps you understand Magnus and Alec’s relationships with their best friends - and their lives at the present - who will play important roles in tlbotw)

TEC #3 - The Black Volume of the Dead

Essential Reading: TMI, TRSOM, TLBOTW & The Land I Lost (A story from Ghosts of the Shadow Market about malec adopting Rafe)

Recommended for context: TDA & Ghosts of the Shadow Market (Since the story unfolds after the events of these books)

Personally, I would recommend that you read them all (as I am trying to!!) because it makes the books so much more interesting. There are witty references, emotional throwbacks and beautiful parallels between TEC and the other tsc books. But it is completely your choice :)

NOTE - When I read trsom, I noticed that the writers wrote it in a way that you understand who the characters are and what is happening - even if you haven’t read TMI or any other tsc books. (For eg: Magnus gives a brief summary of his relationship with Alec and there is a lot of reminiscing of the past events. So, you get the context quite easily) So, I wouldn’t worry about being terribly lost if you haven’t read all the books :)

[unconditionallyclueless]

TSC Reading Guide

So I’ve seen many reading guides on what order to read Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter Chronicle books and I would like to offer my suggestions.

My guide will be for people who haven’t read any of her books yet and want to know where to start. So that being said, I have 2 guides: an unconventional order -which is the suggested one - and a conventional order.

In summary, if you want the “full reader experience” you’ll want to read the books in publication order. If you still want to read the books but aren’t bother by possibly spoiling certain plots, I’d recommend reading TMI, TID, TBC, TFTSA, TDA. GOTSM, and TEC in that order. Below the cut, I explain my reasoning as well as list the books individually in my recommended orders. 

So if you have never heard of these books and have not been spoiled on plot points, while this is gonna sound weird, I would recommend reading the books in publication order. This does mean you’ll be jumping back and forth between series in the beginning but to get the same reactions and feelings readers got as these books were being published, this is probably the best way to read them. The main reason is that The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, while separate series that can be read by themselves, are related and the plots are kind of intertwined. Without spoiling anything, they basically reveal information about each other. So if you want to find out information as readers found it out as the books were published, this is the order I would recommend. Following publication order, the order would be:

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)

City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)

City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3)

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1)

City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) 

Clockwork Prince  (The Infernal Devices #2)

City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5)

Clockwork Princess  (The Infernal Devices #3)

City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6)

The Bane Chronicles

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy 

Lady Midnight  (The Dark Artifices #1)

Lord of Shadows  (The Dark Artifices #2)

Queen of Air and Darkness  (The Dark Artifices #3)

The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses #1)

Ghosts of the Shadow Market

The other companion books (The Shadowhunter’s Codex, Shadowhunters and Downworlders, and A History of Notable Shadowhunters & Denizens of Downworld: Told in the Language of Flowers) can be read in any order as they don’t really reveal plot and are just supplemental to the other books. I would say they can be read anytime after finishing TMI and TID. 

That being said, the weird jumping back and forth might be a bit weird for some people. If you’d prefer to read each entire series at once, then the order I’d recommend is the following:

The Mortal Instruments

The Infernal Devices

The Bane Chronicles

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy

The Dark Artifices

Ghosts of the Shadow Market

The Eldest Curses (this series in not completed)

There isn’t much difference between them besides the fact that you finish TMI before starting TID. Like I mentioned before, doing this will reveal very important information in TID that I believe will ruin the experience of reading TID. You could read TID before TMI but in my opinion the Shadowhunters’ world is set up more for the reader in TMI. But this is just a suggestion. 

I will mention I did not even follow either of these guides when I read the series. I first read the series in the August of 2012, which meant the latest book that was published was City of Lost Souls. If I’m not mistaken, I kept up with the publications until City of Heavenly Fire was published in 2014 and then unfortunately, I stopped reading books altogether because life got in the way. I only got back into reading these books and reading in general in December 2018 so my reading order was kind of messed up and I was also spoiled of a lot things before reading them. So I read the books in this order and still thoroughly enjoyed them:

City of Bones 

City of Ashes

City of Glass

City of Fallen Angels

City of Lost Souls

Clockwork Angel 

Clockwork Prince

Clockwork Princess

City of Heavenly Fire

Lady Midnight

Lord of Shadows

Queen of Air and Darkness

The Bane Chronicles

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy 

The Red Scrolls of Magic 

Ghosts of the Shadow Market

Anyways, I hope this wasn’t too confusing and I don’t mean to say there is one correct way to read the books. You can do whatever you want. These are just my suggestions since seeing there are 15+ TSC books! 

P.S.  I’m sorry if the formatting on this looks weird; I used to use this app to just scroll through content and I never posted so this is kind of new for me :)

#the shadowhunter chronicles #the mortal instruments #the infernal devices #the dark artifices #the bane chronicles #tales from the shadowhunter academy #ghosts of the shadow market #cassandra clare

[tea-and-cats-and-books]

The Shadowhunter Chronicles rated by Alec content:

The Infernal Devices

Alec hasn’t been born yet. A true tragedy for the characters living in this time- 0/10

The Last Hours

Alec still hasn’t been born yet, and unless he time travels, will not appear. This is very sad- 0/10

The Mortal Instruments

City of Bones- We’re introduced my grumpy precious little angel child- 10/10

City of Ashes- Alec continues to be the best even though nobody properly appreciates him- 10/10

City of Glass- Yay for Alec! - 10/10

City of Fallen Angels- Alec comes back from vacation and is still the best (plus I adore those postcards)- 10/10

City of Lost Souls- This book hurts my soul, and I need this to be fixed yesterday, but Alec is still better than everyone- 10/10

City of Heavenly Fire- Alec is 100% done with everyone and tells them what’s what and I love it. Alec wins at life- 10/10

The Bane Chronicles

Alec is adorable and perfect and I love him and wow I love reading him from Magnus’s point of view (even if those voicemails cause me great pain)- 10/10

Tales from Shadowhunter Academy

Alec and Simon talking and becoming proper friends + Born to Endless Night= A+++++++++++- 10/10

The Long Conversation

pouty, considering poisoning the punch, worrying about his family Alec- 10/10

The Dark Artifices

Lady Midnight- Magnus says he’s going to meet Alec in Buenos Aires and Emma sees Alec through a portal at the end- 10/10

Lord of Shadows- Alec becomes the temporary Head of the London Institute and is the best as always- 10/10

Queen of Air and Darkness- ALEC BECOMES CONSUL AND GETS MARRIED AND IS THE BEST FICTIONAL CHARACTER EVER- 10/10

A Love That Never Tires

Alec hanging out with Jace towards the end of his wedding party- 10/10

Ghosts of the Shadow Market

BABY ALEC HIDING BEHIND A VASE AND THE LAND I LOST- 10/10

The Eldest Curses

ALEC IS A MAIN CHARACTER-  ∞/10

The Red Scrolls of Magic- ALEC IS BASICALLY A FAIRY TALE PRINCE, EXCEPT BETTER BECAUSE HE IS ALEC, AND THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 -  ∞/10

The Wicked Powers

haven’t been written yet, but Alec will be there, so- 10/10

The Shadowhunters Codex

A list of Alec’s stats is included- 10/10

Not for Humans

Alec having to deal with his idiot of a parabatai and not noticing a drunk Magnus checking him out- 10/10

Kissed

💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 💖 - 10/10

A History of Notable Shadowhunters & Denziens of Downworld: Told in the Language of Flowers

Alec threw Magnus a surprise birthday party where the guests were cats- 10/10

Classics Reimagined in the World of the Shadowhunters

Alec is Snow White- 10/10

#Alec Lightwood #Alec Lightwood Bane #The Red Scrolls of Magic #The Eldest Curses #the shadowhunter chronicles #updated version of old post #I'll have to update it every time something new with Alec comes out #tsc post #quote post