Originally I was going to write one huge post after I finished all of Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter universe books, but as it has been almost four years and I still have two books to go, I figured I should start writing now as I’m forgotting some of my original thoughts after four years. These things are entertaining but they are looong.

As is, The Mortal Instruments series are technically two trilogies as the first three books were supposed to be a one and done thing before she signed on to continue it to make a total of six.

These six books are great, after all they ar the beginning to an amazing, fantastical and oftentimes dangerous universe that is as epic as the Biblical angels the protagonist fight in the name of. But don’t worry about the religious connotations because while they have a part in it, it’s more for the allusions and lore. Diversity is one of Clare’s strongpoints featuring characters of various sexualities, and does her best to broach on topics of racism, and mental illness though this is often crouched in fantasy/werewolf/vampire/fae metaphors as a given part of the genre.

What drew me in, as for any book that draws me in, are the characters. The characters breath the life and soul into the books and Clare does a wonderful job exploring the messiness of being human. The jealousy, the intensity of love, hate, friendships good and bad, and the mistakes. But despite how messed up they can get in the eternal fight for good and evil, the love the characters have for each other as family, friends and lovers are the true bond in the story.

Additionally, I just love the sweeping prose of Clare, the way she writes emotions, and nature and glory in all its epicness. I’m probably going to be using that adjective a lot because it feels epic. And not in the radically-totally cool definition of epic but the more medival Biblical/mythological good vs evil sort of epic.

Not that it is perfect. After all, this was one of Clare’s first books sprung out of Harry Potter fanfiction. The character development was slow at first and primarly focused on the main characters, Clary and Jace and their intense, soul bound angst and love, which could get old fast. Lore felt a bit superficial with lots of exposition to explain things and you can tell which characterization bits sprung from Harry Potter. Not to mention the snark in battle. I get it, it’s a classic trope to show how cool the protagonists are and to show that they’re teenagers but sometimes it felted tacked on. Especially with Jace, his personality was built on sarcasm. I’ll admit he had some clever lines but when you build his personality on sarcasm and angst, and swing wildly between the two, he came across as an ass most of the time.

Not that I dislike him much anymore. He’s decent by the end of the series, but I prefer the other characters like Simon and Izzy and Alec and Magnus and a lot of others. But then again, I’ve always preferred side characters to the mains.

Now to rank the books!

1. City of Heavenly Angels: It makes sense I think after all it is a culmination of the series and shows how much Clare has progressed in worldbuilding and writing. The character dynamics are engaging, funny and moving, platonically and romantically. Jace finally matures into someone decent and not always angsting. Clary gets a power up. Sebastian acted as wonderfully sadistic and chilling villain. People died, people celebrated. It was just a good end to it that even if the series had ended here, I’d have been satisfied.
2. City of Fallen Angels: I generally enjoy the second trilogy more because of how darker and more intense it feels. Additionally there is no more creepy possible incest. Of course that is replaced by a different Jace angst but at least it wasn’t incest. Plus it has more focus on the characters that are not Clary and Jace. Like my favorites, Simon and Izzy. It also introduces conflict to Malec ship with the intriguing Camille Belcourt as well as Simon’s own arc involving the Mark of Cain and how all the vampires vye for his alliance now. It also introduces Jordan and include more Maia as part of that.
3. City of Glass: The epic finals tend to be good as it wraps up the plot threads and gives a nice limelight moment for each character. It does so here, revealing the last Mortal Instrument in a surprising twist. Offers several heart-wrenching deaths. A temporary triumph over evil and resolution to the incest plot that ends in not-incest thankfully.
4. City of Bones: It was interesting as an introduction, and obviously does something right in hooking millions of people but it’s lower than the others because as it is the first book, it is clear that Clare is still finding her footing and creating the world so everything is much more broad strokes.
5. City of Ashes: Honestly I forget what happened in this one, other than the final battle on the ship and the implied relationship between Imogen and Jace. I know the Valentine revelations were engaging and intriguing enough for me to remember it. But other plotlines besides that were apparently forgettable to me.
6. City of Lost Souls: This felt a bit like filler simply because of how focused it was on Jace and Clary’s “vacation” through Europe. Well not really a vacation since Jace was half-possessed by Sebastian and killed an Iron Sister but it felt too much page space was given to them. The saving graces were Izzy confiding in Simon about her feelings on love, Maia and Jordan reconnecting and discussing what happened between them before the dramatic death and the Malec drama.

So this is the series that started it all and while it still has some flaws and can be a bit verbose, but it takes you on a wild adventure that truly hits a certain spark about human’s messy emotions and the bonds of love. You know, with a fantasy flare.