Monday 15 February 2021

Ranking the Shadowhunter Books



First things first, I'm only ranking the books I've read. I'm a little behind and there are a few books that I haven't read yet so if there are some missing it's because I haven't read them yet. I like ranking things. You like seeing me rank things. My favourite will probably be a pretty big surprise. Don't skip ahead. Also SPOILERS I will be mentioning little things here and there so proceed with caution.

16. Bane Chronicles


"Magnus thought once again of the blue-eyed man standing in his parlor."


This should come as no surprise. This book was the weak link. I don't know a single person that actually really loved this book. Especially no one that would put this book above anything else. 


15. Shadowhunter Codex


"The Great and Tragic Love of Jonathan Shadowhunter and David the Silent, by Clary Fray, Aged 17.
SIMON IT WAS BY SIMON NOT ME"

Yes, I'm putting this above Bane Chronicles. While this wasn't a real story, it still had character from the writing in the margins, plus it had really pretty artwork. Bane Chronicles was boring and had no artwork. I stand by this decision.


14. City of Bones


“Is this the part where you start tearing off strips of your shirt to bind my wounds?"
"If you wanted me to rip my clothes off, you should have just asked.”


I think I've read this book and seen so many adaptations of this book that I've kinda started to hate it. I'm never rereading this book I can guarantee it. It has a special place in my heart because it was the first, but the writing wasn't very good. And the plot could have been better. Cassandra Clare has just progressed so far past this book that it's hard to look back. 


13. Clockwork Prince


“Ah,” said a voice from the doorway, “having your annual ‘everyone thinks Will is a lunatic’ meeting, are you?
“It’s biannual,” said Jem. “And no, this is not that meeting.”


I kinda don't remember this one much. I remember Tessa and Jem getting engaged. And I remember not hating it so it's at least above City of Bones.


12. City of Ashes


“I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead."

I reread this one a couple of years ago and it was a lot better than I remembered it being. It still isn't my favourite Shadowhunter book, but I have a newfound appreciation for it. It's a pretty good book. 


11. Clockwork Angel


“Remember when you tried to convince me to feed a poultry pie to the mallards in the park to see if you could breed a race of cannibal ducks?"
"They ate it too," Will reminisced. "Bloodthirsty little beasts. Never trust a duck.”

The Infernal Devices were never my favourite Shadowhunter series, however, they did include my OTP Will and Tessa. I love those two. I will always love those two. The two of them give me butterflies.


10. City of Fallen Angels


“You're the first Shadowhunter I've ever met."
“That’s too bad,” said Jace, “since all the others you meet from now on will be a terrible letdown.”

This was kind of a filler book, but a good filler book. I really enjoyed what was happening and it really set the next book up for success. This book was building up this tension that completely paid off in the next installment. 


9. Queen of Air and Darkness


“Faith isn’t never having any doubts; it’s having what you need to overcome them.”

So much happened in this book, good and bad. It was 100% a good book but I felt like it was left off with too much of a cliffhanger. It was the final book in that trilogy but it was really just a bit of a midseason break. This is going to carry on into the next series and I felt like that left me hanging in a way I didn't really like. I would have appreciated more of a close to that chapter. Now I have to wait a while before getting any type of closure.


8. City of Heavenly Fire


“I did not make a pie,” Alec repeated, gesturing expressively with one hand, “for three reasons. One, because I do not have any pie ingredients. Two, because I don’t actually know how to make a pie.”
He paused, clearly waiting.
Removing his sword and leaning it against the cave wall, Jace said warily, “And three?”
“Because I am not your bitch,” Alec said, clearly pleased with himself.”

This is the only Mortal Instruments book I've only read once, but I remember it well enough to still love it. I will always remember Alec's iconic line. You know the one. It really made me love him as a character.


7. Clockwork Princess


"Marry me, Tess. Marry me and be called Tessa Herondale. Or be Tessa Gray, or be whatever you wish to call yourself, but marry me and stay with me and never leave me, for I cannot bear another day of my life to go by that does not have you in it.”

That epilogue still makes me cry. Also, I said Will and Tessa were my favourite so them finally getting together makes this book an immediate yes for me. 


6. City of Glass


“I am a man" he told her, "and men do not consume pink beverages. Get thee gone woman, and bring me something brown.”

If this had been the series finale I would have been happy with it. It had a great story arch and brought everything to a peaceful close. I'm glad the series didn't stop with this one because I feel like the second story arch really elevated the entire series, but I definitely wouldn't have been mad if it had ended here. It was at this point that I really got into this series and I just binged the rest of the books that were out at that point. 


5. Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy


“I love you. I love you without the memories. I love you right now."
Isabelle said in a calm voice, "I know."
Simon stared at her. "Was that...," he said slowly. "Was that a Star Wars reference? Because if it was, I would like to declare my love all over again.”

I know, this is surprisingly high. Hear me out though. This book had me so excited for everything that was coming. It was so cool seeing into the lives of characters we hadn't met yet. We met James and Matthew and got to see a little into what their friendship was like and what their lives were like. We even got to see some of James' cool Shadow powers. This collection of stories were just so exciting. And we finally got to see Simon and Izzy get together for good. It was so satisfying. 


4. Lady Midnight


“That's not the spirit of the law, Emma. Remember? The Law is hard, but it is the Law."
"I thought it was 'the Law is annoying, but it is also flexible.”

When I say this book was a gamechanger... I read this book and I was in awe of how far Cassandra Clare had come as an author. Obviously in her past series' there were lots of characters with fully fleshed out stories, but this book was like that but on steroids. This book had a main character, but all the other main cast of characters shared equal "screentime". Honestly, the main characters were probably the least interesting characters in this book. There were so many interesting characters with interesting lives and storylines. It was during this book when I realized how much I loved this world she had created.


3. Lord of Shadows


“There were valuable first editions of books in the enormous library, most of them had been scribbled in by some idiot named Will H.”

I didn't think it could get better than Lady Midnight, but then it did. After this, Queen of Air and Darkness was a bit of a letdown, I have to say. This series was probably Cassandra Clare's strongest overall so far. Amazing characters and amazing plots. 


2. Chain of Gold


“Will sat down beside his wife and pulled her into his lap. “I am going to kiss your mother now,” he announced. “Flee if you will, children. If not, we could play Ludo when the romance is over.”

This one took me a surprisingly long time to read, but I loved every second of it. I think not completely devouring it right off the bat really helped me savour the story and the characters. This was really the best of both worlds. We got to see old beloved characters from past books and we were introduced to so many new characters. They all had amazing plotlines. I loved them all, I mean except like two or three characters. Even characters that were "bad" I could see where they were coming from. There was just so much empathy in these characters. Even if I didn't like what they were doing, I could understand why they were doing it. 


1. City of Lost Souls


“Basia coquum," Simon said. "Or whatever their motto is."
"It's 'Descensus Averno facilis est.' 'The descent into hell is easy," said Alec. "You just said "Kiss the cook."
"Dammit," said Simon. "I knew Jace was screwing with me.”

This may be surprising or maybe not. If you've been reading my blog for a while you would know I loved this book. It's probably the book I've reread the most out of all of Cassandra Clare's books. I can't get enough of this one. I know it definitely isn't everyone's favourite though. So this book isn't the best probably in any category I've talked about previously, but I couldn't find it within myself to not put it at 1. It holds too much sentimental value and just general nostalgia for me to put it any lower. If I was stranded on a desert island and I could only bring one book with me it would probably be this one. It's probably one of the funniest books in the series. 


How would you guys rank them? I would love to know!

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