Editors Reads
FantasyYoung AdultUrban Fantasy

Cassandra Clare

American · b. 1978

12 books reviewed Avg rating 4.4 / 5Top rating 4.8 / 5

New York Times bestselling author

Cassandra Clare is an American fantasy author best known for her Mortal Instruments series, blending urban fantasy, romance, and elaborate world-building for young adults.

Cassandra Clare launched her career in the mid-2000s with City of Bones, the first installment of The Mortal Instruments series, introducing readers to a hidden world of Shadowhunters — demon hunters descended from angels — living alongside mundane humans in a richly imagined version of New York City. City of Ashes and City of Glass continued the series, deepening both the mythology and the central relationships with considerable momentum. Clare had already cultivated a fanbase through online fan fiction, and she carried that instinct for serialized storytelling into her novels.

Her strengths are clear: propulsive plotting, an immersive world that keeps expanding across multiple series, and romantic tension that fans find irresistible. City of Glass in particular is often cited as the emotional peak of the original trilogy, delivering the payoffs that readers had been waiting for across three books. The prose itself is serviceable rather than literary, and the sheer volume of her output — multiple interconnected series spanning the same universe — has led some readers to feel the world has become over-crowded and repetitive over time.

Clare remains one of the most commercially successful voices in young adult fantasy. Readers who invest in her Shadowhunter universe tend to stay devoted; those who bounce off the writing style or the romantic focus early on are unlikely to be won back. For the right audience, the trilogy that begins with City of Bones delivers exactly what it promises.


Reading Guides

12 Books Reviewed

Clockwork Princess book cover

Clockwork Princess

by Cassandra Clare

4.8

The Infernal Devices reaches its devastating, then beautiful, conclusion. Mortmain's clockwork army threatens every Shadowhunter, but it is the question of Will, Jem, and Tessa — and whether love can survive impossible choices — that makes this ending one of the most discussed in young adult fiction.

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Clockwork Prince book cover

Clockwork Prince

by Cassandra Clare

4.6

The London Institute is threatened with closure unless its leader can be vindicated. Will and Jem must uncover the Magister's true identity before a deadline expires — while Tessa finds her feelings for both of them becoming impossible to deny or resolve. The love triangle deepens into something that resists easy resolution.

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Lord of Shadows book cover

Lord of Shadows

by Cassandra Clare

4.6

Emma and Julian's investigation into the ritual murders leads them across the Atlantic to London and the Shadowhunter Academy, while the Cohort — a faction of Shadowhunter extremists — gains political power. The middle volume of the Dark Artifices trilogy expands the world's politics and brings back characters from across the Shadowhunter Chronicles.

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City of Glass book cover
Bestseller

City of Glass

by Cassandra Clare

4.5

Clary and Jace travel to Idris, the Shadowhunters' hidden homeland, where Valentine seeks the power to destroy all Downworlders — and a revelation about Clary's true identity changes everything she thought she knew.

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Clockwork Angel book cover

Clockwork Angel

by Cassandra Clare

4.5

Victorian London, 1878. Tessa Gray arrives from New York looking for her brother and is captured by demons. Rescued by the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, she discovers she has a rare power: she can transform into anyone she touches. Set a century before the Mortal Instruments, the Infernal Devices prequel trilogy begins here.

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Lady Midnight book cover

Lady Midnight

by Cassandra Clare

4.5

Los Angeles, five years after the events of City of Heavenly Fire. Emma Carstairs is a Shadowhunter obsessed with finding the truth about her parents' murders, and her parabatai Julian Blackthorn is hiding feelings for her that Shadowhunter law forbids. As a series of ritual murders echoes the killings that took Emma's parents, the first Dark Artifices novel opens a new chapter in the Shadowhunter world.

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Queen of Air and Darkness book cover

Queen of Air and Darkness

by Cassandra Clare

4.5

The Shadowhunter world is fracturing: the Cohort has seized control of the Clave, Emma and Julian's parabatai bond has become something that threatens to destroy them both, and an invasion from the faerie realm hangs over everything. The Dark Artifices concludes in Clare's longest single volume — 912 pages that resolve multiple series' worth of threads.

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City of Heavenly Fire book cover

City of Heavenly Fire

by Cassandra Clare

4.4

Sebastian Morgenstern's endgame unfolds as he attacks the Institutes across the world, turning Shadowhunters into his Endarkened army. Clary and her friends must descend into the demon realms to stop him — and the cost of the final confrontation will reach into the very foundation of the Shadow World.

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City of Ashes book cover

City of Ashes

by Cassandra Clare

4.2

Clary Fray must protect those she loves as Valentine prepares to raise a demon army, while the revelation about her relationship to Jace casts a shadow over everything.

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City of Lost Souls book cover

City of Lost Souls

by Cassandra Clare

4.1

Jace has disappeared — taken and bound to Sebastian Morgenstern — and Clary must go undercover to find him, pretending to join Sebastian while searching for a way to free Jace from the demonic tie that controls him. The stakes are higher than ever as Sebastian prepares to raise an army.

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City of Fallen Angels book cover

City of Fallen Angels

by Cassandra Clare

4.0

The Mortal War is over, but Clary and Jace's happiness is short-lived. Someone is murdering Shadowhunters and turning their bodies into weapons. As Jace struggles with dark visions that threaten his relationship with Clary, a new and terrifying enemy emerges — one whose connection to Valentine's legacy runs deeper than anyone suspected.

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Reading Guides & Lists

Frequently Asked Questions

What order should I read Cassandra Clare books?

The Shadowhunter Chronicles has multiple series. Recommended reading order: The Mortal Instruments (City of Bones first), then The Infernal Devices (Clockwork Angel), then The Dark Artifices, then The Last Hours, then The Eldest Curses. The Bane Chronicles can be read alongside any series. Each series is set in the same world but different time periods.

Do I need to read all the Shadowhunter series?

No — each series can be read as a standalone, though later series assume some familiarity with the world. The Mortal Instruments (6 books) is the original series and the most complete starting point. The Infernal Devices (3 books) is widely considered the best entry point for new readers.

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