Explore Cassandra Clare’s Magically Gritty, Dangerously Romantic World

Meet the Shadowhunters
When her mother goes missing and a mysterious hot boy comes to her aid, Brooklyn teen Clary Fray finds out about the world of the Shadowhunters. They’re a long line of warriors with a drop of angel blood that helps them use magic to fight the demons that venture into our world. The six-book Mortal Instruments series operates more like two trilogies starring the same cast of Shadowhunters, who live and fight in modern-day New York City.

Our budding (slightly geeky) Heroine
Throughout the series, we watch Clary grow from a funny, artistic teenage girl into a fierce warrior with the power to save the Shadowhunters, and perhaps even the human race. She faces down danger like the comic book heroines she’s always loved, and through it all still banters like a 1940s screwball star. After the disappearance of her mother, she’s taken into the Shadowhunters’ New York Institute, where she learns about her own connection to these soldiers, and joins forces with three other teenagers who seem a lot better than their parents are at fighting evil.

A twisted love triangle
On the one hand, Clary’s got her lifelong best friend Simon, who wants to be much more than a pal, and on the other, she’s got the mysterious Jace, who lets his arrogance slide just a little bit to let her in. Some really messed-up family issues complicate matters and introduce emotional realism to counterbalance the magic.

Frenemies
We mentioned vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and faeries, didn’t we? Clare adds just enough urban grit and wit to make these groups more than your stock fantasy species. The shining example is Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn, who’s centuries old but modern and wild enough to hang with a bunch of kids.

Truly despicable enemies
Clary’s father, Valentine, is not just an evil mastermind who experimented on his own children, but also a despicable bigot. His successor in the villain category, Sebastian, is a first-rate psychopath. Both present the kind of relentless danger that keeps readers up all night.

The New York reality
Clary’s adventures are grounded in the details of the real world she’s grown up in, mostly unaware of the magic happening around her. Following her in and out of clubs, cafés, and typical teen hangouts makes the story feel believable, despite those demons lurking in the corners.

The Idris mythology
Clary and Simon are the perfect characters through which to explore this intricate mythology, which is never dumped on readers all at once, but unspools gradually over the course of each book. It’s also complex enough that Clare has published The Shadowhunter’s Codex, the reference book within the books, to help dedicated fans remember the best ways to kill a demon or draw a healing rune.

Victorian steampunk glamour
In Clare’s prequel trilogy, the Infernal Devices series, American orphan Tessa Gray is on her way to meet her brother in London when she’s kidnapped by some truly terrible old biddies who force her to unlock her frightening talent for shapeshifting. When she shifts into the bodies of others, even the dead, she sees the dark underbelly of the city. There are plenty of proper corsets and pretty gowns to imagine, as well as giant evil automaton armies that threaten the Shadowhunters and everyone they would protect.

Interspecies love triangle
Tessa might as well be in one of her favorite adventure novels when a striking young man comes to her rescue and brings her back to the London Shadowhunter Institute, where she’s taken in. Will is dashing and loves to read as much as Tessa does, but he constantly pushes her away. His best friend, Jem, is dying of an addiction to a demon drug, but Tessa is as drawn to his fragile beauty and gentle nature as she is to Will’s fire. The way all three characters love each other makes this one of the most heart-wrenching love triangles in teen lit.

Another female heroine to admire
We don’t just love Tessa, who turns out to be a special kind of supernatural. There’s also Charlotte, the head of the London Institute, who manages to care for four teenage orphans (and the number keeps growing), face down attacks on her leadership in a time when women weren’t in charge of much at all, and wrangle her absent-minded scientist husband, all while kicking demon butt when she has to.

Superfan Easter eggs
Clockwork Angel came out before City of Glass, and that’s where careful readers of both series can begin to see how the stories intertwine. Though this steampunk-tinged trilogy can stand on its own, there’s another layer of enjoyment when you see how the generations of Shadowhunters and werewolves, as well as the immortal warlocks and vampires, evolve from one era into the next. The later Mortal Instruments books feature occasional references to Tessa and her friends, and there’s an elaborate (spoiler-filled) family tree in Clockwork Princess that explains how they all are (literally) related to each other.

Magnus Bane
Warlock Magnus Bane is a critical character in both of Clare’s series (and we hope he’ll show up in the next one, The Dark Artifices, starting in 2015). He’s so beloved he’s earned his own book of short stories, cowritten by Clare and her author friends Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson. It follows the immortal bisexual adventurer through his centuries of life. These are light-hearted tales, for the most part, but taken together, they paint a picture of a perpetual outsider (Bane’s race, species, and sexual orientation set him apart) who outlives most of his friends and lovers. It’s a great read not just for fans of all of Clare’s other books, but also for newbies who want a taste of her brand of fantasy.