I recently discovered the series "shadowhunters" on Netflix and I'm thrilled. That's why I wanted to buy the books… The thing is that there are apparently many. I have somehow zero overview. All I know is that the underworld chronicles are the "main series"… Could anyone help me? How many books are there in total?
The Chronicles of the Underworld Series:
City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass
City of Fallen Angels
City of Lost Souls
City of Heavenly Fire
Chronicles of Shadowhunters:
Clockwork Angel
Clockwork Prince
Clockwork Princess
The dark forces:
Lady Midnight
Lord of Shadows
The Queen of Air and Darkness (no German edition available)
There are also three special volumes, which belong to no new complete series, but have to do with the chronicles.
The Mortal Instruments / Underworld Chronicles
City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass
City of Fallen Angels
City of Lost Souls
City of Heavenly Fire
The Infernal Devices / Chronicles of Shadowhunters
Clockwork Angel
Clockwork Prince
Clockwork Princess
-> The author herself (Cassandra Clare) recommends to read the books "verworben". This is because the two series are corrupted and events from chronicles of shadow hunters (19th century) are mentioned in chronicles of the underworld (21st century). So you are not spoiled. She says they should be read in the order in which they were published, so:
The first three volumes of CdU, Clockwork Angel, CoFA, Clockwork Prince, CoLS, Clockwork Princess, CoHF
The Dark Artifices / Chronicles of the Dark Forces (READ AFTER CDU AND CDS)
Lady Midnight
Lord of Shadows
Queen of Air and Darkness
The Last Hours
Chain of Gold (2019)
Chain of Iron (2020)
Chain of Thorns (2021)
The Wicked Powers. Last row in Shadowhunter world; everyone will come together to fight against evil. The shadow hunter world will be changed forever.
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Extras:
The Bane Chronicles / The Chronicles of Magnus Bane. 10 short stories about the life of Magnus Bane before and during the Chronicles of the Underworld.
The Shadowhunter's Codex / The Shadowhunter Codex. The Codex of Clary, mentioned several times in Chronicles of the Underworld
An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of Downworld. All characters from Cassie's books, with a small biography and images (by Cassandra Jean)
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy / Legends of the Shadowhunter Academy. 10 short stories about Simon Lewis after the chronicles of the underworld. AFTER CHRONICS OF THE UNDERWORLD, BUT READ BEFORE THE CHRONICS OF THE DARK MAJOR
Ghosts of the Shadow Market. 10 short stories about characters from Underworld Chronicles, Shadowhunter Chronicles, and Dark Force Chronicles (the last two short stories have not yet been published - the hardcover version will be released in June 2019). READ THROUGH THE THREE MAIN ROWS.
The Eldest Curses. Trilogy about Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood ca. During and after the chronicles of the underworld.
The Red Scrolls of Magic (2019)
The Lost Book of the White (2020)
The Black Volume of the Dead (2021)
The Infernal Devices -> Manga
The Mortal Instruments -> Manga (first City of Bones published)
Just over three special volumes.
A few more comments:
I have only completely read through CdU and then only CdS. It did not bother me in any way. Only in retrospect, I noticed that I had not understood a few hints in CdU. You can't really call it a spoiler… Rather hints. Both plots are not the same!
The Bane Chronicles and The Shadowhunter's Codex should be read as soon as possible after CdU. "Necessary" (like legends of the Shadow Hunters Academy) are not these.
Obviously, an Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of Downworld spoils the characters that exist in the various ranks. So you should first read all the series and then read this book or read some pages. It is really just an "extra" and not relevant to the story. You will not miss anything if you do not have it. But as a fan, it's just nice to have. Above all, the pictures are real, really nice.
You should not read The Eldest Curses until after the three main series… It's not released yet, so I can't really say it, but that's not how you're going to get spoiled.
The series, the film and the books are not comparable. You should not read the books and keep the series in mind. See them as two separate pieces and try to make your imagination play as strong as possible. I've just read the books and was very disappointed in the series and the movie…: / Because I just imagined everything differently and the plots also differ greatly.
Thanks for the detailed answer 😇
