A few months ago I started binge watching a series. Shocker, I know. I'd seen gifs and pictures and people raving about it all over my tumblr so one day I decided that I might give it a try, the worst thing that could have happened is that I hated it and I would have turned it off. This show is called Shadowhunters. I'm a sucker for anything supernatural, so this seemed like a really good TV show to watch.
It took me a few days to watch the whole series, if I didn't have work commitments I probably would have finished it sooner. I loved the characters and the story and I couldn't wait to see what happened next, me being me couldn't wait until next year so I was eager to read the books and find out.
These books are probably aimed at a younger audience but I enjoyed them nonetheless, they don't feel like they are written with the intention of only selling to pre-teens and young adults. And I would much rather read about a fantasy world and get lost in a book than read an 'adult' story about abuse and sad childhoods that were based on true stories (my mum reads tons of them it's weird).
I read all of the books on the kindle app on my iPad. I've been against kindle ever since it came out, I'm more of a physical book person than a kindle person. I think I've been converted a little bit though, it was so much easier reading on my iPad or my phone because I could read it anywhere. Which means that I finished them so much quicker than I would have if it was a real book. There's no way I'm going to stray away from my real books but I will consider buying the kindle version in the future now.
A WARNING IN ADVANCE, THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS.
The Mortal Instruments Series is about a girl named Clary Fray who just found out she's a shadowhunter and her mother has kept it a secret from her for 16 years. Shadowhunters are basically half angel half human beings who hunt demons and keep the mundane world safe.
There are a lot of obstacles that Clary has to overcome, it sort of makes me feel sorry for her in a way. Because when it seems like she's finally in a good place something else seems to happen that turns her world upside down.
City of Bones - Clary is exposed to this new world of shadowhunting after her mother is kidnapped, she meets a boy named Jace and his friends Isabelle and Alec, and along with her best friend Simon they investigate the disappearance of her mother. But Clary's world soon gets turned upside down when she finds out that her father is not who she thought he was and is actually one of the most feared men in the shadowhunting world named Valentine and the boy that she had feelings for turns out to be her brother.
City of Ashes - Valentine makes a return to the Shadowhunting world in the second instalment after years of everyone believing he was dead. He sets out to retrieve all 3 of the 'Mortal Instruments'' the cup, the sword, and the mirror, so he can create a new line of Shadowhunters. After a visit to the faerie world it is revealed that Valentine did experiments on both Jace and Clary. Clary finds out that through her fathers experiment on her she can make up runes, something that only angels can do.
City of Glass - Clary gets abandoned after Jace and the others leave without her to go to Alicante, the capital of the Shadowhunter's home country of Idris. Clary uses her new found powers to create a portal to follow them in, with her mother's close friend Luke following right behind her. While in Alicante she meets a boy named Sebastian, and while he seems sweet and innocent he later reveals himself to be the real brother of Clary. Valentine has all three mortal instruments, but to summon the Angel that can help him he needs a sacrifice, and that is Jace.
City of Fallen Angels - After Valentine's defeat the Angel gave Clary one wish, and her wish was to bring Jace back. But it isn't Jace, he has been having dreams of killing Clary and this is due to his rebirth and his new vulnerability to demons. He gets possessed by Lilith with a rune on his chest and kidnaps Clary. At the end of the book there is a showdown on the roof of a building, and the rune gets cut, seemingly breaking the possession. This isn't the case though as the rune heals and Sebastian appears in his head. Meanwhile there is somebody who's experimenting on babies in the same way Valentine experimented on Sebastian.
City of Lost Souls - After Jace disappears, Clary and the others try everything to find him. But Jace comes to Clary with Sebastian and asks her go with them which she does. Clary discovers that Jace is being controlled by Sebastian and that he has linked them together, so Sebastian can't be killed without them killing Jace as well. Clary also finds out that Sebastian is using Lilith's blood to create an army of dark Shadowhunters called the Endarkened.
City of Heavenly Fire - Jace is back to normal again but Sebastian and his new army of Endarkened are destroying the world. To make matters even worse, all of the representatives of the Shadowhunters and Downworlders, Jocelyn, Luke, Magnus, Raphael and Meliorn have all been kidnapped by Sebastian. Clary and the others follow him into another dimension, a dark place full of demons to try and save their friends and family and save the world from Sebastian.
I much prefer the later books rather than the earlier books, I feel like they've got more to offer than the earlier books with different parts of the book from the point of view of various characters rather than just Clary. It ties the whole story together when we get to see what the others are doing as well, it makes the books more interesting.
Although the books were really good, and I do usually prefer reading to watching, I think I enjoy the Netflix series much more. The writers have left out all of the unnecessary things that went on and on in the books, and even added better scenes that didn't exist in the book, making it a great watch. Plus Matthew Daddario is my new favourite person and I enjoy seeing him in every episode!
