Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare is the acclaimed author of the bestselling urban fantasy series The Mortal Instruments. This was the very series that got me hooked on the author’s writing in the first place. The series is part of a much bigger franchise titled The Shadowhunter Chronicles, that includes several book series, short stories, graphic novels, companion books, a movie, and also the popular TV series.

Also, included in the franchise series, the author created an additional book series featuring Magnus Bane who is also part of Mortal Instruments. The short stories are included in the series titled The Bane Chronicles.

Here are the Cassandra Clare books in order for her popular young-adult urban fantasy novel. The books in the Shadowhunter Chronicles will be listed together in the proper chronological reading order, as well as separately within each series in case you want to read the various sub-series separately from each other.

New Cassandra Clare Books

The Red Scrolls of Magic, (The Eldest Curses #1), 2019

Ghosts of the Shadow Market, (Ghosts of the Shadow Market #1), 2019

Chain of Gold, (The Last Hours #1), 2020

The Mortal Instruments Series

part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles

The Infernal Devices Series

part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles; prequel to The Mortal Instruments

The Dark Artifices Series

part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles; prequel to The Mortal Instruments

The Last Hours Series

part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles; sequel to The Infernal Devices

Chain of Gold, 2019
Chain of Iron, 2020
Chain of Thorns, 2021

The Bane Chronicles

part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles, focuses on Magus Bane

should be read after Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices

The Bane Chronicles, 2014

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy Series

part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles, focuses on Simon Lewis

should be read before Dark Artifices

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, 2016

Ghosts of the Shadow Market Series

part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles; independent stories

Ghosts of the Shadow Market, 2019

The Eldest Curses Series

co-authored with Wesley Chu

part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles, focuses on Magus Bane and Alec

The Red Scrolls of Magic, 2019
The Lost Book of the White, 2020
The Black Volume of the Dead, 2021

The Wicked Powers Series

part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles

Untitled, TBA
Untitled, TBA
Untitled, TBA

The Shadowhunter Chronicles In Order

all the books in the Shadowhunter Chronicles universe in chronological and reading order

City of Bones, 2007
City of Ashes, 2008
City of Glass, 2009
Clockwork Angel, 2010
City of Fallen Angels, 2011
Clockwork Prince, 2011
City of Lost Souls, 2012
Clockwork Princess, 2013
City of Heavenly Fire, 2014
Chain of Gold, 2019
Chain of Iron, 2020
Chain of Thorns, 2021
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, 2016
Lady Midnight, 2016
Lord of Shadows, 2016
Queen of Air and Darkness, 2018
The Bane Chronicles, 2014
The Red Scrolls of Magic, 2019
The Lost Book of the White, 2020
The Black Volume of the Dead, 2021

Mortal Instruments Companion Books

Shadowhunters and Downworlders, 2013
The Shadowhunter’s Codex, 2013

Magisterium Series

co-authored with Holly Black

Sword Catcher Series

Sword Catcher, 2021
The Ragpicker King, 2022

Nonfiction Cassandra Clare Books

An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of Downworld, 2016

Cassandra Clare Biography & Bibliography

Cassandra Clare is the author pseudonym for Judith Lewis (born as Rumelt). She was born in 1973 in Teheran, Iran to American Jewish parents, a business school professor, and an author.

During her childhood, Clare has traveled to several countries in the world, including India, Nepal, Switzerland, England, and France. When starting high-school, she went back to the US, to Los Angeles. After finishing school, she spent half her time in California, and half in New York, working for several tabloids and entertainment magazine, which also included The Hollywood Reporter.

She always liked to read, especially various types of fantasy, and during her younger years, she would read books by CS Lewis, Tolkien, E. Nesbit, and then later on works by Charles De Lint and the Borderlands series.

The author started to use her pen name, Cassandra Clare, while living in Los Angeles, after she stopped writing fan-fiction for the Harry Potter series, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Lord of the Rings series, among others. Due to some legal copyright issues, and she changed her pen name (removed the “i” from Claire).

Shortly after releasing her debut novel, City of Bones, she removed all her fan fiction stories from the internet. She started writing her debut novel about the time she moved to New York, so she knew that she’d be setting the location of the stories in the same city.

Cassandra Clare got her idea for City of Bones during her being once with a friend in a tattoo shop in the East Village where her friend was working, and while she never got a tattoo there, she did get an idea for a secret world of hunters of demons which were using tattoos as their magic system. It took her about three years to write the book, which was finally published in 2007.

Over the years, for the famous Shadowhunters Chronicles books, Cassandra Clare received numerous awards. For example, her debut novel, City of Bones, received an American Library Association Teens Top Ten Award in 2008, Georgia Peach Book Awards for Teen Readers in 2010, Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award in 2010, Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader’s Choice Award in 2010, and she was a nominee for several other prestigious awards.

The Cassandra Clare books are coming-of-age stories of young adults living in a magical world inhabited by supernatural beings such as vampires, angels, warlocks, and demons. Still, at heart, they are also romance love stories that not only young adult readers enjoy. The books also deal with morality, about the heroes among us, racial and social diversity, and about the dangerous political climate of today.

The author only began writing novels in her 30s, even though she loved reading from an early age. Over the years, she wrote fanfiction for several series, but she didn’t consider them serious work. She was also a journalist, so writing all day long was not uncommon for her.

After her third novel also hit the bestseller list, Cassandra Clare decided to quit her copyediting job which didn’t bring her all that much joy anyway. Once her agent made her aware that she can do so, she jumped in with both feet, albeit a bit scared, and then never looked back. Thus, Cassandra Clare, the full-time book author was born.

The movie based on The Mortal Instruments was released in 2013, and the TV series called Shadowhunters, in 2016.

The latest Cassandra Clare books part of her first adult series, Sword Catcher, to be released starting 2021, have been already optioned for the TV, with the author being executive producer. Hopefully this TV show will be more faithful to the book series than the Shadowhunters was.

Sword Catcher and the Magisterium children’s series co-authored with her friend, author Holly Black, are the two series so far that are not included in the Shadowhunters universe.

So far, there are over 50 millions Cassandra Clare books in print sold all over the world. They’ve been all professionally edited by Karen Wojtyla working at Margaret K. McElderry Books. The author and the editor have been working together for 13 years now and continue to do so in the future as well. The series attracted millions of readers all over the world, some coming to the books after watching the movie or the TV series.

Currently, Cassandra Clare is living with her husband and her three cats in Amherst, Massachusetts. When not writing books, she likes to sew and design her own clothes, and enjoys to travel.

Praise for Cassandra Clare

Clare’s well-developed protagonists…, pell-mell action sequences, complicated family dynamics, and fascinating magic system continue to engage. (Publishers Weekly)
Clare delivers spectacular Shadowhunter fare with her trademark street tough yet emotionally fragile adolescent characters taking on adult roles and includes plenty of violent action and passionate romance to satisfy fans of The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments series, who will be thrilled to see some of their favourite characters from the previous books make appearances. (School Library Journal)
The action once again climaxes in a tense, lush battle sequence just waiting for digital cinematic treatment…[A] goth-and-glitter pleasure. (Kirkus Reviews for City of Lost Souls)
Funny, dark, and sexy. One of my favorite books. (Holly Black)
City of Bones has everything: vampires, werewolves, faeries, true love, and stuff that blows up. What’s more, Clare’s characters are brilliant — she better not kill any of them off in the next two volumes! (Justine Larbalestier)

Books Reading Order » Fantasy Authors » Cassandra Clare