I am a sucker for anything Shadowhunter, and the first two series Cassandra Clare wrote set in this world are among some of my favorites (meh, discounting the let down of the movie, that is). The Infernal Devices remains one of my very favorite trilogies, and it has the distinction of, for me, having the perfect love triangle. Love triangles are usually cringe worthy, make me roll my eyes more than once, and leave me in no doubt from the opening scenes who the chick will end up with. But Will, Jem and Tessa? Not even close.
As we wait approach the release of the last Mortal Instruments book in a couple of months, we know that City of Heavenly Fire will set up and introduce the characters for the third Shadowhunter series, The Dark Artifices. The new series will start next March with the release of Lady Midnight, and it will be followed by Prince of Shadows in 2016 and Queen of Air and Darkness in 2017. Well, today some confirmation came about the mysterious fourth series, as well.
I had sort of thought that it was rumor, but Cassandra Clare gave some details about the next series. It will be called The Last Hours, and it is basically a retelling of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations with the immediate families of Tessa, Will and Jem. She west so far as to provide a short synopsis, as well…
For as long as Lucie Herondale can remember, the Herondale family manor has adjourned the manor of the Blackthorns. It’s too bad that Tatiana Blackthorn, the matriarch of the family, has always been, as her father Will Herondale says, “mad as a mouse trapped in a teapot.” Since the day that her father Benedict murdered Tatiana’s husband, and was killed in turn by a group of Shadowhunters that included both her brothers, Tatiana has nursed a burning grudge against the London Institute and all its inhabitants, especially Will, Tessa and their children: Lucie and her brother, James …
Book one will be called Chain of Thorns, book two is Chain of Gold, and Chain of Iron rounds out the trilogy. Goodreads shows Chain of Thorns as having a 2015 release, but no official word has been forthcoming.
So, good news or are you over the whole Shadowhunter thing? I have heard a lot of grumbling over on Goodreads about yet another series set in this same world…why not write something else…yada yada. Personally, as long as the stories are good, I am happy to return to a favorite world. I am just hoping for a two-book-a-year schedule, or I will be too old to read anymore when these books finally make it to the shelves.
