Cassandra Clare Books in Order

Cassandra Clare built the most elaborate shared universe in YA fantasy: the Shadowhunter Chronicles, six interlocking series - The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, The Dark Artifices, The Last Hours, The Eldest Curses and, beginning November 2026, The Wicked Powers - more than twenty novels spanning Victorian London, Edwardian London and the modern demon-fighting world, tens of millions of copies sold. It is also the rare franchise where the reading order is a genuine puzzle: the trilogies were written out of chronological order, the same families - Herondales, Carstairs, Lightwoods - recur across generations, and the community's recommended order weaves two trilogies together instead of reading any single series straight through (2007–present).

Where to start

City of Bones (2007), The Mortal Instruments #1 - Clary Fray discovering the Shadow world, the door the franchise was built around. The popular alternative: Clockwork Angel (2010), the Victorian prequel trilogy's opener - a complete trilogy, a different century, and many adult readers' favorite entry point. Readers who want the doorstopper: start City of Bones and commit to the full weave.

Does the reading order matter?

The consensus Shadowhunter order interleaves: Mortal Instruments #1-3 (the original trilogy), then the complete Infernal Devices prequel, then Mortal Instruments #4-6 - written so that reading Victorian-era revelations first makes the modern books land harder. After that, Dark Artifices (whose cast are the children of the earlier war), the Eldest Curses duo co-written with Wesley Chu, and The Last Hours, the Edwardian trilogy that follows the Infernal Devices generation. Chronological-order purists start with Clockwork Angel, but Clare engineered reveals for Mortal Instruments readers that purists miss. The Wicked Powers, the final trilogy, opens with The Last King of Faerie on November 3, 2026 - read it last.

Which one is the best?

Clockwork Princess (2013) has the most legendary ending in the fandom; Lady Midnight (2016) is the recurring fan favorite of the modern era; Queen of Air and Darkness (2018) is the 900-page everything-finale; Chain of Gold (2020) proved the Edwardian era could carry its own trilogy.

Related guides

Readers finishing this shelf usually want the map next door: Sarah J. Maas books in order, Percy Jackson books in order, Fourth Wing books in order. Every guide follows the same format — the shelf, the entry point, the honest answer about order.

Make it a project

Pick a session size and let the days accumulate — at the pace our reading speed test measures, most shelves above clear in a few weeks of half-hours. Every guide on the books in order shelf follows this same format, and when a book lands, its 8-question quiz is waiting on the original book quiz.