REVIEW: Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, by Cassandra Clare

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, Robin Wasserman
Series: Shadowhunter Chronicles
Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books on November 15th 2016
Pages: 672
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Simon Lewis has been a human and a vampire, and now he is becoming a Shadowhunter. But the events of City of Heavenly Fire left him stripped of his memories, and Simon isn’t sure who he is anymore. He knows he was friends with Clary, and that he convinced the total goddess Isabelle Lightwood to go out with him…but he doesn’t know how. And when Clary and Isabelle look at him, expecting him to be a man he doesn’t remember…Simon can’t take it.

So when the Shadowhunter Academy reopens, Simon throws himself into this new world of demon-hunting, determined to find himself again. His new self. Whomever this new Simon might be.

But the Academy is a Shadowhunter institution, which means it has some problems. Like the fact that non-Shadowhunter students have to live in the basement. And that differences—like being a former vampire—are greatly looked down upon. At least Simon is trained in weaponry—even if it’s only from hours of playing D&D.

Join Simon on his journey to become a Shadowhunter, and learn about the Academy’s illustrious history along the way, through guest lecturers such as Jace Herondale, Tessa Gray, and Magnus Bane. These ten short stories give an epilogue to the Mortal Instruments series and provide glimpses of what’s in store in the Dark Artifices.

hey everyone! this is my first real post on twirling pages (oops)—sorry it took so long; i’ve just been busy and dead and ugh. in case you forgot who i am, i’m priscilla (check out my intro post!). this is also the first review i’ve written in a WHILE but i read tales from the shadowhunter academy recently(ish) and LOVED it, so i had to share my thoughts.

i haven’t read any shadowhunters books in a while, but i’ve loved them ever since the first time i read them (tmi and tid are some of my faaaaavorite series <3), and i love them more whenever i reread them! i feel like cassandra clare’s books all have amazing characters, relationships, plots, etc, and of course i love the shadowhunter world!

so i was at the library to check out a book i had to read for school and i happened to find tales from the shadowhunter academy in the “new” teen section and i was like OOH i’ve been wanting to read this for so long!! i flipped it open to read the just first chapter or first few pages and immediately got sucked in. i almost couldn’t put it down; i probably could have just finished the book there, or at least a good half of it…. i mean, this book is preeetty huge. anyway, it just felt so good to be back in the shadowhunter world (one of my favorites, second only to hogwarts/harry potter). i loved that we saw some old characters and were also introduced to some new ones. honestly, i looove cassie’s characters so much; they all have such unique and distinct personalities, and i love the interactions between all the characters.

shadowhunter academy is suuuuch a great spinoff/continuation from tmi. IF YOU HAVEN’T READ TMI, YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ SHADOWHUNTER ACADEMY (or the rest of this review) YET!! we get to follow simon (!!) as he attends the newly renovated shadowhunter academy in preparation to become a REAL shadowhunter. even though this book is written as a series of short stories, it feeeeels like everything is connected and it flows so well! honestly i’m a bit surprised that although each story was written separately, they feel like they’re just chapters of a book. i also LOVED the stories about shadowhunter history—i thought they were pretty well-placed and flowed with the rest of the stories. it was super cool reading about famous past shadowhunters, and the art (cassandra jean yessss) is such a nice addition.

my favorite part of this book is probably the character development!! even though simon’s technically one of the main characters of tmi, he doesn’t get thaaaat much page time, so it’s awesome that he gets to be the main character of a whole book! i feel like he was so under-appreciated in tmi (i’m guilty of this too :’)), but after reading shadowhunter academy….i’m in love, with simon, with shadowhunter academy, with everything related to shadowhunters. i loved seeing simon struggle with his new life, his friendships and relationships, and basically EVERYTHING haha. also, the side characters are awesome! i love the friendships in this book, and there’s so many important messages about friendship, discovering and accepting yourself, and more, and somehow they’re not cheesy??? cassie is just so good at this, at making books GOOD. her books always have a bit of everything, and shadowhunter academy is no exception. there’s romance, friendship, action, adventure, FEELS, and it just feels like the perfect balance of everything. there’s cute fluffy scenes but also some less happy scenes to balance it out, and all the feels just destroyed me.

overall, tales from the shadowhunter academy is seriously, SERIOUSLY amazing. go read it right now. you won’t regret it. but read tmi and tid first!! and then tda (which i’m reading right now! barely started lord of shadows but i have a feeling it’s going to be a crazy ride). i just feel like shadowhunter academy is such a good bridge between tmi and tda, tying together all the characters and events. again, i love that there’s really something for everyone. honestly, alllllll the shadowhunter books are just so good, and i highly highly HIGHLY recommend them!

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