Clary's Savior
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Author | Cassandra Clare |
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Cover artist | Cliff Nielsen |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Fantasy, young adult fiction, urban fantasy |
Publisher |
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Published | March 27, 2007 – May 27, 2014 |
Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) Audiobook |
No. of books | 6 |
Preceded by | The Infernal Devices |
Followed by | The Dark Artifices |
The Mortal Instruments is a series of six young adult fantasy novels written by Cassandra Clare, the last of which was published May 27, 2014. The Mortal Instruments is chronologically the third series of a proposed five in The Shadowhunter Chronicles but it was the first one published.
The book series has become one of the most popular within the young adult genre of paranormal romance/urban fantasy, but Clare did not originally intend to write the series for teens. When she began writing City of Bones, she did not view it as a young adult work, but first and foremost as a fantasy novel, where the main characters just happened to be teenagers. When she was approached by a publisher interested in aging up her characters, she ultimately decided that she "wanted to tell a story about characters at that crucial life stage just between adolescence and adulthood, where your choices determine the kind of person you're going to be rather than reflecting who you already are." The decision to launch her novels as Young Adult books has propelled Clare to the top of the Bestsellers list and has established The Shadowhunter Chronicles as some of the most popular works read by a largely young adult audience.
Clarissa "Clary" Adele Fray (also referred to as Fairchild and Morgenstern) is the sister of Jonathan Morgenstern and daughter of Valentine Morgenstern and Jocelyn Fairchild. To protect Clary, Jocelyn changes her surname to Fray. Clary is described as having long, curly red hair, freckles, and bright green eyes. She is very small and short, "a little over five feet" as first described in City of Bones and often viewed as younger than her actual age. In the first book, Clary is 15 years old, approaching 16, which is the age of Isabelle Lightwood. Clary is an artist, and in the first book, City of Bones, it is believed that she is a mundane, an ordinary human, as she first thought of herself. It is later revealed that she is a Shadowhunter, or Nephilim: a human with angelic qualities. Clary is described as being stubborn and often rushes into dangerous situations without considering the consequences. Her best friend in the series is Simon Lewis. He is in love with her but she is romantically involved with Jace (who uses various surnames). Clary is devastated when she is told that Jace is her brother but later learns that this is untrue. Clary discovers she can read ancient runes that are used by angels, and she can create her own runes, an ability that was caused by the extra angel blood her father, Valentine Morgenstern administered to her while she was in her mother's womb. In the first few books, Clary has a tense relationship with the Lightwoods siblings. Alec Lightwood, Jace's parabatai or best friend, is seemingly jealous of Clary's relationship with Jace since he thinks she is occupying Jace more than she should, while Izzy Lightwood shows hostility towards Clary at the beginning since she thinks Clary is just a normal human being.