The Mortal Instruments/The Infernal Devices series

[Leea, Escape Artist]

The Mortal Instruments:


The Infernal Devices series:


Reading order by Publishing date:

[Crystal]

I still need to read City of Glass and so forth, but I finishing TID first.

Oh. My heart beats with love for that series.

[Jen (at last!)]

I love these series so much!!

Ok, so I have an observation after reading CoLS. Clary (view spoiler)[noticed a necklace in the bookcase which we all know to be Tessa's clockwork angel. Why wouldn't Tessa still be wearing it (even if she no longer needs it) seeing as how she's immortal? Or, did I overlook a detail in Clockwork Princess? (hide spoiler)]

[Gwennie, Mrs. Bookworm]

Didn't it (view spoiler)[stop working at the end of ID? I'm pretty sure it did. When she turned into the angel and burned up what's his name the necklace just became a necklace (hide spoiler)].

[Ladyhawk]

There's a book 6 in the MI series?? How awesome is that?!?

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

Per Lori's request, the recommended reading order of MI/ID.

This is the order in which the books were published. If you read in the publish order, you will get crossover hints (for example, something is mentioned in City of Lost Souls that has you wondering about what will happen in Clockwork Princess). It is not necessary to read the books in publish order and you can read either series first, but reading in the publish order enriches the experiences as a whole.

[Samantha]

I got book one. City of Bones. One of my GR friends recommend it to me.

[Leea, Escape Artist]

Thank you Staica... I knew you would be able to help everyone.

[Jen (at last!)]

Wendy F wrote: "Didn't it [spoilers removed]."

Exactly, but Tessa (view spoiler)[was never without it! She wore it as jewelry before she knew it was a protective talisman. Why would she give it up? That's my question. (hide spoiler)] I hope Cassandra Clare addresses that. It's a pretty significant detail to me. lol

[Leea, Escape Artist]

Staica, I added the reading order by pub date on the first post. :)

[Gwennie, Mrs. Bookworm]

Jen, Sinatra fan wrote: "Wendy F wrote: "Didn't it [spoilers removed]."

Exactly, but Tessa [spoilers removed] I hope Cassandra Clare addresses that. It's a pretty significant detail to me. lol"

Well, I guess I didn't question that because it felt like her opinion changed about it when she found out that (view spoiler)[it was a prison for an angel. She wanted to take it off as soon as she found out, but she didn't because it would save her life and because at first she thought there was no way to set the angel free. So she kept it on so as not to make his captivation in vain and to keep her safe from Mortmain. Once he was gone I could see her taking it off because it no longer represented her past (her mom), it represented something more sinister... (hide spoiler)]. Anyway, that's the way I saw it. But yeah, it would be nice if she explained in the future at some point.

[Jen (at last!)]

Wendy F wrote: "Jen, Sinatra fan wrote: "Wendy F wrote: "Didn't it [spoilers removed]."

Exactly, but Tessa [spoilers removed] I hope Cassandra Clare addresses that. It's a pretty significant detail to me. lol"

W..."

Good point. I never thought of that aspect. :) It did represent (view spoiler)[something sinister, but then, why keep it in the Institute? Because it's a relic? (hide spoiler)]

[Gwennie, Mrs. Bookworm]

Perhaps. Or maybe (view spoiler)[she took it off and someone liked it so she gave it to them. I mean, if you think about it, that found it's way from London to NY, right? So maybe someone else carried it to NY? Unless I'm remembering it wrong (hide spoiler)]. I don't know, lol. That's the part I'd like her to explain more.

[Jen (at last!)]

Exactly. There needs to be a little bit of explanation. Although, I'm pretty sure (view spoiler)[ she gave it to one of her and Jem's progeny and that's how it ended up at the NY Institute. More than likely via Magnus. (hide spoiler)] Still needs an explanation, though. ;)

[Gwennie, Mrs. Bookworm]

That's definitely a possibility. I didn't even think of that.

[Jen (at last!)]

We could totally co-write the series. j/k

[Gwennie, Mrs. Bookworm]

Hahahaha!

[Lori]

OK, I now own all the books but City of Heavenly Fire. I'm also on the pre-order list for The Bane Chronicles.

Through the 1st 3 (TMI), and now back to The Infernal Devices' Clockwork Angel. Hopefully, it will make sense to me this time!

[Jen (at last!)]

Yay! I hope you enjoy The Clockwork Angel as much as I did!

[Gwennie, Mrs. Bookworm]

I'm sure it'll be so much clearer this time, Lori. :)

[Samantha]

Finally started

[Jen (at last!)]

I hope you like it, Samantha! Let us know what you think about Jace! :)

[Samantha]

Will do, Jen.

[Lori]

was much clearer, and I liked how there was more information about the Shadowhunters and Downworlders. I could have used some of that info before!

But, overall, I was kinda mad at that book... nothing was resolved - none of the big questions. I guess I should get used to that with Cassandra Clare; she likes to tease at secrets and then reveal all at the end. But because of the reading order (above), I won't be getting back to the Clockwork stuff until after , so I was little irked. Not seriously, but still...

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

It's so worth it in the end, Lori. The final Immortal Devices was Clare's best book to date.

[Crystal]

I went to Barnes and Noble today and I couldn't find any of TID. Not one copy. All of TMI was there.

I was pretty upset. I went there specifically to buy it.

[Lori]

That sucks, Crystal!

[Gwennie, Mrs. Bookworm]

WOW, i'm shocked! I know my B&N store has all of them.

At the same time, I'm also not surprised. It's like B&N is cursed, at least I think so. If I walk in there with something in mind that I want, never fails that they don't have it. It's why I've really stopped buying books from a bookstore, not because I don't want to spend my money there, but because they NEVER have what I want. In fact, my Grandma and I were just talking about this yesterday. She went in looking for a particular mystery series, so of course that meant that they didnt' have any of them. We never had this problem with the Borders that used to be by our house.

[Crystal]

I think its just that they were sold out but still :(

[Lori]

Yeah, I hate to say it, but I've become strictly an online book buyer. Mostly because I buy Kindle books almost exclusively now; my Kindle Fire is with me everywhere I go.

[Jen (at last!)]

That sucks, Crystal. I say get 'em from Amazon. That's what I do. I'm a Prime member so I get them in two days. I love it! :)

[Lori]

OK, other than the Magnus Bane books, I've been through all the published books in this series....

Questions: (If you haven't read all the published books yet, this is spoiler, so I'm marking it.)
(view spoiler)[1. Speculation on how Jem becomes Brother Zachariah again? I knew that it was him in "City of Lost Souls", don't ask me how or why now, but I knew. Does that mean that Tessa's dead? That Prologue left off in 2008.... I'm wondering if that's why Magnus tells Simon that they'll be the only 2 left. Surely, if Tessa were still alive, he'd have thought something of her during all of this. He's thought of Will... I don't quite know what to make of Magnus' thoughts, sometimes. It didn't mention Magnus at Will's dying bedside, either.

2. Also, I'm dying to know about Tessa's kids with Will. Since they're part Shadowhunter and part Warlock, does that mean that they'll live forever? Or does the dominant Shadowhunter mean that they're mortal?

Since demon blood "mixed" with Shadowhunter before, WHY is it that Sebastian is so horrid and Will's and Tessa's kids obviously are not? OR... is Valentine Morgenstern somehow related to Will & Tessa? I'm just wondering WHY no one ever in the Clave or in Valnetine's previous circle (especially the Lightwoods) mentioned that demon blood and Shadowhunter blood mixed before.

3. Also the Ithuriel connection between Tessa and Valentine... makes me wonder if that's how he somehow knew about how Ithuriel had been part of the Clockwork Angel... if that's how he was able to trap him/it? It would really suck if Valentine were Tessa's great-grandmother or something.... (hide spoiler)]

Yeah, speculation, I know... But always interesting to hear others' thoughts.

[Gwennie, Mrs. Bookworm]

Okay, I'm going to number my thoughts too, lol.

(view spoiler)[
1. I'm not sure that I think he does. I know that the copyright year for Lost Souls is 2012, but I don't think it actually takse place in 2012. The books follow each other almost consecutively and the first book was written in 2007, and Clary really only ages like a year, right? They certainly don't get 5 years older in the series. So I don't think they follow a realistic timeline like that. In fact, when I google, the first 3 books all take place in 2007, so the other's have to start in 2007 and go into the early part of 2008. But that's it, they don't mirror real time.

I think that City of Lost Souls takes place BEFORE the prologue of Clockwork Princess. It's possible that even the very last MI book will take place before Clockwork Princess too, but I'm not sure we'll have to wait and see.

2. I have noooo idea about Will and Tessa's kids, and honestly I dont' think we will ever know. Unless she decides to write a story about them.

What Will and Tessa's kids were is not the same as what happened to Sebastian. At least that's not how I read it. Magnus would be a better example, as he had a Demon for a father. Although, Sebastian was a normal shadowhunter who was given straight Demon blood. He wasn't born of a Demon parent and a Shadowhunter parent. Both Valentine and Jocelyn were Shadowhunters. Same as Clary and Jace were born of Shadowhunters and were given Angel blood... right?

Regardless though, I think Sebastian was who he was because he was raised his whole life by Valentine. He's who Jace might have been if he hadn't gone to live with the Lightwoods.

3. I'm not quite sure what you mean about 3. Maybe I missed something. (hide spoiler)]

[Lori]

My #3 probably wasn't too clear... (view spoiler)[My speculation/question is about Valentine: I wondered if Valentine knew that Ithuriel was the angel of the pendant, because he's a) related to Tessa & Will, b) heard of the legend and put it together, or c) maybe heard of it from the Lightwoods or from Stephen Herondale? And that Valentine somehow tricked Ithuriel into appearing before him because of the pendant OR because of Tessa.

I also wonder if that's why Valentine thought he could "feed" demon's blood to Stephan's wife, Cecily - because Stephan is part of Tessa's bloodline. (Or I'm assuming....) (hide spoiler)]

I see what you're saying about #1. That... helps... maybe - LOL! (view spoiler)[I hope we'll hear about Tessa in TMI, but only if it's good. And I don't quite understand why Magnus never thinks/talks about Tessa. I know that Will was who drew him in, but he knew Tessa, too. Just curious. (hide spoiler)]

As for Question 2, I guess it remains to be seen...

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

I'm pretty sure that (view spoiler)[CoLS takes place before Tessa and Jem get together at the end of CP because CoLS came first. Wendy is right in that the MI book timeline follows the original start of MI, which was years ago. The first Dark Artifices book will start in 2012, which also leads me to believe that Emma Carstairs cannot possibly be Jem's descendant, but would have to be a child from one of his other family members.

Magnus does think about Tessa. She was briefly mentioned in his short story that recently came out, and at the end of City of Glass, there's a scene where he's speaking with her, which leads me to believe that they've sort of kept in touch throughout the years, but Clare wanted to focus on telling another story besides that one. (hide spoiler)]

[Gwennie, Mrs. Bookworm]

#3 (view spoiler)[Okay, I guess my confusion is in that I don't remember Valentine ever seeing or hearing about the Clockwork pendant. This could absolutely be me, I'm not a huge fan of the MI books and I only read them once and it's been a while, lol. But I can see it possible that he would have found out about Ithuriel's connection to Tessa and used it. It would fit with why it was the same angel in both. (How sad for Tessa to think about Ithuriel's fate after he was released from the Clockwork Angel.) (hide spoiler)]

#2 (view spoiler)[Well, perhaps they've just avoided each other. And maybe he doesn't think of her the way he does Will because he knows she's still around. Not to mention that they were never close, his friendship was with Will and Will was the one he loved and lost. Even if that love wasn't romantic, he did love him and feel responsible for him. I would think he doesn't think of Tessa regularly because she's another Downworlder that's just out there in the world. But who knows... it'll be interesting if they come face to face in the last book. (hide spoiler)]

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

I really wanted to do a re-read of both series before the final MI book came out, just to watch everything unfold along the way, but there's so much to read that I don't think I can commit to doing it.

Although, I will re-read CoB soon because of the movie coming out.

[Ladyhawk]

These were excellent spoilers to read! They help me be on the lookout for situations I may otherwise miss!

[Lori]

It always helps to discuss... not that I don't and can't form my own opinions. But if you haven't already figured it out about me by now, I ask WHY a lot. I what to KNOW... and when I have questions or ambiguities, I like to discuss. It deepens and enriches the books and my own understanding.

So thanks for helping me work through thoughts!

[Ladyhawk]

I love to discuss as well. But my memory span, unless I highlight, is short. I may sit and ponder a scenario for a bit and questions pop up but they are often fleeting as I continue with the read. I may have to take notes.

I agree Lori that discussing, getting others opinions and understanding of a story does indeed enrich the experience.

[Jen (at last!)]

I'm really curious to see what happens in the last MI book. I'm hoping because of the epilogue we'll see some familiar faces from the ID series. :)

[Samantha]

I'm more than halfway through and I'm not sure if I like Clary. She is not winning me. Well none of the characters are yet. I'm trying to remember it's the first book and that the characters are kid.

[Jen (at last!)]

A lot of people prefer The Infernal Devices series to The Mortal Instruments because of the setting in Victorian England. I'd say give it a little more time. You should soon grow to love Jace and his snarky comments.

[Samantha]

I stuck with it but I didn't love it. It took a long time for the story to move along. I'll get to to the other books in the series because I think this world has potential.

[Jen (at last!)]

Yeah, the world is quite awesome!

[Crystal]

For those of you wondering about Emma:

IF you have the hardcorver of Clockwork Princess, on the inside of the dust jacket is a family tree spanning the Carstairs, Lightwoods and Herondale's. It's explains Emma's lineage.

(view spoiler)[Remember Jem's Uncle Elias at the end of Clockwork Princess? And how Tessa told him to hold on to the sword for his own children? Yup. Emma's from that line. (hide spoiler)]

Only click that spoiler if you want to know.

That stated, I finished Clockwork Princess last night and omg.

I am still trying to digest it. Such a beautiful love story <3

I guess now I need to get my hands on and