Dark Artifices Books In Order

Publication Order of The Dark Artifices Books

Dark Artifices is a series of urban fantasy novels written by Cassandra Clare. The books take place in the same universe as the Mortal Instruments series.

+The Story
Cassandra Clare has a strong fanbase of readers who have followed her work fervently ever since she wrote and published the first novel in the Mortal Instruments series. Those readers have a fairly accurate understanding of the vast world that Cassandra has built over the years.

The same cannot be said for casual fans most of whom only ever connect Cassandra Clare’s name to the Mortal Instruments series. In fact, most such casual fans wouldn’t know what to make of the Dark Artifices because they wouldn’t know that the series is actually a spin-off of the Mortal Instruments.

Cassandra Clare’s world is sometimes a little difficult to comprehend, though things begin to fall into place once you read all the works she has written and published over the years.

Her novels are generally referred to as ‘The Shadow Hunter Chronicles’. They officially kick off with the first mortal instruments book which starts in 2007 and follows the exploits of Clary Fray, a powerful supernatural warrior that must lead the fight against an evil force.

The Infernal Devices novels follow the Mortal Instruments. These books are actually prequels, even though they were published after the Mortal Instruments. They take readers back to Victorian London in the 1800s where an ordinary teenager learns that she has special powers.

Even though the author would encourage you to read ‘The Bane Chronicles’ and ‘Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy’, both of which are collections of novellas, neither works are essential reading.

In fact, anyone that chooses to read the Shadowhunter chronicles in order can just as easily transition from the Infernal Devices to the Dark Artifices, which is the first true sequel to the Mortal Instruments.

Like its predecessors, the Dark Artifices takes place in a world where myths and magic are real. The denizens of the ordinary or mundane world pursue ordinary or mundane lives unaware that the supernatural walk beside them.

Not just vampires and werewolves but faeries and demons and various other creatures, all of them jostling for space on the same plane of existence. Not only do the supernatural entities in the Dark Artifices series manifest in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and formats but they are an orderly bunch, operating within organizations, families, tribes, and even kingdoms.

The peace between the supernatural and the natural is maintained primarily by the efforts of the shadow hunters. Shadow hunters are special humans who possess angel blood which gives them access to incredible gifts.

Working within the confines of a hierarchical organization, the shadow hunters patrol the shadow world and the mundane world, keeping ordinary humans safe from their supernatural brethren.

The Shadow hunters also work to prevent conflicts within the supernatural community from breaking out. Standing at the center of the Dark Artifices series is Emma Carstairs.

Readers actually meet Emma for the first time in ‘City of Heavenly Fire’, the final novel in the Mortal Instruments series. In that novel, Emma is a 12-year-old shadow hunter whose parents died during the Dark War.

By the time she makes her second appearance in ‘Lady Midnight’, the first novel in the Dark Artifices series, Emma has grown. She is well on her way to becoming the greatest shadow hunter to ever live, having spent her childhood learning the customs and the ways of the warrior.

Emma was raised by the Blackthorn family which constitutes Julian and his siblings. She has always been closest to Julian because the pair are parabatai, warriors that are connected by the strongest bond any two people in the universe could possibly share.

The Parabatai bond makes its wielders powerful. They are granted such kinship that they practically share a soul. They understand one another better than anyone ever could and they can always rely on each other in battle.

However, as close as this bond makes shadow hunters, parabatai are prohibited from falling in love with one another.

The Dark Artifices is Emma and Julian’s journey. For her part, Emma is consumed by her desire to unravel the mystery surrounding her parent’s death. Her prowess as a shadow hunter makes her a target for trouble, with her superiors repeatedly charging her with resolving dangerous situations surrounding the magical community.

But most of her efforts are geared toward finding her parents’ killers. Her life takes a difficult turn when she falls in love with Julian and then realizes that he shares her feelings.

She has to fight the compulsion she feels to give in to her desires. This is as she battles forces that threaten her life and the Blackthorns, a family she has sworn to protect above all else because of all she believes she owes them.

+Adaptations
Warner Bros. had plans to turn the Dark Artifices into a series of films. But then a television show (The Shadow Hunters) which adapted content from the Dark Artifices went into production and plans for the film were scrapped.

+The Author
Cassandra Clare is an American author that writes urban fantasy novels. She spent a considerable portion of her childhood traveling the world with her family. Her earliest adult years were spent working as a journalist in Hollywood. But eventually, she gave in to her passion for writing fiction.

+Lady Midnight
Emma Carstairs is a Shadow Hunter, a warrior for good who only lives for the thrill of the battle. Often joined by Julian Blackthorn, her Parabatai, the pair is pretty good at what they do.

Their strength is tested when faeries and humans begin dying at a time when relations between shadow hunters and faeries are at their worst. Emma and Julian are tasked with maintaining the uneasy alliance between the two sides by solving the murders, a goal that must be accomplished in the next two weeks.

+Lord of Shadows
Emma and Julian are in love but the law forbids them from acting on their feelings. Emma knows that her safest bet would be to leave Julian Blackthorn. But the Blackthorns are presently threatened by enemies on all sides.

They need her and she cannot abandon them at their time of need, not when the Unseelie King has arisen and set in motion plans that will destroy the entire Blackthorn line.