His Mortal Instruments

This thread is for the discussion of the His Mortal Instruments Trillogy as well as the pre stories His Mortal Devices. Tell me your thoughts on the series. Did you love it hate it? Never heard of it? Well come on lets talk about it all here!

The books:

The plot

A thousand years ago, the Angel Raziel mixed his blood with the blood of men and created the race of the Nephilim. Human-angel hybrids, they walk among us, unseen but ever-present, our invisible protectors.

They call themselves Shadowhunters.

The Shadowhunters obey the laws set down in the Gray Book, given to them by the angel: their mandate is to protect our world from the interdimensional parasites they call demons, who travel from world to world, razing and destroying everything in their path. Theirs is also the task of keeping the peace among the warring Downworlders: the human-demon crossbreeds we know as warlocks, vampires, werewolves, and faeries.

In their duties they are aided by the mysterious Silent Brothers. Their lips and eyes sewn shut, the Silent Brothers rule over the City of Bones, the necropolis below the streets of Manhattan that holds the dead bodies of slain Shadowhunters. The Silent Brothers keep the archival records of ever Shadowhunter ever born. They also watch over the Mortal Instruments, the three divine objects the Angel Raziel gave to his children. One is a sword. One is a mirror. And the last is a cup.

For a thousand years, the Nephilim have protected the Mortal Instruments. But that was before the Uprising, the civil war that almost tore the Shadowhunters' secret world apart. Though Valentine, the Shadowhunter who started the war, is long dead, the wounds it left behind have never healed.

Fifteen years have passed since the Uprising. It's August in New York; the streets blistering with heat. Rumors run rampant through Downworld that Valentine is back, at the head of an army of Forsaken warriors.

And the Mortal Cup has gone missing...

The Characters

Clary Fray---a Shadowhunter, yet brought up as human by her mother, to protect her. She is a little over 5 feet tall and has very curly red hair. She is an artist, and is in love with Jace. She has lots of inner demons and conflicts that she tells no one about.


Jace Wayland:--- A Shadowhunter orphaned at a young age by the murder of his father, he now lives with the Lightwoods and Hodge Starkweather at the Institute in New York City. He is said to be the best Shadowhunter his age, having been trained severely by his father prior to his death. He is described as having golden hair, eyes, and skin, making him popular with girls, although he has never had a serious relationship. He is very arrogant, but is a very kind and thoughtful person underneath, though he tries to hide it. He falls in love with Clary, and kisses her for the first time on her birthday. There are a few chapters in City of Bones and City of Ashes told with the ability to see what he's thinking, always revealing a frustrated, alone, personality that he compensates for by lashing out at others. His name comes from his initials, J.C., short for Jonathan Christopher.


Isabelle Lightwood-- Jace's adopted sister, beautiful and obnoxious, also a Shadowhunter. She gives Clary one hell of a hard time, and uses sexuality to get her way often.


Alec Lightwood-- Isabelle's birth brother. Alec is in love with Jace, though he hides his homosexuality. He also strikes up a secret relationship with Magnus Bane.


Simon Lewis-- Clary's formerly-human, now-vampire best friend, who has been in love with her for several years. He hangs on Clary's every word and followes her around like a lost puppy. But he mans up later in the series.


Luke Garroway-- Clary's mother's best friend, once a Shadowhunter, now a werewolf. He is also in love with Clary's mother and has been a part of their lives since they came to the mortal side.


Valentine Morgenstern-- Clary's estranged father, who also claims to be Jace's father. He turns up after several years when he was supposedly dead and attempts to steal the Mortal Cup from Jocelyn (Clary's mother).


Magnus Bane-- the High Warlock of Brooklyn who is bisexual and in love with Alec. He is an important lesser character in the series. And always seems to pop up when there is trouble needing to be fixed.


Hodge Starkweather-- Isabelle, Alec and Jace's tutor. He is in league with Valentine. He also has two pet birds that do his bidding. And is cursed to dwell in the manor only, he may not leave at all or die. He was cursed this way for helping Valentine during the uprising.


Raphael-- the leader of the local vampire gang, who speaks Spanish. He leads the resurection of Simon into the vampire world. And joins in against Valentine.


Maia-- a teen member of Luke's werewolf pack. She appears for the first time in City of Ashes. It is implied that she and Simon may have a romantic interest in one another.


Jocelyn Fray-- Clary's mother, a Shadowhunter in hiding who although plays a huge part in the series plot, hasn't actually been conscious for the majority of the books so far.

Okay we are open feel free to get this party started!

Sounds cool :]

Ahh thank you Monsi so much for coming to my thread! So do you think you may read the series?

Humm 33 views and yet no posts....does no one like the series?

It's entirely possible that very few people have read it. :) I know of it since I used to be very active in the HP fandom, meaning I knew of the author before she ever published. But I haven't ever taken the time to actually read her books.

That..sounds like a pretty cool series. I'm going to have to stalk it next weekend! Maybe I'll pick up another series for my collection. Thanks for pointing it out!

Yay if at least one person reads the boos because of this I am happy! The series is wonderfull and has lovely twists that keep it page turning. And so few people have heard of it... I do hope you stalk it down and check it out. :)
@ Fi...ahhh yes the HP FAndom, I almost forgot about that(lol) And the series is worth reading, I picked it up out of boredom one day in the bookstore, and fell in love with the series. :)

Ohhh! o: I definitely have to find this book at the library! Sounds like it could be a real attention grabber that would keep me till the sun rises to finish. =]

YAY another who will read it! *happy dance*

*happy dances with Ivvy*

Certainly an interesting array of characters it has. o:

O wow that is just the tip of the ice burg there! I mean there are so many twists and suprises in this series it made my head spin jaw drop and wtf and omgs were flying out of my mouth! lol I loved it.

Lol! Sounds like it shall be quite the page turner, then! :D

Well I read fast... I mean a good 1000 pages in one 24 hour time span...and I did this book in half the time. >.<

Daaaang! o.o You DO read fast! XD But still, it does sound like it's gonna be one of those books that I just can't put down. ;D

So are there three books in the series, with the third being this new one coming out? o:

Yes. The third and final book is out now. There is talk of a prequal series that takes place before the uprising.. you will understand that after you read it. lol

Woo! That's both a blessing and a curse. I won't have to wait to read the whole series, but I won't be able to get in the pre-release hype before the last book 'cause I'll be new to the series. XD

Lol, I bet I will. :3

lol >.<

Oooh, I heard of her books through her blog.
Which I followed because I read her fanfiction.
Ufufufu, yummy epic Draco x Hermione fanfiction.
-rolls about merrily-

Her books are very good as well, though I sort of dislike certain elements of it (in so far that I felt she could have done more world building). Solid, interesting characters (of a semi-predictable sort) and a solid, interesting plot. Once again, I only wish there could have been more world building (but I suppose I am spoiled because I love reading epic series that go one forever, and therefore have the time and pages and word counts to devote to said world building).

I agree. I would have loved a better world build up and background. But I do hear she may be issuing the his mortal instruments backstory that takes you through the begining as a prequill trillogy as well. So Maybe we will get more worl background there. At least it is something to look forward to I think. :)

I've read the first two books. I keep meaning to buy the third one but everytime I go to the bookstore I think I've already bought it. lol
I really like the series so far. I need to reread it.

Awesome a fello fan. :D I love the series and can't wait for the prequal stuff to come out.

I thought it was a good series. Not one of my favorites but still good. I think I might start reading them again next.