Book Review :: Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, by Cassandra Clare

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare
on November 15th 2016
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 672
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Ten illustrated stories following the adventures of Simon Lewis, star of the #1 New York Times bestselling series The Mortal Instruments, as he trains to become a Shadowhunter.

Simon has been a human and a vampire, but after the events of City of Heavenly Fire left him stripped of his memories, he isn't sure who he is anymore. When the Shadowhunter Academy reopens, Simon throws himself into this new world of demon-hunting, determined to find himself again. Whomever this Simon might be...

Join him 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.

Last updated on 23 January 2026

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My thoughts on Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy 

In these 10 short stories, we follow Simon Lewis as he steps through the doors of the Shadowhunter Academy and begins his training after the events of City of Heavenly Fire. We learn about the Academy, the students there, the friends (and enemies) Simon meets, the trainers and teachers, and a look into the past of Shadowhunters who we know from the series.

What I really enjoyed about Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy was that it wasn’t just about Simon and his time at the Academy. Among his stories were backstories to a whole bunch of characters that we meet in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments, Infernal Devices, Dark Artifices and the upcoming Last Hours series. We learn about the Herondales of the past, Robert Lightwood as a young man, and then rejoin the ‘present’ as Clary and Simon move to become parabati (which occurs by the time the events in the Dark Artifices play out).

That’s one of my favourite things about Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter series; they’re all separate series, with their own story lines, and yet they are interwoven, they connect, they cross over. I’m so looking forward to the third instalment of the Dark Artifices series, Queen of Air and Darkness (release date in December 2018), and I am overly excited for the first instalment of the Last Hours series, Chain of Gold, as it picks up after the events of Clockwork Princess in late 1800s/early 1900s London. Ah, yes please!

So all in all, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy was a fun addition to the Shadowhunter world, and while I probably won’t be reading it again, it did give some great insight into various characters and a background for others.

Have you read Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy? What did you think?