About Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy
Release Date: November 15, 2016
Find it: Goodreads, Bookshop, IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon
Simon Lewis has been a human and a vampire, and now he is becoming a Shadowhunter. The events of City of Heavenly Fire left him stripped of his memories, and Simon isn’t sure who he is anymore. He knows he was friends with Clary, and that he convinced the total goddess Isabelle Lightwood to go out with him . . . but he doesn’t know how. And when Clary and Isabelle look at him, expecting him to be a man he’s doesn’t remember . . . Simon can’t take it.
So when the Shadowhunter Academy reopens, Simon throws himself into this new world of demon-hunting, determined to find himself again. His new self. Whomever this new Simon might be.
But the Academy is a Shadowhunter institution, which means it has some problems. Like the fact that non-Shadowhunter students have to live in the basement. And that differences—like being a former vampire—are greatly looked down upon. At least Simon’s trained in weaponry—even if it’s only from hours of playing D&D.
Join Simon 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. These ten moving and hilarious short stories give a satisfying epilogue to the Mortal Instruments series and provide tantalizing glimpses of what’s in store in the Dark Artifices.
Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy — 3 stars
After the way City of Heavenly Fire ended, I was very much looking forward to reading about Simon’s time at the Shadowhunter Academy. This first story sets the stage by introducing the teachers, school, and other students.
The Lost Herondale — 3 stars
As the title suggests, we find out a bit more about the Herondale family in The Lost Herondale. This story sets up a future plot line within The Dark Artifices series, so it was nice finding out the backstory through Catarina Loss and Simon.
The Whitechapel Fiend — 4 stars
The White Chapel Fiend was one of my favorite stories in the collection. Tessa visits as a guest lecturer and recalls what really happened during the Jack the Ripper murders—and so we get a large dose of The Infernal Devices characters. Jace also visits and has a moment with Simon and Tessa, which I loved seeing.
Nothing but Shadows — 4 stars
In Nothing but Shadows, we get to see how James Herondale and Matthew Fairchild became best friends at the Academy. It was interesting learning more about The Last Hours characters—especially James and his warlock ability—and now I’m even more excited to read the trilogy!
The Evil We Love — 2 stars
This one was a hard story to read because it tells us about the Circle while they were at the Academy and Robert Lightwood’s cruel rejection of his parabatai. As the guest lecturer, Robert uses this story to teach the students a valuable lesson, but it wasn’t fun to read. Isabelle also makes an appearance! But you can really see that she’s hurting due to Simon’s memory loss and not handling it well.
Pale Kings and Princes — 3.5 stars
Pale Kings and Princes gives us more backstory on the Blackthorn family. As a guest lecturer, Helen Blackthorn is forced to share the story of how the Fair Folk tortured her father and uncle—but of course there’s more to the story. I loved how Andrew and Arthur’s true story was revealed at the end—but oh how it make me sad that Helen and Mark will never know the truth. On a brighter note, Simon and Isabelle finally have a proper date in this story!
Bitter of Tongue — 4 stars
Another favorite from this collection! This story is filled with all the Blackthorns! First, Simon encounters Mark while’s he captured in Faerieland. Then, we see the rest of the Blackthorn siblings at Helen and Aline’s wedding. A perfect set up for Lady Midnight!
The Fiery Trial — 3 stars
This story was definitely on the weirder side, but Clary, Magnus, Jem, Emma, and Julian are all in it so that was great. It was interesting seeing Emma and Julian’s parabatai ceremony and learning more about it firsthand.
Born to the Endless Night — 4 stars
I loved Born to the Endless Night! The focus of this story was definitely on Magnus and Alec, and it was so sweet. If you only read one story in the collection, this is the one to read.
Angels Twice Descending — 2 stars
I was disappointed in this conclusion to the collection. Highlight for spoilers: I’m glad Simon finally got his memories back and became a Shadowhunter, but George’s death was so unnecessary and kind of ruined the whole book. Because of this, I don’t see myself rereading the book anytime soon.
Overall Rating:
We enjoyed most of this book, however, the ending was way too sad!!
Glad you enjoyed it! And yeah the end was unnecessarily sad 🙁