In the second installment of the Shadow and Thorn Curse, readers are drawn deeper into the intricacies of the dark magic that plagues the protagonists. The curse, which was unleashed upon them in the first installment, continues to wreak havoc on their lives. The main characters, Sarah and Ethan, find themselves facing a powerful enemy who seeks to exploit the curse for their own gain. Throughout the second installment, the characters are forced to confront their inner demons and make difficult choices in order to break free from the curse's grip. The curse, represented by the shadow and thorn, becomes increasingly oppressive as its effects intensify. Sarah, determined to protect her loved ones and find a way to rid herself of the curse, embarks on a dangerous journey to discover the source of the dark magic.
Sarah, determined to protect her loved ones and find a way to rid herself of the curse, embarks on a dangerous journey to discover the source of the dark magic. Along the way, she encounters allies and enemies, each with their own motivations and secrets. Ethan, on the other hand, battles the shadow and thorn within himself as he struggles to maintain control over his actions and emotions.
About the Books
I suggest that you read them in a slightly strange order. That means: The Mortal Instruments, Part One: City of Bones City of Ashes City of Glass The Infernal Devices Clockwork Angel Clockwork Prince Clockwork Princess The Mortal Instruments, Part 2 City of Fallen Angels City of Lost Souls City of Heavenly Fire Then: The Bane Chronicles Shadowhunter Academy Lady Midnight etc. If you, understandably, don't want to break up your reading that way, I suggest this: The Mortal Instruments The Infernal Devices The Bane Chronicles Shadowhunter Academy Lady Midnight And so on.
Updated March 2021: Like every industry in the world, publishing has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic- printer shortages, changing work environments, distribution delays, and more. I thought that by this time I’d have an idea of the publishing dates for upcoming books like The Wicked Powers and The Black Volume of the Dead. However with all these unforeseen delays, and the difficulty of writing while unable doing the normal things like research, Chain of Thorns and Sword Catcher are coming out later than planned. Chain of Thorns will come out 2022. Sword Catcher** either late 2022, or early 2023. Other books will not be scheduled until the pandemic is over. Please be patient. This pandemic has touched us all in different ways. I hope you are all as well as you can be. Shadowhunter Chronicles: The Last Hours, the sequel series to The Infernal Devices, will be published over the next couple of years. It’s about the children of the Infernal Devices characters. Chain of Gold (The Last Hours 1) published on March 3, 2020 Chain of Iron (The Last Hours 2) published March 2, 2021 Chain of Thorns (The Last Hours 3) to be announced The Eldest Curses: follows the adventures of Magnus and Alec, written with Wesley Chu. The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses: 1) published on April 9, 2019 The Lost Book of The White (The Eldest Curses: 2) published on September 1, 2020 The Black Volume of the Dead (The Eldest Curses: 3) to be announced The Shadowhunter Chronicles is intended to wrap up permanently with an installment called The Wicked Powers. The first book isn’t scheduled yet, but will come after Sword Catcher, the Last Hours, and the second Eldest Curses book. There really isn’t much info about it online because it’s unscheduled, but it’s coming. *** I'm very excited to announce my first adult high fantasy book, Sword Catcher, out 9/2021! Swords, intrigue, magic, explosions! There will be lots more on this later, but for now you can add it to your Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36679274-sword-catcher
The Last Hours is the current Shadowhunter series. It takes place in 1903, and and features Cordelia Carstairs — a Shadowhunter trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to London in hopes of preventing the family’s ruin. Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignations, and supernatural salons, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. . . Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron have already been released. Chain of Thorns, the third book, doesn't have an official release date yet. It's coming in 2022 and I'll update here as soon as I know exactly when.
City of Bones is the first of three books in my young adult urban fantasy trilogy, The Mortal Instruments. City of Bones is about a fifteen-year old girl named Clary Fray, whose search for her missing mother leads her into an alternate New York called Downworld, filled with mysterious faeries, hard-partying warlocks, not-what-they-seem vampires, an army of werewolves, and the demons who want to destroy it all. She also finds herself torn between two boys — her best friend, Simon, for whom she’s developing new feelings, and the mysterious demon hunter, Jace. She becomes a part of the secret world of the demon hunters, or Nephilim, and as she does she discovers that rescuing her mother might mean putting their whole world in jeopardy. City of Bones is followed by the second book, City of Ashes, and the third, City of Glass. You can find all sorts of detailed information about these books on the Mortal Instruments website.
The idea for the Mortal Instruments came to me one afternoon in the East Village. I was with a good friend of mine, who was taking me to see the tattoo shop where she used to work. She wanted to show me that her footprints were on the ceiling in black paint — in fact the footprints of everyone who’d worked there were on the ceiling, crisscrossing each other and making patterns. To me it looked like some fabulous supernatural battle had been fought there by beings who’d left their footprints behind. I started thinking about a magical battle in a New York tattoo shop and the idea of a secret society of demon-hunters whose magic was based on an elaborate system of tattooed runes just sprang into my mind. When I sat down to sketch out the book, I wanted to write something that would combine elements of traditional high fantasy — an epic battle between good and evil, terrible monsters, brave heroes, enchanted swords — and recast it through a modern, urban lens. So you have the Shadowhunters, who are these very classic warriors following their millennia-old traditions, but in these urban, modern spaces: skyscrapers, warehouses, abandoned hotels, rock concerts. In fairy tales, it was the dark and mysterious forest outside the town that held the magic and danger. I wanted to create a world where the city has become the forest — where these urban spaces hold their own enchantments, danger, mysteries and strange beauty. It’s just that only the Shadowhunters can see them as they really are.
The Dark Artifices is a trilogy, the third installment of the Shadowhunter Chronicles (five are planned.) It takes place five years after the end of the Mortal Instruments, and centers around Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn, who were introduced in City of Heavenly Fire. You can read more about it here.
For those who haven't been following along: The Wicked Powers in the last trilogy/series in the Shadowhunter universe. It takes place three years after the end of The Dark Artifices, and brings the fates of everyone we know — from the Blackthorns and Kit, to Jace and Clary, Magnus and Alec, and even Jem and Tessa, to a close. I wish I could give you definitive news about when it's coming out. Like every industry, publishing has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. I thought that by this time I’d be done with the Last Hours and know when TWP was coming, but many complicating factors have slowed everything down. From printer shortages, to me not being able to do research, to publishers being unable to go into their offices to work, to supply chain breakdowns, everything has fallen behind schedule. As a result, Sword Catcher, The Wicked Powers, and The Black Book of the Dead are all still coming, but they're behind schedule. Chain of Thorns will be out next year; SC will be out late 2022/early 2023, and TWP and BBOTD have not yet been scheduled. As soon as that happens, I'll let you guys know! I hope you can be patient; I know this pandemic has touched us all in different ways.
There are six books in the Mortal Instruments series: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, and City of Heavenly Fire. The Infernal Devices and the Mortal Instruments series alternated in their publication dates — one ID book, then one MI book, then one ID book, and so forth! Because the stories overlap and intertwine, it can be fun to read them in publication order — though if you choose not to, that will not affect your comprehension of either series. They complement each other, but each stands alone as a separate story.
Yes, you will, though not as main characters. Their specific story has ended, but they remain important members of the Shadowhunter world and play a role in The Dark Artifices and the Wicked Powers. You can also see them in the short story collections like The Bane Chronicles, Tales from The Shadowhunter Academy, and Ghosts of the Shadow Market. Magnus and Alec, of course, have their own whole series — the Eldest Curses. Check it out!
Why, yes! Sword Catcher will be the first book in my new series written for adults, my first ever high fantasy project. I'm very excited! Here's a blurb:
Here, a boy is born to rule a divided city. A girl is destined to return lost magic to the world. And a prince will betray his people to win a crown. They'll discover the dark side of themselves and those they love, as their kingdom faces war, plague and the end of hope. But the blackest night comes before the dawn.
Also, I wrote a five-book epic fantasy middle grade (think Percy Jackson, Eragon, Harry Potter - that's epic middle grade), cowritten with Holly Black (author of The Spiderwick Chronicles) called The Magisterium Series. You can learn more about Callum and crew here.
Twelve-year-old Callum Hunt has grown up knowing three rules by heart. Never trust a magician. Never pass a test a magician gives you. And never let a magician take you to the Magisterium. Call is about to break all the rules. And when he does, his life will change in ways he can’t possibly imagine. The Iron Trial is the first book in an epic fantasy series that I'm cowriting with Holly Black. The Iron Trial was released in September 2014 by Scholastic Books. The second book, The Copper Gauntlet, followed in September 2015, and the third installment, The Bronze Key, came out in August 2016. There will be five books total: one for year of Call's life from twelve to seventeen, as he comes of age in a world where child apprentices train to be warriors and dark magicians seek to defeat even death. There's not much else I can say about the books yet, as I'm sworn to secrecy, but I've always wanted to write with Holly, and I can definitely say the collaboration has produced characters I love and a story I hope you'll find as funny, dark, adventurous and unexpected as I do. Learn more about the first book, The Iron Trial, here. MTV reports on the new series and the film adaptation here.
I get this question all the time, I think because a lot of people know that Tessa appears briefly in City of Glass. (She is the girl in white Magnus is talking to at the party in the epilogue.) But unfortunately to answer the question any further would involve too many spoilers!
I read the hardcover edition, 403 pp, published by Entangled Teen in December 2022, which was a gift from Kim (the author.) My only regret is that I haven’t managed to read it and post here a whole lot sooner, because I feel the book merits the attention.
The second installment of the curse delves further into the backstory of the curse and the individuals responsible for its creation. The plot twists and turns, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as they uncover the truth about the curse's origins and its potential consequences. As the story reaches its climax, Sarah and Ethan must work together to harness their newfound understanding of the curse in order to find a way to break free from its grasp. Their journey is fraught with danger and sacrifice, but the strength of their bond proves to be their greatest weapon against the forces of darkness. The second installment of the Shadow and Thorn Curse builds upon the foundation laid in the first book, further immersing readers in a world of magic and intrigue. With its well-developed characters, intense plot, and richly detailed setting, this installment is sure to captivate both old and new fans of the series..
Reviews for "Embracing the Darkness: The Second Chapter of the Shadow and Thorn Curse"
1. Sarah - 2/5 stars - I was really looking forward to reading "The Second Installment of The Shadow and Thorn Curse," but unfortunately, I found it disappointing. The plot felt disjointed and the pacing was off, making it hard for me to get invested in the story. Additionally, the characters lacked depth and development, making it difficult to connect with them on any level. Overall, I was left feeling underwhelmed and unsatisfied by this second installment.
2. Mark - 3/5 stars - While I didn't hate "The Second Installment of The Shadow and Thorn Curse," I have to admit that I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book. The story felt repetitive and predictable, with the same tropes and twists that we've seen in countless other fantasy novels. The writing was also lacking the same spark and creativity that made the first book so captivating. Overall, it was an okay read, but it didn't live up to the expectations set by its predecessor.
3. Emily - 2/5 stars - I'm sorry to say that "The Second Installment of The Shadow and Thorn Curse" failed to hold my attention. From the beginning, I found the pacing too slow, and the story lacked the excitement and intrigue that I had hoped for. The characters felt flat and uninteresting, and the plot twists were predictable. It pains me to give this rating, as I was a fan of the first book, but unfortunately, this second installment fell short for me.
4. John - 1/5 stars - I absolutely did not enjoy "The Second Installment of The Shadow and Thorn Curse." The writing felt amateurish and poorly edited, with numerous spelling and grammatical errors throughout. The plot was convoluted and confusing, making it hard for me to follow along. The characters were one-dimensional and lacked any depth or complexity. Overall, it felt like a rushed and poorly executed sequel, and I couldn't wait for it to end.