Jiana's Reviews > Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy

Buddy read with Cait!

I'm not going to go into details with each novella because there's a gazillion of them and I've already some forgotten details here and there.

Rating for each novella:
1) Welcome to the Shadowhunter Academy: 3 stars
2) The Lost Herondale: 3.5 stars
3) The Whitechapel Fiend: 4 stars
4) Nothing but Shadows: 5 stars
5) The Evil We Love: 3.5 stars
6) Pale Kings and Princes: 4.5 stars
7) Bitter of Tongue: 5 stars
8) The Fiery Trial: 2.5 stars
9) Born to Endless Night: 4 stars
10) Angels Twice Descending: 3 stars

“You are the flame that cannot be put out. You are the star that cannot be lost. You are who you have always been, and that is enough and more than enough. Anyone who looks at you and sees the darkness is blind.”

I'm always excited to read anything related to Shadowhunter universe. I adore this world, I adore the characters and I always want more. Now, there's quite a mix in my individual ratings: some novellas were super boring or pointless or I honestly could've been just fine if I hadn't read them and some were great. However, overall, it was good collection! What I liked about these novellas was that they weren't all about Simon's experience in the Academy. Some were focused on characters we know from TMI, TID, and TDA. We see:
- Will, Jem, and Tessa and the next generation, i.e. the kids in both The Whitechapel Fiend and Nothing but Shadows
- Julian Blackthorn and Emma Carstairs and the Blackthorn family in The Fiery Trial and Bitter of Tongue
- Helen Blackthorn in Pale Kings and Princes
- Mark Blackthorn (a.k.a my everything) in Bitter of Tongue; obviously I gave that 5 stars just for him.
- Magnus and Alec in Born to Endless Night
- Isabelle, Clary and Jace in several of these novellas, especially Isabelle since she obviously has a big role in Simon's life.
- Finally, The Evil We Love is focused on Robert Lightwood and his younger days with Valentine and the circle.

The two novellas relating to TID and the next generation? Those were brilliant. I absolutely can't wait for Chain of Thorns (Book 1 - The Last Hours trilogy) because I'm already so in love with these characters! The wait is now painful.

Some novellas provided a base for Lady Midnight. While it's recommended to read this before Lady Midnight, it won't matter at all if you read Lady Midnight first, as I did. Everything is explained either way.

Of course, my favorite novella would be Bitter of Tongue. Why? Mark Blackthorn, of course! I absolutely adore him and I missed him so much, so seeing him again made me smile like an idiot.

My least favorite novella would have to be The Fiery Trial. I found it to be very confusing and utterly pointless, to be honest. What the novella revealed wasn't at all shocking. If anything, I'm pretty sure every single person who's read TMI and knows about the general plot of this book/novella bind-up (even if they haven't read it yet), already know this "reveal" was going to happen. So, yeah. Nah.

“I think sometimes it's too hard to believe in yourself. You just do the things you're not sure you can do. You just act, in spite of not being certain. I don't believe I can change the world--it sounds stupid to even talk about it--but I'm going to try.”

I didn't particularly care for any of the new characters introduced except George Lovelace. George is precious. George is adorable. George is an angel.

In addition to that, these novellas also centered around Simon and Isabelle's relationship. So much drama went on, which is 100% understandable. I am absolute trash for this ship and when they finally got together again, I was beyond happy.

Now. The final novella. It would've been a great novella if it weren't for that ending. I basically spoiled myself about the ending and I got pissed at it. I dreaded reaching it and I'm still pissed now. IT WAS SO UNCALLED FOR AND UNNECESSARY. I don't get why it happened?? What was the point??? WHY, WHY, WHY? Things would've been totally fine if it hadn't happened. I'm not happy, okay. Not. happy. at. all. I refuse this ending. This is all.