Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Review: Nothing but Shadows (Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #4) by Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan

Title: Nothing but Shadows

Series: Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #4

Previous novellas in this series: Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy (#1) | The Lost Herondale (#2) | The Whitechapel Fiend (#3)

Previous series: The Mortal Instruments

Authors: Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan

Publication date: May 2015

Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Source: Own hardcover

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Buy it: Audible (novella only) | Amazon | Book Depository | Thrift Books

Synopsis: It’s hard to be a Shadowhunter when you’ve got demonic powers.

Simon learns about the school-time struggles of half-warlock James Herondale in this prelude to The Last Hours.

My rating: ★★★★★

Another Herondale story from Catarina!

“A Herondale? Another Herondale?” Simon asked. “Herondales without cease. Do you ever get the feeling you are being chased around by Herondales?”
“Not really,” Catarina said. “Not that I’d mind. Magnus says they tend to be a good-looking lot. Of course, Magnus also says they tend to be strange in the head. James Herondale was a bit of a special case.”

Zip it Simon! We love the Herondales here 😆 And yes, they are all very good looking 😏


Anyway, the story Catarina tells is about James Herondale, son of Will and Tessa, and a main character of The Last Hours. He actually went to this very Shadowhunters Academy hundreds of years back. We were already introduced to him and his ability back in a story in The Bane Chronicles, but I was glad to get more of him here.

As I said, James has an ability. He can basically turn into shadows, thanks to his mom being a warlock. And as you can imagine, he has a hard time at school because of it—lots of bullying. I felt so bad for him 😫 Especially because I found him to be very relatable...

Now he was going to Shadowhunter Academy, to learn to be as great a warrior as his father, and the warrior bit was not half as worrying as the fact he was going to have to talk to people.
There was going to be a lot of people.
There was going to be a lot of talking.


Same James, same 😆 Some other characters we meet are Christopher Lightwood and Mathew Fairchild, both characters I love. But the very sassy Mathew was probably my favorite!

“I abstain on the grounds that beauty is sacred, and there is nothing beautiful about these exercises.”
“I object on aesthetic principles.”

This is in reference to him participating (or not participating) in the training courses. As someone who hated gym, this is highly relatable for me 😆 But to be honest, I did start out being iffy about Mathew, but I surprisingly really ended up liking him! Which is a good thing because it turns out he and James become parabatai. Lol. The bromance that develops there... I loved it! My poor James... I’m so glad he found Mathew.

We also see some other more familiar characters, like Catariana, cranky Ragnor (love him! Lol), and Will! He may be grown up, but he’s still a troublemaker and I love it! 😆

This was such a good story! I loved these characters even before I started Chain of Gold! And now having finally read it, I appreciate them even more 🖤


Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊

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