Book Review: The Shadowhunters' Codex

'Since the thirteenth century, the Shadowhunters’ Codex has been the one and only manual for Shadowhunters looking to brush up on their demon languages, learn proper stele use and learn exactly what a pyxis is. Featured in both The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, this guide is a necessity for any young Nephilim on their journey to becoming a Shadowhunter. This is Clary’s copy, and as an artist herself, she’s sketched pictures of her friends and familythroughout the book, and scrawled helpful advice on the margins. Of course, she couldn’t exactly stop Jace and Simon from adding their thoughts either.'

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After reading the first five books in The Mortal Instruments series and knowing that I was going to buy The Infernal Devices at some point I really wanted to get my hands onto the Shadownhunter’s Codex once it was published. I am a naturally nosey person when it comes to books and learning more about the book world so I was glad when I got it as a Christmas present. 

This book did not disappoint me at all. Throughout the pages you feel as though this is something the Clave has actually wrote down from the way the language comes across. Instead of the usual story writing style that Cassandra Clare usually uses throughout her books, she and Joshua Lewis slip more into an instructional guide which makes you feel as though the Codex is a real thing. 

There was an immense amount of information in the Codex but not enough to make you want to fall asleep.. There was a lot of new information though that gave you a real insight into how much effort was actually put into creating this whole world of Nephilim and Downworlders and the amount of research that was put into it. 

The notes that were scattered on the pages from Clary Jace and Simon were really amusing to read and you could see that in the process of putting together this Codex, Cassie Clare definitely did not forget the true personality of her characters. Even in these short notes you were able to put together the type of person each one of them was. The only gripe I do have with the notes were that a lot of the time it was hardtop know where she wanted you to read them. 

One of my favourite aspects of this Codex is the fact that towards the beginning of this book Magnus Bane has his own section of writing. Throughout this small section his sarcasm was seeping through while still being quite informative. 

The only problems that I really had with the book is that there were some sections, like Magnus’, where it cut through a sentence and the sentence wouldn’t carry on for quite a few pages then which made you lose the flow of reading. The notes were also a little hard to read sometimes since you couldn’t really tell where she wanted you to read them. 

Overall though, I am still extremely glad that I had this as a Christmas present and it’s made me understand the Shadowhunting world a lot better. I would recommend this book to anyone who’s a fan of Cassie Clare’s series’. 

Rating: ★★★★