Victorian, Edwardian or The Modern Age — The Hunt stays the Same
By: Nicole Maharaj
Tags: Fiction Series, Books And Authors, Culture, Cassandra Clare, Writing

Victorian, Edwardian or The Modern Age — The Hunt stays the Same

Photo by Shoaib SR on Unsplash

Victorian and Edwardian eras were made for long beautiful dresses of all colors and hues. Suits with different waistcoats, colors, and stripes. The modern age, we are all aware is full of leather jackets, soft sweaters, and jeans.

The Hunt for Shadowhunters has remained the same throughout time. The duty of a shadowhunter is to fight demons and protect the mundane (Us) and even the downworlders from the threats that demons will cause trying to take the earth for their own. Sound familiar? Like any YA novel the Shadowhunter world that Cassandra Clare has created is deeply rooted in the fight between the light and the darkness.

One of my particular favorite things about Cassandra Clare’s novels is the vivid storytelling. In Clockwork Angel the story is told through the eyes of Victorian London. The way she writes the whole clockwork series you could have sworn you were walking through London alongside the characters. You could feel the hardness of the cobblestone streets, the Erie coldness of the streets in the dark fog of the morning. Hear the bells of a faraway church.

In the original series The Mortal Instruments, a lot of the descriptions of New York made the city sound like a surreal magical place full of wonder. Finally having been to New York myself, I know that her descriptions were apt. The way she talks of the glass and steel structure is reminiscent of her description of the demon towers in City of Glass.

I’ve always been drawn to stories with such vivid descriptions of both the magical and the mundane. Cassandra Clare has a way of writing her descriptions that make the cities her books are based in, come alive and make you want to visit them, yourself.

Lady Midnight was her first novel series set in the Shadowhunter World outside of the influence of New York and Victorian London.

Cassandra Clare’s L.A. always reminded me of sunny holidays and roadtrips with all the windows down.

I’ve never had a road trip in a jeep, but now I want to because of the way Cassandra Clare wrote about it.

The time isn’t the only thing she brings to life with her words. She is very careful to include the culture and customs of New York, London, and L.A. through all the customs of a shadowhunter lifestyle that she makes sure blends perfectly with the culture of the city the shadowhunters reside in.

In New York, there’s always a mention of the different foods, Coffee, and Chinese Take-Out. In L.A. always talk of Mexican and pizza (Although it’s Vampire pizza).

In Victorian and Edwardian London, she always makes sure to mention all the different foods served in the London Institute, and in what Cordelia brings to her picnic blanket. Tea time is always served at the appropriate time in the London institute. Just like Breakfast and Supper.

Photo by Ricardo Cruz on Unsplash

Another thing she showed throughout her books was the blending of the shadowhunter world and the many vastly different religions of the world. In the first Mortal Instruments novel, Jace tells Clary that all religious places of worship have vaults full of shadowhunter weapons because, since the dawn of time, the religious factions have always assisted in defeating the demon forces.

This was cemented in the City of Glass when the Enclave (Like a council, or Jury) of all the different cities and countries of the world, came together and Cassandra Clare described in great detail the different ways they looked and dressed. My favorite part of this was the mention of one of the other shadowhunter’s wearing a Sari to an enclave meeting.

A lot of the weapons that are described are also different types of weapons from all different countries and sects of religion. The use of archery is something that is often used in Fantasy novels, but the explanation of swords, daggers, and other different weapons are also described throughout the novels, especially in the Dark Artifices series where we actually meet Diana the owner of the weapons store in the Shadow homeland. In the mortal instruments, they always talked about shortswords and the twin Morgenstern Blades that Clary and Jace often traded between each other.

My favorite series The Infernal Devices often mentioned Jem’s cane that he used quite often in battles, that eventually evolved into the Silent Brother’s staff that he used in the last battle of the Infernal Devices.

The use of long swords is shown in both The Dark Artifices and in Chain of Gold with both the Carstairs women using the sword Cortana that is rich with a history all its own.

In Lady Midnight, the first novel in the Dark Artifice’s series, there is the first mention of the Shadow Market, which is basically a night market that caters to the downworlder community often distrustful of the Shadowhunter’s that dare show up to their market.

One of my favorite novels in Cassandra Clare’s shadowhunter series, is the Ghost’s of the Shadow Market, that show’s Jem Carstairs and his many adventures with the Shadow Market through the decades as he lived as a Brother Zachariah. A stand-alone novel, it showed London, and L.A. shadow markets.

Jem had been at the night market so often through the decades that he is one of the few of the shadowhunter’s that is welcomed into the market. When he was brother Zachariah it was thought that the sight of him brought luck for that particular night in the market. When he became Jem he was considered a normal occurrence. The sight of him, as normal as seeing faeries or Werewolves in the market.

Another thing to note is that Cassandra Clare has also created her own form of shadowhunter language, with the way the younger generation speak that’s similar to the way J.K. Rowling made in the Harry Potter series.

The blend of culture and Time throughout Cassandra Clare’s books shows the dedication Cassandra Clare has taken to craft her novels. That’s why she has such a dedicated readership. She puts in the work, and her readers always buy her book.

Last year, when her book The Lost book of the White, the second installment of the Eldest Curses series, she was dismayed to discover that her book had been released by one of her readers onto the internet.

She was horrified that all her work that was put into the book would be a waste, but her readers, still came to buy the books the day of release. No matter what, her novels are ones that readers will always buy because of all the work Cassandra Clare and The McElderry Books team bring to the ShadowHunter series.