There’s been a shake-up in Cassandra Clare‘s writing schedule, but we think fans are going to be pretty happy about it!
After finishing Lord of Shadows, many fans of the Shadowhunters universe were bummed when they discovered that Queen of Air and Darkness, the final book in The Dark Artifices trilogy, wouldn’t be coming out until sometime in late 2019. But now, Clare is delaying the start of her new series, The Last Hours, to wrap up The Dark Artifices a little earlier!
The change comes for some sad reasons: Clare recently lost her step-father, suffered through pneumonia, and had trouble jumping back into the largely optimistic world of Chain Of Gold, the first book in The Last Hours series that was due out in 2018. She found lots of inspiration, however, for the darker, drearier tone of Queen of Air and Darkness.
“I realized I’d hit the critical point where I had more of QuAD than I did of Chain, and that if I wanted to have a book published in 2018, it would have to be Queen,” Clare said in her newsletter.
If you were really looking forward to The Last Hours, all hope isn’t lost. With the news also comes the announcement of “a new short story project along the lines of The Bane Chronicles is on the horizon, starring one of the most important characters from Infernal Devices and tracing a path through the stories of several of the Last Hours’ characters.”
Cassandra Clare fansite TMI Source snagged an rough estimate of releases from the author, giving fans a better idea on when you expect new books from her, including her collaborations with Holly Black and Wesley Chu.
2017
- The Silver Mask (Magisterium #4): 10 October
- The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1: 31 October
- City of Bones 10th anniversary edition: 7 November
2018
- The Enemy of Death (Magisterium #5, final book): August, September or October
- Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #3): fall 2018
2019
- The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses #1): March 5
- Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1): fall?
2020
- The Eldest Curses #2: spring?
- Chain of Iron (The Last Hours #2): fall?
2021
- The Eldest Curses #3: spring?
- Chain of Thorns (The Last Hours #3): fall?
After 2021
- The Wicked Powers
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Shortly after the announcement, Clare took to Tumblr with a short but super sweet snippet from Queen of Air And Darkness in which Kit Herondale encounters Isabelle Lightwood and a befuddled Simon Lewis for the first time.
Kit glanced around, wondering if the growing number of people was bothering Ty. He hated crowds. Magnus and Alec were standing with their kids near the Consul; they were with a beautiful black-haired girl with eyebrows just like Alec’s and a boy — well, he was probably in his twenties — with untidy brown hair. The boy gave Kit a considering look that seemed to say you look familiar. Several people had done the same. Kit guessed it was because he looked like Jace, if Jace had suffered a sudden and unexpected height, muscle and overall hotness reduction.
