One of the best things about being a fan of The Shadowhunter Chronicles is just how much content there is. You can stick with just the four (eventually five) main series and not miss much, but if you’re looking for more stuff to read about this world and these characters, there are always novella bindups and online-only short stories to check out.
Sure enough, author Cassandra Clare has been hinting at the possibility of another novella bindup for a long time now. In an Instagram live with TMI Source earlier today, she announced that her next Shadowhunter Chronicles project (outside of the main books, of course) will be a series of novellas following Julian and Emma at the end of their travel year!
The project will be titled Secrets of Blackthorn Hall, which you may have already guessed if you follow Cassie on spotify and noticed that she’s had a playlist up for it for a while.
This project isn’t like past novella bindups, though; this one is actually going to be published online, for free, in weekly installments. There will be translations in several different languages. The first story is already available, and the next one will be published on August 16th, with a new installment every week for the next year.
Yes, you did read that correctly. Weekly installments. For a full year.
But what the plot of this story? You can get the general idea from this post:
Basically, Julian finds out that his Great Aunt Marjorie has died and left Blackthorn hall to him. He now has 5 years to fix it up before the Clave takes it away. This story will apparently bridge the gap between The Dark Artifices, which ended in 2018, and The Wicked Powers, which still does not have a release date but will start after the publication of Chain of Thorns. It’s also supposed to connect The Last Hours to the modern series – so we will presumably get some information about Jesse and friends.
It’s a multimedia project – so not just writing, but artwork as well. It is also canon, and will be referenced in The Wicked Powers. Cassie said that both Kit and Ty will appear in the story, but she did not reveal whether or not they will appear together. My money is on ‘no,’ just because I feel like something as important as their reunion would have to happen in the actual books, but you never know!
Cassie also talked briefly about other projects in the live show. The other important bit of information she gave out is that Chain of Thorns does have a release date, which will be announced in her July newsletter.
You can read the first installment of Secrets of Blackthorn Hall right now over at secretsofblackthornhall.tumblr.com!