Shadowhunters & Myths: Discovering the Legends Behind The Mortal Instruments

by Valerie Estelle Frankel

The demon-slaying rebel teens of the Mortal Instruments have hit televisions everywhere as Freeform’s Shadowhunters. Like Harry Potter and other beloved fantasies, the epic story’s secrets lie in the real-world myths and legends that fuel its adventures. Shadowhunters use runes of angelic power from The Book of Raziel – inspired by its earthly counterpart and many a medieval codex. Real angelologies and demonologies supply the monsters and divine guidance as Lilith, Abbadon, and Asmodeus strike. Nephilim, parabatai, iratzes and the Sword of Heavenly Fire arrive straight from the Bible. Idris is from the Qur’an and the Silent Brothers from the mystical The Book of Enoch. Reaching wider, world folklore offers the nixies, djinn, warlocks, vampires, and fairies, along with oni, kappa, rakshasas and all the other magical peoples. Now learn more of them all, read from Dante, Milton, and Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, and discover the truths behind the Shadowhunters’ deepest secrets.

218 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 17, 2016

About the author

Valerie Estelle Frankel is the author of 88 books on pop culture, including Doctor Who - The What, Where, and How; The Villain's Journey, History, Pop Culture, and Hidden Meanings in Hamilton; and How Game of Thrones Will End. Many of her books focus on women’s roles in fiction, from her heroine’s journey guides From Girl to Goddess and Superheroines and the Epic Journey to books like Star Wars Meets the Eras of Feminism and Fourth Wave Feminism in Science Fiction and Fantasy. She's editing a series on Jewish Science Fiction for Rowman & Littlefield. Once a lecturer at San Jose State University, she now teaches at Mission College and is a frequent speaker at conferences. Come explore her research at www.vefrankel.com.

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting when I initially bought the book. The 2nd half is definitely better and picks up pace more but some sections just felt slow and tedious albeit still interesting. Has a much more academic feel to it rather than a myth/legend retelling which is what I expected based on the description.

[Starri Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly such a good read for anyone who’s read a lot of the Shadowhunters franchise books. It goes into the history of Angel, Archangels, demons, the types of demons, levels of demons, and all types of myths around the world. While also mentioning the ties it has to the Bible. It was a good “history” lesson, and I’m not much for learning history but this was fun!

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read filled with angels, demons, excerpts from all of Cassandra Clare's books in the Shadow World, myths and legends around the world relating to angels and demons etc. I took my time reading it because I wanted to absorb everything.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this!

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mehr oder weniger gelesen, eher die interessanten Stellen rausgesucht - Schande über mein Haupt.

War aber ganz interessant

[Jeannette Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clarifying.

[Hollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very useful book if you’re interested in diving deeper into the Shadowhunters law. Very interesting 👍🏻

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shadowhunters & Myths explains on what a lot of things Cassie used in the Shadowhunter Chronicles are based on. There's a lot of really interesting stuff in the books and I wanted to know some of the background of the things so I decided to read it.

I rate it 4 stars because it wasn't bad but it also wasn't THAT good either. It's really interesting and all is really well explained, but some of the things mentioned in the book are already in the Shadowhunters Codex, for example the various demons, greater demons and angels.
Well but the theme is the legends behind the Mortal Instruments so I guess listing the angels and demons is part of that. Just expect to read some things you already know if you have read the Shadowhunters Codex before.

I knew that a lot things are based on stuff from the Bible and Dante's Inferno but I didn't expect it to actually be so many things that Cassie has used. She also used some themes from norse mythology, which I didn't know.

There were also some short explanations of the City of Bones movie and the Shadowhunters tv show in the book, which I really liked because it both belongs to the Shadowhunters universe too and both is really important.

[Tamara (notvibing on storygraph) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love to read about the background and motifs behind stories, especially those you notice have a lot of influences from different areas and a lot of research has been done to write them.

My problem is that I don't like to read so much about religion and all those biblical things. It's really not my cup of tea.

It was still very interesting but I can't give it a higher rating.

This book includes loads of references about angels, demons, all kinds of Downworlders etc. Sometimes a bit too detailed for my taste.

[Kirsty McCracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that explores the stories behind the theology and mythology of the work one of my favourite authors ever? Uh, yes please!!! Though this book is short it covers a wide range of areas, and the only thing I'd say it is lacking is some illustrations of symbols and creatures etc. But other than that, this was an interesting and fun read!