The stories track Simon as he covers the two-year training schedule at the Academy. He learns a lot about himself and starts to recover his lost memories as well as making new friends. The stories are of varying quality: none of them were terrible, and a couple were brilliant. As usual, there’s some brilliant characterisation and dialogue, plus we get to catch up with all the characters from TMI (well, the ones who are still alive, anyway) and seewhat they’re doing these days.
I’ve rated the individual stories as follows:
Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy: 3 stars.
The Lost Herondale: 4 stars.
The Whitechapel Fiend: 4 stars.
Nothing But Shadows: 5 stars.
The Evil We Love: 3 stars.
Pale Kings and Princes : 5 stars.
Bitter of Tongue: 5 stars.
The Fiery Trial: 3 stars.
Born to Endless Night: 5 stars.
Angels Twice Descending : 4 stars.
As an overall story, Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy didn’t really have the angst and bite that The Mortal Instruments or Infernal Devices had, but it was still a pretty good read. I read it by the pool on holiday and managed to rattle through it in just over a day, so I guess that says something.
4 stars