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The Thrifty Reader

The Mortal Instruments books in order

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare has 6 books, published 2007–2014. Reading all of them takes about 60 hours (3,275 pages). 2 can be borrowed free from Open Library.

1City of Bones 2City of Ashes 3City of Glass 4City of Fallen Ange… 5City of Lost Souls 6City of Heavenly Fi…
Spines are sized by page count. The orange dot marks a free ebook.

Reading order

  1. Book 1 · 2007

    City of Bones

    512 pages, about 9.4 hours 3.9★ (95)

    BORROW FREE

  2. Book 2 · 2008

    City of Ashes

    480 pages, about 8.8 hours 4.1★ (36)

  3. Book 3 · 2009

    City of Glass

    560 pages, about 10 hours 4.8★ (9)

  4. Book 4 · 2011

    City of Fallen Angels

    434 pages, about 8 hours 4.2★ (27)

    BORROW FREE

  5. Book 5 · 2012

    City of Lost Souls

    564 pages, about 10 hours 4.0★ (3)

  6. Book 6 · 2014

    City of Heavenly Fire

    725 pages, about 13 hours 4.8★ (4)

Questions people ask

How many The Mortal Instruments books are there?

There are 6 books in the series, published 2007–2014.

Which The Mortal Instruments book should I read first?

Start with City of Bones (2007), book 1. The list above is the reading order.

How long does it take to read the whole series?

About 60 hours at an average pace of 250 words a minute, or 3,275 pages in total. The longest book is City of Heavenly Fire at 725 pages.

Can I read The Mortal Instruments for free?

2 books can be borrowed free from Open Library with a free account. The book pages have the links.