The Last Hours

About The Last Hours

Set roughly a generation after The Infernal Devices, The Last Hours follows Cordelia Carstairs, the daughter of a disgraced Shadowhunter family, as she arrives in London hoping to restore her family's honor by joining a marriage of convenience to her childhood friend James Herondale -- son of Will and Tessa from The Infernal Devices. When a sinister figure called the Lightwarden begins turning ordinary weapons into instruments of a demonic plague, Cordelia, James, and their circle of friends (many of them children of Infernal Devices characters) are drawn into a conspiracy that threatens all of London's Shadowhunters.

Cassandra Clare returns to the Edwardian-era London of The Infernal Devices with a new generation of characters, letting longtime readers watch Will and Tessa's children navigate their own forbidden loves, family legacies, and demonic threats. The trilogy leans into the found-family warmth and tangled romantic entanglements that made Infernal Devices a fan favorite, while adding a mystery-driven central plot about the Lightwarden's true identity and motives.

Three novels tell one complete, continuous story, closing out the era of London Shadowhunters that Infernal Devices began.

How to read this series

Read the three novels in publication order: Chain of Gold, Chain of Iron, Chain of Thorns. It's a complete, continuous trilogy that should be read straight through.

Read The Infernal Devices first -- The Last Hours is a direct generational sequel, its central cast are the children of Infernal Devices characters, and it spoils that trilogy's ending. Familiarity with The Mortal Instruments and The Dark Artifices is not required but adds context for cameos and franchise-wide references.