It’s just a few days before we’re deep into the season of giving.

Here is a perfect gift to give to a book-loving friend.

The Mortal Instrument Series,  with a mix of mystical creatures, villains, heroes, tragedies, battles and romance are wonderful books that will makes you beg for more. The books series is a perfect gift for fans of Supernatural and Dungeons and Dragon.

The fantasies in order are City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire. The books were written by Cassandra Clare and the first book, City of Bones, was published on March 27, 2007.

Similar to the aftermath of the Harry Potter series, Clare is working with other authors to expand the original books with character studies and a whole new branch of fan fiction

The City of Bones takes place in New York City  were a teenage girl, Clary Fray, discovers that her whole life is a lie. Her mother, Jocelyn Fairchild,  hid Clary from her past to protect her from her mother’s life. One day Clary starts to see things that ordinary people can’t see. After her mother’s kidnapping, Clary meets people that are like her, Shadowhunters.

Shadowhunters are appointed warriors of Angel Razie on Earth. Their mission is to control the demons and supernatural creatures. Clary works with other Shadowhunters, and her best friend Simon Lewis, to find her mother.

The the reason why I love these books was the fact that there were so many action scenes and they took me to an alternate world of werewolves, evil fairies, vampires, and demons that walk on Earth.

Like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, I like the whole fantasy world she creates, language, weapons, enemies.

Despite the 400 pages, it won’t take you long to read each book. I don’t really care to read lengthy books, but this time it only took me a week to read the first book, and in one month, and I was done the next three books. The books draw you in with each chapter.

If you love the first book, whatever you do, don’t watch the movie, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,  that came out in the summer of 2013, starring Lily Collins as Clary, Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace and Kevin Zagger as Alec.

I am warning you that the movie is awful. There is a saying that the book is better than the movie. In this case, it is 100% true. The director butchered the whole movie and made it look like a joke. The major scenes in the novel, the party at Magnus, the green house, and the epic battles, are completely altered to where they didn’t make sense.

If you give this holiday gift, you and your fan friend can tune into the new show that comes out in January 12, 2016.

Earlier this summer ABC Family announced that they were doing their take on the books and the show is called Shadowhunters. So far, based on the short clips of behind the scenes and the cast list, the show looks okay. I have to see more to be convinced.

Another thing that makes me question the show is the computer graphic of the demons. The exclusive video that went out on November 11th made it look cheesy and I hope I am wrong because the book has so much potential and how the book illustrates the demons are amazing and that is why the movie was good at showing the demons disgusting looks.  

Until then we will have to read articles that tell us what is happening. ABC Family has even made a website, Shadowhunters, where fans can interact with the characters, take quizzes and look at photos.

Shadowhunter casting (Character- who it is played by)

Alec Lightwood- Matthew Daddario

Clary Fray- Katherine McNamara

Luke Garroway- Isaiah Mustafa

Simon Lewis- Alberto Rosende

Jace Wayland- Dominic Sherwood

Magnus Bane- Harry Shum Jr.

Isabelle Lightwood- Emeraude Toubia

Raphael Santiago- David Castro

Hodge Starkweather- Jon Cor

Meliorn- Jade Hassouné

Camille Belcourt- Kaitlyn Leeb

Jocelyn Fray- Maxim Roy

Valentine Morgenstern- Alan Van Sprang

I was so happy to see that Alan Van Sprang will be playing Valentine because his character is very evil, dark and mysterious. Sprang played a similar character in Reign where he had played King Henry II a evilish King of France. If he does an awesome job as he did with Henry then I will totally hate him because he did a great job portraying his character.

Once you read the books. there are wonderful fan websites about the series.  Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters  has everything you need to know about the different  books that Shadowhunters are in, runes, and Shadowhunters 101.