“Memories were like love: wound and cure, both at once.”

Ghosts of the Shadowmarket is Cassandra Clare’s latest collection of short stories set in the Shadowhunter world, following [b:Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy|28954137|Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy|Cassandra Clare|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1454864103l/28954137._SY75_.jpg|46924845] and [b:The Bane Chronicles|16303287|The Bane Chronicles|Cassandra Clare|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1395159015l/16303287._SY75_.jpg|22436394]. Like the other collections, Ghosts tells tales that span the entirety of Shadowhunter history, with a focus on a certain location, the Shadowmarkets, and a focal character, Jem Carstairs/Brother Zachariah.

There aren’t many series/worlds that I make sure to read every single released short story of, but the Shadowhunter world is definitely one of them. Each anthology just works to add so much more to the already established world and cast of Clare’s novels while still containing an actual purpose, a plot that affects the ongoing narrative or even just a plot contained within the interwoven stories. It’s also more than just another novel with really long chapters, as each individual story still contains enough independence from the others. Ghosts was no exception, as it contained 10 individual stories that were strong in their own right as well as an overarching story that bound all these stories together (and served as a segue into each of Clare’s upcoming trilogies). Not only was I able to enjoy each story individually, they also served to increase my excitement for upcoming books as well as introduce the characters of those books that I had not met yet.

There will always be stories that stand out more than others, however, especially the ones that contain Magnus and Alec in some magnitude (they will always be my favorites). However, even with that original bias, I found myself getting very attached to some of the new characters we were introduced too, like Michael Fairchild and James Herondale. And while not every single story was as strong as the others, with some hitting me harder than others (and dang, were there some incredibly dark stories included in this one), all of them had their own merit. I don’t think there was a single story that I feel worse off having read, and none I would have skipped reading in hindsight.

I must admit that the anthology is stronger at its end than at its beginning, purely because of the chronological way it’s written. The beginning of this story lines up with the era of the Last Hours, which is a series filled with brand new characters. That meant those stories had a lot of familial plotting and character backgrounds to give vs. the latter stories with the more known characters, leading to a lot more exposition and less dedication to build-up and climax within the story. Later on, since characters like Jace, Clary, Valentine, Alec, Magnus, etc. need a lot less explaining (as there is an assumption you’ve read the other series), there’s a lot more focus on the story being told instead, making them just a little more well-rounded and balanced.

All in all, this was another strong anthology by Clare, and I’m seriously excited to see where both The Wicked Powers and The Last Hours go!