The Shadowhunter's Codex is a manual for new Shadowhunters. It is meant to guide them into their new, dangerous, usually short life. The life of a Shadowhunter is violent and often brief, but their role in containing rogue Downworlders and preventing harm upon mundanes by demons and the like is an important one. While most Shadowhunters are born into the life, some mundanes can ascend to become Raziel's soldiers. For those who have not been raised as a Shadowhunter, there is a lot to learn. The Codex is meant to guide those young, new Shadowhunters to prevent their even more untimely deaths.
This is a brief little book that is mostly unnecessary if you have followed along with the series up to its most recent book. It details everything from the Mortal Instruments to a Shadowhunter's weapons to the different kinds of Downworlders. While I didn't mind all this information, and enjoyed this little manual, it is pretty repetitive and would make only the most die-hard fans happy. The most important information you get is the history in the last part of the book. The history of the Shadowhunters has been touched on in bits and pieces throughout the series, but it was good to have it all together in one place.
The most entertaining part of this book wasn't the actual book itself, but the "notations" made by Clary, Jace, and Simon. They were funny little quips, especially about the parts where the Codex is lacking due to plot events from previous books. If I hadn't read the series, though, these little smart-guy comments wouldn't make much sense. I would use this book for a student who is going through the series but reads slow and might lose track of different names that are complex and unfamiliar. Using this as a dictionary/reference of sorts for those oddball items and names would help them keep up with the series at their own pace. It was a cute companion to the story, but if you read pretty steadily with the series, it isn't entirely necessary for your Mortal Instruments enjoyment!
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