The series premiere of Shadowhunters, a spin off of the Mortal Instruments book series, premiered on Jan. 12 on Freeform.

In the first episode they used the book as a basic guideline for how the story actually goes and some things were kept true to form like Clary Fray’s red hair and her lack of knowledge of the “shadow world” but other things were completely blown off like the old and closed off fortune teller downstairs was replaced by a  young and vibrant women and the old and abandoned institute that was described in the book was replaced with a sort of headquarters that was just buzzing with Shadowhunters. If you have seen the movie, Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, please know that the movie was closer to the book than the first episode. Of course the plot moved way quicker in the first episode as they were probably eager to get the ball rolling on the story line.

 The special effects were, as suspected, subpar, even if it is
just a tv show. They over play everything from the book such as the runes and the magical weapons. They really want you to know that those things are magical and unreal however the swords kind of look like giant glow sticks.

 Now the acting. Most of the actors have been featured in other movies and tv shows. However, that didn’t show. In most of the movies that the small cast has been in they were secondary characters. Katherine McNamara who plays Clary Fray, the heroine of the story, was very flamboyant along with every fight scene that was done in the first episode.   

 There is one thing that can be really enjoyable throughout the series: flashbacks. There was one flashback in the premiere that gave a little reasoning to Clary’s mother taking away he
r memories of the shadow world. If they keep adding more flashbacks, they could really develop some of the characters and fans of the book could really enjoy that.

 One last thing, Jace Wayland, played by Dominic Sherwood, needs to step up his game if he is going to out perform Jamie Campbell Bower and his cheekbones.