Chain Of Gold by Cassandra Clare [Super Hyped Book Is Here!!] + Giveaway

There is so much I really admire about the Shadowhunter series.

And Cassandra Clare. 🥺💛 Having such a long-running series that spans centuries, with its own lore and histories and complex backstories — it’s all phenomenal and special. Plus these are fantasy books that actually have diverse rep, with queer and POC characters, which is how all fantasy books should be. Chain of Gold was a very hyped book for me. I mean, of course it was!! I’m so glad I had a chance to read it. Out of all the Shadowhunter books I’ve read so far, I think The Dark Artifices is my heart favourite. But I love just the concept of this world with  its mix of biblical lore, demons and angels and wicked and lovely creatures.

✨Also stop by my Instagram page to enter the INTL giveaway!✨

Things To Look Forward To In This Book

➢ new brand of maliciously wicked demon
➢ Edwardian England setting!
➢ James literally shouting, “I LOVE TEA” so yes we know they’re British.
➢ the utterly stunning concept of girls in ballgowns with swords
➢ delightful amount of accepted and loved queer rep
➢ mysteries unravelling about Tessa’s demon heritage
➢ dark magic
➢ who quickly heroes turn to villains and vice versa

“Though it is entirely bad form to appear unannounced at teatime. There simply won’t be enough cake for everybody. The girls will have cake and the boys nothing. There is no other fair way to do it.”

This new series feels like a love letter to all who really adored Will, Tess and Jem in The Infernal Devices series.

They don’t star here, but this is the series about the next generation, aka, their children! Will and Tessa’s kids are James and Lucie, two of the main characters. Then we have the kids of Gabriel and Gideon Lightwood, and of course more Fairchilds and Carstairs. There are…stacks of characters. 😂 And the Shadowhunter world in London feels oddly at peace, so the kids have grown up picnicking and going to school instead of in a warzone. It’s got a lot of historical-fiction flair too, where the women are proper and scandals are horrific and it’s all about “protect your family name” while most everyone suffers under invisible duties.

[characters]

I always accidentally fall in love with the secondary characters the most in Shadowhunter books! 😂 I did struggle telling all these characters apart, and couldn’t actually tell you which kid belonged to which family. I feel like all the character introductions were done in Ghosts of the Shadow Market, which I read but don’t remember much of? I expected CoG to flesh everyone out and make them dimensional and explosive (like TDA!!) but I hesitantly say I felt the characters stuck to their one descriptor and didn’t expand. Like Lucie was a dramatic novelist (relatable tho), James could step into hell realms, Matthew was a drunk, Alister was a misunderstood villain, Cordelia had a sword, etc. etc. And it was hard when the original TID gang named their kids all after each other…ahhh too man Jameses.

So as much as I wanted to love everyone, I felt James, Lucie, Cordelia, and Matthew weren’t very dynamic. I fell IN LOVE with Anna (the butch lesbian who were suits, seduced women, and was just exceptionally epic) and I wanted more Alister (the stressed secret gay) and I missed that Magnus wasn’t in it more! Jesse Blackthorn intrigued the heck out of me. I want more of him. These side-characters were so vivid, flawed, and troubled. My heart!

[the story it told]

I was super intrigued how this one was about demons attacking Shadowhunters, but specifically. It was all insidious and they uncovered a tricky plot. Maybe the ending felt easy, but I think that’s because there’s way WAY more coming. And I love the darkness behind the intentions.

“They need a muse,” said Anna. “Someone to be inspired by. Someone to know their secrets. Would you like to be a muse?”
“No,” said Cordelia. “I would like to be a hero.”

It’s always a delight to be back in the Shadowhunter world.

I think this one will totally delight fans of TID. The book is full of loving detail, and paints a sweeping and vast world that mixes magic with history. I love seeing series going strong and far. I think, as someone who didn’t really click with TID as much as TMI and TDA, I liked reading this but I’m secretly hanging out for Wicked Powers like nothing else. 😍

 

Thanks so much to Walker Books for the ARC! Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1) by Cassandra Clare is published March 3rd. 2020.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Walker Books

Welcome to Edwardian London, a time of electric lights and long shadows, the celebration of artistic beauty and the wild pursuit of pleasure, with demons waiting in the dark. For years there has been peace in the Shadowhunter world. James and Lucie Herondale, children of the famous Will and Tessa, have grown up in an idyll with their loving friends and family, listening to stories of good defeating evil and love conquering all. But everything changes when the Blackthorn and Carstairs families come to London…and so does a remorseless and inescapable plague.
James Herondale longs for a great love, and thinks he has found it in the beautiful, mysterious Grace Blackthorn. Cordelia Carstairs is desperate to become a hero, save her family from ruin, and keep her secret love for James hidden. When disaster strikes the Shadowhunters, James, Cordelia and their friends are plunged into a wild adventure which will reveal dark and incredible powers, and the true cruel price of being a hero…and falling in love.

tell me your favourite shadowhunter series and characters!! do you have any long-running series you adore?