Chain of Gold

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Author: Cassandra Clare

Series: The Last Hours (#1)

Published: March 3, 2020

ISBN: 1481431870

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

My Review:

Humanity is drawn to light, not darkness”

Mathew

First, let me start by thanking Cassandra Clare for once again creating such an amazing group of lovable Shadowhunters. Each character was wonderful in their own right, and also had great chemistry with the rest of the group. Cordelia quickly became one of my favorite female Shadowhunters of all time. I loved how strong and tenacious she was, and how even in a time where women were viewed as meek and submissive, she was not afraid to speak her mind. I knew that James, being Will Herondale’s son, would quickly steal my heart and I wasn’t wrong. He reminded me so much of Jem (Will’s parabatai) as well. James was a good mix of brave, smart, and gentle.

Do not let those who cannot see the truth tell you who you are. You are the flame that cannot be put out. You are the star that cannot be lost. You are who you have always been, and that is enough…”

Jem

My favorite side characters were Lucy and Mathew. How could I not fall in love with Lucy when I see so much of myself in her? Lucy sees the world in stories, and she carries her writing materials with her most of the time in case a good scene pops into her head. Mathew is dark and mysterious, he carries a burden that I hope we will find more about in the books to come. Of course I loved the appearance of Magnus, one of my all time favorite characters. His humor always makes any situation better.

She thought of the secrets people kept and the way they were like scars or wounds beneath the skin. You could not always see them, but if you touched on them in the wrong way, you could cause great pain.”

Cordelia

The story did have a slow start, and it took me a while to get into it. At first, so many Shadowhunter family names were being thrown around that I admit to having to go look at the Shadowhunter family trees to keep track of everyone (by the way NEVER do this unless you want a lot of spoilers). Once the action got going it became hard for me to put the book down.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.”

S.J.

My only issue with this book was the fact that the plot went around in circles. At the end of the book I felt like we were right back where we started. There was a lot of character development and transitions, but not a lot of progress was made in the story itself. Thankfully, this is only book one in the series, so I’m expecting the plot to be much more developed in the books to come.

We do not get to choose when in our lives we feel pain…it comes when it comes, and we try to remember, even though we cannot imagine a day when it will release its hold on us, that all pain fades. All misery passes.”

Mathew

I find myself enjoying Clare’s books more when they are set in the 1800’s-1900’s, than when they are set in modern times. The characters seem to express themselves with a lot more passion. If you haven’t read Cassandra Clare’s books, I highly recommend her other series The Infernal Devices, set in the late 1800’s, and I recommend this one (Chain of Gold) which also seems very promising.

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review. However, if you click on my link and end up buying the book Amazon will pay me a small fee. Thank you for supporting a small blog like mine 🙂