The point of stories is not that they are objectively true, but that the soul of the story is truer than reality. Those who mock fiction do so because they fear the truth.
[POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD]
Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare (CC), the first instalment into her new The Last Hours series, is one of those books that will go down within my reading memory and history as a totally encapsulating, awe-inducing story. I loved it. I don’t know how to really put into words how much I loved it. 5 out of 5 x 100 times. Do not overlook this book and the chance to read it, grab it by the horns and fill your boots! It was a wild ride.
Built upon the foundations of Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices stories; showcasing the Shadowhunters within Victorian London, this took it one step further. Not only did the main protagonists of TID feature heavily, AS PARENTS (!!!) but time had moved onto the Edwardian period of history, in London. Now, I am Scottish. I am from the UK. I’m well accustomed with the time period of Victorian/Edwardian London. My parents’ house is an Edwardian manse. It is as romantic and traditional in its historical teachings as CC portrayed, and so for that, I tip my hat to her. It can’t be ignored that she has taken liberties with certain elements, however this is to be expected since it is a fantasy book – and I think even with those she did it successfully. Her world-building, contributing to what she had presented within TID, was on the mark and fully immersive.
I’ve seen a lot of reviews on this already raising that they didn’t enjoy the over-explanation of Shadowhunters as a race; their meaning; purpose; relationships etc. I personally don’t feel that this was an issue?! Having recently re-read (for the umpteenth time) The Mortal Instruments which was CC’s first endeavour into the Shadowhunter universe, the explanations and fortifications of info was much heavier within those novels in comparison to TLH. If anything, I felt that the slight lacking of explanations of these things makes it slightly inaccessible to readers to the book who haven’t read anything of the various CC series beforehand. As someone who has read EVERY SINGLE BOOK by here ever, I had no issues. Anyone else?
The characters within this were fantastic: in-depth, well thought out, descriptive and unequivocally human. But, my god, there were A LOT. I felt exhausted half the time just trying to keep up with them. Although this book was large, I don’t think it was large enough for all of the perspectives being thrown at us. It’s fast-paced-ness also meant that I was frequently flicking back and forth between pages; trying to remember who was who to which characters and whose parents were who and whose relationships were forming or breaking down and built on what. Bear this in mind, content-wise this is not a difficult read, but complexity of characters-wise, it is a bit gruelling. You have to be very switched on. Herondales, Carstairs’, Lightwoods, Cartwrights, Blackthorns, Fairchilds…. A lot of big Shadowhunter names and a lot of cousins, brothers, sisters, mums, dads, aunts, uncles. Sometimes I was trying to make sure that there was nothing incestuous going on with the relationships…
The MAIN foursome protagonists (and the ones I was most interested in) were James, Lucie, Cordelia and Matthew. I loved them. James Herondale – new Shadowhunter poster boy – is my jam. Yes. Matthew is the typical best friend struggling with his inner demons, Lucie and Cordelia the heroines you don’t realise you need until you see them. James and Cordelia’s budding romance features the most heavily and I loved it, but I wanted MORE LUCIE AND MATTHEW. PLEASE. I can only hope they’ll have more front-and-centre time within the next novel. Cordelia was a force to be reckoned with, and if you have read CC’s other series, The Dark Artifices, then you will get series Emma Carstairs vibes. This was fine, because they are essentially within the same ancestral tree, however it is slight character regurgitation, no? Just to be watched.
My one area of particular annoyance was towards the end of the novel. There seems to be a potential love triangle surfacing… I do not want it. I can only hope that it’s to be short-lived, because I think that will put a real dampener on other elements of the series for me.
I was pleasantly surprised by how ANOTHER facet of the Shadowhunter world became apparent – in the form of James’ Shadow realm and ability to access the Demon World. Also – Tessa’s dad is a Prince of Hell?! PLOT TWIST. The cliff-hanger at the end clinched it for me to. I am very excited to see where the next installment of this goes.
Really, really good. If you are a fan of YA Fantasy – this is definitely one for your list. Although if you’re a YA Fantasy fan then I doubt you’ve not had this on your list already…
What are your thoughts on Cassandra Clare’s latest novel? Let me know!
A xo
belle in pages 