Review: Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1) by Cassandra Clare
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Series: The Last Hours #1
Author: Cassandra Clare
Published March 3rd 2020 by Walker Books
Goodreads Synopsis
From #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Cassandra Clare comes the first novel in a brand-new trilogy that stars the Shadowhunters of Edwardian London. Chain of Gold is a Shadowhunters novel.
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.
Goodreads
Review
I have always had a sort of love hate relationship with Shadowhunter books, and was ready to just give up on them, but at Christmas I decided to retry with The Dark Artifices series, and it reignited my love of the world, so when Chain of Gold was released just before my birthday, I decided to treat myself to a copy, and I am so glad that I did.
In Chain of Gold, it's now 1903, and we are following the children of our heroes in The Infernal Devices. James and Lucie Herondale, the children of Will and Tessa, are coming of age, and are now noticing more and more demonic activity after such a long period of quiet. James and his gang of Merry Thieves - Matthew, Thomas, and Christopher - find themselves in more and more dangerous situations, but the adults, and especially the Clave, don't believe them that something more sinister than a few demons is at work here, and they must work together, and with Lucie and her future parabatai, Cordelia Carstairs. Cordelia, on the other hand, has been out of London for most of her life, with her family who travel around, a lot. When her father is arrested, the family decide to settle in London, close to the Herondales who are their friends, and also powerful, and Cordelia needs to use whatever she can to develop allies, and try to save her father. She's also hopelessly in love with James, but knows he has feelings for Grace Blackthorn, the adopted daughter of Tatiana, who despises all Herondales and Lightwoods for what they did to her father and husband in The Infernal Devices.
I do think that because of the historical aspect of The Infernal Devices, that it was always a favourite of mine, so returning to that time, albeit a few years later, was a really nice surprise in this book, and definitely was what we needed for the story at hand. One thing I will say, going in, is that I definitely think you need to read The Infernal Devices before this series, to understand the background of the characters. The plot in this story was definitely well developed, and though a lot of it was tied up by the end of the book, it is clearly setting up the story line for the whole series. I adored the banter between the main characters, and I think this might've been the closest knit friendship group out of the entire Shadowhunter world.
James was a brooding and conflicted main character. Being the son of Tessa, he has inherited some of her warlock-ness, and it manifests in the form of him entering a shadow world, which only he can access, and it seems that the demon who is at the forefront of all of the issues happening - the poisonings and the attacks - has a connection to both this shadow world, and James himself. He also is conflicted about his feelings for both Grace and Cordelia. He has always had feelings for Grace since they first met in Idris, and are secretly engaged to marry, but it seems as if that is all on the surface, and not real, especially when Grace neigh on ignores him, and treats him like dirt - because he's a Herondale. Cordelia has always been in his life - he even gave her the nickname, Daisy, when they were young - and when he was ill, she was at his side, caring for him. The more they are with each other now, especially in all of the high tense situations, he starts to consider that his feelings are more than friendly, but isn't sure exactly what to do about it. Lucie, being a Herondale, has always been able to see ghosts, but her ancestry seems to have allowed her to be the only person who can see Jesse Blackthorn, Tatiana's son who died 5 years ago, and who Tatiana is trying to resurrect. Her and Jesse grow close, and there's a few different times when I thought that it was more than just friendship developing between them, but I reckon that'll be developed more in future instalments.
Of course, so much more than this happened in the book - it wouldn't be a Cassie book if it didn't - but I really couldn't list it all without spoilers. All in all, this was fantastic, and I can't wait to get my hands on book two, Chain of Iron, when it is released next March.
Dates Read:
April 1-5, 2020
Rating
4 Stars
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