Chain of Gold (The Last Hours, book 1)

By Cassandra Clare

Blurb: 
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.

Review: 
I was so hyped for this book since it was announced. A sequel series to my all time favourite series. But then as the release date was getting closer and after not loving The Dark Artifices as much as the other Shadowhunter series, I was starting to get worried the book wouldn’t live up to the hype. However, this book did not let me down. I struggled to let it down. 

If you haven’t read The Infernal Devices yet, I’d advise reading it before Chain of Gold. I just think the little things will make more sense and you’ll attach to things more emotionally. I will also say now that there will be Infernal Devices spoilers within this review. Then the spoilers section will contain Chain of Gold specific ones.

The book is based on the children of The Infernal Devices characters. There’s a lot of characters, leading to me making a family tree. The main kids are Lucie and James Herondale. Children of Tessa and Will Herondale. Then you’ve got Cordelia and Alistair Carstairs. They’re the cousins of Jem Carstairs. Matthew and Charles Fairchild are Henry and Charlotte's children. There is more such as the Lightwoods but I’d say those are the very main characters.

The main plot is that demons are targeting Shadowhunters, even in daylight and the book is trying to stop it and figure out why it is happening. It has a fairly finalised ending but plenty of room to continue with. Which I love.

Something a bit different about this book compared to previous Shadowhunter books is that there was a past chapter every now and then. This chapter was about one of the main characters. They just give a bit of background to the characters or the story in general. I quite liked them.

I think if I was to force out a negative I’d say that there were a lot more big words in this book. I’m just glad I read it on kindle, so I could look them up. I can’t complain really as they matched the setting of Edwardian England. But as a dsylexic, I was noticing a lot of harder to read words than I am used to with Cassandra Clare books.

This book was amazing. An easy 5 stars. It was great having little bits from the characters from The Infernal Devices but all grown up and mature. I’m also glad they weren’t in it too much to give the spot light to their children. Everything in this book clicked perfectly. This is definitely in my top 3 favourite books of all time.

*SPOILERS*

The book opens with a story from the past about 10 year old Lucie. She falls into a fairy trap and is rescued by an odd man believed to be a changeling. He leaves and she doesn’t see him again till later on in this book, where we discover he is Jesse Blackthorn as a ghost. This becomes a b plot of their odd friendship/loyalty to each other. Only she and other Blackthorns can see him. Herondales are known for seeing ghosts but it turns out Jesse is a special ghost and Lucie discovers she has control over ghosts. 

I enjoyed this little side story. It was nice to see how Lucie differs from James more. It’s also interesting because a family tree printed in The Dark Artifices shows Lucie marries Jesse Blackthorn, so does this mean he stops being a ghost at some point. It’s still very mysterious at this point. 

The main plot was more about James. Because of Tessa’s warlock blood, James was capable of seeing other dimensions. The one he saw he called the Shadow Land. This plot vibe was a lot like Stranger Things. As he could see things in it that the others couldn’t but they could still be attacked by it. It seemed like the Upside Down to me. I did like it and I still think it’s a fresh concept and not at all inspired because of how long Cassandra Clare has been writing these books. It was just a familiar vibe.

I loved the ball in the beginning of the book. We basically got introduced to all the characters in one go. The ball didn’t end particularly well but until that point it was lovely and so easy to picture. 

20% through the book and that's when the plot started to really begin. The young shadowhunters were attacked during daylight which is unheard of. This led to 3 shadowhunters to end up conscioused. It was so dramatic and it was funny to picture men and women dressed in Edwardian fashion fighting demons.

One character I purposely left out of the family tree explanation was Grace Blackthorn. The adopted sibling to Jesse Blackthorn and adopted child of Tatiana Blackthorn (formally Lightwood). I’ve hated a lot of characters in book history. But I don’t think I’ve hated any as much as I hate Grace Blackthorn. She is the absolute worst.  

First she tricks James into falling in love with her through a magic bracelet. Even though he clearly loves Cordelia. Then she tricks him again by testing him to see if he would become mundane with her and leave his family. He refused thankfully. Then she immediately gets engaged to Charles. We discover she never loved him or anyone. Then when James gets engaged to Cordelia, she puts the bracelet back on, so he’s clueless again. She is so selfish to manipulate someone’s feelings like that for her own gain. Also she is no longer engaged to Charles so she’s single and read to take James back. She makes me so mad.

I think something that took this book to the next level was a death so soon. Barabra Lightwood who was the first to be attacked in the park, tragically died. We didn’t know much about her but it was upsetting seeing her brother Thomas Lightwood so upset. It just goes to show that this series is no holds barred. 

There are a lot of LGBT+ relationships in this book. First you got the obvious one Anna Lightwood. She has such a Gentleman Jack vibe (if you know of that TV series/book). Anna does what she pleases, leaves on her own and seems to be very open and accepted for her sexuality. 

Then you got Matthew who is a bi-sexual but that one isn’t as big of a deal as he clearly likes Lucie and Cordelia. The main gay characters are Thomas, Alistair and Charles. Alistair loves Charles but also has a thing for Thomas. Charles wants political power so he doesn’t want his love for Alistair known. Thomas clearly has a thing for Alistair. I prefer Alistair and Thomas and hope they win the series. 

I find the LGBT+ relationships to be very fitting to the times. As those relationships still existed back then. Some people suppressed it like Alistair and made them come across as cruler just because of all the anger they hold in themselves. Whereas some flaunt it like Anna and Matthew as they don’t care what others say.

A very unexpected storyline is the alcoholism of Matthew Fairchild. Wasn’t expecting him to have such a dark background. It’s quite sad but certainly interesting. The book itself doesn’t tell us why he is a drunk but it hints that it has something to do with him murdering someone. A life he hadn’t met yet. 

I was unsure of what this meant. But then I watched PolandbananasBooks, a bookish youtuber do a review of the book. She explained that it was the child that Charlotte lost in pregnancy. We knew in the book that that much had happened. However in Ghosts of the Shadow Market which I haven’t read yet apparently it has a story that shows Matthew buying a truth potion to give to his mother. Which led to the child to die. So through that deduction it makes sense. Matthew is filled with guilt for killing his new sibling by accident. 

I think by the end of the series with his idol Magnus Bane help. He’ll overcome it and realise it was a mistake that he shouldn’t feel guilty about. 

Going on to something positive. I think one of my favourite scenes is James and Cordelia's first kiss. James and Cordelia are on a mission with Matthew and Anna to steal something from a warlock. So eventually the situation ends up with them two alone in the whisper room and they don’t want people coming in. So when someone opens the door they just start passionately making out. When they leave, they don’t stop. It just escalated further. Until eventually Matthew walks in on them. In that scene you can tell James feel the same way and he knows it but because of the bracelet he thinks differently. 

I can guarantee by the end of the series Cordelia and James will be happily married and in love. There is no doubt in my mind. It’s just gonna be an uphill battle until that point. 

My final thought on the book. Throughout the book it kept talking about a woman being ruined. This is done by them developing a reputation of not staying pure before they’re married. I didn’t think much of it until the end, when I realised it was foreshadowing the end of the book. Cordelia decided to sacrifice herself to be perceived as ruined so James could not be punished. She claimed James had been in her room all night when in reality he burned down the old Lightwood house. This is why they got engaged so she wouldn’t be ruined as much. It just shows you’ve got to pay attention to the detail in Cassandra Clare books.

 Quote: 

'"Someone should neutralize you, you mopstick"'

- Thomas Lightwood, Chain of Gold

Rating: 5 runes out of 5 

 written by Lauren

Chain of Gold (The Last Hours, book 1)

By Cassandra Clare

Blurb: 
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.

Review: 
I was so hyped for this book since it was announced. A sequel series to my all time favourite series. But then as the release date was getting closer and after not loving The Dark Artifices as much as the other Shadowhunter series, I was starting to get worried the book wouldn’t live up to the hype. However, this book did not let me down. I struggled to let it down. 

If you haven’t read The Infernal Devices yet, I’d advise reading it before Chain of Gold. I just think the little things will make more sense and you’ll attach to things more emotionally. I will also say now that there will be Infernal Devices spoilers within this review. Then the spoilers section will contain Chain of Gold specific ones.

The book is based on the children of The Infernal Devices characters. There’s a lot of characters, leading to me making a family tree. The main kids are Lucie and James Herondale. Children of Tessa and Will Herondale. Then you’ve got Cordelia and Alistair Carstairs. They’re the cousins of Jem Carstairs. Matthew and Charles Fairchild are Henry and Charlotte's children. There is more such as the Lightwoods but I’d say those are the very main characters.

The main plot is that demons are targeting Shadowhunters, even in daylight and the book is trying to stop it and figure out why it is happening. It has a fairly finalised ending but plenty of room to continue with. Which I love.

Something a bit different about this book compared to previous Shadowhunter books is that there was a past chapter every now and then. This chapter was about one of the main characters. They just give a bit of background to the characters or the story in general. I quite liked them.

I think if I was to force out a negative I’d say that there were a lot more big words in this book. I’m just glad I read it on kindle, so I could look them up. I can’t complain really as they matched the setting of Edwardian England. But as a dsylexic, I was noticing a lot of harder to read words than I am used to with Cassandra Clare books.

This book was amazing. An easy 5 stars. It was great having little bits from the characters from The Infernal Devices but all grown up and mature. I’m also glad they weren’t in it too much to give the spot light to their children. Everything in this book clicked perfectly. This is definitely in my top 3 favourite books of all time.

*SPOILERS*

The book opens with a story from the past about 10 year old Lucie. She falls into a fairy trap and is rescued by an odd man believed to be a changeling. He leaves and she doesn’t see him again till later on in this book, where we discover he is Jesse Blackthorn as a ghost. This becomes a b plot of their odd friendship/loyalty to each other. Only she and other Blackthorns can see him. Herondales are known for seeing ghosts but it turns out Jesse is a special ghost and Lucie discovers she has control over ghosts. 

I enjoyed this little side story. It was nice to see how Lucie differs from James more. It’s also interesting because a family tree printed in The Dark Artifices shows Lucie marries Jesse Blackthorn, so does this mean he stops being a ghost at some point. It’s still very mysterious at this point. 

The main plot was more about James. Because of Tessa’s warlock blood, James was capable of seeing other dimensions. The one he saw he called the Shadow Land. This plot vibe was a lot like Stranger Things. As he could see things in it that the others couldn’t but they could still be attacked by it. It seemed like the Upside Down to me. I did like it and I still think it’s a fresh concept and not at all inspired because of how long Cassandra Clare has been writing these books. It was just a familiar vibe.

I loved the ball in the beginning of the book. We basically got introduced to all the characters in one go. The ball didn’t end particularly well but until that point it was lovely and so easy to picture. 

20% through the book and that's when the plot started to really begin. The young shadowhunters were attacked during daylight which is unheard of. This led to 3 shadowhunters to end up conscioused. It was so dramatic and it was funny to picture men and women dressed in Edwardian fashion fighting demons.

One character I purposely left out of the family tree explanation was Grace Blackthorn. The adopted sibling to Jesse Blackthorn and adopted child of Tatiana Blackthorn (formally Lightwood). I’ve hated a lot of characters in book history. But I don’t think I’ve hated any as much as I hate Grace Blackthorn. She is the absolute worst.  

First she tricks James into falling in love with her through a magic bracelet. Even though he clearly loves Cordelia. Then she tricks him again by testing him to see if he would become mundane with her and leave his family. He refused thankfully. Then she immediately gets engaged to Charles. We discover she never loved him or anyone. Then when James gets engaged to Cordelia, she puts the bracelet back on, so he’s clueless again. She is so selfish to manipulate someone’s feelings like that for her own gain. Also she is no longer engaged to Charles so she’s single and read to take James back. She makes me so mad.

I think something that took this book to the next level was a death so soon. Barabra Lightwood who was the first to be attacked in the park, tragically died. We didn’t know much about her but it was upsetting seeing her brother Thomas Lightwood so upset. It just goes to show that this series is no holds barred. 

There are a lot of LGBT+ relationships in this book. First you got the obvious one Anna Lightwood. She has such a Gentleman Jack vibe (if you know of that TV series/book). Anna does what she pleases, leaves on her own and seems to be very open and accepted for her sexuality. 

Then you got Matthew who is a bi-sexual but that one isn’t as big of a deal as he clearly likes Lucie and Cordelia. The main gay characters are Thomas, Alistair and Charles. Alistair loves Charles but also has a thing for Thomas. Charles wants political power so he doesn’t want his love for Alistair known. Thomas clearly has a thing for Alistair. I prefer Alistair and Thomas and hope they win the series. 

I find the LGBT+ relationships to be very fitting to the times. As those relationships still existed back then. Some people suppressed it like Alistair and made them come across as cruler just because of all the anger they hold in themselves. Whereas some flaunt it like Anna and Matthew as they don’t care what others say.

A very unexpected storyline is the alcoholism of Matthew Fairchild. Wasn’t expecting him to have such a dark background. It’s quite sad but certainly interesting. The book itself doesn’t tell us why he is a drunk but it hints that it has something to do with him murdering someone. A life he hadn’t met yet. 

I was unsure of what this meant. But then I watched PolandbananasBooks, a bookish youtuber do a review of the book. She explained that it was the child that Charlotte lost in pregnancy. We knew in the book that that much had happened. However in Ghosts of the Shadow Market which I haven’t read yet apparently it has a story that shows Matthew buying a truth potion to give to his mother. Which led to the child to die. So through that deduction it makes sense. Matthew is filled with guilt for killing his new sibling by accident. 

I think by the end of the series with his idol Magnus Bane help. He’ll overcome it and realise it was a mistake that he shouldn’t feel guilty about. 

Going on to something positive. I think one of my favourite scenes is James and Cordelia's first kiss. James and Cordelia are on a mission with Matthew and Anna to steal something from a warlock. So eventually the situation ends up with them two alone in the whisper room and they don’t want people coming in. So when someone opens the door they just start passionately making out. When they leave, they don’t stop. It just escalated further. Until eventually Matthew walks in on them. In that scene you can tell James feel the same way and he knows it but because of the bracelet he thinks differently. 

I can guarantee by the end of the series Cordelia and James will be happily married and in love. There is no doubt in my mind. It’s just gonna be an uphill battle until that point. 

My final thought on the book. Throughout the book it kept talking about a woman being ruined. This is done by them developing a reputation of not staying pure before they’re married. I didn’t think much of it until the end, when I realised it was foreshadowing the end of the book. Cordelia decided to sacrifice herself to be perceived as ruined so James could not be punished. She claimed James had been in her room all night when in reality he burned down the old Lightwood house. This is why they got engaged so she wouldn’t be ruined as much. It just shows you’ve got to pay attention to the detail in Cassandra Clare books.

 Quote: 

'"Someone should neutralize you, you mopstick"'

- Thomas Lightwood, Chain of Gold

Rating: 5 runes out of 5 

 written by Lauren

The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses, book 1)

By Cassandra Clare

Blurb: 
All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation—a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke.

Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand and its elusive new leader before the cult can cause any more damage. As if it wasn’t bad enough that their romantic getaway has been sidetracked, demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever—even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping.

Review: 
The Red Scrolls of Magic is the beginning of a new series by Cassandra Clare that is focused on Magnus and Alec’s relationship in the early days. This is set between City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels in The Mortal Instruments Series. It has been a long time since I read The Mortal Instruments series and I will reread one day but I think I was able to understand the setting of The Red Scrolls of Magic well enough.

Since I am a big fan of Cassandra Clare books, I have no complains of the writing style adopted and found the book easy and delightful to read, as always. The books are also third person as usual but this time there isn’t loads of perspectives. It’s just Magnus or Alec and since they’re together for most of the book there isn’t a fine line between them in a chapter but still in a way that makes sense on who’s feeling what.

I liked the intro of the book because it starts a week into their trip to Paris and basically jumps straight into the story. Nice and fast paced. Sometimes Cassandra Clare books can be quite slow but she always gets the right intro to a book.

The big thing about this book is all the sightseeing we get to read about. The book is set into 3 parts; City of Love, City of Masks, and City of War. The epilogue is named City I Call Home which I appreciate. The 3 parts all represent a different place they traveled to. City of Love is Paris, City of Masks is Venice and City of War is Rome. It was nice to see them move from each location and slightly explore them as a lot of the previous series are set mainly in the institutes, in one location. We also got to experience more of how downworlders infiltrate the mundane society without them even being aware, it just helped with the realism. It also showed us some European Shadowhunters such as Leon Verlac as for the most part we’ve only had American and some British.

The chapters in this book were a bit smaller than Cassandra Clare’s previous series chapter lengths so I’m glad about that. Although they were still too long for my appreciation. However, as the book was concluding they did get to a nice length.

The main plot for this book is that a cult called the Crimson Hand that is suspected to be created by Magnus a long time ago is now murdering fairies and other people. Magnus and Alec with the help of a warlock named Shinyun need to put a stop to it.

When a read a book, I tend to learn a lot of new words and a kindle is very convenient as I can highlight a word to find out it’s meaning. I think this Cassandra Clare book for some reason had me looking up words all the time. Which is understandable as Magnus is old and eccentric so he would say words I haven’t heard of. I’m not complaining I enjoy expanding my vocabulary, just noticed how much I was looking up words.

The reason I awarded 4.5 runes is because I compared it to other series by Cassandra Clare. I didn’t love it as much as The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments but I did enjoy it better than The Dark Artifices series, so this gave me the in between number of 4.5.

*SPOILERS*

One thing I didn’t enjoy too much with Cassandra’s previous series was the throwing in of past characters that I just didn’t find fitting the story well, it felt like they were being used for the nostalgia. I’m glad to say I didn’t have this feeling when reading The Red Scrolls of Magic. There was some previous characters such as Tessa, Johnny Rook, Malcolm Fade, Ragnor Fell, Rapheal, Helen and Aline. But for the most part these are downworlders so a book about Magnus it is expected for him to bump into them. As for Helen and Aline, it was nice to get a little insight on how their relationship started too and just increased the LGBT+ representation. I just felt like the involvement of these characters worked nicely. 

It was interesting reading about Malcolm Fade, as I just read The Dark Artifices series not too long ago where he was the enemy and now because it’s set in the past, he's just a party loving warlock again. This book sets him up as the High Warlock of Los Angeles, so it makes you so angry as you know what he is going to do once he gets there. That's what makes it so clever as the book is meant to mess with your emotions.

I enjoyed having Helen and Aline in the book as I was only just really finding out about them in The Dark Artifices series but I didn’t really get to see them properly as they were just thrown straight into the family during a hard time. So it was good seeing Helen when she wasn’t a responsible adult and really seeing her personality and to see Aline not angry all the time.

If I was to be picky of this story, I didn’t like how Alec had never driven a manual car, but was instantly able; for the most part drive it. Just took a bit of realism away for me.

I really liked the twists as I could guess them but not fully so it still managed to shock me. One in particular was Shinyun a warlock travelling companion to Magnus and Alec to help them stop the Crimson Hand turned out to be the leader. I was obviously suspicious of her but I guessed her to still be a member of the cult, not the leader with Asmodus. 

Another twist in the book was that I thought when we found out that Shinyun was the leader and she captured Magnus, I thought she wanted him to return to the cult and resume as The Great Poison. However, what actually happened is that she captured him for disrespecting Asmodus and wanted to sacrifice him.

One final twist I didn’t expect was when the cult turned on Shinyun as they didn’t want her to lead them either. 

A quote in the book I particularly liked that isn’t going to be the quote at the end of the review is ‘memory was a funny thing’. Whilst Magnus is getting his memory back there is sort of a 4th wall break where the narrator explains why in Magnus’ memory from a long time ago they speak as if it’s language used now. I just found this odd and amused me a little as I didn’t even think that the speech should have been different.

In the epilogue they set up the scene for the next book. Magnus and Alec finally discuss their worries that they both had during the holiday and finally slept together. I kind of wished this wasn’t in the epilogue and part of the main storyline. However, it does make sense as if people are uncomfortable with sex scenes they could potentially skip it a lot easier. Also in the epilogue, we discover Shinyun has Ragnor Fell.

Overall, I’m giving the book 4.5 runes out of 5 because I just found it enjoyable to read. It wasn’t as intense as the other books but it involved my favourite character Magnus Bane as the main role and it was nice to read something a bit more light-hearted from Cassandra Clare. I just simply found myself enjoying it.

Quote: 

'"I am feeling fairly sick myself," Raphael contributed, "of you being an idiot, Elliott."'

- Raphael Santiago, The Red Scrolls of Magic

Rating: 4.5 runes out of 5 

 written by Lauren

The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses, book 1)

By Cassandra Clare

Blurb: 
All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation—a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke.

Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand and its elusive new leader before the cult can cause any more damage. As if it wasn’t bad enough that their romantic getaway has been sidetracked, demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever—even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping.

Review: 
The Red Scrolls of Magic is the beginning of a new series by Cassandra Clare that is focused on Magnus and Alec’s relationship in the early days. This is set between City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels in The Mortal Instruments Series. It has been a long time since I read The Mortal Instruments series and I will reread one day but I think I was able to understand the setting of The Red Scrolls of Magic well enough.

Since I am a big fan of Cassandra Clare books, I have no complains of the writing style adopted and found the book easy and delightful to read, as always. The books are also third person as usual but this time there isn’t loads of perspectives. It’s just Magnus or Alec and since they’re together for most of the book there isn’t a fine line between them in a chapter but still in a way that makes sense on who’s feeling what.

I liked the intro of the book because it starts a week into their trip to Paris and basically jumps straight into the story. Nice and fast paced. Sometimes Cassandra Clare books can be quite slow but she always gets the right intro to a book.

The big thing about this book is all the sightseeing we get to read about. The book is set into 3 parts; City of Love, City of Masks, and City of War. The epilogue is named City I Call Home which I appreciate. The 3 parts all represent a different place they traveled to. City of Love is Paris, City of Masks is Venice and City of War is Rome. It was nice to see them move from each location and slightly explore them as a lot of the previous series are set mainly in the institutes, in one location. We also got to experience more of how downworlders infiltrate the mundane society without them even being aware, it just helped with the realism. It also showed us some European Shadowhunters such as Leon Verlac as for the most part we’ve only had American and some British.

The chapters in this book were a bit smaller than Cassandra Clare’s previous series chapter lengths so I’m glad about that. Although they were still too long for my appreciation. However, as the book was concluding they did get to a nice length.

The main plot for this book is that a cult called the Crimson Hand that is suspected to be created by Magnus a long time ago is now murdering fairies and other people. Magnus and Alec with the help of a warlock named Shinyun need to put a stop to it.

When a read a book, I tend to learn a lot of new words and a kindle is very convenient as I can highlight a word to find out it’s meaning. I think this Cassandra Clare book for some reason had me looking up words all the time. Which is understandable as Magnus is old and eccentric so he would say words I haven’t heard of. I’m not complaining I enjoy expanding my vocabulary, just noticed how much I was looking up words.

The reason I awarded 4.5 runes is because I compared it to other series by Cassandra Clare. I didn’t love it as much as The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments but I did enjoy it better than The Dark Artifices series, so this gave me the in between number of 4.5.

*SPOILERS*

One thing I didn’t enjoy too much with Cassandra’s previous series was the throwing in of past characters that I just didn’t find fitting the story well, it felt like they were being used for the nostalgia. I’m glad to say I didn’t have this feeling when reading The Red Scrolls of Magic. There was some previous characters such as Tessa, Johnny Rook, Malcolm Fade, Ragnor Fell, Rapheal, Helen and Aline. But for the most part these are downworlders so a book about Magnus it is expected for him to bump into them. As for Helen and Aline, it was nice to get a little insight on how their relationship started too and just increased the LGBT+ representation. I just felt like the involvement of these characters worked nicely. 

It was interesting reading about Malcolm Fade, as I just read The Dark Artifices series not too long ago where he was the enemy and now because it’s set in the past, he's just a party loving warlock again. This book sets him up as the High Warlock of Los Angeles, so it makes you so angry as you know what he is going to do once he gets there. That's what makes it so clever as the book is meant to mess with your emotions.

I enjoyed having Helen and Aline in the book as I was only just really finding out about them in The Dark Artifices series but I didn’t really get to see them properly as they were just thrown straight into the family during a hard time. So it was good seeing Helen when she wasn’t a responsible adult and really seeing her personality and to see Aline not angry all the time.

If I was to be picky of this story, I didn’t like how Alec had never driven a manual car, but was instantly able; for the most part drive it. Just took a bit of realism away for me.

I really liked the twists as I could guess them but not fully so it still managed to shock me. One in particular was Shinyun a warlock travelling companion to Magnus and Alec to help them stop the Crimson Hand turned out to be the leader. I was obviously suspicious of her but I guessed her to still be a member of the cult, not the leader with Asmodus. 

Another twist in the book was that I thought when we found out that Shinyun was the leader and she captured Magnus, I thought she wanted him to return to the cult and resume as The Great Poison. However, what actually happened is that she captured him for disrespecting Asmodus and wanted to sacrifice him.

One final twist I didn’t expect was when the cult turned on Shinyun as they didn’t want her to lead them either. 

A quote in the book I particularly liked that isn’t going to be the quote at the end of the review is ‘memory was a funny thing’. Whilst Magnus is getting his memory back there is sort of a 4th wall break where the narrator explains why in Magnus’ memory from a long time ago they speak as if it’s language used now. I just found this odd and amused me a little as I didn’t even think that the speech should have been different.

In the epilogue they set up the scene for the next book. Magnus and Alec finally discuss their worries that they both had during the holiday and finally slept together. I kind of wished this wasn’t in the epilogue and part of the main storyline. However, it does make sense as if people are uncomfortable with sex scenes they could potentially skip it a lot easier. Also in the epilogue, we discover Shinyun has Ragnor Fell.

Overall, I’m giving the book 4.5 runes out of 5 because I just found it enjoyable to read. It wasn’t as intense as the other books but it involved my favourite character Magnus Bane as the main role and it was nice to read something a bit more light-hearted from Cassandra Clare. I just simply found myself enjoying it.

Quote: 

'"I am feeling fairly sick myself," Raphael contributed, "of you being an idiot, Elliott."'

- Raphael Santiago, The Red Scrolls of Magic

Rating: 4.5 runes out of 5 

 written by Lauren