#chain of iron review

[just-a-girl-who-likes-sharks]

September 2024 books 🤎

The Shadowhunters adventure has almost come to an end. This month was the first time since July that I didn’t reread anything, as I have read all the previous Shadowhunter books at least once before.

Malec will forever have my heart, but I’ll admit The Eldest Curses left me wanting… more. They just weren’t very strong novels. Ghosts of the Shadow Market, on the other hand, might be the very best Shadowhunter book in the whole franchise. Jem Carstairs, you have my whole heart, now and forever.

I started reading The Last Hours, knowing I would fall in love with these characters, but damn, I didn’t know how much I actually would love them. How are they all so amazing?! I cannot even pick a favourite (other than you, Anna Lightwood, the woman you are) (and you, Matthew Fairchild, bisexual king with a tortured heart).

I tried very hard to finish Chain Of Thorns before the month was up and was even willing to cheat a little bit and give myself an extra day, but I just couldn’t. So… Chain of Thorns will be included in October’s wrap up. And that’ll be the end of the Shadowhunter chronicles.

[belle-keys]

Incoherent Thoughts: Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare

Wow, haven't done one of these in about a year, I think. Here it is. The review of the book I've been waiting for since The Bane Chronicles. I gave my initial impressions of Chain of Thorns to my friends a couple of hours after I finished (operating on two brain cells only), and that was short and messy. This one is not short. It’s messy though, I’ll give you that.

TLDR: I loved this book so very much (despite my numerous issues with aspects of it). Here are the Incoherent Thoughts (a mix of critical and purely emotional reactions to the story. I've been waiting for this since 2014; of course, I frickin loved it despite everything).

Things that will tear me apart: The legacy of Clockwork Princess

There is nothing that could have gotten me to really hate this book. I've been waiting for it since 2014 and it was just so beautiful. It gave me the perfect mixture of comfort, nostalgia, excitement, and curiosity. These characters are my babies - probably more of my babies than Herongraystairs were, since I was 17 myself when GOTSM dropped and when the leadup to ChoG started. I was so happy to immerse myself in the same world that started when Tessa Gray popped into London in 1878 and I loved it here. Moreover, I think compared to TDA, TLH as a trilogy felt more polished and immersive. I really felt like this was a story that started in 2010 and which has grown like a vine with the generations of readers from back then (moving childhood to adulthood, like me), but also with the generation of characters in the story (who we also got to see grow up).

Moreover, Matthew's arc was perfect, and so I'm happy. Matthew was always going to be a core determining factor for me.

The core of the story: Love and Family

The Epilogue broke me, but in the good way. It really did. It was not as bittersweet or as sad or as mysterious or as all-encompassing as Cassie's other epilogues. But it was beautiful, and when I read:

Cordelia's heart was too full for speech. Without a word, she caught hold of her husband's hand. Side by side with James, Cordelia ran.

I felt so warm. The Epilogue felt like warmth, and it reminded me of the original Hyde Park picnic in Chain of Gold where Cordelia had just come to London and thought there was no future for her and when she hadn't yet come into herself. In a sense, I felt like we were reverting to that innocence and sense of peace at the start of Chain of Gold by ending off the trilogy in Hyde Park, with a dispersion of the characters to different parts of the world instead of a gathering to London. And likewise, March 2020, when ChoG dropped, is the same month when the pandemic started and all the universal awfulness on the planet turned up to 100. Now as the pandemic has retreated and I'm in a better place myself, the ending felt so fitting (as it pertains to James and Cordelia).

I mean, the book was about how the power of love and family, and unity can destroy and overcome even the most powerful forces in Hell, which is pretty powerful (meta on this coming soon). James healing Matthew for an entire night straight? Jordelia's pure love (and horniness) breaking the gracelet that was forged by a Prince of Hell? That's just so beautiful and perfect to me, the way Cassie shows how love prospers. I also think the book is about how secrecy and lies and falseness are actually more detrimental to love than massive acts of evil. Secrets and lies and the rigidity of society are the main conflicts of this series (I will update my current meta on this). Thematically, this story was an okay homage to Great Expectations but, just thematically, I thought it was perfect.

James, Cordelia, and Jordelia

Jordelia are the crux of the story. They truly love each other. Their love is so damn powerful. Like there's no doubting it. They really got back to each other through Hell and back. This is the kinda thing I read TSC for. This aspect of the story was beautiful and perfect, and at the core of James and Cordelia's relationship is something real and pure and good and strong - it's very storybookish. It succeeds in being very Layla and Majnun, in being very dramatic and earth-shattering and epic (in the Greek way). The endgame happened, and it was lovely. It reiterates the notion that goodness and love (God) will always defeat evil (Lucifer).

I now want to unequivocally state that Jordelia pissed me off for most of Chain of Thorns. Not even in the “I’m mildly frustrated” way. They're awful communicators, they lack cunning, and they both have way too much pride for their own good. They both also spent most of the series having no agency whatsoever, which is very annoying because they can only be victims who later become generic hero figures instead of anything more complex. Cordelia was tricked into becoming a paladin of Lilith and tricked into thinking her husband was being unfaithful to her. James was tricked into becoming infatuated with someone he didn't love and was literally fighting against the demonic inheritance he was born with - nothing has ever been James’ fault ever. Cordelia and James were victims for most of the trilogy, and I don't think they had to make difficult choices or ever had the need to possess any moral complexity. That pissed me off more and more throughout the story: the unwavering goodness and nobility and braveness that they inherently possessed. And I'm assuming this is by virtue of their last names being... Herondale... and... Carstairs. Cough. There is no plot armor stronger than being the children/descendants of the two most beloved characters in TSC. And boy, it fricking showed.

I'm not like, mad anymore. It's more of a me thing where I'm tired of morally perfect characters. And adding to the fact that James and Cordelia are so sheltered, rich asf, and also grew up among love and joy? James and Cordelia can... only do good, and can only be hurt by evil. They have never had enough agency in context of the narrative to choose to do something actually wrong. It's annoying. But I forgive them, it's fine. The biggest thing TLH suffers from is that James is Wessa's child (which is ironic, because that's why a lot of people even started reading TLH). James is like, great!, as a gentleman - he's attractive and well read and a great dancer and loves poetry and is rich and has manners and is handsome and is kind and is loving and is passionate and is the ideal bachelor, we get it. James Herondale is also clearly incapable of doing any wrong in his life and never had to make a single difficult choice besides to maybe self-sacrifice himself and then immediately get healed. So. Nothing bad was ever actually going to happen to James or Cordelia, or get in the way of their love. The narrative's duty was clearly to protect James in CHoT.

EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE THING! THERE WAS ONE THING THAT COULD HAVE GOTTEN IN THE WAY OF JORDELIA AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN INTERESTING AND COMPLEX AND IT DID LOWKEY KINDA PLAY OUT KIND OF THE WAY I WAS EXPECTING AND IT'S STILL KINDA UNRESOLVED BUT I WANTED MORE AND UGH CASSIE WAS SUCH A COWARD IN CHOT.

As for Cordelia, it's still a very mixed bag for me. I mean, she's one of the few brown women in YA fantasy who aren’t defined by fricking racial trauma or colonialism or genocide as part of her character arc. She's just a woman who happens to be brown. And she's so feminine and genteel and elegant and passionate and strong and loving, all qualities I live about her. She wants to come into her true self, and I see that struggle to find her place in the world and to find stability as her main internal conflict. I love her for that. But I also got tired of the fact that she lacks a single devious bone in her body. She is generally very oblivious and rather egotistical. She's simultaneously way too naive and proud for me to root for her all the time, and those qualities were never actually something she had to pay for in a significant way - Cassie has made her, like James, untouchable by the narrative. I love her, I really do, but I wanted to violently shake her.

Grace and Christopher

So, I have not properly processed that Kit is dead, and I may never. Moving on.

Anyways, I couldn't actually believe that the one person that did not hate Grace died. The one person that does not scorn Grace died. Grace's ending was... disappointing to me (I'll talk about this more in my Problems section). Grace is the most morally complex female character Cassie has written in TSC (I said what I said). All I wanted was for the gang to simply understand her. Not to forgive, or to forget, but just to see what she did and see why she did it. I wanted James to see and understand why she would do something so despicable. But James and Cordelia and the gang have simply decided to move on from Grace, not to understand her. They're brushing it off. That wasn't nearly good enough for me because I love Grace so much and I maintain she will be the most relatable character in the TLH for people in the real world.

I can't think of a good reason why Grace wasn't told about how Tatiana literally bought her, or why everyone else wasn't told that information or why that info didn't become public in the Enclave either. I can't think of a good reason why she isn't going to live with other Cartwrights or in the literal London Institute instead of among a bunch of people who will always kinda hate her. I think she has redeemed herself: she confessed what she did to Jesse, Cordelia, and Kit. Willingly. She helped them save London with science. She abandoned her mother and her mother's evil. She’s recognized what she’s done. But not enough was done in the story to close off her arc in a satisfying way, at least not for me. I also think making that one (1) Great Expectations quote about her siblingship with Jesse was a cop-out, because she should have said it platonically to James instead. But whatever.

Lucie and Jesse

Spent most of ChoG and ChoI not really caring about either of them only to start to like them both so much in ChoT? Jesse Blackthorn? What a man. And I warmed up to Lucie a lot. I feel like she didn't do all that much in this book, to be honest, but that's okay. I liked them both and I love how Jesse's meshed with the squad. On a side note, Lucie and Cordelia have the least compelling female friendship in the whole of TSC. I cannot properly grasp how or why they want to be parabatai. Like even their messiness isn't good or compelling messiness, so.

Matthew

He's getting a review post as long as this one on Friday or Saturday. It’ll be absurd for me to try to tackle his character here.

He is about to take over my life (again). His character arc was amazing. But moreover, I think he's the most... interesting character in the trilogy. Interesting in the purest sense of the word. He's the character I feel I understand best in TSC, and yet, I can't truly figure him out. He is either my No.2 or No.3 character in the whole of TSC right now. Matthew Fairchild is perfect. He is too good for everything ever. He, in his own way, carried the emotional aspect of the story for me. Which again speaks to how interesting Matthew is, as he doesn't get POVs. (I am genuinely trying to figure out how to express what I want to express right now.) Matthew could have like... changed everything, in a way, like he’s so powerful. Matthew's emotional state at the end of ChoT actually has changed everything, for me. I also think Matthew has managed to be the most subversive character in TLH, based on that ending alone. Matthew is an inherently jarring character, thematically, but also execution-wise. I hope Cassie knows how excellently he has maneuvered his character.

Everyone else

Alastair, Thomas, Anna, Ariadne, and the parents were all great. Tatiana was also a compelling villain (not as much as Malcolm or Sebastian, but I love her more than Valentine and Mortmain). That part when Jesse told her that Will, Tessa and the Enclave don’t hate her because they don’t even think of her was just *chef’s kiss*. I have to zone in on Alastair over the rest: Alastair was brilliant. He had the most perfect character arc besides Matthew, and also the ideal redemption arc. He didn’t just change his actions and compensate for them, but he became so loving and tender and protective throughout the story. I loved it. I’m so thrilled at how his story ended. I could have done with more adult Wessa. But the pieces and bits I actually got were both extremely in-character and hilarious and had me in fits of giggles. I love Will Herondale so damn much, it’s crazy.

Framework (Wessa, Charles Dickens, The Bible and Classic Literature)

The foundation of this book was responsible for its highs and lows. Starting with the great things: I think this book managed to be Cassie’s most “religious” work yet, and I adore that. That end sequence taking place in the literally Abbey was exquisite. The setup for a final battle between the Shadowhunters and Lucifer for TWP is there. The whole idea of love and goodness and self-sacrifice (manifested through Jordelia) defeating the powers of Hell is the most Judeo-Christian thing ever. The intersection between literature and religion was absolutely there too - from the Milton and Dante references to themes of Hell and reminders of the Fall. Another great thing that I enjoyed throughout the trilogy was the importance classic literature and poetry. Cordelia and James falling in love as children while she read Layla and Majnun to him is something that kinda makes me kinda tear up the more I think about it. The way the literature of the time period is integrated into the setting as well is awesome.

I think ChoT does not deliver as Dickens-inspired piece. Where was “to the last hours of my life, Daisy”? Why was the last third of the book so damn awful for Grace (the woman on the cover???)? The book also did not need any Epic Battle Sequence to begin with - TLH, like GE, is a book about the relationship between the individual and social codes. I have no idea why Hell and Heaven were raining fires over London for a third of th book. The tone and structure did not mesh well with a battle sequence, and so I felt like the romance and subtlety of TLH being a GE-inspired series was lost there. Likewise, another flaw that the story unintentionally suffers from is that this series… enumerates the events that took place in a generation that followed that of Wessa. And so neither James or Cordelia (*cough* a Carstairs and a Herondale *cough*) were never in real danger. For a moment I was hoping we’d get something dark and twisted or bittersweet, but then I realized… she’s never putting Herongraystairs’ direct lineage through something that screwy. The narrative existed to protect Jordelia. This book suffers from the fact that the narrative continuing to shelter and coddle James and Cordelia, similar to how they literally grew up sheltered and oblivious by virtue of having their specific last names and the associated plot armor.

Problems (many)

Kit’s death was a cop-out. She needed to kill someone, and it had to be someone important, but not too important. And not an obviously marginalized character. His death changed nothing in the story. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have died; I just thought it was poorly executed. It also didn’t help me that the one person who saw the good and the bad in Grace… is dead.

Grace’s character arc ended awfully. It would have made sense for her to kill Tatiana, and not Cordelia. But it also doesn’t help that she’s living on the fringes of society, given that said society literally hates her. The fact that she couldn’t even… stay at the Institute? The most negative things I have to say about the book are related to Grace’s arc. She’s like, been the most complex and compelling female character in TSC in a hot minute. I’m having trouble accepting the scorn she’s faced.

Edom - that sequence was ridiculous and unnecessary. The only good part of it was Heronchild, but they didn’t need to be specifically in Edom for that to go down the way it did. Lucie and Cordelia literally went to Edom to get in a portal which took them right back to London, because drama. There was no reason for the Edom trip.

No accountability or consequences - Grace and the gracelet? Forgiven and forgotten; no consequences. Jesse being raised from the dead and also them lying about his identity to the Enclave for most of the book? Forgiven and forgotten; no consequences. Matthew breaking Shadowhunter law with the whole potion debacle that cost a lot of people a lot of things? Forgiven and forgotten; no consequences. Cortana literally being able to do any and every thing the plot needs it to do, and Cordelia being the only one ever who can do it, is also quite convenient. Sure that isn’t coincidental. Like let’s have James stab himself and then we’ll Cortana Ex Machina as we see fit, don’t worry. James and Cordelia not having put on their second weddings runes until ages after they were expected to do so? Solved in one sentence in the Epilogue.

Not bittersweet (except for Matthew - only his ending was bittersweet). Grace’s ending was bitter, and everyone else’s, except Matthew, was sweet. None of the serious magical issues and the sinister secrets had any lasting effect or consequences. It was very much a happy ever after type of story; and everyone seems to have forgotten that Christopher’s very much unalive.

Sona just… had the baby. Everything was fine. Even after years of teasing that that would be more significant. Not even a Thomastair adoption, and none of the “mystery baby” theories she was teasing came though. What else was I supposed to say except… okay. Likewise, the whole explanation for why the Family Tree we’ve been teased about for a decade being screwy was weak. I just kind of zoned out. Like that whole Esme Hardcastle thing was stupid, since Cassie was giving a lot of hints about how that was supposed to go down, about why the Carstairs records are missing, and all of them involved Jem. But nothing actually “wow” happened. I suspect a lot of retconning happened. I’m sad.

Random Thoughts and Conclusion

It’s quite good that Will had refused Cortana in CP2 and that Cordelia will pass it on to baby Zachary instead of, uh, Owen Herondale, so it could have reached Emma. I’ve been, in my daze, entertaining ideas of “lmfao, imagine if Jace had ended up with Cortana and literally accidentally killed God with it, because that’s absolutely something Jace would do”. Jace, Angel Boy Extraordinary, would have beeen able to destroy Thanos with that sword.

Casual reminders of Matthew being rich and pretty and dainty are just… I love it here.

Jesse didn’t do much in this book, but he was quite funny. Like he’s unintentionally hilarious.

Anna asking Cordelia if she was pregnant felt like a personal attack against ME. I was like, one of the first idiots post-ChoI that started all the whatifs about Matthew and Cordelia and… Clary. Those theory posts still have like hundreds of notes. I was very wrong about all of my theories. It’s fine. I’ll be haunted by what so easily could have happened or not happened. But it’s fine. Ha.

Where was the Layla? The chess boards? Why was the fricking globe necklace A HOLDER FOR FOUR LINES OF GEORGE GORDON BYRON. JAMES PUT FOUR LINES FROM THE MOST GENERIC OF THE ROMANTIC ENGLISH ANGST LORDS INTO THE LOCKET??? No no no no no…

Oscar Wilde (doggo) was amazing. He’s a good boy. I think @lifeofbrybooks said that Oscar had a better character arc than some characterss. So accurate.

Hidden away, on Cassie’s hard drive, I really believe there’s a Secret Truer Original Chain of Thorns that exists. So many things felt like they were changed or omitted last minute…

Anyway, thanks to @eclecticdonutzippercroissant @amchara @benjamingross and @timesconvert for listening to me read this book. And for the fun calls and theorizing with me. Special thanks to Jenn for literally putting up with me when I put my clothes on and physically went for a long walk outside “to feel the Caribbean air on my face” before starting Chapter 23. Special thanks to Gill for validating me with her existence. I’m gonna have a lot of meta and memes coming up, in addition to moodboards and playlists. Stay tuned. And if you’re new here, check out my old stuff and accept my apologies (*generally speaking*).

[fimproda]

For those of you miserable that didn’t like Chot? Too bad you all shouldn’t have invested so much into headcanons and secondary characters 😂

And here we go.

I'm so, so bummed out that I didn't finish writing my review of that clusterfuck of a book, as that would've been a comprehensive comment listing all the reasons why ChoT sucked — as in, it was objectively a bad book and I didn't hate it just because, as you put it, I "invested so much into headcanons and secondary characters".

I did write part of that review, though; you can find it scrolling down on my profile, I added it to a reblog. So I'm not going to repeat here what I wrote there.

But I'll say this: do not make the same mistake as Clare and insult my intelligence as a reader.

I don't just read books as a form of escapism: I also read them critically, especially because I like to think of myself as a writer and would love to write outside of Wattpad and AO3 one day. When it comes to books, for me, there's a subjective aspect and an objective one. I don't expect any headcanons of mine to filter out of the subjective and into the objective, much less become reality. God forbid my own interpretation of the plot and characters does the same. So, no, I didn't "invest so much into headcanons and secondary characters", and if I did, it was confined to my mind and/or my conversations with @zoyalannister and our fanfictions. None of that, none, has ever bled out onto the pages of ChoT as I was reading it.

I was as close to a blank slate as I could get when I started reading ChoT. And yes, while I did get angry at Christopher's death, it's been almost a year since then and my anger has tapered out. You know what didn't taper out, though? My annoyance at the terrible plot development and character arcs. My bewilderment at the fact that so many Chekhov guns did not fire.

I'm human: I'm subjected to emotion as much as you are, as we all are. But I fancy myself as a pretty level-headed person, all things considered. I know how to de-escalate myself. I know how to wind down, take a deep breath, and analyze the situation under a critical lens. A year later, ChoT still doesn't measure up. Still doesn't work. Still sucks, on both a subjective and an objective level.

As a counterpoint, I've recently finished reading House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas. I loved it. 10/10. Two days later, I'm starting to see some flaws. I have no doubt that I'm going to find even more as time goes on and my initial excitement dies down.

And I did have a load of theories and headcanons for HoFaS — as did most of the fandom, to be honest. Yes, some fans are angry because their theories have not been confirmed, but this is because they had been expecting ACoTaR 6, not Crescent City 3. There's a difference between an expectation born from logic and one born from air.

See? It works the other way around, as well.

So, I hope you'll see this as a teachable moment. You are clearly looking for someone who takes their time to explain to you what was wrong with ChoT, since you wrote an ask to @theultrawave on this same topic, too — or, well, someone anonymous did, so I can't be sure. I'm afraid I can't tell you more than this; if you want to read more reasons, take a look at that half-review I mentioned earlier.

And don't let the time you spent writing your asks and reading our replies go to waste.

[musicmags]

[terrible-romance-reviews]

who cares what i was reading im gonna return to my roots and become a die hard cassandra clare fan, i just checked out the ebook of chain of iron from the library (i own a physical copy and i was definitely halfway through it at one point, i remember absolutely nothing at this current moment though) and i am going to read it with such speed, just you guys wait

[kelfurgalicious]

top reads of 2022 and 2023

Of course I meant to publish my 2022 reads before nearing 2024, but here we are. 2022 brought many challenging times, with the passing of my beloved grandmother, and the chosen challenge of starting at a new company after 14 years at my previous one. To work through my anxieties, rereading became a crutch and a sense of comfort for me. That being said, of course I still dove into new reads in…

[reviewsbywolfie]

This one kinda left me on a confused tone. Can’t explain that without revealing too much. So Imma talk about how cool it was.

Chain of Iron is the 2nd installment of Chain of Gold. Like I said before, this is a trilogy so it leaves us where we left off last time.

We get the usual. Starting point, conflict, twists and turns, and then the cliffhanger. I swear every time I’m near a cliffhanger it’s like I’m over here dying of shock while the authors are laughing their asses off at my face.

But cliffhangers are important. Why? Cause how else are we gonna get you to read our books? You wanna read more? Awesome. Now all we have to do is convince you to do it. Which is why cliffhangers are super cool (and also annoying at the same time).

The last book of the trilogy is Chain of Thorns. I currently don’t have the book because I want it in paperback. Which won’t come until next year. The reason for that is because in the paperback version, if you look at the band of the book, you'll see a tiny illustration of one of the characters. And if you have all the books together, it creates one amazing picture of the story itself. So 10/10 for style Cassandra.

Anyway once I get it in paperback I’m gonna share my thoughts about that one. Hopefully we’ll get the ending we’re looking for.

That’s all for now. Until next time, stay on track and stay in the pack 🐺

[mad-rdr]

Chain of Iron (The Last Hours) - Cassandra Clare

★ ★ ★ ★ ★/5

The set up for this sequel is pretty high stakes. Cordelia is engaged to James after compromising her honor to protect him from the Clave (ughh old English social norms sound like hell). Their wedding scene was actually really cute, and I felt so bad for Cordelia because she truly does love James, and she doesn’t know that he harbors feelings for her. We find out in this book that the bracelet Grace gave to James is enchanted made to bend him to her will under the guise of love. Grace has literally been manipulating James since he was 14 and if that’s not devastating idk what is. You can tell he also truly does care for, dare I say love, Cordelia and the scenes where it’s just the two of them in their new house (playing games and … other things) are my favorite in the entire book. I hope they get their shit together because at the end of the book, when James calls out Grace for her manipulations, Cordelia heard only the first part and assumed James was done with her. She runs to Mathew, who confesses his feelings for her, and they run off to Paris together (I feel the need for escapism but PLEASE talk to James that boy is going through it). James tried to run after Cordelia to explain everything but is stopped by Will because Lucie is missing. Why is Lucie missing you might ask? Because she’s fallen in love with Jesse Blackthorn (who is dead but a ghost) and has risen him from the dead. It turns out James being able to travel to demon realms isn’t the only Herondale family trick. In addition to those messes of miscommunication- we have Thomas and Alastair and Anna and Ariadne. Oh the romantic tensions are high my friends. CC is famous for her endings and this one was no different. Once again, the set up for the final book is leaving me wondering how she will manage to tie up all these loose ends while desperately hoping everyone gets a happy ending, but knowing Cassie, I’ll need more than just hope…

[acourtofpaperandink]

Book Review: Chain of Thorns By: Cassandra Clare

Post by: LoisLibrarian Chain of Gold (Book 1) Chain of Iron (Book 2) Chain of Thorns (Book 3) By: Cassandra Clare Cover: The cover is nice and interesting, and I appreciate that all the books in this series look nice together on my shelf 🙂 Story: ★★★★★ This is the third and final book in the Last Hours trilogy, a series set in the Shadowhunter world. Firstly, I waited so long for this book,…

[jessryno]

Book Review: Chain of Thorns By: Cassandra Clare

Post by: LoisLibrarian Chain of Gold (Book 1) Chain of Iron (Book 2) Chain of Thorns (Book 3) By: Cassandra Clare Cover: The cover is nice and interesting, and I appreciate that all the books in this series look nice together on my shelf 🙂 Story: ★★★★★ This is the third and final book in the Last Hours trilogy, a series set in the Shadowhunter world. Firstly, I waited so long for this book,…

[mistwraiths]

2.5 stars

I usually find that Cassandra's second books are usually better at upping the stakes and letting me love the characters more, I do find that they're usually very good. However, this seems to be the exception here because Chain of Iron was far too tedious, repetitive, boring, and way, way too long.

To preface this, I'll admit I didn't particularly like the idea of James and Cordelia being in a relationship in the first place from the first book. Their sole moment both use as when their love started was her reading when she was 12 or 13 to him at 14 when he was sick and she hugged him once when he was disappearing. It's not enough for me and everything beyond that it's just being physically attracted. I don't feel connection or chemistry with them. And then after I got the secondhand embarrassment from Cordelia saving his ass and ruining her reputation, it didn't help. I love arranged marriages and marriages of convenience, I would have ate this up if I rooted for them. But I didn't.

The biggest problem for me with Chain of Iron was that the plot gets put on the back burner for too long to focus on the marriage to James and Cordelia. There are so many pages on pages of their domesticity and games and he/she definitely doesn't love me that do absolutely nothing to move anything forward. There are so many times they get interrupted before saying something important or simply misunderstand something and rub off that it's BEYOND annoying. There's always been a BIG reason the characters of a Shadowhunter book think that they cannot be together. Clary and Jace think they're actually related. Tessa and Will don't want to lose Jem or hurt Jem in any way plus Will had that "demon curse". Emma and Julian literally have the parabatai bond. James might love Grace and she's getting married to someone else just DOESN'T HIT THE SAME? Cordelia could still be honest with her feelings because James would obviously still would have married her because he's honorable and she helped him and he'd do anything for his friends. James doesn't even think about Grace in any point romantically, he just cant take the bracelet off so there's NOTHING stopping him from ever saying anything at all. I just don't see why this was considered a we can't be together reason like the others.

For having Lucie on the book, there's a surprisingly little amount of her in this book. Most of the time she's just thinking about bringing Jesse back and not trying to go TOO far into necromancy. I would have liked to have seen more of her trying to do anything and working with Grace. The whole blackmailing the ghost did was so silly since Lucie can literally COMMAND ghosts. She barely had any hesitations to do it except the one convenient time she did. I do still like her and did enjoy her arc to get Jesse back alive, but I hope she does face consequences because playing with necromancy, even her ghost powers, seems something the Shadowhunters would HATE. I'm also sad that there wasn't much of a friendship between Grace and Lucie, and I wanted them to grow as acquaintances, their partnership, to friends. There is an OVERWHELMING lack of female friendships in this series.

Also, I'm VERY annoyed that we still haven't gotten Lucie or Cordelia as parabatai nor being really any sort of semblance of a good team? At this point, I don't think they should be. All they do is keep secrets and not tell each other and not work with each other at any point. Cordelia acting hurt that Lucie wouldn't tell her someone else's secret was silly when she was keeping far more from Lucie.

In fact, everyone is keeping secrets and information from everybody that it gets a little irritating. Of course, if everyone talks to each other the conflict would likely be over and if the conflict is so easily solved by talking it out I personally don't think it's that strong of a conflict to begin with. Also, there's too many "they will hate me/never forgive me" parts between characters with loving and strong friendships who very much have the brain capacity to know hey this wasn't their fault. I also found some parts where characters say certain things or act a certain way or think something that feels very BIZARRE. For example: why is Anna reluctant to pity Grace when they don't know anything about her?? Why did Cordelia randomly lie to a fairy at the party when she asked a question? Why did James think Cordelia had such a hard childhood because she braced and steeled herself for something when from our knowledge through Cordelia she had a PERFECTLY HAPPY CHILDHOOD??? There's a few other instances too but those are off the top of my head and don't really make sense to me as a reader.

The bracelet STILL being a plot device that we know is causing problems since the first book and is dragged on and on throughout the near entirety of this second book is so infuriating to me. There was no point in dragging it on for so long.

Grace is literally my favorite character in this series and I will defend her with my entire chest. She can do NO WRONG. She's a product of her upbringing, surviving the only way she knows how and understands. Also, her interactions with Christopher were EVERYTHING and I need more of them.

The saving grace of this book was mostly the side characters and their relationships going on. Anna and Ariadne, even though that's a little frustrating when you put together Ariadne is a woman POC in Britain high society, feeling like she doesn't belong in her or their culture, doesn't have blood family or the famous last name to protect her like Anna does, and thought to marry a man because that's what is EXPECTED of her in that time period and many people don't have the courage or can deal money/society/etc with breaking from the status quo, I'm rooting for them. Thomas and Alistair, I love. We're literally given BREADCRUMBS and don't even get me started on Thomas being a whole idiot.

I am generally struggling to find what purpose Matthew served in this book however. We know he knows Cordelia loves James. He has an unrequited love for Cordelia. But otherwise hating Grace and Alistair and himself, and driving Cordelia to a place she could get herself to eventually, there's really nothing he's done. Don't get me wrong, I love him but????? Cordelia and Matthew running to Paris together feels EXTRA and will likely cause more drama. Also again, it does feel weird Will or James wouldn't understand the parabatai bond of needing to work together??

I did like the consequences of Cordelia's fealty popping up. To be honest in my notes I take while reading, I literally wrote is it smart to swear fealty to someone or something you don't really know or acts like they are MORE than a god or something? I did laugh. But I am curious on how Cortana is so freaking powerful of a sword to kill a prince of hell (literally a fallen angel) and also shattered the MORTAL SWORD back in the other books. I do hope we get answers.

Lastly, the whole people being murdered was barely a plot that didn't really come into focus until the back half of the book. Belial is a bit of lame hell of prince and there's entirely too much join me and I'll kill your family talk and other talking then actual action. A Prince of Hell should be TERRIFYING. You're telling me he's just like whatever about Lucie when he could have tried to kill her to force James to accept him. Like he should be DEADLY and he isn't. Also, there's extra drama between him and Lilith. I like the idea of demons, fallen angels, actual angels, and stuff having these ANCIENT long term plans. But it just feels like the execution is poor.

Overall, there are good moments but this book was just entirely too long. I'm interested in seeing the end of this series. I think someone might die in the next book. I think it could be Matthew but watch it be Jesse (cop-out) or someone else like Christopher or Grace. I hope we don't have too much love triangle drama and I hope there are at least some consequences for Lucie.

It just really felt that NOTHING changed or was resolved in any kind of way. Like nothing happened really in this book.

[brummiereader]

Uptown Girl

(Masterlist)

Summary: A woman from high society, never needing or wanting for anything. Your world of jewels and silk gowns comes crashing down around you when your father's mounting gambling debts catch up with him, and he is forced to relinquish your home Arrow House before his untimely death to his biggest creditor, Tommy Shelby. But with your name on the deeds, and the land of your childhood home your only bargaining source of income to escape the union arranged since your birth to a monster of a man from your own class. You make your intentions of staying put stubbornly known to the Birmingham gang leader, as you clutch to your only remaining hope of freedom from the inevitable chains of a violent marriage. With neither one of you willing to budge on the matter until the iron clad documents of Arrow House are reviewed, you are both begrudgingly left without any other choice but to live together. What will become of your unusual living situation with the notorious gangster, and the arranged marriage you want to be free from? A way out, friendship, lust...love? One thing is certain. Tommy Shelby's abrupt appearance into your life will open your curious eyes to a whole other world that had been shielded from you since the day of your noble birth.

Warnings: Language, angst, fluff, mutual pining, smut, domestic violence, mentions of suicide, violence

Authors Note: I basically took Alfie's passing statement of how Tommy acquired Arrow House and the trope "One bed, two people" and turned it into "One house, two strangers" and ran with it! The idea for this series and it's storyline, is loosely based off the lyrics to the well known song "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel.

Teaser Trailer

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine (completed series)

Gif credit: @mushroomseb. Go check out their wonderful works of art!

[streettealee]

100% agree with this. I’m convinced Clare messed up her writing schedule or something or didn’t have a full outline for certain things and wound up losing track of everything that made up Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron, so that Chain of Thorns felt almost like a fanfic of her own canon fiction where a lot of people were OOC at least half the time. There were a lot of other ways Chain of Thorns could have gone and ways the atmosphere could have much more closely resembled the two previous stunning books, and I still haven’t recovered from the disappointment. 

Is it just me or does Chain of Thorns really feel like a book from a different series than the same ones Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron are a part of? Something happened and *crack* yeah, something happened.

[thewritetofreespeech]

May I request Gojo with an s/o who's the daughter of a lesser-known yet very humble clan who are blacksmiths? They do have a cursed technique though (the ability to both see all possible outcomes to any event and also control which ones will actually occur), they just prefer to create an use weaponry more.

“Senseeeii…where are we going?” Yuji bemoaned as he and Gojo walked up the miles worth of steep stairs towards a destination unknown.

“We have to get Slaughter Demon fixed.” He reminded him. “Now that the tournament is over, Mai-chan remembered you broke it and has been a complete pain ever since. Literally.” He rotated his shoulder to make a point.

“It was an accident!!” Yuji said. For the umpth time as no one seemed to be able to hear him when he said it any of the other times. “I didn’t know you could even break it. I thought they were like….magical items or something. Besides, weren’t you the one that stole it from Mai-san?”

“Eh, that part is less important.” Gojo replied. “In any case, like the proverbs say, if you want to solve a problem: you have to go to the top of the mountain.”

The two eventually made it to the top, where a big gate stood to let them in. “What is this place?” Yuji asked as he looked around the classic estate. Seeming frozen in time since the rise of the emperor.

“This is the place where all cursed tools come from. Or, at least, where any of the ones worth their salt come from.”

They continue walking through he seemingly abandoned estate until Yuji could here the sound of banging in the background. Soft, at first. Then louder as they came closer. The sharp sound of metal on metal in a rhythmic fashion having almost an ominous sound.

“Yoohoo~! [Y/N]-chan!!”

The banging stopped and Yuji’s blood ran cold as a face, covered in a welding mask, turned around to look at them. Back lit in an orange glow of a furnace. The smell of sulfur & iron in the air. Chains, blades, and containers of things he just classified as spooky all around. He thought ‘this is it. this is where I’m gonna die. my bones are going to be used to make a new blade for Mai-san.’

“Satoru?” His murder lifted their mask, and Yuji took a step back in preparation to flee, but stopped when he saw the face of a cute girl under the mask. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought I’d come to see you at work. You’re always so sexy in your little blacksmith outfit.” Yuji was very confused now. He’d gone from fearing for his life to wondering why his teacher was leering at the blacksmith. Who seemed both bashful and annoyed by his comment. “We also had a bit of an accident.”

“Is that Slaughter Demon?” [Y/N] asked as they got up and took the blade. Yuji realizing they weren’t as hulking as he originally thought, and much less intimidating. “What the hell happened to it? Who broke it?! I didn’t even know you could even break it.”

“Uh….it was me…” Yuji confessed with a shy raise of his hand. “It broke when I was fighting a Special Grade curse.”

“He died [Y/N]-chan.” Gojo added in.

“I mean that was later….”

[Y/N] seemed to listen and then eventually huffed and went over to their worktable.  “You know I made this for Mai, right? It won’t work correctly if anyone else uses it.”

“Cursed tools have specific users?”

“Not always.”

“[Y/N]-chan has a special ability.” Gojo said as they reviewed the tool to see what the actual damage was. “Aside from being a member of one of the great house that makes nearly all cursed tools, they have an inherit technique that lets them see all possibility.”

“Like Nanami’s technique?”

“It’s a little more advance than that. Nami-kun can only determine the probability of a fixed object for maximum damage. [Y/N] can assess all probability for a fixed portion of time. They can then employ that probability into their weapon construction and create nearly perfect cursed tools.”

“Wow. You know a lot about their technique Gojo-sensei. I didn’t know you even used cursed tools.”

Gojo smirked. “I’m not interested in the cursed tools.”

“Ok. I think I got it figured out. It’s a clean enough break at least, but it’ll take me a few days to reconstruct. Have Mai come by Saturday to pick it up.”

“Oooor, you could bring it by the campus yourself and we could go on a date.” Gojo countered with a grin.

“I have a lot of work to do Satoru.”

“Doing what? Making more artifacts for the Zenins to hang on their wall?” [Y/N]’s furtive look let him know it was true. “Come on. I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“…fine…” [Y/N] replied to get him to stop giving her the puppy dog eyes. “I’ll drop it off. It was nice to meet you Yuji.”

“Y-Yeah…nice to meet you too [Y/N]-san. Sorry for breaking your knife.” He gave a low bow and [Y/N] chuckled.

“It’s ok. It wasn’t meant for you. I’m sure someone forgot to tell you that when they gave it to you without permission.” Gojo gave her a little wink with his tongue out. Clearly thinking that if he just played dumb & cute, he’d get away with it. Like he always did. “I’m just sorry it didn’t hold up enough for you to not get hurt. At least the dying part didn’t stick.”

“Oh. It’s ok. I’m used to it now.” Yuji said with a laugh and rubbing the back of his head. Sort of a messed up thing to be ok with.

The men leave and let [Y/N] get back to work. “They seem nice.”

“They are.” Gojo confirmed as they headed down the stairs. “But don’t get any ideas, Yuji-kun. [Y/N]-chan is mine. And I won’t have you using your boyish good looks and charm to sway them away.”

“You think I’m good looking Gojo-sensei??”

[whilereadingandwalking]

As always, my favorites of the year list was beset by last minute changes, doubts, and decisions, especially because this year I forced myself into a top 10!

Second photo is my honorable mentions...I literally already have regrets! Ask me anything about these top choices—I'm happy to share my reviews, thoughts, and more!

My Top Ten of 2023:

Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu tr. Seidensticker

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon

Ace by Angela Chen

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez tr. McDowell

Honorable mentions:

Now Go: On Grief and Studio Ghibli by Karl Thomas Smith

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami tr. Gabriel

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

White Cat, Black Dog: Stories by Kelly Link

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin

When the Hibiscus Falls by M. Evelina Galang

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

Bleed: Destroying Myths and Misogyny in Endometriosis Care by Tracey Lindeman

Never a City So Real by Alex Kotlowitz

The Crown Ain't Worth Much by Hanif Abdurraqib

Sons of Darkness (Jan ’24) by Gourav Mohanty

The End of August by Yū Miri tr. Giles

(Unpictured): Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

(Unpictured): The Thick and the Lean by Chana Porter

[terrible-romance-reviews]

First post not even gonna be about terrible romance this is meant as a generalized book dump blog, anyways, reading chain of thorns by cassandra clare, page 180 Filomena instantly clocks Thomas as gay and im so about it.