Book Review: Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1) by Cassandra Clare

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA Urban Fantasy
Length: 624 pages
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: McElderberry Books
Release Date: March 3rd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Chain of Gold is the first novel in a new trilogy that stars the Shadowhunters of Edwardian London.

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.

OH THE TRAGEDY.

Let’s be honest, Cassandra Clare is fantastic at weaving high drama, high tragedy filled love stories. AND I CAN’T HELP BUT BE INVOLVED. So involved. That’s how this book snuck a four star rating out of me. I love how hopeless everything gets, and then how Clare gives me that happy ending I crave by the time the series wraps up. It’s addicting, so here I am again, reading another Shadowhunter series.

James and Cordelia. OH MY GOODNESS YES. I knew Will’s offspring would give me another guy to swoon over. I love the burgeoning sparks and the fact that a new plot/trope was added in that I haven’t seen before in these books? It really brought this up for me. I wanted to see some fresh things and got them.

I liked the plot and how everything flowed. Once again, I felt that things were luckily a bit different than others. This has peaked my interest. The combination of warlock blood, princes of hell, necromancy and ghosts have set up a series that I’m glad I decided to read.

Good news first: I looooove all the main characters: Cordelia, James, Matthew, Lucy, Jesse, Alastair, Thomas, Christopher, Anna…and I know I probably forgot someone because I’m going from memory. Which leads me to my other issue, the vast amount of characters. I had to resort to pulling up a family tree just to keep things kind of straight in my head. I appreciate a story with a great cast, but this is pushing my limits for keeping track of everyone. I can’t wait to learn more back stories and see more ships form!

And I feel inclined to say that there was plenty of Will and Tessa (and Jem) sightings that made my heart so happy. That was my initial inclination to pick up this book because I missed them so much. They were in the background more, of course, but were added in enough to make me smile.

Overall audience notes:

• Young adult urban fantasy
• Language: very little
• Romance: kisses, intense make-outs; one no detail fade to black scene (between Will and Tessa)
• Violence: demon battles, physical, fires, magic, near drownings

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