I apologize for the title but, also not really! So, suffer under the hammer of an old meme.
Anyways, March 3rd!!! Today's the release day of some pretty major books! The start of two different series' by two very big YA authors who I think are important to a lot of us.
That would be House of Earth & Blood by Sarah J. Maas, her adult debut, and Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare, the start of the next series in the shadowhunter world, set about 25 years after the end of The Infernal Devices series. I'll be focusing on Chain of Gold here as I've already reviewed HoE&B a month or so ago.
I grew up reading The Mortal Instruments series, starting the first book when the second one had just come out, and never looking back. There was just something about the world and the characters that meant a lot to me. That there could be something magical, if we just looked close enough. That there were people out there fighting even if we have no clue what was going on.
And smack in the middle of the Mortal Instruments came the Infernal Devices! I was curious, and cautious, about Clockwork Angel, but Tess and Will captured my heart and so too did the world of the shadowhunters in Victorian England.
When that series finished, I thought we'd never really see Will and Tessa again, but of course, we got the Dark Artifices where Tessa and Jem have reunited and married, and things were getting pretty interesting with a character from right before the Infernal devices starting things with our new generation. It actually took me a while to pick up the first book of the Dark Artifices, but when I did I fell back in love with the world all over again, and found out about the Last Hours, and have been eagerly awaiting it since.
I got lucky, with both of these books and received ARCs which was a very genuinely happy surprise.
So, here we have my review of Chain of Gold! First off, stars!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Chain of Gold starts with James, the son of Tessa and Will, hunting what is one of the only demons they've seen for a while in London. London has been bereft of demons for years, and so even though they still patrol, the new generation of shadowhunters rarely get to test their mettle. In this fight, we discover that James, as Tessa's son, has the ability to drift into this other world, and turn to shadow. He has no control over it, and no idea why it happens beyond that his grandfather is a demon prince.
Through each following POV we're introduced to Cordelia, who is the main character of this first book, and Lucie (James' little sister).
We learn that things are not as they seem, that even though the streets are peaceful, nothing else really is. Cordelia's father is in Idris awaiting trial which means it's up to her to save their family with marriage to someone important, and soon enough, Lucie is seeing ghosts no one else can see that aren't really dead but definitely aren't alive. James just wants to know who his grandfather is so he can stop turning into shadows, and also, he's VERY in love with a woman named Grace Blackthorn. (and also so, so trusting, the dumb dumb)
Things start to spiral when the ball to welcome Cordelia ends with one of the girls being attacked by a shadow creature. The next day a picnic with all the young shadowhunters ends with many mortally wounded and poisoned, left to the hands of fate as the rest try to hunt down a cure and the creature that attacked them in broad daylight.
I won't spoil anything else, I'll just drop my thoughts on you, and they are, this book made me feel so, so happy. It brought up nostalgia and newness and my love of history. Plus my love of so many classic YA tropes that Cassie Clare is the only one to handle like a master.
It's got swoonworthy period drama romance in droves, and enough angst to make you set the book down and scream over. And god do I just love love love the friends to we're both absolutely in love with each other and too blind to see it to lovers trope and I'm so excited to see how it plays out. technically I'm pretty sure we know Cordelia and James get married and have kids but, who knows!
It's perfect, and I do only recommend that you read it if you've read the Infernal Devices, at least. And then after you've finished Chain of gold maybe pick up the Mortal Instruments and then the Dark Artifices! it's a wonderful world to dive into, I promise.
So here's one little spoiler set apart from the rest I really wanted to talk about, and that's my expectation of what the love triangle was going to be, because she always plays with it. In TMI it was Jace/Clary/Simon where Jace and Simon do not like each other, Clary and Jace are complete soulmates, and Clary and Simon did have a love, but it wasn't as deep as C &J. In TID it was Will/Tessa/Jem, where all three people love each other dearly and deeply, and no matter what, it was going to hurt. Then in TDA, Julian/Emma/Mark, and also another one which was wonderfully handled and indeed in I'm pretty positive, polyamory(go Clare!). Mark and Emma pretended to date when Julian and Emma, who were forbidden in every since of the word, needed a reason to be apart. So Emma pretended to be interested in Mark, which didn't last long.
So she's pretty capable of creating any manner of love triangle that will utterly decimate your heart!
So! Spoilers Ahead
And in Chain of Gold, well, let me tell you, it's not made clear until the very end, but it's going to be a brutal one! Matthew Fairchild is James' parabatai and a chaotic, deeply depressed and lost Bisexual angel who at first I thought might be in love with James, but turns out, he's not. He's suffering from something a bit older and darker that he believes he deserves to be punished for.
Well, over the course of the book I noticed little things about him, little things he did in relation to Cordelia that I didn't really process till the end, but essentially, as we the reader are falling in love with Cordelia, so to is Matthew. It's, so, so good, and I for one am excited to see how Cassie steps all over my heart with them!!!
Spoilers End
So, stop into your local bookstore today, and grab the Infernal Devices, plus Chain of Gold(first editions are beautiful limited editions that have exclusive content inside!!!), and go home with some beautiful books and a beautiful story, ready to suck you in and never let you go. Enjoy!!!