#BookReview Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare #YA

Title: Chain of Gold: The Last Hours (Book One)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Category: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 3 stars

Book Blurb:

Cordelia Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, a warrior trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to Edwardian London in the hope of preventing the family’s ruin. Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignations and supernatural salons, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. All the while, she must hide her secret love for James, who is sworn to marry someone else.

But Cordelia’s new life is blown apart when a shocking series of demon attacks devastate London. These monsters are nothing like those the Shadowhunters have fought before – these demons walk in daylight, strike down the unwary with incurable poison and seem impossible to kill. London is immediately quarantined. Trapped in the city, Cordelia and her friends discover that their own connection to a dark legacy has gifted them with incredible powers – and force a brutal choice that will reveal the true cruel price of being a hero.

My Review:

I’m a huge fan of Clare’s Shadowhunter world and welcomed the arrival of a new series based around a well-loved theme. In Chain of Gold, the author takes us to the 1900s and a new set of demon hunters. As always, we meet a small group of young adults who unite to save the world from demons.

Chain of Gold is a prequel to the City of Bones series, and a sequel to the Clockwork Angel books. It sits neatly in between the two well-established book series. However, for me, the fact that I know and love all the characters from the other eight books I found parts of this novel to be a bit of an info dump. If you’re coming to this series with fresh eyes, then that small matter wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow, but I was struggling to recall past characters and slot the new ones into their family tree which distracted from the novel.

I didn’t take enough heed to the chapter titles either as when the plot time-hops backwards I had to re-read a few pages as I thought I’d lost my way.

Unlike the other books, I couldn’t bond with any of the characters in Chain of Gold. James is no Jace or Will! I was frustrated by my lack of love for this novel as I’d been looking forward to reading it. There weren’t many demon fights, which amazed me considering the book is 592 pages, and even my all-time favourite character, Magnus Bane, seemed to have lost his sparkle.

Disappointed, but willing to give book two a go when it’s released purely because I love this author so much.

Buy your copy from Amazon HERE.