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

I can’t believe I almost didn’t read this. After Queen of Air of Darkness I was in such a place that I didn’t believe in Clare’s writing at all. It is old news that she likes playing in her own sandbox a little too much, and after some time, one begins to wonder if there is really anything left to add. Some things are better left alone, you know.

But! that wasn’t the case with Chain of Gold. I didn’t think I’d ever again like a Clare book as much as I loved The Infernal Devices, but The Last Hours are here and they are on the way to becoming the next best thing!

If there’s anything I can say about Clare with a hundred percent conviction, it’s that she sure as hell knows how to write historical fiction. In modern-day settings, her style can get a bit too elaborate, too detailed, too intentional—just too much. But in a historical setting, it transforms into something beautifully cohesive with the time period. The prose is flowing, full of beautiful quotes and messages intertwined with witty dialogues and deliciously archaic in tone. It only adds to the early 20th-century setting, making me feel as if I were truly an Edwardian lady on a dark adventure in smog-ridden London. (I might be overdoing it a bit here, but yes, it is as good as I make it sound)

I found the plot to be the weakest aspect of this book, yet it still didn’t disappoint. I guess I’m reaching that age where actual monsters and demons aren’t nearly as scary or terrifying as the ones in one’s head.
But, as I said, it was pretty good for YA. I liked the parallels with TID and the fact we got answers to some questions from back then. It’s not recycling villains (at least for now) if that’s what you’re wondering about, which is definitely a plus. (yes, my criteria have gotten that low, and yes, QoAaD epilogue, I’m looking at you) Both the main antagonist and the general idea behind it were so far pretty neat and I’m curious to see what direction it’s going to take in following installments.

Another thing that struck me, though, was the whole sickness/quarantine thing going on, which is almost parallel to the situation we currently have going on in the world. Yeah, it’s nowhere near the same in scale and, obviously, it was not intentional on Clare’s part (I think she should have completely wrapped up the book by the time the coronavirus disease started), but it still made for a better reading experience since I could in a way relate to what was happening to the characters, being quarantined and separated from their loved ones.


*Now we’re getting the part where I keyboard smash and scream and then keyboard smash again and scream some more about how much I love the characters, so feel free to skip it if you don’t want your brain to short circuit lol*
I wasn’t being completely truthful before, because there is another thing Clare really knows how to write, maybe even better than historical fiction—the characters. I don’t think there’s a coherent way for me to express how I feel about them. It’s like
James, Cordelia, Matthew, Lucie, Thomas, Alastair, Anna, Will and everyone: *exists*; my heart: 💓💗💓💕💞💗💕💓💓💗💗💗💞💓

I could read about them just coexisting for hours upon hours upon hours upon hours, and there’d still be room in my heart for more when I finished, that’s how much I love them. The friendship between the Merry Thieves was the purest, most precious thing ever, and also Lucie and Cordelia, and Cordelia and James, and Lucie and Matthew, and Anne and Ariadne, and Thomas and—I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say this. AND THAT BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL EASTER EGG AT THE END MY HEART IS FULL I-

Why is it that Clare’s books never fail to make an emotional mess out of me? It’s an evil superpower at work, let me tell you.

You know, I think it’s time I go and read The Great Expectations as I cry over the fact we’ll again have to wait a year—or maybe even longer—for the sequel, which, after that ending, I’m most definitely not ready for.

One last thing I’d like to address before I go and continue my sobbing elsewhere is that one love triangle, and I bet you all know straight away what I’m talking about. (*Also, if you don’t want to spoil anything to yourself, now would be a good time to skip the rest of this paragraph*) I get that Clare’s main trope are love triangles, but I feel there was more than enough of them here without this one, and those were actually pretty decent and I didn’t mind them in the slightest. This—I don’t know what to even call it now, hexagon? hexane? glucose? okay, okay, I’ll stop now, you get the point—was completely unnecessary. Love triangles which include parabatai are a no-no for me. She did that in TID, and however much I love TID and both Wessa and Jessa, I’d still rather she didn’t do that with parabatai. I dunno, maybe that’s just me. But whatever the case, I hope she chills a bit with it later on, or rather, she resolves in a somewhat normal way (ahem, Mathew and Lucie hehe)