I read many of Cassandra Clare’s YA fantasy books during my late teens and early twenties and fell in love. Clare has such a profound talent in building a completely realistic world that you feel like you live in. I was so excited to receive an early copy of the first book in her newest series, Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1). {Thank you so much to Simon Teen and Bookish First for the gifted copy}
Chain of Gold begins in Edwardian London around the turn of the century and we follow siblings, James and Lucie Herondale, Matthew Fairchild, and Cordelia Carstairs as young Shadowhunters. London has been experiencing many years of peace with demon attacks becoming rare when one day the young Shadowhunters face an unknown demon that defies anything they have ever seen before. The demons seem to only be targeting Shadowhunters and are spreading a poison among them. James, Lucie, Matthew, Cordelia and their friends must find a way to stop the attacks and save the Shadowhunters succumbing to the demon poison.
I am not a huge fantasy reader, but I truly enjoyed escaping into the world of Shadowhunters and demons. The time period of Edwardian London was different than the present day time period in The Mortal Instruments series and I found it was interesting to see the Shadowhunter world a century before. I also am aware of some mixed reviews regarding The Infernal Devices and The Dark Artifices series, which I have not read so I am not sure how Chain of Gold and this new series compares to those.
Overall, if you have enjoyed Clare’s work before or have never read anything by her, I highly recommend giving this one a try! (I would also recommend starting The Mortal Instruments series as I feel like Clare did a better job of world-building in the early books of that series)
Chain of Gold begins in Edwardian London around the turn of the century and we follow siblings, James and Lucie Herondale, Matthew Fairchild, and Cordelia Carstairs as young Shadowhunters. London has been experiencing many years of peace with demon attacks becoming rare when one day the young Shadowhunters face an unknown demon that defies anything they have ever seen before. The demons seem to only be targeting Shadowhunters and are spreading a poison among them. James, Lucie, Matthew, Cordelia and their friends must find a way to stop the attacks and save the Shadowhunters succumbing to the demon poison.
I am not a huge fantasy reader, but I truly enjoyed escaping into the world of Shadowhunters and demons. The time period of Edwardian London was different than the present day time period in The Mortal Instruments series and I found it was interesting to see the Shadowhunter world a century before. I also am aware of some mixed reviews regarding The Infernal Devices and The Dark Artifices series, which I have not read so I am not sure how Chain of Gold and this new series compares to those.
Overall, if you have enjoyed Clare’s work before or have never read anything by her, I highly recommend giving this one a try! (I would also recommend starting The Mortal Instruments series as I feel like Clare did a better job of world-building in the early books of that series)