Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare

Summary from Goodreads:

The Shadowhunters must catch a killer in Edwardian London in this dangerous and romantic sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Chain of Gold, from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Cassandra Clare. Chain of Iron is a Shadowhunters novel.

Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever wanted. She’s engaged to marry James Herondale, the boy she has loved since childhood. She has a new life in London with her best friend Lucie Herondale and James’s charming companions, the Merry Thieves. She is about to be reunited with her beloved father. And she bears the sword Cortana, a legendary hero’s blade.

But the truth is far grimmer. James and Cordelia’s marriage is a lie, arranged to save Cordelia’s reputation. James is in love with the mysterious Grace Blackthorn whose brother, Jesse, died years ago in a terrible accident. Cortana burns Cordelia’s hand when she touches it, while her father has grown bitter and angry. And a serial murderer is targeting the Shadowhunters of London, killing under cover of darkness, then vanishing without a trace.

Together with the Merry Thieves, Cordelia, James, and Lucie must follow the trail of the knife-wielding killer through the city’s most dangerous streets. All the while, each is keeping a shocking secret: Lucie, that she plans to raise Jesse from the dead; Cordelia, that she has sworn a dangerous oath of loyalty to a mysterious power; and James, that he is being drawn further each night into the dark web of his grandfather, the arch-demon Belial. And that he himself may be the killer they seek.

Review:

I’m so glad I pre-ordered this book for myself….I didn’t love Book 1 (Chain of Gold) as much as I usually love Cassandra Clare books. I thought maybe I was finally ready to stop reading her. A lot of the plot felt recycled. And I wasn’t connecting to the new characters as much I had to the past ones, who only made brief cameos.  However, this year was rough for me personally, and I’m sure it was for a lot of people. And it was not the year to give up on a long-loved author. The good Cassandra Clare books are almost as good as reuniting with real life friends and family (which I still won’t be able to do for a while…). That being said, this was a good Cassandra Clare book.

I was finally connecting to the characters! My heart was breaking for Cordelia. Unrequited love is just the worst, and knowing it wasn’t actually unrequited –but actually the fault of a stupid bracelet….worse than the worst. Then, I was starting to see more unrequited love everywhere. There’s closeted gay love, there’s someone else who loves Cordelia. There’s a romantic ghost story! I mean this book is just so tragic, it at times felt like the Dickens novels it was sometimes quoting. And then throw in a serial killer! And a list of dying shadow hunters! This was a book made for me.

There’s secret affairs, supernatural night clubs, shadow markets, necromancy, epic fight scenes, and really never any good moments to put this 656 paged book down!

Was a lot the plot still recycled? Yes. I pretty much called all but one plot point. And that one was a HUGE shock to me. I was like, What???? But, I didn’t seem to mind calling literally everything else this time. I guess when I start to love the characters so much, nothing else is as important. And I really started to love them. I even grew to like Grace, the awful maker of the bracelet. Seeing her childhood was just awful. I don’t necessarily love her yet, but I have a feeling I might come to later. I love Lucy and everything she does to help Jesse. I love Cordelia and her bravery and the friendship she starts with Matthew. And oh, poor Matthew and all he’s endured. Learning why he is the way he is!

Any way, as you can see, I’m invested now. And I think I have a long wait for book 3, and of course it ended with quite the cliffhanger. Don’t give up on Cassandra Clare, if you like stories with excellent characters. She’s still got that down. And of course this insane world she’s created is just too hard to let go of. I give this one a 9/10.