Chain of gold is the first book in ‘The Last Hours’ series by Cassandra Clare. It’s the sequel to ‘The Infernal devices’, and like its prequel, it is set in the late 19th century and early 20th century England. The book follows the second generation of our main characters from the infernal devices. The book kicks off with a peaceful London Institute, where nothing much happened after the clockwork army defeat in the ‘Clockwork Princess’ until a sudden demon attack in the daylight shook the Nephilim’s. It is now upon the young Shadowhunters to save the Shadowhunters from this unknown danger.
Synopsis
Chain of Gold follows the life of Cordelia & Alastair Carstairs, James & Lucy Herondale, Jesse & Grace Blackthorn, Matthew Fairchild, and Anna & Thomas Lightwood (Yes, these are a lot for main characters and there are many more).
After the last war between Shadowhunters and the clockwork army, London has been at peace with barely any demon attacks, until a sudden attack on the Shadowhunters in the Regent’s Park. Apart from a sudden demon attack, the most peculiar thing about the attack was that it happened in the daylight, which is not common for the demons who cannot withstand the daylight.
Many are injured with a poison that has no cure and yet the Enclave would not take strict actions until it’s too late to do anything. The young Shadowhunters now take upon themselves to not only save each other but also save others. Amidst all this, James Herondale is sure he is linked to these attacks. He has traveled between realms ever since he was a child. It stopped with the help from his uncle Jem Carstairs, until a few days before the attack.
The story highlights Cordelia (The girl on the cover) as well. She holds the Carstairs legendary family sword: Cortana, which was forged by Wayland. This sword answers to her and her only and holds an integral role in the story.
Writing
It's not news that Cassandra Clare’s writing style is impeccable. I have loved her writing in the prequel (The Infernal devices) as well. Although this book is off the chart good. The story binding and storytelling for the 'Chain of Gold' is remarkable. I can’t tell you how much I loved this book. Thankfully, this book doesn’t have much teen drama like its prequel, so it was good enough for an adult read as well.
Characters
The characters were, as usual, a lot to take in at the start and as usual, they were all marvelous. All the Shadowhunter books have a lot many characters and so why not this one too. But I loved them all.
In the review of ‘Clockwork Angel’, I pointed out that the age of the main characters felt a little inappropriate. They all looked 20+ to me, though they were just 17. As opposed to that, I found in the 'Chain of Gold', the characters looked age-appropriate (16-18 years old).
There are many characters in the book (Trust me when I say MANY!!), but I will talk only about the prominent ones. Also, for your convenience, I have created a relationship tree/graph:
James Herondale, the first child of Tessa and Will Herondale is a 17-year old boy, who is a sweet, kind and studious boy, and is a courageous fighter. I liked James as he resembled a lot like Will and yet wasn’t annoying like him (Will was a bit too dramatic in the Infernal devices). He is a lovesick puppy in front of Grace Blackthorn (which I find fishy, that might come up in the next book), and loves his friends. All in all, he is a goodie – good guy.
Next, the star of the book – Cordelia Carstairs, daughter of Sona and Elias Carstairs. Yes, I love her.! She was amazing. The owner of the legendary Cortana sword, Cordelia is a true fighter and nowhere portrayed any signs of a weak girly girl. She was quick with her actions and thinking and didn’t dwell too much on romantic drama. Yes, she was in love with James and was hurt when she saw his love for grace, but she didn’t dwell upon it all the time. She was focussed on what needs to be done and kept the matters of her heart aside. I liked how Cassandra Clare focuses on strong female characters in her books.
Matthew Fairchild, another character in the book, is James’s parabatai and the second son of Charlotte and Henry Branwell. He is a fun-to-be-around kind of guy, who loves to drink and joke around with his friends. He is kind of a lost boy who always finds himself in trouble. His fascination for Magnus Bane is adoringly funny (But can we blame him, Magnus Bane is charming)
Just like James, Cordelia has a parabatai (soon-to-be), Lucie Herondale a 16-year old girl, who is the daughter of Tessa and Will Herondale and the sister of James. Lucie is an aspiring writer who loves to write a fiction novel for her parabatai Cordelia. She is straightforward with her thoughts and speaks what she thinks.
Thomas Lightwood, the son Gideon and Sophie Lightwood, is a muscular guy with a good heart. His love interest in Alastair is complicated, and he tries to find the best in him even though Alastair has been terrible to his friends.
Christopher Lightwood, the last of the Merry Thieves (a name given to the group: James, Matthew, Christopher, and Thomas) and the second child of Gabriel and Cecily Lightwood. Christopher is a scientist (just like Henry), who likes to invent stuff and at times- fail miserably at them. He is usually distracted from any social convention and is quite shy and awkward around people.
Grace Blackthorn is the adopted daughter of Tatiana Blackthorn (Gabriel and Gideon Lightwood’s sister). She is portrayed as a scared little girl at the start, who is forced to live without friends by her mother. She wants to be free from her and she finds her way around it later. Although she is said to be in love with James, she comes off as a cold-hearted girl who knows how to seduce men to do what she wants. She is shown to care for her family and has been nice at times, but I get a sense she is going to be a real evil in the upcoming book. She has a brother named Jesse Blackthorn, the real son of Tatiana, who died in his teens.
Alastair Carstairs, Cordelia’s older brother, is a troubled boy who likes to keep it to himself. We can see 2 faces of him: a bully, who doesn’t care about anyone, and then a lovesick caring puppy. He is a loner who is protective of his family (Cordelia and his mother).
Lastly, we will talk about Anna Lightwood, the eldest child of Cecily and Gabriel Lightwood and the sister of Christopher. She is a bold-fierce girl, who is popular among all the ladies. Her lifestyle is described as quite “Bohemian” and so she is disapproved by the older generation. She loves fashion and is always dressed up in menswear.
Plot
The plotline in Chain of gold surrounds around the Shadowhunters trying to find the demon behind the attacks and find a cure for the injured poisoned Shadowhunters.
This book is much more bonded to a single storyline as opposed to its prequel, where we had the main story plot and some characters had their own story plot along with it. I like the story is focused on a single mystery, which is divided into smaller storylines. These sub-stories slowly build up and converges into the main plot.
The storyline starts with James Herondale being sucked into the shadow world during a demon fight. This at the start reminded me of a similar story plot from a Netflix show: Stranger things, where Will is sucked into the shadow world. Though his body is in the current world, he would travel to the shadow realm at times. Similarly, James would travel to this demon realm which was completely ash and grey. This is important to the story, and James knows somehow the demon attack is related to him. He has been sucked into this world before, and no one was able to calm him down apart from Cordelia. Cordelia has always liked James, but when she found out his heart belonged to Grace, she was heartbroken. Nevertheless, she never stopped caring for him or helping him when he needed her.
Cordelia carries the great legendary Cortana, which again is very prominent in the book. The sword can cut through anything and is loyal to Cordelia. Although the story revolves around Cordelia, it focuses more on her sword, instead of her being an important part of the story. I hope she will have a more focused role in the next book.
Lucie on the other hand is important to the storyline for her ability to talk and see ghosts that no one can. Her powers with the ghost world go beyond just being able to see them. She can see Jesse Blackthorn’s ghost, who is again going to play an important part in the plotline. Lucie’s gift will be discovered more in the upcoming book.
The ending to the story is quite shocking to me as I didn’t expect it to end this way in the very first book of the series, which of course raises my curiosity as to what I should expect in the upcoming books now.
Similar to all other Shadowhunter series, we see a lot of love interest between all the characters and of course the parabatai bond.
As usual, we have a lot of mystery unfolding, a lot of action, and Magic!
Conclusion
To conclude, Chain of Gold is absolutely amazing and a good read for all the Shadowhunter fans. The characters are amazing (especially Cordelia) and unique (although too many characters create confusion in the beginning). The storyline is focused on a single plot that I liked and is beautifully written. Also, since I have read the prequel, I could connect more with the characters from the infernal devices and really loved to see the bond between Will, Tessa, Jem, Cecily, and Magnus Bane.
Chain of Gold is a 5-star read for me!
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