Chain of Gold: The Last Hours

The book arrived in very good condition, it was amazing finding a hardcover at such a low price.The title of the book is written with a gold material, and it has an illustration of the main characters on the forst page, which I didn't expect. The dust jacket also has golden and silver letters, and the cover illustration is beautiful and the print quality is very good. Under it it's fully black, except for the back, where it has the title printed.The pages are thick, with a little texture, and the color is not bright white, but a warmer muted white.I have been followeing the Shadowhunters Chronicles for many years, and I'm excited to read this new trilogy 😊

I love the Shadow hunter series. I have decided to start waiting for all books in a series to become published before purchasing a set. I love how the story picks up from when we first met James in 'The Bane Chronicles', and how everything gits together nicely.

I confess to an addiction to Cassandra Clare's writing, and she has clearly started another such series in this book. Set in historical London's days of carriage and horse, lush gowns somehow allow heroines to wield swords alongside the heroes. They are fighting demons with their own Shadowhunters skills plus strange powers from Tessa's warlock blood. Their enemies are nefarious demons and witchy women hiding in shadows, so this reads like a bit of a cliffhanger. All this and finding love, too? Reminds me of the Perils of Pauline stories my mom used to watch at the movies, I just love it all.

It felt so good to be back in the Shadowhunters world. I always forget how much I love this world Cassie has created until we get another book to dive into.Now, I will admit, it took me a minute to get into Chain of Gold. I love action and the beginning of COG doesn't have a whole lot of it, in my opinion. But I love the characters and they more then made up for the lack of action in the beginning.I obviously loved the story and the plot. Cassie always manages to throw me for a loop, and the way that she weaves her books and series together and connects them, still amazes me. She has said that you can read this book as a standalone, but I feel like the reading experience is much better if you have at least read the infernal devices and maybe some of the novella's in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and Ghosts of the Shadow Market. Like getting to truly enjoy seeing Will and Tessa as parents. Especially Will. ❤️"Do not let those who cannot see the truth tell you who you are. You are the flame that cannot be put out. You are the star that cannot be lost. You are who you have always been, and that is enough and more than enough. Anyone who looks at you and sees darkness is blind."I don't usually enjoy multiple points of view, but somehow Cassie pulls it off perfectly. All of their pov's lend something important to the story. Obviously James and Cordelia are our main characters in this book, and I love them so much. But getting some of the other characters pov, Mathew, Lucie, etc, really lent something to the story. I never wanted to skim. Which happens to me a lot when I read books that have more that two pov's.Cassie's books are always a different kind of reading experience for me. I have loved this world from the beginning in The Mortal Instruments, and Chain of Gold was no different for me. Her writing only get's better with each book. I love so much that I am able to completely disappear into her words and forget reality while reading. Not many books can accomplish that for me anymore."But at least we can always pick up a book and read it anew. Stories offer a thousand fresh starts."I pretty much loved every character in this book ExceptGrace and Tatiana Blackthorn. Mann, these two got on my nerves so much in this book.I really hope they both get what they deserve in Chain of Iron, though probably not because it's Cassandra, but a girl can wish.It took me so much longer to finish this book than I thought it would. I was savoring every page. I loved being back in this historical era as well. Cassandra does such a good job of describing this era, the fashion, and how life and society was in that time. It's all so well described without being overly detailed.This book was a lot less crushing than I was expecting it to be, so I have a feeling we're in for it with the next two. But I'm always happy to let Cassandra rip my heart out of my chest. 😂"We do not get to choose when in our lives we feel pain," Said Mathew. "It comes when it comes, and we try to remember, even though we cannot imagine a day when it will release its hold on us, that all pain fades. All misery passes. Humanity is drawn to light, not darkness."If you have loved her previous Shadowhunter books you are more than likely going to love Chain of Gold.Five star read for me.

Never read this author before! I think I may have found a new favorite! This book so good, I feel like I am a part of the story!

Chain of Gold was, in my opinion, one of the weakest installments to the ShadowHunters series.We are sent back into the 1800s-1900s to partake in the adventures of Will & Tessa's children from the Infernal Devices series. Which by a long shot- is Clare's best work.I was so excited to get back into Will, Tessa & Jems stories, so I bought this book the day it was released! Ready to dive back in to characters I loved. I came out sort of disappointed..What I liked:- Cordelia was a very likable character. She was of Persian decent so mixing her shadow hunter heritage along with her ethnicity was fresh and interesting.- Will, Tessa, & Jem's cameos. They were such a delight! and exactly why i picked up this book in the first place.-the time period. Coming fresh off of the "stalking jack the ripper" series, this book satisfied my need for another historical fiction novel.-the cover. Besides "Clockwork Princess" i do believe this cover is my favorite! The green and red glittering on the shiny paper.... very photogenic- the writing is undeniably beautiful. Clare has a way with words unmatched by most of her peers.what i did not like:-James. To be honest, if Cassandra Clare had accidentally changed his name to "Julian" from her pervious series, i wouldn't have known there was a mistake. The characters are exactly the same.- the fact that it now feels like Clare is adding gay/bisexual characters for the sake of having them in her books. The first series, and the reveal of Alec's sexual orientation was so well done. He was scared, he hid, no one knew, people struggled, and it was real. You mean to tell me the England early 1900s everyone would just be okay? I have nothing against it, but it would have been refreshing to see some of the characters struggle with it a little more. Would have added depth.- the sheer number of characters: there were so many i honestly couldn't remember who was who. The fact that she had to mention that one of them was the "Science guy" over and over instead of us just knowing was a sign that maybe she should have kept the group smaller and spent more time exploring their personalities. Since there were too many characters to do that, everyone else was just background characters for me that did nothing to advance the story.- This last one is possibly the complaint i will always have with Cassandra Clare's books.... NICKNAMES! Why does every single character have to have a nickname?!?!?! it was really bad in the Emma Carstairs series. for instance, in this book James was often called "Jamie" Why? its not shortened at all? and totally unnecessaryI did still enjoy going back to the Shadowhunter world. I blew through the book in a few days. (tho there really isn't much to do during this time of quarantine) I just wish i could see something more original come out of Clare's writing.for instance, as i said on my instagram:What if one of the main protagonists were a simple Mundane. Nothing magical about them but special nonetheless.look at Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.He had no powers, no magic, nothing supernatural. But he was still so important to Buffy and the gang. That's good writing.Also, imagine coming back to the demon world with fresh eyes. rediscovering the magic with someone who had no idea.I'm bored with every character already being aware.in fact, this story and Emma and Julian's story, to me, feel way too alike...I enjoyed while reading, but felt let down once i turned the last page.4 stars because you cannot deny, Cassandra Clare can write, just very unoriginal

Bonito

The first book in Cassandra Clare’s The Last Hours trilogy is finally available so where do I even begin with this spoiler-free review? (Quotes used are previously released snippets.)"The point of stories is not that they are objectively true, but that the soul of the story is truer than reality."The Shadowhunters books are always very character driven so it’s probably the best idea to focus on the characters first. Chain of Gold introduces us to a big cast of new(ish) characters and apart from a couple of exceptions, I adore all of them so I’m going to mention my absolute favourites.Cassie was pretty forthcoming regarding some characters but kept mum on others. I was prepared to like Cordelia Carstairs, but I did not expect that I’d fall in love with her the way I did. She is the full package! She is a fierce warrior – who’s surprised since Cortana picked her? – a kind friend and loving sister/daughter. She is also a very pragmatic girl, who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty or do what’s necessary. There’s one scene close to the end of the book where I pumped my fist because Cordelia was just so incredible!Matthew has been dear to me since Nothing But Shadows. He’s started out as such a fun and charming character and although this took somewhat of a turn in more recent novellas, I love him and want nothing but the best for him. In my opinion his character arc in books two and three is going to be particularly interesting to see because this guy is truly going through a lot. Please be okay, Matthew!What is there to say about James? He is amazingly sweet, but he can also be amazingly dumb. Sometimes I just wanted to shake him. When you’re reading Chain of Gold, I’m sure you’ll know what I’m talking about. 😊 He is the leader of his group of friends and he leads them well, although he also leans on them when he’s got trouble with his demon power. He learns something very important about his power in this book and how this is going to affect him in the future will be fun to find out!Thomas is a sweetheart, this is honestly the best way to describe him. He reminded me a bit of Simon from The Mortal Instruments, a character I also love, and I’m intrigued to see if his development will be similar to Simon’s. He loves his friends so much, he’s pretty soft-spoken but he can also speak your mind. When Thomas speaks, you listen!Anna is AH-mazing! I completely understand why the younger cast of characters admires her so much, she is so confident in her own skin and doesn’t listen to her critics. Her relationship with Cordelia is something I’m so much looking forward to in Chain of Iron! These two are very opposite from each other, but I think that’s why their friendship is going to work so well.We also got a very brief glimpse into Will and Tessa’s lives as a married couple and as parents. I was very pleasantly surprised to have this very short, but very sweet POV from Tessa. It was so great to read about these two again! ♥After almost seven years, I also loved seeing the other characters from The Infernal Devices. They are all parents now and it’s so refreshing to see so many loving ones in Cassie’s book.Grace and Jesse are without a doubt the two most mysterious characters in Chain of Gold and my feelings on them are pretty clear: I hated one of them and loved the other. I can’t wait to see what other readers think about them! Nevertheless, both of their storylines are without a doubt going to be so great in the other two books!The whole long introduction at the beginning might be a bit slow for some readers, but I think it’s necessary because of the many characters that show up in the book.Once you know who is who, the action kicks off and there are a lot of developments with surprising twists!The world in The Last Hours is very different from the world of The Infernal Devices. It’s a peaceful time for the characters and that’s why the sudden demon threat, which is very unusual, is so stressful to many of them. I really enjoyed the whole story arc of the demon threat and the villain who’s responsible for it and it’ll be interesting to see whether this will come back in one way or another in future books.The other villain in the book is the one everyone was probably expecting to see and their craziness certainly didn’t disappoint. They are vile, cruel and I cannot wait for them to gone!"Love cuts deeper than any blade."Ah, love. It wouldn’t be a Cassie Clare book, if there wasn’t at least one unique love story in it. Well, guess what? It looks like we are going to have more than one this time! ♥Cordelia and James is obviously the main relationship in the series. These two have the potential to be really, really great together! I was going through a lot of emotions whenever I read a scene with these two.Like I said, there will be other romantic relationships, but these would be too much of a spoiler so I’m quickly going to focus on the sibling relationships because we’ve had a lot of them in Chain of Gold!My favourite pair of siblings was Cordelia and Alastair. Sometimes their relationship was like ‘I love you because I kind of have to, but I don’t like you very much’ but other times they were nothing but supportive of each other!It is clear that all nearly the different characters who have a brother/sister or maybe both love them a lot. They get along, they tease each other (hello, Lucie) and when push comes to shove, they work together to solve the problem (while kind of ‘forgetting’ to let their parents know ^^).Final thoughts:I am so glad we already have a release date for Chain of Iron (1st March 2021)! After the ending of Chain of Gold, I desperately need the second book so that I know what’s going to happen to my favourite characters not to mention the person that featured in the epilogue.To sum up: Chain of Gold was an amazing start to Cassie’s The Last Hours trilogy! I had a fantastic time reading it and enjoyed myself immensely. London back in 1903, the fashion and the outings were so vividly described that I wish I could go there and meet the characters. 😊 Thank you, Cassie, for writing yet another riveting book! Five out of five stars!A word of advice: if possible, read certain short stories first before you read Chain of Gold, it’s not 100% necessary as Cassandra Clare has said on her Instagram, but I think it enriches your reading experience. I’d suggest (re)reading The Whitechapel Fiend, Nothing But Shadows (= Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy), Cast Long Shadows, Every Exquisite Thing (= Ghosts of the Shadow Market) and The Midnight Heir (The Bane Chronicles). (less)

Chain of Gold is the first of the The Last Hours trilogy from Cassandra Clare set in the early 20. century in London. It focuses on Cordelia Carstairs, a young Shadowhunter who moves with her mother and brother to London, determined to not only become parabatai of Lucie - on of her few childhood friends - but also to proof the innocence of her father who is held captive in Idris.On her arrival in London she learns that there have been nearly non demon attacks in the past years and is, as well as the others, shocked when a new, deadly demon attacks the Shadowhunters which can withstand the sun and poison their fellow friends and fighters. The fight against this new and yet ancient evil turns into a run against time und mysteries centuries old are revealed which could change the Shadowhunter world forever…supposedly since this was a first reading of a book from Cassandra Clare. But it strongly looks like it.The combination of the early 20. century with ancient old fighting and mythology of the Shadowhunters as well as magic is always a thrilling combination and the setting in London is on the brink of the new century strikes its very own charms.Cordelia, James, Lucie, Thomas, Matthew and Christopher, together with everyone else who is newly introduced in this book, are charming and really good created characters with their strengths and weaknesses, flaws and beliefs. It was fun getting to know them although James was more than just a bit annoying throughout the book whenever it came to be about his love - Grace. But otherwise his heritage, as well as Lucie's since she's his younger sister, is a fascinating idea which hopefully will be explained and explored more in the following two books. Matthew with his charms and alcoholism, Cordelia's determined character on saving those who are close to her, Christophers way of looking into things and Thomas's kindness all help to create a strong new set of characters who all have an important part to play in this fight. The unraveling of the mystery which demon attacks them and how to solve this problem shows the strong bond between all of them and the fact that the young generations always seem to look at things differently is not only portrayed in the adventure but also reflected in Will's acknowledgement that when they were the age of his children - James and Lucie - he also saw things different and the adults did not want to hear it. It seems to be a circle doomed to repeat itself over and over again.Although there a an awful lot of names and characters, connections and history it was fun to read and easy to get not only into the story but also into the world as well without having the knowledge of what happened in previous books. And since this seems to be a new trilogy in a new time not already covered in the books it is totally possible to read it without knowing anything of the world. Of course the names, the mythology and history of the Shadowhunters is a bit complex but getting used to it just needs a little time of adjusting when starting to read the book. The writing itself is rich and easy to follow though not written easy for the sake of creating a nice little story to distract oneself. Instead the writing style created a whole new world living next to the mundane London with Nephilim warriors who also have to fight the ordinary fights of the everyday life, who love and feel despair, fight against their demons and stand together as friends.Of course the focus shifting in and out of the love stories is a bit agonizing and sometimes the question do rise up why they don't get it although it is directly in front of them. Some of the misunderstandings arousing in the books occur because they don't talk to each other. They try but there is always a reason to stop mid sentence. Mostly because someone is approaching the conversation. Reading it over and over again it became more and more ridiculous. Another minor negative point is the fact that everyone seems to know where the evil lies but no one takes serious action against it or thinks about the people surrounding that evil being maybe also part in a bigger plan. And James and his awful behavior regarding Grace and Cordelia. It is infuriating to read it how a person can be so blind.Nevertheless the book is fun to read with very charming and deep characters. Lucie is the perfect example here. Her strong and stubborn character combined with a little sister behavior and fierce fighting for what she knows is right and wants to protect and her love of creating stories was so lovely.The book sets off a new world, is written awesome with a great story, a balanced out combination of love and action and with memorable characters. It is definitely worth reading even if the world of the Shadowhunters is still unknown because the introduction into the world is so profound to walk into it like already having been there.

Lo ammetto, ho comprato questa edizione non solo perché volevo leggere il libro in originale, ma anche perché alla fine c'è una short story su Will e Tessa che sarà presente solo nella 1° edizione.Questa nuova serie vede come protagonisti i figli dei sopracitati coniugi Herondale, cioè James e Lucie, che avranno a che fare con molte rogne, dopo tanti anni in cui a Londra sono stati avvistati ben pochi nemici. Ovviamente i due non saranno soli: in città è appena arrivata Cordelia Carstairs, la cugina di Jem, che diventerà la parabatai di Lucie. La ragazza è anche innamorata di James, quindi c'è tanto da vedere nel dipartimento romantico, dato che James è invaghito di qualcun altro, qualcuno che non si capisce se è un nemico oppure no. Altre a Cordelia, che è una ragazza molto intraprendente e che vuole essere un'eroina anziché farsi salvare sempre da un uomo (vai Cordelia!) ho adorato anche gli altri personaggi, come il parabatai di James, ovvero Matthew Fairchild, suo cugino Christoper Lightwood and Thomas Lightwood. I quattro insieme sono invincibili e hanno dinamiche molto da bromance, e poi con Cordelia e Lucie sono il top!Interessantissimi anche se meno presenti degli altri, Anna Lightwood (la figlia di Cecily e Gabriel) e Alastair Carstairs, il fratello di Cordelia. Anche Magnus Bane appare per un po'!Che dire, non voglio entrare in merito alla trama perché è scritta sopra. Dirò solo che questo libro ha azione ma non troppa, diciamo che è molto introduttivo. Le prime 50 pagine ci mostrano meglio i personaggi e creano l'atmosfera della storia, che viene svelata man mano. Ovviamente, conoscendo lo stile della scrittrice, non potevo aspettarmi di aver il cuore in pace alla fine del libro, ma è naturale, essendo il primo di una trilogia. Ho molte domande e spero di ricevere alcune risposte in Chain of Iron.Ultima ma non ultima cosa. Ho adorato che in questo libro ci fossero anche molti momenti tra Will e Tessa, che sono la coppia che preferisco. Ho adorato anche che ci fosse Jem, che, al contrario di quanto pareva dopo TID potesse fare capolino solo pochissime e rare volte, è invece apparso in molte occasioni nella storia e vediamo che James e Lucie (oltre, ovviamente a Will e Tessa) gli sono molto affezionati e si confidano con lui.Se avete letto le altre serie di Cassandra, di sicuro questa vi piacerà.

Cassandra Clare doesn't miss. I was a little scared (as I usually am) when reading a book in a world I love. But I needn't have been scared. It felt like reuniting with an old friend, a friend that likes to hurt me before healing.Shout out to Will Herondale for stealing every scene he was in. Love you boo.The Herondales were Herondaling very much in this. Not much more to say other than I love the Herondales.I loved the characters, each had a distinct voice and the interactions between the characters were great. The Merry Thieves were a good addition to the Shadowhunter universe. I will say though it was little confusing keeping track of which Lightwood was related to who, probably should've re-read The Infernal Devices before I started this but I was too eager. Cordelia was a good main lean, strong and likeable. it was easy to route for her.Seeing the characters from The Infernal Devices as parents was a joy, especially when they attempted to deter their children from seeking trouble. They should know better.The storyline was easy to follow, the plot unravelled at a decent pace. Some elements were predictable but I'm not convinced they weren't written that way, possibly for the audience to figure out and have the characters be unaware. Cassandra Clare does love to frustrate and make us suffer.All in all, a good first book in the trilogy.