Cait’s Review of “Chain of Iron” by Cassandra Clare

By: Cait Marie

Blurb

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

If you read my review for book one, Chain of Gold, you know I struggled to get into this series in the beginning. Well… now, I’m fully obsessed.

There’s so much going on in these books, but I love how it all ties together. The characters have completely claimed my heart. Even though my ship is sinking… I just want Lucie and Matthew together. I know it’s not a thing, but I want it to be.

Also, I need James and Cordelia to just talk. The amount of miscommunication between them makes me so mad and sad. Like, I get it. If they told each other how they felt and what was going on, it’d make for a short, dull story. But gah! I just want my babies to be happy!

This book was full of action and kept me reading well into the night. I couldn’t’ stop. It’s so wonderfully thought out, and I love how Clare can continue creating original but familiar stories in the Shadowhunter world.

I’m anxiously waiting for the next one, which has been pushed to November of this year (I think). That used to bother me, but now that I’m an author, I get it. I’d rather she take the necessary time to write the epic conclusion this series deserves than rush it. I’ll gladly re-read these when it gets closer to the release if needed.