Words I Write Crazy: Week 4 Reviews: The Penultimate Hours, Chain of Gold, Chain of Iron

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Week 4 Reviews: The Penultimate Hours, Chain of Gold, Chain of Iron

From Goodreads:

Welcome to the Penultimate Hours! A collection of short stories covering the various characters in The Last Hours, originally released monthly in the leadup to Chain of Gold. The Penultimate Hours also contains two special extras: a letter from Lucie to Cordelia and a letter from Ragnor to Magnus. All collected here for your reading delight!

From Goodreads:
Chain of Gold is the first novel in a new trilogy that stars the Shadowhunters of Edwardian London.

Welcome to Edwardian London, a time of electric lights and long shadows, the celebration of artistic beauty and the wild pursuit of pleasure, with demons waiting in the dark. For years there has been peace in the Shadowhunter world. James and Lucie Herondale, children of the famous Will and Tessa, have grown up in an idyll with their loving friends and family, listening to stories of good defeating evil and love conquering all. But everything changes when the Blackthorn and Carstairs families come to London…and so does a remorseless and inescapable plague.

James Herondale longs for a great love, and thinks he has found it in the beautiful, mysterious Grace Blackthorn. Cordelia Carstairs is desperate to become a hero, save her family from ruin, and keep her secret love for James hidden. When disaster strikes the Shadowhunters, James, Cordelia and their friends are plunged into a wild adventure which will reveal dark and incredible powers, and the true cruel price of being a hero…and falling in love.

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.

My first review of Chain of Gold
My Review:
I loved reading these books! I love her writing so much, and I loved reading Chain of Gold the first time, and I was a little anxious going in, because this is two thirds of a series, which means that the ending of Chain of Iron was going to be hard, but Chain of Thorns comes out next week, and I'll be reading it right away!

Getting to have bits and pieces of these characters lives before the start of the series was really great, to see the worries about Thomas and his health, of time that Lucie, Cordelia and James spent together. The very short paragraphs of Mathew and when he thought his mom was cheating, that's a full length story in the Shadowmarket anthology, was just heartbreaking!

Chain of Gold was fantastic again, getting to know these characters and what's going on in their lives, all the complications and boy, are there a lot of characters, because there was a decent sized cast in the first book, and almost all of them have had kids. Watching them investigate was fantastic!

Chain of Iron was tougher, because we know about Grace and the bracelet, and I just wanted to make things better! It was difficult to watch them go through all these worries, and I need to know how it's all going to end! It was a great book, but oh, it'll be even better when you can go straight onto Chain of Thorns!

I loved reading these books, and I can't wait to finish out this trilogy!

Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Last Hours #0.5, 1, 2, Shadowhunter Chronicles

First Read: March 10th, 2020
Read: January 26th, 26th, 26th, 2023
Source: Free, Own, Bought
Reason Why: Rereading and continuing this series and I love this world, and they're Historical Fiction 2023 Books and Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Books, and Chain of Iron is a WoW Book!
Publisher: Cassandra Clare, Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: January 20th 2021, March 3rd 2020, March 2nd 2021

The Penultimate Hours: