Chain of Thorns

I have a mixed feelings about this one. I guess, that I just feel a bit tired of this series. Well, the last book was especially long. I felt as if I was done with this characters in the middle of the story, but they still had so many things to do and I was not just here for that.

Overall there was so much drama in the series, but very little of it felt like it had real impact. All characters wished to be good characters so strongly, so any conflict just felt flat. Especially, I couldn't understand the need for secrets in the friend group. In regards to that, it was not so believable to me, that the adults, that were in the heart of things in the Infernal Devices would just stand by when all of this was going on.

Another thing that was quite weird is some of the attitude to certain things. In the Mortal Instruments some characters were gay and it was such a big no-no with shadowhunters. But here we are in last hours, just one hundred years prior and we have 5 openly gay characters and almost everyone is super okay with that. This feels like a general plothole for the timeline.

I've seen couple of reviews with disagreement about certain character death and I agree. That character was done dirty. Their death was just skipped over for the plot and it really felt like nobody cared so why should I?

Now I see, that I mostly concentrated in the negative things. It wasn't all that bad, and there were some really nice moments. I have no regrets reading this series.

Devoured the first 300-ish pages, and then it all started to go downhill as I got bored. I didn't want to pick it back up. It was a struggle to finish the last 100 pages. This book didn't need to be so long, and it all felt very underwhelming.

James and Cordelia never appealed to me and I wish there was more Lucie. I loved Lucie and Jesse's relationship way more than the main.

All in all: first two books in the trilogy were better than this one in my opinion, and I was left wondering why this book was pushed back so many times just to be left with this?

Underwhelming finale. The book would've benefited from trimming. 800 pages could've been easily 400 if it weren't for the unnecessary drama and repetitiveness. The only things i liked were Grace's “redemption” arc and Matthew's storyline.

James and Cordelia are the least interesting main characters in the shadowhunters books. Cordelia didn't feel as the protagonist of the story and she was constantly overshadowed by others. The love triangle was a mess and didn't make sense, especially when we already know who Cordelia will choose. It created rifts between the characters and many pages were wasted, pages that could've been used to show us how some plotlines were resolved instead of summarizing them in the epilogue.

Lucie and Cordelia didn't feel as close friends as we were supposed to believe and while i liked some of the conflicts they faced in this book, i still think we are told they are close instead of showing us. Lucie and Grace had more depth in their dynamic than Lucie and Cordelia ever had. I'm just quite disappointed in Cordelia as the main heroine, i liked her in book 1 but somehow she lost her charm here.

Lucie's powers were a wasted potential. She had more intriguing abilities and yet James gets to have the spotlight even though Lucie's ability moved the plot more. I'm not a big fan of her romance with Jesse but i admire her character in general so she was one of the few point of views i didn't mind reading without fighting the urge to skim.

Alastair provided the comic relief and for that i like him enough except that i wished we got more of him instead of his relationships. I felt the characters are written as couples instead of individuals.

I won't talk about the death of that character. It was lazy and unnecessary. And worst of all, no one seemed to care after things ended. They were all wrapped in their problems.

Overall, it was a huge disappointment. I liked how Malcolm Fade story ties to The Dark Artifices, i loved Grace's arc and i adore Matthew, but the finale was a mess and felt like an unfinished draft.

I have three thoughts after finishing this:

- If half as much time was dedicated to the plot as it was to the characters being horny this would be 300 pages shorter
- The pacing is so off throughout and nothing of consequence really happens for the first half
- Maybe Cassandra Clare is a teeny bit sapphophobic? Mayhaps

Cordelia Carstairs has lost everything that matters to her. In only a few short weeks, she has seen her father murdered, her plans to become parabatai with her best friend, Lucie, destroyed, and her marriage to James Herondale crumble before her eyes. Even worse, she is now bound to an ancient demon, Lilith, stripping her of her power as a Shadowhunter.

After fleeing to Paris with Matthew Fairchild, Cordelia hopes to forget her sorrows in the city's glittering nightlife. But reality intrudes when shocking news comes from home: Tatiana Blackthorn has escaped the Adamant Citadel, and London is under new threat by the Prince of Hell, Belial.

Cordelia returns to a London riven by chaos and dissent. The long-kept secret that Belial is James and Lucie's grandfather has been revealed by an unexpected enemy, and the Herondales find themselves under suspicion of dealings with demons. Cordelia longs to protect James but is torn between a love for James she has long believed hopeless, and the possibility of a new life with Matthew. Nor can her friends help—ripped apart by their own secrets, they seem destined to face what is coming alone.

For time is short, and Belial's plan is about to crash into the Shadowhunters of London like a deadly wave, one that will separate Cordelia, Lucie, and the Merry Thieves from help of any kind. Left alone in a shadowy London, they must face Belial's deadly army.

Shadowhunter universe is a long running series and I used to love Cassie's book so much (The Clockwork Princess and City of Heavenly Fire), but I guess it's time for me to say good bye to her works.

Silly note :
- always peek the family tree because until I reach the end of the book I still can't memorize which Lightwood children are Gabriel's or Gideon's
- why did Cordelia run so much?