The Bane Chronicles

2021 Reread: So I've decided these short story bindups are really not meant to be reread. At least not for me. I found they dragged and I really didn't care what was happening.

“To them, as to Magnus, time was like rain, glittering as it fell, changing the world, but something that could also be taken for granted. Until you loved a mortal. Then time became gold in a miser's hands, every bright year counted out carefully, infinitely precious, and each one slipping through your fingers.”

This book was really great. I loves all the little snapshots into Magnus Bane's life. You could definitely tell this was written by people other than Cassandra, but I really enjoy both Sarah and Maureen's writing so I was not too bothered by it. My full review with snipets about each story can be found here. Overall this was a 4 star book. And that is largely due to how much I like Magnus as a character.

Favorite stories included The Midnight Heir, What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything, and The Course of True Love.

Shadowhunters is a universe I don't get bored of at all, even if some books are not that great or the storylines get repetitive sometimes. It's just something in Cassie's writing that makes me care so much for the characters and I want to keep reading more about them. So, here I am with another book from the series about the most colorful character ever. Magnus is the most entertaining person to read about and this book has all his shenanigans over the centuries. But we also see a vulnerable side to him, all the pain and longing he suffers because of losing so many people he loved and it's heartbreaking. But he never becomes a cynic or loses his ability to love and watching Magnus and Alec together is just too beautiful. Below are my individual reviews for the various short stories:

What Really Happened in Peru

This was quite an anticlimactic story but with the usual playful charms and wistfulness of Magnus. It also showcases his strong friendship with Ragnor and Catarina. But I really didn't understand the whole point of it.

Rating: ⭐⭐

The Runaway Queen

A boring story overall. I liked Magnus's descriptions about Paris and the aristocracy and setting of the revolution was interesting, but the plot just ended up being hopeless and tedious.

Rating: ⭐

Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale

This one made me so sad. These Shadowhunters are so heartless. The story definitely explains Magnus's fascination for Camille and his fondness for Will and also how helpless must he feel when he can't help those he wants to. The tale of Edmund is so full of love but also tremendous pain.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Midnight Heir

It was amazing to see Jem, Tessa and Will together again. Their eternal love for each other is so beautiful. But it was also sad to see the plight of their beloved son James, who is unable to find the same joy in love as his parents. Magnus's reminiscing of his love for Camille and her treachery showed a hurt and vulnerable side to him. This story was sad and beautiful at the same time.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Rise of the Hotel Dumort

The history behind Hotel Dumort and it's link to the Great Depression was very fascinating to read. And why am I not surprised that Magnus ran an illegal drinking establishment during prohibition.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Saving Raphael Santiago

A wonderful story about the relationship between Magnus and Raphael. And Raphael is such a genuine, loving person, that it broke my heart that he had to work so hard to even be close to his family. But he proves that he is strong, a born leader and probably the only one sassy enough to handle Magnus.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Fall of the Hotel Dumort

I've never liked Camille and every time Magnus is reminded of his love for her, and how she treated him, it just makes me so angry. So, actually seeing her in the throes of addiction seemed very fitting and I think Magnus showed tremendous strength of character in this story, trying to protect her from herself and also preserve his sanity.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything

Magnus is besotted and I love it. Reading about Magnus remembering his memorable moments with Alec, and then try to think too hard about a birthday gift for him was too sweet. Despite the hilarious ideas he got from the demon Elyass, I think his choice of gift was exactly what Alec would love. Beautiful story.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Last Stand of the New York Institute

This story just increases my hate for Valentine – how much he manipulated yound Shadowhunters who had great potential for doing good. And I love Magnus more, because despite witnessing Valentine's unscrupulous actions, he decided to see the good in Jocelyn.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Course of True Love

Malec's first date – WOWWWW!!!! It was all I expected – awkward, hesitant, fighting, saving and finally some making out. It's always nice to read about the beginning of this beautiful couple's relationship.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Voicemail of Magnus Bane

I've never actually read City of Lost Souls, and since this story occurs immediately after a particular incident from it, I was confused a little but managed to get the context. The voicemails are hilarious, especially the threatening ones from the ever protective Izzy and Alec seems so heartbroken... my poor boy.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

2.5-2.75
I think it's a business book. I enjoyed only the novellas with Alex and on the whole, only three or four.
Besides a few cute flashes, this doesn't add anything more to the whole story.

The voicemails ? Made me cry,
Stan a legend, stan magnus bane

I've missed these characters so much and this book made me really consider re-reading The Mortal Instruments. I cried so much while reading this book because I got emotional every time a dear character was mentioned (like the one and only Will Herondale). Cassandra Clare has created such an incredible world and I will forever be grateful for her.

This just made me love Magnus more

Overall, a lovely look into Magnus's life through the years. It was nice seeing how his view of things changed, particularly in regards to relationships, as he got older. I really liked the vivid decriptions of his outfits and his love for fashion ever steady. It is particularly fun in serious situations, where Magnus explains the shock in people's faces as not of him in particularly but his hot pink outfit. That situation alone is enough to make me love Magnus.

My individual ratings are:

What Really Happened in Peru - 2 stars
Was missing the entire point of why I wanted to read it. It started off very slow, then became a little more interesting, but in the end there was no climax and I was left feeling very disappointed.
The Runaway Queen - 3 stars
I found the Paris vampire clan really interesting, and even though I thought the Marie Antoinette/Axel plot-line would go somewhere else, it was still enjoyable.
Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale - 5 stars
Meeting Will's parents. Honestly, it just made me understand very easily why Will turned out the way he did. Loved it. It was really fucking sad.
The Midnight Heir - 5 stars
Meeting James Herondale. Seriously, it absolutely frightened me and I now think The Last Hours will be scary as hell. Loved it. It was really fucking scary AND sad.
The Rise of the Hotel Dumort - 2.5 stars
Idk, it was just kinda boring. The New York setting was nice but... yeah.
Saving Raphael Santiage - 4 Stars
I enjoyed this one so much! Raphael is a whiny little shit and I adore him to pieces. The way he is with Magnus, and what he actually thinks of their relationship with each other, really makes me feel for him when in CoLS Simon was yelling at Raphael being like “FRIENDS??? You think we're FRIENDS???” A scene, in which I originally was very understanding of Simon's reaction (and still am, but now I get Raphael).
The Fall of the Hotel Dumort - 3.5 stars
Much more interesting than the rise, definitely, but I found myself unable to really get into it, so. You get no more.
What To Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You're Not Officially Dating Anyway) - 4 stars
Magnus being cute and in love. That's literally it.
The Last Stand of the New York Institute - 5 stars
TESSA. TES-SA! I mean, shortly, but still. I really like seeing the real tragedy of what The Circle did, and how even as a young adult, Valentine was a psychotic bastard. And seeing Magnus's faith in shadowhunters rise just a tiny little bit from nothing was great.
The Course of True Love (And First Dates) - 4.5 stars
Malec being adorable. That's literally it. Loved it.
The voicemail of Magnus Bane - 3.5 stars
A bit too on the nose after having JUST read City of Lost Souls, which has to be read in order to understand the gravity of this one. It's not exactly a story, but still interesting although unkind to the heart, which is already hurting.

I always find the stories, where characters we know have a prominent role, are more interesting than the ones where they don't, particularly if it's characters I'm fond of. Generally though, I seemed to like the stories with Sarah Rees Brennan more than the ones with Maureen Johnson.
I've also learned by now that when I begin a collection of short stories set in shadowhunter world, it is simply impossible to really get a feel for it until you're several stories in. That's been my experiene every single time, and it is often much easier to know your own thoughts once everything has been read. This one is probably on the lower side of 4 stars but I don't really want to knock it down to a 3.5. Overall, I really enjoyed it. These novella collections always add so much context, which I love.

What can I say, Magnus has done it again.

What Really Happened in Peru: ★★★★
The Runaway Queen: ★★★
Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale: ★★★★
The Midnight Heir: ★★★
The Rise of the Hotel Dumort: ★★★★
Saving Raphael Santiago: ★★★★
The Fall of the Hotel Dumort: ★★★★★
What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You're Not Officially Dating Anyway): ★★★★★
The Last Stand of the New York Institute: ★★★
The Course of True Love (And First Dates): ★★★
The Voicemail of Magnus Bane: ★★★★

Overall: ★★★★

I love Magnus, I really really love him, but this book is not a good time for his character. I read it, and it comes across as if his motivation for most of his antics and adventures in this book, is if someone attractive asks him to do something. It's tiring, and I hate that he's essentially being oversexualised because, oh yeah, he's bisexual (which cc loves to remind you of in her blatantly heteronormative way).

This is not the character that I fell in love with whilst writing TMI, and it says something that for her major Magnus writings, she has to employ cowriters to help her.

Magnus deserves better than his dialogue and scenes in this book. Gets 3 stars simply because the malec stuff was cute and I really liked the story with the drug addicted vampires and the Raphael story.

This book has eleven short stories in it, arranged in what seems to be chronological order. The first ten are around fifty pages each and the last one is about fifteen pages. Before I get to my breakdown of the stories, I'd like to note that prior to this book, the only stuff about the Shadowhunters that I read was The Infernal Devices series. So, I really didn't know much about Magnus before this book. (It was, after all, a impulse purchase to read over Thanksgiving.)

What Really Happened in Peru
3 stars
As you might have guessed, this is the story of why Magnus was banned from Peru. The story covers over a hundred and fifty year, but starts the earliest of all the stories in this book. This story is certainly one of the most amusing here, though it also felt somewhat pointless by the time I reached the end.

The Runaway Queen
2 stars
Magnus Bane in France during the time of the French Revolution. This story felt like it added very little to the book, to the world of the Shadowhunters and to - well, anything in general. I didn't hate the story, but it felt somewhat pointless.

Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale
2 stars
My least favorite story in the book. I honestly cannot even sum it up because I still don't know what the point or plot of this story was. Maybe something to do with peace treaties - or perhaps love? (It took until reading a later story in this book to understand why this was even interesting.)

The Midnight Heir
2 stars
Magnus finds a young Shadowhunter, inebriated, and takes him home to his parents, Will and Tessa, but what is wrong with the young man. I'm of two minds with this story because, on the one hand, short stories are supposed to be just like novels: there's supposed to be a structure to the story and, perhaps most importantly, a climax at the end. In this book, it was as though Magnus was dropped down in the middle of the plot and plucked up again before anything was resolved. On the other hand, it was awesome getting to read (even if it was just a little) about Jem, Tessa and Will again.

The Rise of Hotel Dumort
4 stars
The great stock market crash, and Magnus getting a front role seat for the aftereffects. When I read this I said ‘finally, a story that actually has a plot and a denouement'. It was awesome and I loved the way things happened in this story.

Saving Raphael Santiago
4 stars
Magnus is hired by a worried mother to find her son, who has left to try to kill the vampire terrorizing his neighborhood. My favorite story in here. The plot was awesome and it has the perfect blend of humor and seriousness for me. I also kind of adore the character of Raphael.

The Fall of Hotel Dumort
3 stars
Vampires running rampant, feeding indiscriminately. Magnus Bane, right in the thick of it as usual. This story was mostly a lot of fun, even with the very obvious 1970's feel, but I didn't really care for Magnus' final decision at the end of it.

What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything
3 stars
It's Alec Lightwood's birthday, and Magnus is busy trying to define their relationship to himself. And find the perfect gift. While this story wasn't as humorous as I expected, neither was it extremely serious. Really, it was more of a character bit about Magnus and it was nice to see him being a little insecure and a lot less composed than usual.

The Last Stand of the New York Institute
4 stars
Exactly what the title says, plus rogue Shadowhunters. A prequel to The Mortal Instruments series. This story was a lot of fun and it was awesome to see how Shadowhunters behave - both the best and the worst in them.

The Course of True Love (And First Dates)
4 stars
Magnus and Alec's first date isn't exactly what either of them expected, planned or wanted. This is an extremely cute, fluffy, romantic story and, honestly, it's one of my favorites.

The Voicemail of Magnus Bane
3 stars
Set after a certain scene in the fifth The Mortal Instruments book. This was the one story that was actually confusing, from a person that's never read any of TMI. The other stories were either completely stand-alone, or really easy to understand. This one was confusing only if you've not read TMI - but it was also funny and entertaining. And short enough that it wasn't aggravating.

(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)

I ended up deciding against rating this. Not because I felt that it deserved one star and I hate giving one stars, but for a different reason. I feel as though it would be unfair to give this book a single rating, since I felt that some of the stories deserved better ratings than others.

Thus, it is just easier this way.

And yes, I know I can rate each on eindividually, but I'm a very lazy person and that would take too much work.

Anyways, Magnus Bane was one of my favorite characters in the Shadowhunter world (second only to Alec), so this was very fun to read. It allowed the reader to delve deeper into Magnus' world of magic even more, and we were able to see how he thought about different things. Some of them were hilarious, and others more morose. But each one contributed to the story, the story of Magnus, very well.

I actually ended up discussing this book with a good friend of mine, Alex, which I think made it even more fun. We were able to analyze certain lines and laugh about the parts that talked about some of our favorite characters from TMI and TID. I feel like I may not have enjoyed it so much, had I not read it with Alex. So I guess I would like to say thank you, Alex, and we really must do this again sometime. Although this is a review, do you have any ideas on books we could discuss over the summer? XD Perhaps we could get our other friends involved as well.

I'm looking forward to Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, especially if it's anything like this.

Without Magnus being the main character, of course.