Happy Thursday book friends! I read Chain of Iron at the beginning of June, but totally forgot to write my review for it. I wrote a review for Chain of Gold last year, so honestly I should continue reviewing this series. So here is my very late review of Chain of Iron!
I’ve been really enjoying The Last Hours, and am very much looking forward to the third installment in the series, Chain of Thorns. A large part of me is also super excited to see what the cover will look like, because TLH has the best covers of all Shadowhunter novels, in my honest opinion. Anyway, I really enjoyed Chain of Iron, so let’s get into the review!
Reader beware! This review won’t contain spoilers for Chain of Iron, but might contain spoilers for Chain of Gold. If you haven’t read the first book yet, I suggest coming back another time!:)
Chain of Iron
By Cassandra Clare
My Rating: ★★★★☆Published 2 March by Margaret K. McElderry Books
YA Fantasy | Sahdowhunters | Historical
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.
What I Liked
I love all the characters in this series. I think they’re all super fun to read about, and I enjoyed each POV in this book. There are more POVs compared to Chain of Gold, and I love that. I’m the type of reader that enjoys at least five different POVs per book. I think each characters got more developed in this book, so by the end of it they had a lot more depth. Many of them have secrets and it was interesting to find out what keeps them going, and what haunts their thoughts.
Reading about James and Cordelia was both a lovely and frustrating experience. Just fess up your feelings, geez.
I really enjoyed the plot of this book, too. I think Chain of Gold ended in such a way that it was almost its own storyline, but Chain of Iron proved that to be untrue. The story does continue, but probably not in a way you’d expect. Either way, I found myself turning the pages for hours, because I wanted to find out what was going on. I really enjoyed the ending, too, even though I wanted to throw my book across the room. But on the other hand, the ending sets up the start of Chain of Thorns so nicely, and I cannot wait until I get to read it next year.
What I Liked Less
I didn’t really dislike anything, but sometimes this book was so incredibly frustrating. And it has everything to do with that stupid bracelet. Honestly, I spent 500 pages does internally yelling at James to take the bracelet off. I just said I enjoyed the ending, and I did, but that was also a major point of frustration for me. Chain of Thorns better make it up to me by resolving everything in the way I want.
That’s it for this review! It’s shorter than normal, but I did read this book a month ago… Either way, I hope you enjoyed reading! Have you read Chain of Iron yet? What did you think about it?
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