The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

Summary:
Immortal warlock Magnus Bane’s life has been long adventure-filled, and never dull. Though snippets of his past have been hinted at in the Mortal Instruments and the Infernal Devices, here his deepest secrets are revealed: his involvement in the French Revolution, his witness to the speakeasies are sleaze of Prohibition, and his place between Valentine and the New York Institute…the first time around. Bug smuggling Marie Antoinette out of France is nothing compared to his befriending vampires like Camille Belcourt…or his first date with Alec Lightwood.
The eleven stories in this collection fill in many a delightful gap in Magnus Bane’s colorful history. Shadowhunter fans won’t want to miss a single delicious detail!
Review:
This novella bind up was honestly so fun. I listened on audio and each of the stories had their own narrator, but I would much rather have listened to Jesse Williams narrate the whole book. I laughed out loud while listening more times than I could keep track of. I really enjoyed this view deeper into Magnus’s character. It made me all that much more excited for his and Alec’s book coming out later this year. Seeing Magnus in these historical settings like the French Revolution, meeting Will’s dad and hearing his origin story, and then Will’s son and seeing a piece of his story (but are we going to see more of him in Chain of Gold??), Prohibition, and seeing the beginning of the first battles with Valentine. I just overall really liked these small peaks into stories that we’ve been given little tastes of in the full series, but here we get a bit more. My only complaint would be that they’re too short. I want more. I want more of Magnus and Alec’s first date, of Magnus panicking about what to get Alec for his birthday. I loved learning more about Magnus, but I just feel like I didn’t get enough. I’m hoping that will be cured by The Red Scrolls of Magic coming out later this year. If you love the Shadowhunter books but haven’t read the novellas you definitely need to. They just add so much to the experience.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.