Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

GoodReads Summary:
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.
Review:
I’ve read all of the Shadowhunter books so did anyone really expect that to not include this one? I went into it not expecting much because I didn’t really love The Infernal Devices. Something about the time period just isn’t my favorite. But I’m happy to say that I really loved this book and I’m very excited for the series to continue.
I love that we get to see will, Jem, Tessa, and a few others from TID. I love it when books connect with other series. There are such great friendships and relationships in this book. I loved being back in a (mostly) familiar world with a whole new cast of characters.
Obviously, Cordelia was the mysterious one. Our lady on the cover. I adored her. She’s fierce and passionate. She’s full of love for her family and the new friends that she’s making. I loved her friendship with Lucy. I’m also super invested in her relationship with someone I won’t mention. Her brother Alistair was a character that I went back and forth so many times sometimes hating and sometimes loving. I think by the end of the book I really love him. He grows and that matters.
Lucy Herondale is the sister of James and I love both of these Herondales. Lucy is a writer. She’s a good sister and a loyal friend. I love seeing her with Cordelia and the gang. I’m excited to see where her story is going to go. Because she is a child of Tessa, she has some warlock blood in her, so I think that’s where her extra ability to see ghosts comes from. I’m interested to see where this aspect of the story will go. Then there’s her brother, James. Our messy, messy James. I really adored him except when he was thinking or talking about Grace. We know about their relationship from one of the novellas. I vaguely remember liking her in the short story, but I almost immediately did not like her in this book. I wish she would go away and that’s all I’m going to say about her. James was messy because of Grace. But other than that, he was an extremely loyal brother and friend. His relationship with his parabatai, Matthew, was my favorite. James will do anything for the people that he cares about and it’s very clear. I adored seeing the friends together after getting to know them a bit in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. Christopher, Matthew, James, and Thomas. These four are best friends and though they each face their own issues, none of them ever has to do it alone. I really liked Matthew, personally. But that’s because of my own issues. I could go on and on about all the different characters that were involved in this story, but I won’t. I just don’t have the time or attention span for that.
So, I’m just going to say that I really really loved this book. I loved the friendships. I loved the characters. I loved the mystery and drama. I loved every single minute and I am already dying for book two.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.