Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare

❝ 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕. 𝑨𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅𝒚. ❞

- Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare

**ATTENTION: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS! I highly advise you to read the book before my review!**

Genre: YA paranormal urban fantasy/historical fiction

Overall rating: 3.75/5

# books in series: 3

Tropes: love triangle, miscommunication

Song: "London Boy" and "Paris" by Taylor Swift

Synopsis: I'm not going to include it here because this post is long enough already, and chances are you know what this book is about if you're here

My Review:

The first thing to establish: I loved this book. One of its best elements is definitely the pacing - with the two earlier installments I felt like it took a long time to get pulled in, or there were stagnant periods in the middle, but ChoT really delivered in that department. The characters all have my entire heart. I love them, I love their relationships with each other, especially the siblings.

❝ 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒔. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒅𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔, 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. ❞

But. I bet you felt that "but" hanging over that entire paragraph. I have several "buts", in fact.

For everything that was good about this book, there were several specific elements that drove me nuts. So prepare for a rant, keeping in mind that it all comes from a place of love (and knowing the large potential this book had).

1. The glaringly obvious fact that the entire plot basically depended on the miscommunication trope.

I absolutely love James, Cordelia, and Matthew, I’m sorry, but all of them keeping such huge secrets from each other (and everyone else) for 800 pages was just too much. It didn’t feel in character, and even if it were, it’s just such lazy writing. At least Cordelia extended the paladin secret to the main cast of characters (though she should have also told the adults) and Matthew’s mistake was kind of crucial to his whole character arc with the alcoholism and just like…everything? It was slightly more understandable. But for the LIFE OF ME, I could not understand why James refused to tell anyone that his free will was literally stolen from him for like? Weeks? Months?? I don’t remember the exact timeline, but it doesn't matter. I know the last things he wants from other people is pity but like…not telling the girl you’re hopelessly in love with (and freaking MARRIED to) that you weren’t actually cheating on her? I get that it was like 90% of his internal struggle as a character, but when he does tell her (and everyone) it really changes nothing major, except that the reader is happy, Herondaisy is happy (for a little while at least) and the plot of Belial taking over the world is still happening. Herondaisy being honest and in love with each other doesn’t change that; if anything it ups the stakes for a more suspenseful story. I’m not saying the reveal should have happened right away, but the deceptions should never have gone on as long as they did.

2. So much of the characters’ experiences are told, not shown.

And ultimately - especially in the Shadowhunters series, when all the plots are the same and it’s the characters driving the stories - those experiences, struggles, growth, are what make books interesting and unique. I wanted to have scenes where Matthew tells Charlottehenry about the potion and his bottle battle, Wessa finding out about the bracelet, Ari and Fiona reconciling, and most importantly, PEOPLE FINDING OUT ABOUT KIT, not just throwaway sentences like “Once James had told his parents the tale of the bracelet and the curse, they had been devastated” (Clare 756).

Which brings me to point 3: Christopher Lightwood’s death was done so dirty.

Can someone explain to me what happened here because like. This book came from the same woman that wrote Clockwork Princess. Lord of Shadows. I know she knows how to write a character death well. That was not the case in Chain of Thorns.

First of all, if you’re going to kill off a character, you need to have a motive for it besides just shocking the reader - unless the whole point is that they died needlessly, which basically is a motive in itself. The only thing I can come up with here is that Grace needed some kind of redemption, so Cassie had to get Kit out of the way in order for her to finish inventing the fire messages…? I don’t know. That doesn’t really sit well with me. But even more than the motive, what I hated was how there’s literally one scene of the main cast grieving - which was an amazing scene, by the way, I absolutely cried - but you can’t just say 'oh yeah this character died, ok bye.' Where is the time for processing?? Yes, I get that it’s the book’s almost climax, but what about after the final battle when the rest of the Enclave comes back? What about CECILY AND GABRIEL FINDING OUT?? I cannot stress this enough, poor Kit just got completely overlooked in favor of the big end scene. Speaking of which, Intermission: Grief was such a rip-off. I get that Cordelia’s devastated from watching her love triangle disappear to Edom, but like... give me Intermission: Grief from Anna’s pov?? Maybe actually grieving the PERSON THAT JUST DIED???

The perfect segway to point 4: the stakes felt so low in this book.

This is the fourth main series Cassie has written; we know how it works by now. Hero and heroine save the day, there’s maybe a little scare, but no one important’s going to kick the bucket. I guess I was hoping we might vary the script a bit with TLH? One of the biggest reasons Intermission: Grief didn’t hit very hard was that it was mostly Cordelia losing it over James being taken to Edom, I get it, she just 'got him back' to lose him again, but we’re made to feel like he died, to the point where I was rereading back to make sure I hadn’t somehow missed something. The thing is, the TMI gang already went to Edom and back in COHF and were fine? Yeah, Simon loses his memories, but only temporarily, and in the end gets to be a Shadowhunter instead of vampire, so it kind of works out for the best. Therefore because they’d already faced that particular challenge, I just kind of assumed it would work out the same way with James and Matthew. and if it hadn’t - if Matthew had to stay behind permanently for some reason - that would have been a different story. (Now please understand, I’m not wishing that particular scenario had taken place, I’m not that mean to myself. I’m trying to make a point here, stick with me.) But it did work out, exactly the same way, and that’s why I never really felt scared for them, or sad because I thought they wouldn’t get back, or anything like that.

The ending lacked the punch I was hoping for. It’s a lose/lose situation all around, because I would be heartbroken if any of these characters died. But if every book ever written always had a fairytale ending, there would never really be any stakes? It makes it hard to be concerned about anyone’s safety. And though I hate saying this, if any of Cassie’s series were to break the mold, it should be this one. None of the main TLH gang is immortal (as far as we know) and they’re going to die by the time TMI/TDA roll around anyway, of old age if nothing else, like Will did. So maybe it would be better than killing off, like, Blackstairs...? I’m probably going to get canceled for even suggesting such a thing, but I’m doing it anyway.

A few other things before wrapping up:

- I know I talked a lot about James being insufferably dense, but I promise I did love him in this book. He’s definitely one of my top Shadowhunters characters and I would marry him in a heartbeat.

❝ 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍’𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆. ❞

I love Herondaisy. They have the cutest ship name too (I can't believe there are people who willingly call them Jordelia).

- I’m sorry, but the James-Cordelia-Matthew love triangle just did not work. I think it’s because Cassie invested so much into Herondaisy the first two books, and I was never really given a good reason to ship Cordelia and Matthew. Possibly also I wanted another Herongraystairs, which definitely didn’t happen. (Because they’re unparalleled and no one will ever be as good as them.)

- Jesse and Lucie (I’m not sure what their official ship name is, but I’ve seen Ghostwriter floating around and kind of love it even though it’s not accurate in this book!) I wasn’t a huge fan of them in the previous two books for some reason? I guess I never really felt their chemistry, but I liked them so much more in ChoT. They were so sweet and supportive of each other, and just a great background presence (well, Jesse was. Lucie Herondale is a background to absolutely no one, she’s a Strong Iconic Presence.)

- This wasn’t one of my main concerns, but Thomas felt kind of sidelined in this book, which made me sad because he’s so wonderful. His role was basically just love interest, but I would have loved maybe more scenes of Thomas taking care of the other three Merry Thieves while they’re busy saving the world? The soft platonic domesticity potential? Thomastair is great, but Thomas is more than just half a couple.

Listen. I could go on about this book for hours. But it would just spiral into incoherent rambling after a while (if it hasn’t already), so I’m going to put a plug in it and ask for your thoughts in the comments. What did you think about Chain of Thorns? Did you agree/disagree with any of the parts of my review?

Add Chain of Thorns to your Goodreads TBR here (also the previous installments Chain of Iron and Chain of Gold)!