The ending of Chain of Gold had me pulling my hair out of my head, little did I know that Cassandra Clare would only multiply that exact same emotion at the end of Chain of Iron (COI)… but more on that later.
Returning to early 1900’s London, the book picks up slightly past where it left off, moving into James and Cordelia’s wedding. Clare spends the opening chapters on the wedding which really credits her writing given that nothing actually happens yet I found myself already engrossed in the story. There are a lot of emotions to deal with from both characters and the reader, especially when it comes to Grace Blackthorn… ew! (Yes I wrote ew but it is entirely appropriate because, well, yuck!)
As the book progresses Clare lets an inkling of plot drip into the pages without giving too much away and forcing us into the trap of ‘just one more chapter’ – which I’m not opposed to, though the early morning after the late nights of praying that this was the chapter James breaks that damned chain were painful.
Where this book excels is in Clare’s ability to have concurrent storylines among the array of characters unfold, each spiralling into one ginormous messy and exciting plot. Beyond that Clare is able to yet again twist and mend our hearts with her underlying theme of Romance throughout. Watching James break the magic back to Cordelia, all while she longs for him. Alastair and Thomas was a shock to say the least. If you were paying attention you would have seen the seeds of romance planted between Grace and Christopher – or am I overanalysing? And who knows what was going on with Mathew, but his affection towards Cordelia seemed to erupt out of nowhere…
The only thing I will fault Clare on with this book is the fact that I have to wait for Chain of Thorns to find out what happens next! An extra painful wait given that she’d finally corrected the cliff hanger of COG only to pull James and Cordelia apart…again!
The fact that I finished this book and found myself reaching back to City of Bones wanting to restart the entire Shadowhunter series shows how unbelievably good COI is.
It is the perfect middle piece to a trilogy set, leaving us with so many questions all while having the reader’s satisfied with where the plot took us. What will happen with Cordelia and Mathew in France? What happens to Grace now that the truth is out? What the hell (and I mean that literally) are Belial and Tatiana planning? What’s going to happen to Cordelia now that she’s basically Lilith’s warrior puppet? I guess we’ll have to wait and see…
Johnathon Nicolaou
Johnathon Nicolaou 