sathyadgs95's review against another edition
5.0
I love Jem, so I was happy that this collection of short stories follows his journey while expanding on the Shadowhunter universe. While the focus on Kit's parents is a bit tiresome (his father was willing to watch him die, for God sake, but is now portrayed as a brave and loving parent??) the search for the Lost Herondale/First Heir makes an interesting thread through most of the stories. Characters from the Lost Hours as well as the Wicked Powers make appearances. Overall, a satisfying read while waiting for new books to come out.
kimal25's review against another edition
5.0
This compilation of stories is very different from the two others, much more bittersweet. Had me in tears a lot. I kept wishing Will was there all the time. Still such a great work though.
1. The first one in this compilation had a bittersweet tone. Jem meets Matthew Fairchild in the Shadow market while he is on a mysterious mission. Matthew is there to buy a truth potion for his mother to find out if she had an affair with Gideon Lightwood. It makes her sick and she loses the baby she was pregnant with. His father unwittingly tells him of the source of his differences from his family. Matthew decides to tell no one about the potion. The only bright spot is Tessa's and Will's meetings with Jem.
2. This one was mostly about Anna Lightwood, the daughter of Cecily and Gabriel. And there was only a splash of Jem. Anna was dealing with the fact that she likes women and wearing men's clothes. She has a minor romance with Ariadne, who will one day marry Charles Branwell. Her mom surprises her with men's clothes and the demon sensing necklace. Meanwhile Jem is searching for Tessa's demon father who it turns out is a prince of hell!
3. Jem and future Iron Sister Emilia travel to Chattanooga to investigate a strange shadow market and new powers of mundanes there. All are caused by the greater demon belial, who is indebited to Jem. He tells Jem there are Herondales in danger and alive that he tealizes were in the shadow market. Once he goes racing away Belial makes a deal with Emilia in exchange for not being her enemy. She wishes for Jem and his parabatai will to have time together young and whole. In a dream like state they are together and young in Shanghai. It is very bittersweet.
4. A deeper love. Jem in 1940 is searching for the lost Herondales. It takes him and Tessa more than 70 years to find them! He is injured badly by a Fae and goes to Tessa and Catarina. They barely manage to save his life and Jem and Catarina put together the pieces of the lost Herondales. This one was so much of Tessa and Jem and even the ghost of Will was felt. So many tears.
5. This was mostly the story of Celine Montclaire, the woman who would be Jace's mother. She is pitiable and yet somewhat dislikeable for her lack of honor. She was abused as a child, has no friends or people to believe in her except Valentine. She is in love with Stephen Herondale, who is married to Amatis and thinks of Celine as an annoying puppy who follows him around. Valentine hatches a plan to havr Stephen and Robert catch a warlock who implicates two shadowhunters of crimes. In reality the shadowhunters are innocent, oppose Valentine and are Celine's parents. She lets them be killed so Valentine will make sure she gets Stephen in body if not soul. Meanwhile, Jem finds the lost Herondale, a woman, and lets her go. Tessa and Jem meet up. I really was ok with learning more about Celine until she was willing to let her parents die and trap Stephen with her even though he will never love her. Poor Jace to come from them.
6. This on was not as sad thankfully. It was about Jem helping Raphael and Lily get rid of yin fen being shipped into New York by boat. Jace was on that boat as well and it was interesting to see a young Jace. He helped fight the werewolves smuggling yin fen. His first meeting with the Lightwoods was cute with Izzy so in awe and mad and the immediate connection with Jace and Alec. And Maryse gave him his nickname!
7. This was my favorite one so far! Probably because it was more about Alec. Alec is at home in bed resting when he gets a fire message from Jem and Tessa needing his help. He decides to take Lily to Buenos Aires with him because she can use the distraction and can speak Spanish. Quickly they find there is corruption in the Institute and missing werewolf women. The Queen of the Market is a wkman Alec had saved on vacation with Magnus 5 yrs ago. Between her, Jem, Tessa, Alec, Lily and an orphaned Rafael they learn the truth. The leader of the local institute is selling shadowhunter services to yhose who pay and has been kidnapping werewolf women for a warlock to experiment on. They save the remaining women, arrest those responsible, burn the building down and Alec brings Rafe home with him. <3
8. This one was purely Jem and Tessa. They answer the call of Rosemary Herondale and get there in time to see her die. She wants them to save her son, but in the investigation Tessa is injured and stuck in the Change. By the time they reach Kit, Emma is there battling Fal. Johnny Rook is dead but they save Kit. Tessa reveals she is pregnant and you can as always feel the ghost of Will with them.
9. This one is very strange. It starts with Ty and Livvy (a ghost) in his room doing more experiments on her existence. She goes to the Dimmet Tarn and looks in the water but sees no reflection and goes inside it but feels nothing. There's a hint of somekne from 1904 that didnt want to be there. That night while Ty sleeps, Livvy goes back and sees a dying kitten. She wakes Ty and they save it. They do another experiment, this time with Idris. Livvy gets outside the wards and hears Manuel and Zara talking about food and eventually ambushing those outside Idris. She comes back and relays things to Ty then leaves. She goes first to LA anf spies on her siblings and pushes over dishes and turns off lights. Then she goes to Jem and Tessa's to find Magnus and nearly possesses Tessa's baby then breaks the windows. She sees Kit while there, who misses Ty. She gets back to Ty who passed out because she left. Magnus comes with a charm in the heron necklace. And it ends with Livvy worrying about Dimmet Tarn.
10. The last bit I liked and didn't like at the same time. I really liked seeing the tiny bits of Magnus and Alec, Jace and Clary, Simon and Izzy and the kids. But I dislike the evil Jace or Janus as he named himself. You can see the lead up to a conflict coming. Evil Jace wants Clary, but wants everyone else to suffer. The parts with Tessa, Jem, Kit and Mina were super cute and amazing though.
1. The first one in this compilation had a bittersweet tone. Jem meets Matthew Fairchild in the Shadow market while he is on a mysterious mission. Matthew is there to buy a truth potion for his mother to find out if she had an affair with Gideon Lightwood. It makes her sick and she loses the baby she was pregnant with. His father unwittingly tells him of the source of his differences from his family. Matthew decides to tell no one about the potion. The only bright spot is Tessa's and Will's meetings with Jem.
2. This one was mostly about Anna Lightwood, the daughter of Cecily and Gabriel. And there was only a splash of Jem. Anna was dealing with the fact that she likes women and wearing men's clothes. She has a minor romance with Ariadne, who will one day marry Charles Branwell. Her mom surprises her with men's clothes and the demon sensing necklace. Meanwhile Jem is searching for Tessa's demon father who it turns out is a prince of hell!
3. Jem and future Iron Sister Emilia travel to Chattanooga to investigate a strange shadow market and new powers of mundanes there. All are caused by the greater demon belial, who is indebited to Jem. He tells Jem there are Herondales in danger and alive that he tealizes were in the shadow market. Once he goes racing away Belial makes a deal with Emilia in exchange for not being her enemy. She wishes for Jem and his parabatai will to have time together young and whole. In a dream like state they are together and young in Shanghai. It is very bittersweet.
4. A deeper love. Jem in 1940 is searching for the lost Herondales. It takes him and Tessa more than 70 years to find them! He is injured badly by a Fae and goes to Tessa and Catarina. They barely manage to save his life and Jem and Catarina put together the pieces of the lost Herondales. This one was so much of Tessa and Jem and even the ghost of Will was felt. So many tears.
5. This was mostly the story of Celine Montclaire, the woman who would be Jace's mother. She is pitiable and yet somewhat dislikeable for her lack of honor. She was abused as a child, has no friends or people to believe in her except Valentine. She is in love with Stephen Herondale, who is married to Amatis and thinks of Celine as an annoying puppy who follows him around. Valentine hatches a plan to havr Stephen and Robert catch a warlock who implicates two shadowhunters of crimes. In reality the shadowhunters are innocent, oppose Valentine and are Celine's parents. She lets them be killed so Valentine will make sure she gets Stephen in body if not soul. Meanwhile, Jem finds the lost Herondale, a woman, and lets her go. Tessa and Jem meet up. I really was ok with learning more about Celine until she was willing to let her parents die and trap Stephen with her even though he will never love her. Poor Jace to come from them.
6. This on was not as sad thankfully. It was about Jem helping Raphael and Lily get rid of yin fen being shipped into New York by boat. Jace was on that boat as well and it was interesting to see a young Jace. He helped fight the werewolves smuggling yin fen. His first meeting with the Lightwoods was cute with Izzy so in awe and mad and the immediate connection with Jace and Alec. And Maryse gave him his nickname!
7. This was my favorite one so far! Probably because it was more about Alec. Alec is at home in bed resting when he gets a fire message from Jem and Tessa needing his help. He decides to take Lily to Buenos Aires with him because she can use the distraction and can speak Spanish. Quickly they find there is corruption in the Institute and missing werewolf women. The Queen of the Market is a wkman Alec had saved on vacation with Magnus 5 yrs ago. Between her, Jem, Tessa, Alec, Lily and an orphaned Rafael they learn the truth. The leader of the local institute is selling shadowhunter services to yhose who pay and has been kidnapping werewolf women for a warlock to experiment on. They save the remaining women, arrest those responsible, burn the building down and Alec brings Rafe home with him. <3
8. This one was purely Jem and Tessa. They answer the call of Rosemary Herondale and get there in time to see her die. She wants them to save her son, but in the investigation Tessa is injured and stuck in the Change. By the time they reach Kit, Emma is there battling Fal. Johnny Rook is dead but they save Kit. Tessa reveals she is pregnant and you can as always feel the ghost of Will with them.
9. This one is very strange. It starts with Ty and Livvy (a ghost) in his room doing more experiments on her existence. She goes to the Dimmet Tarn and looks in the water but sees no reflection and goes inside it but feels nothing. There's a hint of somekne from 1904 that didnt want to be there. That night while Ty sleeps, Livvy goes back and sees a dying kitten. She wakes Ty and they save it. They do another experiment, this time with Idris. Livvy gets outside the wards and hears Manuel and Zara talking about food and eventually ambushing those outside Idris. She comes back and relays things to Ty then leaves. She goes first to LA anf spies on her siblings and pushes over dishes and turns off lights. Then she goes to Jem and Tessa's to find Magnus and nearly possesses Tessa's baby then breaks the windows. She sees Kit while there, who misses Ty. She gets back to Ty who passed out because she left. Magnus comes with a charm in the heron necklace. And it ends with Livvy worrying about Dimmet Tarn.
10. The last bit I liked and didn't like at the same time. I really liked seeing the tiny bits of Magnus and Alec, Jace and Clary, Simon and Izzy and the kids. But I dislike the evil Jace or Janus as he named himself. You can see the lead up to a conflict coming. Evil Jace wants Clary, but wants everyone else to suffer. The parts with Tessa, Jem, Kit and Mina were super cute and amazing though.
blissyreads's review against another edition
4.0
Cast Long Shadows: 3
Every Exquisite Thing: 3.5
Learn about Loss: 3.5
A Deeper Love: 4.5
The Wicked Ones: 4
Son of the Dawn: 3
The Land I Lost: 3
Through Blood, Through Fire: 3.5
The Lost World: 3.5
Forever Fallen: 2.5
Total: 3.4
Rounding it up to 4 stars because of the beautiful illustrations. <3
Every Exquisite Thing: 3.5
Learn about Loss: 3.5
A Deeper Love: 4.5
The Wicked Ones: 4
Son of the Dawn: 3
The Land I Lost: 3
Through Blood, Through Fire: 3.5
The Lost World: 3.5
Forever Fallen: 2.5
Total: 3.4
Rounding it up to 4 stars because of the beautiful illustrations. <3
favlantsov's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
courtneybella's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
daisydays128's review against another edition
5.0
I am crying
No matter how many books I read from this universe it just feels like coming home
this specific book spanned so many of the shadow hunter stories and it hurt in the best way to read it.
No matter how many books I read from this universe it just feels like coming home
this specific book spanned so many of the shadow hunter stories and it hurt in the best way to read it.
queensflame's review against another edition
4.0
I'm going to write a couple sentence review about how I felt about each novella. And gosh, I didn't realize this bind up was published in June and I took this long to read it. Oh my god. And also I think the bind up novella's are in a different order than they came out by themselves. May be a little spoiler.
Cast Long Shadows (Novella 1): Okay so if you are like me and you read Chain of Gold before Ghosts of Shadow Market, this gives you Matthew's backstory, and why he is so devastated over who he "murdered". God. This novella was heartbreaking. I'm still so sad for the Fairchild Family. WAH
Every Exquisite Thing (Novella 2): This one was all about Anna Lightwood, and her first love, and her parents accepting her sexuality/way she wants to dress + present herself. Gabriel and Cecily are!!! The best parents omg. I love them. I loved Anna's backstory as well. I really should have read all of these before Chain of Gold because so much makes sense now!
Learn about Loss (Novella 3): I have to admit I looked back and I only vaguely remember this one. I can't remember if anything significant happened. But Sister Emilia was awesome, Belial was surprisingly entertaining (but wasn't he later the villain in Chain of Gold? idk). The end scene with Will and Jem was a punch in the gut but a happy one. Sister Emilia rocks.
A Deeper Love (Novella 4): DON'T LOOK AT ME. DON'T FJDSIFJDKJF SDFJJKDF LOOK AT ME. This one took place a little after Will died in WWII and Jem gets severely injured and seeks out Tessa to help heal him and kawnefskjdfsdkf they HAVE A MOMENT AND the angst is so rich I wanna scream.
The Wicked Ones (Novella 5): Ok so this one featured Celine, Jace's mom and we got to see a little bit more of the Circle, and them as teenagers. I honestly wanted SO much more than this chapter! Like oh my god please give me everything about the Circle and how it all ended. We also got to learn a little more about the Lost Herondale and that whole backstory.
Son of the Dawn (Novella 6): SKFJKF RAPHAEL SANTIAGO. RAPHAEL. SANTIAGO. He is one of my top favorite characters and I love every single time we get to learn more about him. Plus, young Alec, Izzy, and Jace were absolutely freaking adorable in this one - it was when they adopted Jace into the family. Also Max was there, and my heart broke a little seeing him again. I will have to admit, Lily Chen cracking those Brother Zachariah jokes wasn't actually funny and was really annoying. I did like how Bro Zach just didn't even give a heck about it.
The Land I Lost (Novella 7): This was, hands down, my favorite novella out of the whole book. We get to see how Alec adopted his son Rafe, and BY GODS. HE'S RAPHAEL SANTIAGO 2.0. The sass. THE FREAKIN SASS. Every minute of this novella was a treasure, a gift, to see Malec as parents. And also seeing how Alec was matured so much and grown so fucking confident and become a natural born leader. We love to see it. I know we already have a Malec series but I truthfully would sacrifice anything for a series of Malec as dads and even just Rafe and Max growing up. Pretty please? I would die for them.
Through Blood Through Fire (Novella 8): Tessa and Jem are together!!! WOO!!! I mean technically they have been together for like...years now. But in this one we get to see the backstory of how they found Kit! And Tessa figures out something about herself!!! EEP. I really liked this one for the most part but felt it went by too quickly.
The Lost World (Novella 9): This one takes place after the events of Queen of Air and Darkness, at the Scholomance. Livvy and Ty realize the consequences of Ty trying to bring her back from the dead in Queen...and also we get a little peek into some angst between Ty and Kit and how much those two !! Care so much !! About each other !! AND MISS EACH OTHER. I literally NEED The Wicked Powers so they can be reunited again ):
Forever Fallen (Novella 10): This was my least favorite. I would say I hated it if it weren't for the parts about Jem, Tessa, and Kit bonding like a real family. Especially when Kit put the baby to sleep. It squeezed my heart. But all the parts about Janus....Jace from Thule (aka EVIL JACE)....it's gross. I don't like it. I know it's setting up for The Wicked Powers series but dear god I don't know if I will be able to handle these POV if there will be any in that series. Janus is weird and I don't pity him. Hard pass. Also I'm getting weird romantic vibes between Thule Jace and Ash, which is weird because I think they were trying to push for a fatherly/older brother bond but...I got weird vibes I'm sorry.
Cast Long Shadows (Novella 1): Okay so if you are like me and you read Chain of Gold before Ghosts of Shadow Market, this gives you Matthew's backstory, and why he is so devastated over who he "murdered". God. This novella was heartbreaking. I'm still so sad for the Fairchild Family. WAH
Every Exquisite Thing (Novella 2): This one was all about Anna Lightwood, and her first love, and her parents accepting her sexuality/way she wants to dress + present herself. Gabriel and Cecily are!!! The best parents omg. I love them. I loved Anna's backstory as well. I really should have read all of these before Chain of Gold because so much makes sense now!
Learn about Loss (Novella 3): I have to admit I looked back and I only vaguely remember this one. I can't remember if anything significant happened. But Sister Emilia was awesome, Belial was surprisingly entertaining (but wasn't he later the villain in Chain of Gold? idk). The end scene with Will and Jem was a punch in the gut but a happy one. Sister Emilia rocks.
A Deeper Love (Novella 4): DON'T LOOK AT ME. DON'T FJDSIFJDKJF SDFJJKDF LOOK AT ME. This one took place a little after Will died in WWII and Jem gets severely injured and seeks out Tessa to help heal him and kawnefskjdfsdkf they HAVE A MOMENT AND the angst is so rich I wanna scream.
The Wicked Ones (Novella 5): Ok so this one featured Celine, Jace's mom and we got to see a little bit more of the Circle, and them as teenagers. I honestly wanted SO much more than this chapter! Like oh my god please give me everything about the Circle and how it all ended. We also got to learn a little more about the Lost Herondale and that whole backstory.
Son of the Dawn (Novella 6): SKFJKF RAPHAEL SANTIAGO. RAPHAEL. SANTIAGO. He is one of my top favorite characters and I love every single time we get to learn more about him. Plus, young Alec, Izzy, and Jace were absolutely freaking adorable in this one - it was when they adopted Jace into the family. Also Max was there, and my heart broke a little seeing him again. I will have to admit, Lily Chen cracking those Brother Zachariah jokes wasn't actually funny and was really annoying. I did like how Bro Zach just didn't even give a heck about it.
The Land I Lost (Novella 7): This was, hands down, my favorite novella out of the whole book. We get to see how Alec adopted his son Rafe, and BY GODS. HE'S RAPHAEL SANTIAGO 2.0. The sass. THE FREAKIN SASS. Every minute of this novella was a treasure, a gift, to see Malec as parents. And also seeing how Alec was matured so much and grown so fucking confident and become a natural born leader. We love to see it. I know we already have a Malec series but I truthfully would sacrifice anything for a series of Malec as dads and even just Rafe and Max growing up. Pretty please? I would die for them.
Through Blood Through Fire (Novella 8): Tessa and Jem are together!!! WOO!!! I mean technically they have been together for like...years now. But in this one we get to see the backstory of how they found Kit! And Tessa figures out something about herself!!! EEP. I really liked this one for the most part but felt it went by too quickly.
The Lost World (Novella 9): This one takes place after the events of Queen of Air and Darkness, at the Scholomance. Livvy and Ty realize the consequences of Ty trying to bring her back from the dead in Queen...and also we get a little peek into some angst between Ty and Kit and how much those two !! Care so much !! About each other !! AND MISS EACH OTHER. I literally NEED The Wicked Powers so they can be reunited again ):
Forever Fallen (Novella 10): This was my least favorite. I would say I hated it if it weren't for the parts about Jem, Tessa, and Kit bonding like a real family. Especially when Kit put the baby to sleep. It squeezed my heart. But all the parts about Janus....Jace from Thule (aka EVIL JACE)....it's gross. I don't like it. I know it's setting up for The Wicked Powers series but dear god I don't know if I will be able to handle these POV if there will be any in that series. Janus is weird and I don't pity him. Hard pass. Also I'm getting weird romantic vibes between Thule Jace and Ash, which is weird because I think they were trying to push for a fatherly/older brother bond but...I got weird vibes I'm sorry.