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augustinedreams's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, Violence, Death, Homophobia, and Sexual content
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.0
I wanted to read this book because I absolutely love Cassandra Clare. The Infernal Devices is my favourite series to date, and I loved the Mortal Instruments, it’s one of the series that got me into reading when I found out that Cassandra Clare was writing a trilogy of the series about the children of the Infernal Devices, I was so excited! All of these books in the series didn’t disappoint.
Cordelia Carstairs has lost everything that matters to her. In only a few shorts weeks, she has seen her father murdered, her plans to become parabatai with her best friend, Lucie, destroyed, and her marriage to James Herondale crumble before her eyes. Even worse, she is now bound to an ancient demon, Lilith, stripping her of her power as a Shadowhunter. Cordelia is feeling powerless so she flees to Paris with Matthew Fairchild, James’s parabatai. Cordelia is hoping to forget her sorrows in the city's glittering nightlife. But reality intrudes when shocking news comes from home: Tatiana Blackthorn has escaped from the Citadel, and London is under new threat by the Prince of Hell, Belial. Cordelia returns to a London riven by chaos and dissent. The long-kept secret that Belial is James and Lucie’s grandfather has been revealed by an unexpected enemy and the Herondales find themselves under suspicion of dealings with demons. Belial’s plan is about to crash into the Shadowhunters of London like a deadly wave, one that will separate Cordelia, Lucie, and the Merry Thieves from help of any kind. Left alone in a shadowy London, they must face Belial’s deadly army. If Cordelia and her friends are going to save their city – and their families – they have to muster their courage, swallow their prides, and trust one another again. For if they fail, they will lose everything.
Like with the second book, this book hurt my heart I didn’t like the tension or the love triangles or the secrets within this book. I like when the gang are all together and no one gets hurts, and we don’t lose anyone. Throughout this whole series, I just wanted for all of them to be happy and the fact that CHRISTOPHER – the golden retriever of the group didn’t get to go off and see how his experiments happened, just drove me up the wall and that Matthew ended up alone just broke me slightly. I still love the dynamic of Will and Tessa and the lightwoods. I love seeing the children being EXACTLY like their parents. It made me laugh especially the running joke of Herondales hating the ducks. And that the children disobey their parents, like their parents did.
Cassandra Clare manages to do it Every. Single. Time - you don’t have to read any of the other series to know what’s going on, some immortal characters make an appearance, but you could read this series on its own without having to read The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, The Dark Artifices or The Eldest Curses. And I don’t know what I'm going to do now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, Grief, and Violence
Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
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? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Alcoholism, Child death, Grief, Addiction, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual content, War, and Kidnapping
Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Lesbophobia
tisjenna's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Sexual content
cecilielaugesen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book managed to somehow feel both incredibly drawn out and rather rushed at the same time.
It did not feel as thought through as her other books, and I was honestly really disappointed. The characters felt somewhat flat and their personalities seemed to differ from the other books.
The plot in this book was weird at best and nonexistent at worst, it felt like 400 pages of miscommunication and 300 pages of exaggerated fight scenes that seemed bland or boring.
I realize this all sounds incredibly negative, and of course there are good aspects and I definitely think it’s worth a read (if you set your expectations right beforehand).
It did not feel as thought through as her other books, and I was honestly really disappointed. The characters felt somewhat flat and their personalities seemed to differ from the other books.
The plot in this book was weird at best and nonexistent at worst, it felt like 400 pages of miscommunication and 300 pages of exaggerated fight scenes that seemed bland or boring.
I realize this all sounds incredibly negative, and of course there are good aspects and I definitely think it’s worth a read (if you set your expectations right beforehand).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Death and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Grief, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Addiction
caroline1999's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Alcoholism, War, and Death
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Cursing, Grief, and Toxic relationship
hanna's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-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? Yes
4.0
After QoAaD (which was admittedly a good ending but also...weird), I was hesitant to start this, seeing as TLH had the potential to become my favourite TSC series — and it is now!
Yes, it's a very long book and the beginning was very long-winded. Especially the whole love triangle thing, imo, we could've done without.
I enjoyed most of the other plot times a lot, though. We have a visit to Edom again (another good place for CC to be weird) but it isn't weird! Yay. There are a lot of redemption arcs, mainly for Grace and Alastair, and all of those were all believable and well done.
There is one character who dies and it was just such a cheap cop out. I truly don't think last books need to have tragic deaths to become tragic, there was already enough tragedy in this book. It felt like a "gotcha!" moment but a really cheap one.
We got some cute moments for the TID generation but through smart plot lines there were good reasons for them to not be available for most of the drama — this was their kids time to save the world (or...just London).
Overall, I'm still really happy with how this story ended and it was a quite satisfying ending to the TID/TLH story 🤍
Also: Shoutout to our ret-con queen Esme Hardcastle, wtf
Yes, it's a very long book and the beginning was very long-winded. Especially the whole love triangle thing, imo, we could've done without.
I enjoyed most of the other plot times a lot, though. We have a visit to Edom again (another good place for CC to be weird) but it isn't weird! Yay. There are a lot of redemption arcs, mainly for Grace and Alastair, and all of those were all believable and well done.
There is one character who dies and it was just such a cheap cop out. I truly don't think last books need to have tragic deaths to become tragic, there was already enough tragedy in this book. It felt like a "gotcha!" moment but a really cheap one.
We got some cute moments for the TID generation but through smart plot lines there were good reasons for them to not be available for most of the drama — this was their kids time to save the world (or...just London).
Overall, I'm still really happy with how this story ended and it was a quite satisfying ending to the TID/TLH story 🤍
Also: Shoutout to our ret-con queen Esme Hardcastle, wtf
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Addiction, Murder, Alcoholism, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, War, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Torture
Minor: Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
emsavors's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Alcoholism, Child death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Outing, Death, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Confinement, Grief, Lesbophobia, Addiction, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Racism, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, and War
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.0
I picked this up because obviously I needed to see how the Shadowhunters world continues.
"Chain of Thorns" is the third and final book in The Last Hours trilogy. This story starts off bleak. Cordelia's life is turned upside down and all her plans are destroyed. Her father is murdered, her best friend can no longer become her parabatai, and she is now bound to a demon. When she returns to London, she is awed to see that everything is changed, and her life is in perlious danger. Now Cordelia and the rest of the Shadowhunters must ban together to stop this evil, and if they fail, they too might lose their souls.
I have been excited to see the conclusion of this trilogy and intrigued to see if this would bump my favorite Shadowhunters' trilogy out of first place (The Infernal Devices). Spoiler alert: it did not. Although I had a fine time reading this series as a whole, and I loved seeing the children of the main characters in The Infernal Devices, this series did not have that addictive magic for me.
I did really enjoy Cordelia as a character, as well as the other Shadowhunters. I love how Cassandra Clare writes her characters and makes them equal parts empowered and strong-willed, with a sprinkling of soft humanity.
I am SO excited for the next book in the series, and I will be counting down the days until it releases!
"Chain of Thorns" is the third and final book in The Last Hours trilogy. This story starts off bleak. Cordelia's life is turned upside down and all her plans are destroyed. Her father is murdered, her best friend can no longer become her parabatai, and she is now bound to a demon. When she returns to London, she is awed to see that everything is changed, and her life is in perlious danger. Now Cordelia and the rest of the Shadowhunters must ban together to stop this evil, and if they fail, they too might lose their souls.
I have been excited to see the conclusion of this trilogy and intrigued to see if this would bump my favorite Shadowhunters' trilogy out of first place (The Infernal Devices). Spoiler alert: it did not. Although I had a fine time reading this series as a whole, and I loved seeing the children of the main characters in The Infernal Devices, this series did not have that addictive magic for me.
I did really enjoy Cordelia as a character, as well as the other Shadowhunters. I love how Cassandra Clare writes her characters and makes them equal parts empowered and strong-willed, with a sprinkling of soft humanity.
I am SO excited for the next book in the series, and I will be counting down the days until it releases!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Torture, Child death, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content
deedireads's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Chain of Thorns was a fine conclusion to a fine trilogy — entertaining, yes, but definitely not my favorite set of Shadowhunters books. The trilogy-long miscommunication trope was too much for me.
For you if: You like YA fantasy books with character D R A M A.
FULL REVIEW
Chain of Thorns is the third and final book in The Last Hours trilogy, which represents books 13–15 of Cassandra Clare’s (core) set of Shadowhunter novels. They take place a few years after The Infernal Devices and follow Cordelia Carstairs (wielder of Cortana) and James Herondale (Tessa and Will’s son).
I mainly read this trilogy because, well, I can’t get 12 books into a universe and then just stop lol. But while these books were certainly entertaining — Cassandra Clare knows how to write a good central mystery — it was my least favorite Shadowhunters series so far. (The Dark Artifices reigns supreme. IYKYK.)
Thing is, The Last Hours is one big (BIG! These books are like 800 pages long! Where is her editor!) miscommunication trope. Throw a love triangle in for good measure. They are about D-R-A-M-A, but it was just too drawn out for my taste. I understand why she did it, given the book’s central theme about letting others in and not carrying a burden on your own, because when you hurt yourself you hurt the ones you love — but still. It stopped being fun for me at like, the end of book one.
As for this book in particular, I thought it was better than book two, but it still fell a little flat for me. There was a character death that didn’t feel like it was given enough weight, James made me roll my eyes, and Cordelia got frustrating. The ending was good, but I don’t know if it was I’ve-been-waiting-three-books-for-this-and-I-hope-it-saves-the-trilogy-for-me good.
It sounds like I hated these books, lol, which I didn’t. They were fast-paced and entertaining and kept my eyes glued to the page. But I know Cassandra Clare can (and has) given us better.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Chain of Thorns was a fine conclusion to a fine trilogy — entertaining, yes, but definitely not my favorite set of Shadowhunters books. The trilogy-long miscommunication trope was too much for me.
For you if: You like YA fantasy books with character D R A M A.
FULL REVIEW
Chain of Thorns is the third and final book in The Last Hours trilogy, which represents books 13–15 of Cassandra Clare’s (core) set of Shadowhunter novels. They take place a few years after The Infernal Devices and follow Cordelia Carstairs (wielder of Cortana) and James Herondale (Tessa and Will’s son).
I mainly read this trilogy because, well, I can’t get 12 books into a universe and then just stop lol. But while these books were certainly entertaining — Cassandra Clare knows how to write a good central mystery — it was my least favorite Shadowhunters series so far. (The Dark Artifices reigns supreme. IYKYK.)
Thing is, The Last Hours is one big (BIG! These books are like 800 pages long! Where is her editor!) miscommunication trope. Throw a love triangle in for good measure. They are about D-R-A-M-A, but it was just too drawn out for my taste. I understand why she did it, given the book’s central theme about letting others in and not carrying a burden on your own, because when you hurt yourself you hurt the ones you love — but still. It stopped being fun for me at like, the end of book one.
As for this book in particular, I thought it was better than book two, but it still fell a little flat for me. There was a character death that didn’t feel like it was given enough weight, James made me roll my eyes, and Cordelia got frustrating. The ending was good, but I don’t know if it was I’ve-been-waiting-three-books-for-this-and-I-hope-it-saves-the-trilogy-for-me good.
It sounds like I hated these books, lol, which I didn’t. They were fast-paced and entertaining and kept my eyes glued to the page. But I know Cassandra Clare can (and has) given us better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Addiction
Moderate: Violence, Death, Sexual content, and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy