Book Review: Chain of Gold
Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare
Spoiler-Free Review
Chain of God is a wonderful read. It reminded me why and just how much I loved Cassandra Clare’s world when I first dove in over a decade ago. For fans of Cassandra Clare there is tons of her delicious relationship tension. Imagine claps between each of those words.
Who likes who and who does that person like, and oh goodness are any of them going to get a happily ever after or is it just going to be a big mess?
Imagine that against a backdrop of angels and demons, monsters and mundanes, with war and chaos brewing just beyond the sight and understanding of the governing Shadowhunter body. As the adulty-adults fight out what is to be done and try to drag themselves through the thorny tangles of inter-family politics, the teens decide to take investigating the odd incidents of demons cropping up into their own hands.
It’s a recipe for delicious I-can’t-put-this-down-until-I-get-closure-page-turning reading. And it ends on a cliff-hanger.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone that is a fan of Fantasy and Romance, particularly if you like a little Alternative History thrown in.
**NOTE**
If you’re new to the Shadowhunter world, it is possible to dive into this book and understand what is going on. A friend of mine read this as her first Clare book and she was able to pick up the essentials and thoroughly enjoyed the read. If you’re looking for an easier introduction into the world, however, I suggest starting with my personal favorite series, The Infernal Devices. Specifically with Clockwork Angel. It is my favorite series for a few reasons: the characters have interesting and soul-searing arcs, and the steampunk vibe with the Victorian setting is wonderful.
Spoilers Ahead
Further Review and Analysis
I have loved Cassandra Clare’s stories since The City of Bones first came out. I followed along with Clary and Jace, and then with Tessa, Will, and Jem.
But after that I’m embarrassed to say I kind of fell off…There was too big of a gap between when I read those stories and when I picked up Lady Midnight. I vaguely remember reading that one…maybe I finished it?
The struggles I had with it at the time was that, there were just SO MANY characters and relationships to keep up with at that point and I couldn’t remember who was related to who and how they were connected and I just didn’t have the emotional energy to keep trying. Also, that one was dark if I remember it right. My librarian friend Masaki would shake her head and her hands and say, “So Dark!” every time we talked about it. I love her and she’s right. It was dark. I never even picked up Lord of Shadows when it came out.
When Chain of Gold came around, I felt the same kind of trepidation going into this story. It is earlier in the grand chronology of the Shadowhunter Chronicles, so that helps. But there is still a lot of character sorting to get through in the first 50 to 100 pages. I honestly looked up a family tree. It spoiled a couple things for me, but honestly, I was fine with it because it helped me better understand how everyone was connected and remember some of the other stories better.
**NOTE**I tried searching to see if there are ones without spoilers, but if you’re jumping into Chain of Gold without reading any of the others, I would just go without a tree if at all possible to avoid spoilers.
Setting and Worldbuilding:
This Shadowhunter story is set in London during the Edwardian period. For me, this is wonderful because London and because Balls and fancy dresses and *squeals*. I’m a fan of historical romances, particularly of the Regency era so I am all for Clare branching into this time. It is not overdone, so don’t worry if you aren’t a fan of that period. It’s just enough to set the tone and thrill the readers who do love it.
Clare must cram a lot of world-building in the beginning to initiate new readers and remind readers diving back into her world how stuff works. But it is a great refresher, especially as aspects of the World are different because of things that haven’t happened yet.
What makes the ‘setting’ unique for this set of stories is that the Shadowhunter world has been quiet—there have been years, maybe even a decade or two of little to no demon activity. The squad this book features don’t have nearly the experience or the battle scars that the other groups of Shadowhunters we have seen had before they even stepped onto their pages.
Another great aspect of the series is that Clare drops in a lot of historical landmarks, particularly of the literary variety.
Characters:
The characters might be the best part of this book. I love the different personalities, conflicts, and backstories that Clare is balancing in this one. As always, the crazy relationship triangles are a great source of tension throughout and SPOILER ALERT, I hate Grace with a living passion right now.
Clare has some great representation of LGBTQ+ characters in a period where it would have been difficult to be LGBTQ+ so I am extremely interested to see how she develops this as the story goes on. Anna Lightwood might be my favorite. She’s such a player but obviously has heartbreak in her past. I’m interested to see how that plays out.
Regarding the character arcs, I think she is laying the foundation here and revealing the backstory. The most development comes from the group learning to have agency in investigating what is happening and branching out of their comfort zones. A lot happens to them in this book, so I think there will be a lot of growth and development in the next book as they deal with the consequences of what happened in book 1.
Final Thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to readers who love Fantasy, Adventure, Alternate History, and Complicated Relationships