Welcome to Edwardian London, a time of electric lights and long shadows, the celebration of artistic beauty and the wild pursuit of pleasure, with demons waiting in the dark. For years there has been peace in the Shadowhunter world. James and Lucie Herondale, children of the famous Will and Tessa, have grown up in an idyll with their loving friends and family, listening to stories of good defeating evil and love conquering all. But everything changes when the Blackthorn and Carstairs families come to London…and so does a remorseless and inescapable plague.
GENRE:
Young Adult, Fantasy
PAGES:
624 pages
PART OF A SERIES?:
First in The Last Hours series
RELEASE DATE:
March 6th 2020
PUBLISHER:
Margaret K. McElderry Books
SOURCE:
Owned E-Book (I did get a signed, personalized copy from Good Choice Reading but I was too impatient to wait for it!)
YOU CAN PRE-ORDER THE BOOK AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE/LIBRARY OR THE FOLLOWING LINKS:
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
Welcome to Edwardian London, a time of electric lights and long shadows, the celebration of artistic beauty and the wild pursuit of pleasure, with demons waiting in the dark. For years there has been peace in the Shadowhunter world. James and Lucie Herondale, children of the famous Will and Tessa, have grown up in an idyll with their loving friends and family, listening to stories of good defeating evil and love conquering all. But everything changes when the Blackthorn and Carstairs families come to London…and so does a remorseless and inescapable plague.
James Herondale longs for a great love, and thinks he has found it in the beautiful, mysterious Grace Blackthorn. Cordelia Carstairs is desperate to become a hero, save her family from ruin, and keep her secret love for James hidden. When disaster strikes the Shadowhunters, James, Cordelia and their friends are plunged into a wild adventure which will reveal dark and incredible powers, and the true cruel price of being a hero…and falling in love.
MY REVIEW
So here’s the thing – I say again and again that I’m getting frustrated that Cassie Clare isn’t writing anything other than Shadowhunter novels and I honestly wasn’t quite sure what I thought of a book series about the Infernal Devices children. But I adore Cassie and I adore the Shadowhunter world so…I always buy her new books and I probably always will. I ordered a signed, personalized copy from Good Choice Reading but I knew those usually take some time to get here so I got an e-book, as usual.
And here’s the thing
This book was SO good. It was so good. I was so unsure how I would feel to be with the children of the characters that I loved so much. Would I care about James and Lucie and Cordelia and Matthew and Thomas and all of them as much as I cared about Will and Jem and Tessa? And the answer is definitely yes. Definitely 100% yes. I loved these characters so much. I liked that we got so many characters that we knew from the prequel series to this one but it didn’t feel like their story. It was the new generation and that’s what made the story so strong. I freaking loved the new characters, I adore James and Lucie Herondale and I have a serious love in my heart for Cordelia Carstairs, who genuinely might be one of my new favorite characters of all time. I love that both Lucie and Cordelia were these badass Shadowhunter women who fought like it was just their job – I feel like this is the first time we’ve really, truly had this and I just fell in love with the new characters.
I liked that there was some LGBTQ representation in there. I know there has been some upset people on the internet because they are saying that Cassie is putting too much of this in Edwardian London like it didn’t exist during that time but she stands by it and I agree. Just because it wasn’t talked about or paraded around doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist. Characters like Anna Lightwood and so on – I don’t want to spoil – those kind of people DID exist. And I’m glad Cassie is showing that.
I loved having these established Shadowhunter families – there was something kind of great about that. Tessa isn’t a Shadowhunter, Clary is but didn’t know that she was and so the world was new to her. It was kind of great to be in a world where the world was established and what was going on was abnormal. The world was there and it was just accepted. It didn’t feel like anything need to be explained and I kind of liked that because, well, so many of us have been a part of this story for so long – I picked up the first book in 2010 – that we don’t need our hands held anymore and the story definitely felt like that.
The story itself was…interesting. Its so hard for me to judge the story because its only the first book of a trilogy and I’m not sure what direction the story is going in. I’m definitely intrigued though – Tatiana and Grace Blackthorn are what really make this book mysterious and intriguing because there is something going on there that is truly a mystery and I don’t have even a slight idea of what is going to happen next and I am here for it. There is something at the end that happens between Grace, James and Cordelia that just KILLS me and I know its the third book and I know that happily ever after never happens in the first book because that is SO not the Cassandra Clare way but god I was hoping that it was heading that way. The book ends with such a bittersweet, heartbreaking moment and it just was so hard for me. Cassie is so good with the emotional manipulation and this book was no different.
I think it was a strong start to a brand new series and I have hope that it will continue and do really well. I really loved Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows but was disappointed in the end of that series in Queen of Air and Darkness. I have hopes that this book will lead to a totally strong trilogy just like the Infernal Devices.
RATING:
5 out of 5 Stars
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