43. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

#1 The Last Hours - Shadowhunters

listened on Libby/borrowed from library

narrated by Finty Williams

Unabridged audio (21:22)
2020
592 pgs.
YA Fantasy
Finished 4/27/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.47 - 53,658 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: turn-of-the century London

First line/s: "Lucie Herondale was then years old when she first met the boy in the forest."

My comments: Twenty hours listening to the mesmerizing happenings in the Shadowhunters' world, where a new group of 16 to 18 year olds use their newly honed Shadowhunter skills to fight demons and learn more about downworlders.  Cordelia Carstairs and her brother, Alastair, arrive in London to join their Shadowhunter family of cousins, aunts, and uncles who live there.  James and Lucie Herondale, children of Tessa a Will, along with Cordelia, are the protagonists in this story.  Because Tessa is half demon, James and Lucie are adapting to living with the quarter demon blood they have, untried and untested because no other half demons have ever had children.  Matthew Fairchild is James's best friend and parabati, brother to Charles, who is now engaged to Grace, James's long time love - although it is a magical attachment that he is unaware of.  Christopher and Thomas Lightwood, cousins, round out the group of friends.  Characters are really well done and memorable, and the only questions you have about them are questions that have been left intentionally unanswered by the author.  So much will happen in book two!  I really, really liked this.

Goodreads synopsis:  Chain of Gold, a Shadowhunters novel, is the first novel in a brand-new trilogy where evil hides in plain sight and love cuts deeper than any blade. .

          Cordelia Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, a warrior trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to London in hopes of preventing the family’s ruin. Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignations, and supernatural salons, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. All the while, she must hide her secret love for James, who is sworn to marry someone else.
          But Cordelia’s new life is blown apart when a shocking series of demon attacks devastate London. These monsters are nothing like those Shadowhunters have fought before—these demons walk in daylight, strike down the unwary with incurable poison, and seem impossible to kill. London is immediately quarantined. Trapped in the city, Cordelia and her friends discover that their own connection to a dark legacy has gifted them with incredible powers—and forced a brutal choice that will reveal the true cruel price of being a hero

29. Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy - Cassandra Clare & Sandra Rees Brennan

Tales from Shadowhunter Academy #1

Listened to on my iPhone via Audible

Audio read by Devon Bostick

(1:40)

2015 Simon & Schuster

78 pgs.

Genre/Audience: YA Dystopia

Finished 4/25/2015

Goodreads rating: 4.19

My rating:    4

Setting: Sometime in the future at Shadowhunter Academy

My comments:  This short(ish) story about Simon was a blast.  I've only read the first two Shadowhunters books and this takes place after many of the sequels, but it was totally enjoyable all the same.  It was actually really, really funny and I had no trouble following it, especially knowing many of the characters, even if I didn't know some of the changes in their relationships that took place in the books I haven't read.  Yes, it's very Harry Potterish, but as a Harry Potter fan I welcome reminders and extensions of that "lovely" world!

Goodreads book summary: After living as a Mundane and a Vampire, Simon never thought he would become a Shadowhunter, but today he begins his training at Shadowhunter Academy.

3. City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare

The Mortal Instruments #2

read on my phone through Kindle

2008, Margaret K. McElderry

453 pages (which includes the beginning of the next book)

Finished Sunday, 1/13/2014 (Have been reading this for awhile)

YA Dystopia/Paranormal

Goodreads Rating:  4.26 (270,000+ ratings!)

My Rating: 3/Liked it

Setting: NYC

1^st sentence/s: "The formidable glass-and-steel structure rose from its position on Front Street like a glittering needle threading the sky."

My comments:  Lots of battling, descriptions of demons and bad guys, people not telling each other the whole truth, which puts everyone in precarious positions...and quite a few hints of possibilities to come.  It kept me reading, and will continue to, I imagine, for the rest of the series....

Goodreads Review:  Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

     To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
     In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

51. City of Bones - Cassandra Clare

#1 The Mortal Instruments series

2007 Margaret K. McElderry Books

485 pgs.(plus a couple of book beginnings)

YA Fantasy/Paranormal

Finished 11/13/13

Goodreads Rating: 4.13

My Rating: (4.5) Loved it, I've got to admit.....

THA Library

NYC

1^st sentence/s: " 'You've got to be kidding me,' the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest. He stared down at the boy in the red zip-up jacket and shook his shaved head.  'You can't bring that thing in here.' "

My comments:  I read this book after seeing the movie, and greatly enjoyed it. I loved comparing movie to book and finding a lot of differences.  It's interesting to see the direction that Clare decided to take with the main characters, and I'm looking forward to seeing what's going to happen in the next segment in the series.

Goodreads Review:  When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know... 

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end