Review: Chain of Gold (The Last Hours, #1) by Cassandra Clare

Goodreads rating: 4.48/5

My rating: 4/5

Cordelia Carstairs, who is a part of the Shadowhunter world back in year 1903, travelled to London with her brother and mother with hopes to preserve their family reputation. Her father, Elias, is accused of a crime that could ruin the family name and Cordelia feels obliged to find a way to save him while also on the look out for a suitable spouse to save her if ever her father is found guilty. In London, she reunites with her future parabatai, Lucie Herondale and her brother James whom she is secretly in love with. She also makes new friends and the group of young shadowhunters take it upon themselves to fight the unusual demons that have been attacking London and to find out who is responsible for the mayhem. The mystery reveals connections to dark legacies and true affairs of the heart.

I find that it is always so difficult to summarize Cassandra Clare's stories as there is always so much going on, in a good way, of course. Having said that, my summary was a very simple gist of what the story is about, there is so much more to it.

Before I start with my review, I have to warn you that I will always be biased in my reviews of CC's books because the Shadowhunter world is my favourite fictional realm. Although I have a whole shelf dedicated to CC's book, she is not my favourite author. I can't say why because I have no specific reason. I love the world she has created but I guess I don't know much about her as an author.

Cordelia as a character is fierce and lovable but I wasn't completely attached to her. This is mostly because the story is written from the perspective of so many characters. In 'The Mortal Instruments', almost everything revolved around Clary while in 'The Last Hours', I feel like James and Lucie play a more vital role, while Cordelia is like a mediator. She's Lucie's future parabatai and is secretly in love with James so she is closely connected to both. Other than being a strong warrior, I don't see how else she is connected to the things that occur in London. I was honestly disappointed with the plot surrounding her family's issues because it seemed less important in the end with the way her father's case was resolved.

Another thing I didn't like or at least missed was the presence of downworlders. The only downworlder that made an appearance was everyone's favourite, Magnus Bane. Of course, James and Lucie's mother, Tessa, who is a personal favourite, is part downworlder, and is also present but I missed the vampires and werewolves in this book. I wonder why they didn't have any role in this story.

Also, what is it with CC and teenagers saving the world? Haha! I'm sorry but this was yet another story where the teenage shadowhunters went behind their parents' backs to solve a mystery on their own. I know, it's a YA book, but it would be nice to read a book by CC with more adults involved.

Okay okay, let's get to the positive bits now. You must be wondering why I rated the story high after reading my rants. Like I said, I will always be biased. That aside, it was truly a creative piece. CC created not just one other world, but two. And to be able to portray both quite vividly, was impressive to me. All the plot twists and the revelations involving them had logical explanations - I didn't find myself questioning them at the end. That's what I liked most, that there were no loose ends or lingering questions in my mind. Yes, there's a cliff hanger at the end but that was expected since everyone's aware of it being part of a trilogy.

Another thing I loved was the fact that all the characters from CC's first trilogy (The Infernal Devices) were present. I kid you not, I would tear up at some of the scenes with Tessa and Will in them. After I read their trilogy back then, I remember wishing CC would write a series with their kids in them and she finally did. You could say this was very sentimental to me. I wonder why she likes to skip timelines though.

Other than that, I never thought I could relate to Shadowhunters but the disaster that occurs reminds me of Covid. A quarantine becomes mandatory in this story and there is another aspect that resembles a viral pandemic, making it a little more relative to the real world. Speaking of real world, I like how CC always includes a LGBT couple. There's more than one queer couple present and they are so cute! I'm not going to comment on James and Cordelia's love story because I know I will spoil it if I do. I just can't wait to get my hands on the next book so I can find out what happens next. I ship their relationship so I hope it works out.

Before I conclude, I want to know, did anyone else who read this get confused about some of the character names? Like Christopher "Kit" who has the same name as another character from another CC book who is adopted by Tessa and Jem. Also, after reading 'The Dark Artifices' trilogy, I'm confused about Emma's family tree and who her predecessors are. I'm hoping I get more clarity in the next two books.

Overall, did I love it? Yes, I always love CC's books. Am I looking forward to the next one? Definitely!