Review: Chain of Thorns (The Last Hours, #3) by Cassandra Clare

Goodreads rating: 4.05/5

My rating: 4/5

In this last installment of 'The Last Hours' series, James and Cordelia must save their marriage and London with their friends and family. Bonds are tested, new friendships are forged and a tragic loss is experienced. Cordelia, James and their friends take it upon themselves to save London against the will of the clave. Each tasked with their own mission, will they be able to accomplish them on time to vanquish evil?

I enjoyed the beginning of this book because it started off exactly where it left off in the previous book. But when everything settled, it got boring with various meetings amongst James, Cordelia and their friends. The action only started in the middle of the book which was when I couldn't put it down. Once it started, it didn't stop until the end.

Unfortunately, it was anticlimactic for me. Defeating the villain was almost too easy. Sure, the challenges that arose before that with not being able to kill the undead was difficult but when Belial finally got what he wanted and tried to take over London, he was there for all but 5 minutes before he died. I was hoping we would see what else Belial would do with London and seeing how the shadowhunters would live through those days. But no, Belial came and awoke a dead archbishop to coronate him, then died before the coronation even happened. It was just too easy.

I think, however, that this was the first shadowhunter story in which humans were affected which was a little interesting. Other than that, it was pretty standard - villian is conquered.

Another disappointing part was the loss of a shadowhunter. It was tragic but I couldn't understand why their character had to die. Was it just for a dramatic effect? The character was not even honored in any way. I feel Cassandra Clare could have done more for them.

At least we see Grace redeem herself in this one, I'd actually like to read more about her.

Did anyone else hate the ending, by the way? It was too cheesy and overdone for me. The book could have just ended with London being saved or maybe even some mystery but everyone was given a send off. Maybe it was a way for readers to imagine how the characters would live the rest of their lives but I found it redundant.

Anyhow, overall, it was not a bad read, just not the best either.