Chain of Gold Review

No spoilers! (only small part labeled at end)

When to read: You can start TSC here, but I do not recommend it. I recommend reading at least TID, TMI, and TDA first as this series does have spoilers for those. If you are reading TSC for the first time, check out my Shadowhunters Guide & Reading Order under the “more” tab.

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I honestly very much enjoyed this book. I see what others are saying in that it is VERY character driven – but I personally have no issue with that. There’s just so much character stuff to play with – because there is such great characters and histories in TLH – that I’m ok with that taking the front seat and demon hunting taking the back seat – we’ve seen a lot of demon hunting before. (Also one of my issues with TMI is that I wish we had more time with characters other than Clary & Jace). It works that the plot/action we do get ends up being very tied to issues with the characters. 

James and Lucy are immediately interesting because their mother being a warlock: James’ “power” we find out early but still don’t understand everything about it and Lucy we not even sure if she has one. But even without that they are both well-rounded and interested characters. As are the rest of the Merry Thieves and it was so much fun seeing their interaction as a group, and with those that are “honorary members” (like Anna, Cordelia, and Lucy), and then with people more outside (like Alastair, Grace, Charles, etc.), AND THEN with all their parents / the characters from TID (which I loved, of course).

Also many of the characters have secrets/past-guilts that are effecting them. A great example is Mathew (I have read Cast Long Shadows so I know what his secret is) and how that past makes him really interesting beyond just who he is, but also knowing it has changed who he is. 

Cordelia – like other TSC leads – is more on the outside to the rest of the characters (even in her family), which is why I love that we get a lot of James POV, but that leads to it feeling like Cordelia isn’t really the main character. Honestly, you could easily argue that James IS the main character (his POV is even the one to start chap 1, Cordelia doesn’t have her POV until page 23!). But she’s still a friece female character and one of the wittiest in TSC.

I also really like this flashbacks CC had been doing more and more. Overall, I don’t think even three books with be enough with these characters!

Spoilers ahead——

So many love triangles going on it’s kind of nuts! The only one I really don’t like is James/Cordelia/Mathew. We’ve seen the both boy parabatai in love with the same girl and the girl likes both of them thing before in TID. I really wish they had just set it up to be a really good friendship between Math and Cordelia as it would be really nice to see more male/female close platonic relationships in TSC. To see Math be protective of and care for Cordelia in a brotherly way – when he so hates Cordelia’s actual brother – would be really cool.

If you are a Shadowhunters fan, also check out my Shadowhunters Stories Chronological Timeline!