Major Spoilers for The Red Scrolls of Magic & The Lost Book of the White!
Like most people, I adore Malec: Alec Lightwood is my favorite character in all of TSC; Magnus, obviously, is another fav; and together they are my favorite fictional couple. Ever.
When I first read The Red Scrolls of Magic (RSM), I really liked it, but I knew the plot wasn’t great; I loved it for all of the very cute Malec moments. I’ll do a whole review one day, but in short: I didn’t like Shyin. Wasn’t that big of a surprise when she turned out to be bad and her villain origin-story is “I was different and no one liked me so now I’m going to rule the world,” 🙄.
It also felt like it didn’t line up perfectly with COFA (like how were they coming back from the opera if in RSM they ended up staying in Magnus’s apartment by the end?) Also the book did not line up with the extra “a story told in postcards”. BUT I was prepared to let it slide and assume that they just faked the postcards and being at the opera or that they ended up going back to traveling after the end of RSM.
But then I got to The Lost Book of the White (LBW) and I just… can’t forgive. It’s honestly probably my least favorite book in TSC. Was it really bad? No. But again it did not seem to fit in with the timeline (like are you seriously telling me that all of that stuff had NO EFFECT in TDA?). We got a different villain, which I actually really liked, but he was so powerful that literally he could’ve just snapped his fingers and they all would have died and there’s no good reason that he didn’t do that. Then he is defeated in the stupidest way- like they don’t even use the magic swords that were supposed to be their only hope! Anyway, go see my review for LBW, but it’s all just so CONVENIENT. [LBW also did the same twist RSM did with a “good” character ending up being bad, but it was at least done better because a) I actually cared about the character this time and b) double twist! he was good after all.]
Here’s to hoping the last book is going it be better. It’ll have to cover a lot of ground with the Princes of Hell or it’ll feel rushed (once again) and unbelievable/too convenient- but knowing that part of the plot will be looking for the Book of the White, unfortunately I doubt they will be able to do both storylines justice if the book length is similar to the first two.
Other Malec stories like “Born of Endless Night” and “The Land I Lost” are so good. TEC is no where near that quality or the quality of the other series in TSC. I feel like as fans we’re being cheated and we are being forgiving bc we love Malec, but honestly we deserve better.
If you are reading TSC for the first time, check out my Shadowhunters Guide & Reading Order under the “more” tab. Also check out my Shadowhunters Stories Chronological Timeline!
Life Is Just A Blur 