"You have a good heart under all the glitter." (Catarina Loss)
Magnus Bane is another one of my favourite Cassandra Clare characters. He's sassy, sparkly, fashionable and powerful. Most of Magnus's past is a mystery and I was extremely excited to find out more about him in The Bane Chronicles.
Unfortunately, most of the short stories in The Bane Chronicles drag and are such a chore to get through. I knew that these stories were going to be about the people that Magnus meets and the adventures that he goes on, but for the most part, they failed to hold my attention.
There are a few stories that stood out:
★ The Midnight Heir. This features some of my favourite Infernal Devices characters and characters that I'm excited to see in Chain of Gold. The James Herondale that Magnus meets is so different from the one in Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy. I'm also really interested in all that's been happening at the Lightwood manor.
★ Saving Raphael Santiago. I enjoyed this one mainly because of Raphael's caustic personality. This short story gives Raphael humanity and shows what he'll go through for his family. I also approve of the unlikely friendship between Raphael and Ragnor.
★ The Last Stand of the New York Institute. I'm tired of hearing about Valentine and the Circle, but this story does something that other stories haven't. It details the torture that Downworlders faced at the hands of the Circle, the reactions of its brainwashed members, the chaos that the Circle created and it's quite sad.
★ The Course of True Love (And First Dates). This is a cute and hilarious story about Malec's first date.
I also enjoyed Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale because we get to meet Will Herondale's parents and What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything because Magnus fretting over what present to get Alec and the reactions from Catarina and Ragnor are priceless. Also, every story became 10 times better when Catarina and Ragnor were mentioned.
The rest of the short stories are disappointing. I love Camille, but I didn't enjoy any of the stories that she was in. Magnus runs the most coolest speakeasy in 1920's New York in the most boring story in The Bane Chronicles, The Rise of the Hotel Dumort. I usually enjoy stories involving the French Revolution, but The Runaway Queen did nothing for me. I also still have no idea why Magnus was banned from Peru.
I wanted to read The Bane Chronicles so that I could learn more about Magnus and his past. However, the stories in The Bane Chronicles contain details that I already knew or could have guessed.
"Humans did not live forever. They could only hope what they made would endure." (Magnus Bane)