Reviewed by Heather on
I had a really hard time reading Cassandra Clare's two series about Shadowhunters who fight demons. I couldn't keep them apart in my head. One was set in England in the 1800s and one was in New York in present times but I still don't know which series title refers to which. I didn't know they had different locations either. I was reading them as they came out intermingled and with time in between. I was never clear on who the bad guy was supposed to be in each series. Everybody had the same last names in both series so I kept waiting for characters that I thought were in one book to show up in another only to realize halfway through that they were in the other series. The only character I could keep straight was the warlock Magnus Bane because he was in both series because he was immortal.
I downloaded the audiobook version of the stories from the library. These were really good. They are co-written by several authors and read by different actors including David Oyelowo and Gareth David-Lloyd (I went to his shrine!).
What Really Happened in Peru? - Magnus convinces his warlock friend Ragnor to accompany him on several trips to Peru, none of which end well.
The Runaway Queen - Magnus tries to help Marie Antoinette and her family escape from Paris.
Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale - The Shadowhunters and the Downworlders are trying to make a peace agreement but neither side can trust the other.
The Midnight Heir - Magnus meets the son of the protagonists of the first Shadowhunter series.
The Rise of the Hotel Dumont - It is the 1920s in New York and an ancient warlock is playing with humans for his own evil plans.
Saving Raphael Santiago - Magnus is hired to find a young man who went hunting a vampire.
The Fall of the Hotel Dumont - Vampires are acting strangely and Magnus needs to figure out what's wrong before they are all killed.
The Last Stand of the New York Institute - This chronicles the rise of the villain who is in the second Shadowhunter series.
The Course of True Love - Magnus takes a Shadowhunter on a horrible first date.
What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything - Magnus tries to figure out a birthday present while summoning a demon for a client.
I actually understand what happened in the series now. Seeing it in chronological order helped. These stories made everything else fit together.
When I read both Shadowhunter series I kept thinking that the Shadowhunters were pretty horrible people. The nice thing about this book is that Magnus has pretty much nothing but contempt for them either. He likes a few individuals here and there but as a race, he despises them. That's a risky choice for the author to make in writing a book about a minor character. It is hard to cast your heroes as the bad guys. I like it.
This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 4 September, 2015: Finished reading
- 4 September, 2015: Reviewed