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beckyyreadss's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I wanted to read this series because my goal last year was to discover new authors. Holly Black’s cruel prince series is adored on Tiktok but I wanted to read some of her older work first. When I saw she had a series with Cassandra Clare, I was all for it. I have loved the series so far but book three and four disappointed, but this book just managed to save the series.
A generation ago, a powerful mage Constantine Madden came close to achieving what no magician had ever achieved: the ability to bring back the dead. He didn’t succeed . . . but he did find a way to keep himself alive, inside a young child named Callum Hunt. Facing up to what he is, Callum has battled chaos and evil across four years of magical training at the Magisterium, eventually defeating the armies of chaos in an epic battle. But it came at a cost. Call is now heartbroken but triumphant and he has had enough, and is ready to complete his training. But the evil Call has faced in the past has not given up just yet.
This book reminded of the first book; it was what I've wanted in the other books. It had the plot twists, the drama, the action, but then bits where you are like; these are teenagers making stupid decisions. Yes, we all also see the parallels with Harry Potter if Harry and Hermione got together. But I really enjoyed this book, I think the storyline is amazing, the world-building is integrated but not too integrated to hurt my head. I think Cassandra Clare does really well with the world building. I loved both of the author’s style of writing that I managed to enjoy this book right away. I gasped audibly at the plot twist that happened just before the action and was gripping the book so hard.
The only thing I didn’t like was the romance that arrived in the last book between Tamara and Call. Celia was horrible in this book, but earlier in the series, I was rooting for Celia and Call to be the budding romance.
I would love another book or series to see how the gang in getting on in college and I'm really glad that they didn’t kill Havoc because then I would have rioted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent and War
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