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ara02's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Alcohol, Blood, Alcoholism, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
nadiaherondale's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
So yes, I'm biased 'cause this series has been with me for 10 years so I will probably give a great rating to all its books, however this one deserves it. I think Clare is better at writing period pieces more than contemporary (or maybe I love period fantasy more than urban). The final installement of The Last Hours is action packed, romance packed and drama packed and not lacking in any department. And although I can't in good faith be aligned with certain character deaths (I'm not forgiving you Cassie Clare, it's the third time you break me this way) I have to admit she knows how to write a great book. So, 5/5 especially for the epilogue, I love (mostly) happy endings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Death, Alcohol, Infidelity, Violence, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, and War
frantically's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-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? Yes
4.0
After QoAaD (which was admittedly a good ending but also...weird), I was hesitant to start this, seeing as TLH had the potential to become my favourite TSC series — and it is now!
Yes, it's a very long book and the beginning was very long-winded. Especially the whole love triangle thing, imo, we could've done without.
I enjoyed most of the other plot times a lot, though. We have a visit to Edom again (another good place for CC to be weird) but it isn't weird! Yay. There are a lot of redemption arcs, mainly for Grace and Alastair, and all of those were all believable and well done.
There is one character who dies and it was just such a cheap cop out. I truly don't think last books need to have tragic deaths to become tragic, there was already enough tragedy in this book. It felt like a "gotcha!" moment but a really cheap one.
We got some cute moments for the TID generation but through smart plot lines there were good reasons for them to not be available for most of the drama — this was their kids time to save the world (or...just London).
Overall, I'm still really happy with how this story ended and it was a quite satisfying ending to the TID/TLH story 🤍
Also: Shoutout to our ret-con queen Esme Hardcastle, wtf
Yes, it's a very long book and the beginning was very long-winded. Especially the whole love triangle thing, imo, we could've done without.
I enjoyed most of the other plot times a lot, though. We have a visit to Edom again (another good place for CC to be weird) but it isn't weird! Yay. There are a lot of redemption arcs, mainly for Grace and Alastair, and all of those were all believable and well done.
There is one character who dies and it was just such a cheap cop out. I truly don't think last books need to have tragic deaths to become tragic, there was already enough tragedy in this book. It felt like a "gotcha!" moment but a really cheap one.
We got some cute moments for the TID generation but through smart plot lines there were good reasons for them to not be available for most of the drama — this was their kids time to save the world (or...just London).
Overall, I'm still really happy with how this story ended and it was a quite satisfying ending to the TID/TLH story 🤍
Also: Shoutout to our ret-con queen Esme Hardcastle, wtf
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Addiction, Murder, Alcoholism, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, War, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Torture
Minor: Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
emsavors's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Alcoholism, Child death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Outing, Death, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Confinement, Grief, Lesbophobia, Addiction, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Racism, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, and War
aklovekorn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Blood, Infidelity, Murder, Violence, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
bellebookcorner's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.5
“I rather think love is something like a book written just for us, a sort of holy text it is given to us to interpret.”
Chain of Thorns serves as a good conclusion to The Last Hour Trilogy!
I thought for sure this gonna be the end of the Shadowhunter series, turns out this series is not a goodbye and there’s gonna be one last series in the Shadowhunter universe!
I love getting back to these characters – Cordelia, James, Matthew, Thomas, Christopher, Lucie, Jesse, etc!
I could definitely see them grow from the first time we met them (on book 1) until the end of this trilogy, especially Alastair and Grace. I absolutely love Alastair new self and his connection with Thomas. Grace is also proving to be a better character as well.
As for the matters of the love triangle romance, I know someone will get their heart broken but I was surprised by how well this person handles it. I felt happy for him at the end, as he finally started to heal and I really hope the best for him cause he really deserves it.
“You ought to be adored above all things, for you are wonderful. You ought to have someone's whole heart.”
While I thoroughly enjoy reading this book, I thought some parts are a bit dragging. I feel the length of this book could have been shorten if the characters would just be honest and talk to each other!
Moreover, some events toward the ending happens too fast.
The ending is quite satisfying, the last few chapters are quite intense with the preparation towards the last battle with Belial – the villain. It ended happily for some characters, but for some it’s not so I say it’s a bit of a bitter sweet ending.
Overall, it’s been a great journey with these loveable characters. I love their friendship bond with one another and of course with Will's humor which liven up the story.
I’m looking forward to read the next trilogy in the Shadowhunter series!
⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: Alcoholism, death, addiction, violence and grief
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Violence and Grief
aseel_reads's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The first two hundred pages were so hard to get through, super boring. Then the plot picked up but the overall ending was just meh. I absolutely hated the death, that was my favourite character. Overall, just super disappointed in this series, I had such high hopes too.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Violence, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Homophobia
lovelymisanthrope's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
I picked this up because obviously I needed to see how the Shadowhunters world continues.
"Chain of Thorns" is the third and final book in The Last Hours trilogy. This story starts off bleak. Cordelia's life is turned upside down and all her plans are destroyed. Her father is murdered, her best friend can no longer become her parabatai, and she is now bound to a demon. When she returns to London, she is awed to see that everything is changed, and her life is in perlious danger. Now Cordelia and the rest of the Shadowhunters must ban together to stop this evil, and if they fail, they too might lose their souls.
I have been excited to see the conclusion of this trilogy and intrigued to see if this would bump my favorite Shadowhunters' trilogy out of first place (The Infernal Devices). Spoiler alert: it did not. Although I had a fine time reading this series as a whole, and I loved seeing the children of the main characters in The Infernal Devices, this series did not have that addictive magic for me.
I did really enjoy Cordelia as a character, as well as the other Shadowhunters. I love how Cassandra Clare writes her characters and makes them equal parts empowered and strong-willed, with a sprinkling of soft humanity.
I am SO excited for the next book in the series, and I will be counting down the days until it releases!
"Chain of Thorns" is the third and final book in The Last Hours trilogy. This story starts off bleak. Cordelia's life is turned upside down and all her plans are destroyed. Her father is murdered, her best friend can no longer become her parabatai, and she is now bound to a demon. When she returns to London, she is awed to see that everything is changed, and her life is in perlious danger. Now Cordelia and the rest of the Shadowhunters must ban together to stop this evil, and if they fail, they too might lose their souls.
I have been excited to see the conclusion of this trilogy and intrigued to see if this would bump my favorite Shadowhunters' trilogy out of first place (The Infernal Devices). Spoiler alert: it did not. Although I had a fine time reading this series as a whole, and I loved seeing the children of the main characters in The Infernal Devices, this series did not have that addictive magic for me.
I did really enjoy Cordelia as a character, as well as the other Shadowhunters. I love how Cassandra Clare writes her characters and makes them equal parts empowered and strong-willed, with a sprinkling of soft humanity.
I am SO excited for the next book in the series, and I will be counting down the days until it releases!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Torture, Child death, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content
deedireads's review
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Chain of Thorns was a fine conclusion to a fine trilogy — entertaining, yes, but definitely not my favorite set of Shadowhunters books. The trilogy-long miscommunication trope was too much for me.
For you if: You like YA fantasy books with character D R A M A.
FULL REVIEW
Chain of Thorns is the third and final book in The Last Hours trilogy, which represents books 13–15 of Cassandra Clare’s (core) set of Shadowhunter novels. They take place a few years after The Infernal Devices and follow Cordelia Carstairs (wielder of Cortana) and James Herondale (Tessa and Will’s son).
I mainly read this trilogy because, well, I can’t get 12 books into a universe and then just stop lol. But while these books were certainly entertaining — Cassandra Clare knows how to write a good central mystery — it was my least favorite Shadowhunters series so far. (The Dark Artifices reigns supreme. IYKYK.)
Thing is, The Last Hours is one big (BIG! These books are like 800 pages long! Where is her editor!) miscommunication trope. Throw a love triangle in for good measure. They are about D-R-A-M-A, but it was just too drawn out for my taste. I understand why she did it, given the book’s central theme about letting others in and not carrying a burden on your own, because when you hurt yourself you hurt the ones you love — but still. It stopped being fun for me at like, the end of book one.
As for this book in particular, I thought it was better than book two, but it still fell a little flat for me. There was a character death that didn’t feel like it was given enough weight, James made me roll my eyes, and Cordelia got frustrating. The ending was good, but I don’t know if it was I’ve-been-waiting-three-books-for-this-and-I-hope-it-saves-the-trilogy-for-me good.
It sounds like I hated these books, lol, which I didn’t. They were fast-paced and entertaining and kept my eyes glued to the page. But I know Cassandra Clare can (and has) given us better.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Chain of Thorns was a fine conclusion to a fine trilogy — entertaining, yes, but definitely not my favorite set of Shadowhunters books. The trilogy-long miscommunication trope was too much for me.
For you if: You like YA fantasy books with character D R A M A.
FULL REVIEW
Chain of Thorns is the third and final book in The Last Hours trilogy, which represents books 13–15 of Cassandra Clare’s (core) set of Shadowhunter novels. They take place a few years after The Infernal Devices and follow Cordelia Carstairs (wielder of Cortana) and James Herondale (Tessa and Will’s son).
I mainly read this trilogy because, well, I can’t get 12 books into a universe and then just stop lol. But while these books were certainly entertaining — Cassandra Clare knows how to write a good central mystery — it was my least favorite Shadowhunters series so far. (The Dark Artifices reigns supreme. IYKYK.)
Thing is, The Last Hours is one big (BIG! These books are like 800 pages long! Where is her editor!) miscommunication trope. Throw a love triangle in for good measure. They are about D-R-A-M-A, but it was just too drawn out for my taste. I understand why she did it, given the book’s central theme about letting others in and not carrying a burden on your own, because when you hurt yourself you hurt the ones you love — but still. It stopped being fun for me at like, the end of book one.
As for this book in particular, I thought it was better than book two, but it still fell a little flat for me. There was a character death that didn’t feel like it was given enough weight, James made me roll my eyes, and Cordelia got frustrating. The ending was good, but I don’t know if it was I’ve-been-waiting-three-books-for-this-and-I-hope-it-saves-the-trilogy-for-me good.
It sounds like I hated these books, lol, which I didn’t. They were fast-paced and entertaining and kept my eyes glued to the page. But I know Cassandra Clare can (and has) given us better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Addiction
Moderate: Violence, Death, Sexual content, and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy
solouncapitulomas's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-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? Yes
3.0
this was underwhelming to say the least, I mean...it was nothing compared to previous shadow hunters third books, city of glass? letal, queen of air and darkness? soul devouring and I won't even mention the other one bc y'all know
I guess I was expecting so much more and as you can see it took me almost two month to read this one and I usually read tsc books so fucking fast, three stars bc of herondaisy (my beloveds) and all the other characters who I truly love (specially my baby kit)
I guess I was expecting so much more and as you can see it took me almost two month to read this one and I usually read tsc books so fucking fast, three stars bc of herondaisy (my beloveds) and all the other characters who I truly love (specially my baby kit)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death
Moderate: Grief and Violence
Minor: Miscarriage, Homophobia, and Pregnancy