Review: Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare

“You may fear what will happen if you speak your heart. You may wish to hide things because you fear hurting others. But secrets have a way of eating at relationships, Jamie. At love, at friendship--they undermine and destroy them until in the end you find you are bitterly alone with the secrets you kept.”

Early in the book Will says this to James, and it rattles around in your head as a warning of what is to come as the secrets of this book begin to build up layer by layer.

My biggest issue with the first book, Chain of Gold, was that I found it kind of confusing keeping who everyone was straight; I could not always remember who was related to whom and how. But by book two, these relationships had enough page time to be apparent to the reader, and each character really stood out as a singular person for me. When I read the summary for this book before reading, I thought it would have made more sense for me for the murder mystery book to be book one; I probably thought this becauseLady Midnight is my favorite of Cassandra Clare's first books, but reading completely disabused me of that notion. The time getting to know everyone in the first book is really necessary for the proper amount of tension to be felt by the reader as they read the murder mystery plotline of this book.

This plot is so layered and multifaceted. My very favorite thing about big books, and especially big books that are a part of big series, is how many things can be squeezed into them. There is so much going on in this book that is in reaction to Chain of Gold, so much that is dealing with the plot of this novel as a singular entity, parts of the book that are pointing you to where the story is going for the concluding novel, and easter eggs and asides that are nods to readers who have read everything else in this world. I really loved how The Dark Artifices felt very present in this novel, in a multitude of different ways. Especially because I don't think it was done in a way that demanded the reader have read The Dark Artifices, it just adds an additional layer for those who have read it. Things like this are why I will always recommend reading in publication order; TDA is in some ways more alive in this book than The Infernal Devices is; thematically speaking, of course, we do get plenty of TID characters and relationships at play in this book.

Speaking of the relationships in this book, I really adore the way the friendships are written. Everyone is given such a strong grounding in their foundational relationships with each other that as the secrets start creeping in, you get to see the places where cracks are about to form before the consequences become apparent to the characters. I also really like the way Clare is playing with what you know, or think you know, I guess, is the end game for romantic relationships. Anyone who has seen a Shadowhunter family tree knows a handful of the people who are meant to be together, and we are familiar with their descendants. Clare has a few lines where she overtly plays with the reader’s expectations of who becomes the great great grandparents of who in a way that I found very amusing and stressful.

The stress this book gave me was wild. I had a tremendously good time reading once I got over my initial stress response; I do not want to paint this as a bad reading experience; Clare does an excellent job at instilling a strong emotional response in her reader. I am so ready for the third book in this series; May 2022 cannot arrive quickly enough.

A particular character whose journey I have loved in this series is Alastair Carstairs. His character journey is indicative of a broader theme Clare is clearly exploring in this series, the idea of forgiveness and what must be done to earn it.

“I have tried to apologize, and to change,” Alastair said, and even through the door Cordelia could hear his voice shake. “How can I make amends for my past when no one will let me?”

Alastair, Matthew, Thomas, and Grace's stories are all deeply intertwined with the idea of forgiveness. I do not wish to spoil anyone's exact arc with this theme, but I was particularly moved by the way Clare takes on the idea of forgiving one’s self. Particularly because so many people in this story are absolutely unable to accept others’ forgiveness and continue their own self-imposed punishment, all the ways this story takes on forgiveness, or oneself and of others, absolutely enthralled me. I enjoyed the variety in culpability involved and the ways each person’s situation set them up for the behavior displayed on-page. It has been a really compelling plot propulsion device and a very effective character development method.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I absolutely recommend this book. I had a wonderful reading experience with this book and recommend this series to those who have liked Shadowhunter books in the past. I am not sure I can conceptualize if this is a good starting point in this world, but I do think Clare has written all of the series in a way that can certainly be an entry point. I do love publication order, but any order a reader wishes to engage with this series of series is perfectly acceptable.