Chain of Thorns

Underwhelming finale. The book would've benefited from trimming. 800 pages could've been easily 400 if it weren't for the unnecessary drama and repetitiveness. The only things i liked were Grace's “redemption” arc and Matthew's storyline.

James and Cordelia are the least interesting main characters in the shadowhunters books. Cordelia didn't feel as the protagonist of the story and she was constantly overshadowed by others. The love triangle was a mess and didn't make sense, especially when we already know who Cordelia will choose. It created rifts between the characters and many pages were wasted, pages that could've been used to show us how some plotlines were resolved instead of summarizing them in the epilogue.

Lucie and Cordelia didn't feel as close friends as we were supposed to believe and while i liked some of the conflicts they faced in this book, i still think we are told they are close instead of showing us. Lucie and Grace had more depth in their dynamic than Lucie and Cordelia ever had. I'm just quite disappointed in Cordelia as the main heroine, i liked her in book 1 but somehow she lost her charm here.

Lucie's powers were a wasted potential. She had more intriguing abilities and yet James gets to have the spotlight even though Lucie's ability moved the plot more. I'm not a big fan of her romance with Jesse but i admire her character in general so she was one of the few point of views i didn't mind reading without fighting the urge to skim.

Alastair provided the comic relief and for that i like him enough except that i wished we got more of him instead of his relationships. I felt the characters are written as couples instead of individuals.

I won't talk about the death of that character. It was lazy and unnecessary. And worst of all, no one seemed to care after things ended. They were all wrapped in their problems.

Overall, it was a huge disappointment. I liked how Malcolm Fade story ties to The Dark Artifices, i loved Grace's arc and i adore Matthew, but the finale was a mess and felt like an unfinished draft.