ARC #Review: THE RED SCROLLS OF MAGIC by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu
Jamie @ Books and Ladders
15 April
1 Comments
THE RED SCROLLS OF MAGIC
Author: Cassandra Clare & Wesley ChuSeries: The Eldest Curses #1
Source: ARC via Publisher
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: April 9, 2019
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Summary:
From #1 New York Times bestseller Cassandra Clare and award-winner Wesley Chu comes the first book in a new series that follows High Warlock Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood as they tour the world after the Mortal War. The Red Scrolls of Magic is a Shadowhunters novel.
All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation—a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke.
Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand and its elusive new leader before the cult can cause any more damage. As if it wasn’t bad enough that their romantic getaway has been sidetracked, demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever—even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping.
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion.
In theory, I should have loved this book. It falls in after the third book in the original Shadowhunters series, after my FAVOURITE romantic conversation between Alec and Magnus ("I want to know why you haven't called me back.") and I thought "perfect, let's see more."
But. This ended up being a case of "careful what you wish for."
I could, genuinely, tell where Wesley Chu had input because I really like the way he writes characters, dialogue, and action sequences. I thought that the action sequences in this were a lot tighter than usual - maybe because of Chu, maybe because of how many books Clare has now written. But it made these scenes much easier to read and understand the first time around.
And I did like that there were a lot of swoonworthy moments between Alec and Magnus throughout. Yes - they were cockblocked a lot, but I was expecting that. I liked seeing how their romance evolved over time as well. It was one of those things where if you want to get to know someone and if you can spend your life with them, you should travel with them, but times 1000000.
However, I felt like this got away with a lot of aspects because it focused on Malec, the most beloved couple in all of Shadowhunters. There wasn't a lot going on throughout as they were travelling around to find out who started a cult. I didn't find it interesting, I didn't like all the over exaggerated cameos so that there are tying points between all of Clare's novels so you have to read them all.
I feel like this is one of those times where I would have been okay with the author just tweeting about it instead of writing a whole book about it. And, I would like to reread the Shadowhunter books once this trilogy is done to see if the timeline stays correct and true to how it had been even with this inserted.
I wanted to like this so badly. Magnus, Alec, trip! But I was mostly just bored. I've started and stopped quite a few of the spin off aspects to the Shadowhunters world so maybe it's time for me to stop trying.
In theory, I should have loved this book. It falls in after the third book in the original Shadowhunters series, after my FAVOURITE romantic conversation between Alec and Magnus ("I want to know why you haven't called me back.") and I thought "perfect, let's see more."
But. This ended up being a case of "careful what you wish for."
I could, genuinely, tell where Wesley Chu had input because I really like the way he writes characters, dialogue, and action sequences. I thought that the action sequences in this were a lot tighter than usual - maybe because of Chu, maybe because of how many books Clare has now written. But it made these scenes much easier to read and understand the first time around.
And I did like that there were a lot of swoonworthy moments between Alec and Magnus throughout. Yes - they were cockblocked a lot, but I was expecting that. I liked seeing how their romance evolved over time as well. It was one of those things where if you want to get to know someone and if you can spend your life with them, you should travel with them, but times 1000000.
However, I felt like this got away with a lot of aspects because it focused on Malec, the most beloved couple in all of Shadowhunters. There wasn't a lot going on throughout as they were travelling around to find out who started a cult. I didn't find it interesting, I didn't like all the over exaggerated cameos so that there are tying points between all of Clare's novels so you have to read them all.
I feel like this is one of those times where I would have been okay with the author just tweeting about it instead of writing a whole book about it. And, I would like to reread the Shadowhunter books once this trilogy is done to see if the timeline stays correct and true to how it had been even with this inserted.
I wanted to like this so badly. Magnus, Alec, trip! But I was mostly just bored. I've started and stopped quite a few of the spin off aspects to the Shadowhunters world so maybe it's time for me to stop trying.
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