“Hast thou gone among the streets of the city and the watchmen there, and found the one thy soul loves?”

This review is going to be 90% me freaking out and ranting about this book and only 10% of actual analysis. GOD I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS SO MUCH HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT A OVER A YEAR FOR THE NEXT ONE??

Anyway, I’m going to try to talk about things in chronological order so if you only want to know my thoughts on the ending scroll to the bottom.

Warning: there will be major spoilers from here on. I don't mention who the killer is, but I talk about almost everything else!

⇢The Wedding
Oh my god, I absolutely adored the ceremony itself. JAMES MORGAN HENRY HERONDALE. CORDELIA KATAYOUN CARSTAIRS. I LOVE IT. Now I know that the wedding after-party reception was basically ruined by Elias and the thomastair interaction, but I can’t say that I’m that mad about it, because I don’t think anyone really expected it to go without any hiccups. Overall, let’s just say that I thought it was super cute and the problems that ensued didn’t didn’t take all that much away from my enjoyment.

“He has given us a tremendous capacity to love. To give of our hearts, to let them be filled and filled again with the love that consecrates us all. To love one another is to come as close as we ever can to being angels ourselves.”

I’m gonna also talk about herondaisy / jordelia here since I might as well. So, I obviously really like James and Cordelia together and hate am not a fan of Matthew and Cordelia as a couple. Herondaisy… this book put their relationship through a lot, which was definitely what I expected. CC main couples never get together before the last book in the trilogies so I anticipated that. BUT SO MUCH STRESS AND ANGST AND PAIN? That, I was not ready for. The whole book I was screaming at James to take the Gracelet off and then when he finally did?! Well, you’ll see in the paragraph where I talk about the ending. But let’s just say that it made me very mad and I am still thinking about how things could have easily worked out if not for my least favourite trope: communication issues.

Also, here’s a snippet of Will’s advice to James before the wedding… if only James had followed it UGH.

“So here it is: always tell Cordelia what you feel.” He looked James in the eye. “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.”

⇢The Killer’s POV and the Murders

I actually really liked reading those short snippets from the Killer’s perspective. It made the book a lot more exciting and actually made the killer seem more threatening. CC’s books are definitely more character-based than plot-based, but I have to say that this book actually did have a lot going on in terms of the storyline. And that seems to be how her more recent books are turning out.

⇢Grace’s POV and the Flashbacks
I said that this book would make me hate Grace a lot less and I was right. It was really hard to dislike her after seeing just how much Tatiana controlled her and how all she wanted was a friend and a family. It’s obvious that the majority of her bad actions were simply her following Tatiana’s orders and once you read from her perspective you see just how hard it would be for her to break free of Tatiana’s control.

“She would smile at Grace in the carriage as they returned home from a particularly successful night. “You are your mother’s blade,” she would say, “cutting these arrogant boys down to size.”
And Grace would smile back, agreeing. “I am my mother’s blade indeed.”

I didn’t love the flashbacks that involved things that we already knew (i.e the scene where Tatiana says that she’s going to ask James to cut the briars or whatever) but I enjoyed Grace’s chapters overall.

⇢Lucie and Jesse
Wow, I actually liked them so much more in this book. I loved seeing Lucie so passionate about something, and the scenes they had together, including the dance, were very cute.

“Lucie. You were wrong in what you said—but only when you claimed you are not like Princess Lucinda. Not brave or resourceful or clever. You are a thousand times those things. You are better than any imagined heroine. You are my heroine.”

I think things moved a bit fast, but since we don’t know how things ended off after Lucie brought him back, I won’t say that their relationship developed too fast because we don’t even know how Jesse reacted. For all we know, CC may introduce a whole other conflict to separate them in book 3.

⇢Anna and Ariadne
Honestly, I really wanted more development for these two. Yeah, we got to see Ariadne determined to win Anna back, and their scenes at the Hell Ruelle, but what I really wanted was emotional development. And to say the least, this book had practically none.

“Ariadne stepped into her petticoats. “I’m not leaving.”
Anna looked at her with real curiosity. “Why not?”
“Because,” Ariadne said, “when you want something very much, you are willing to accept the shadow of that thing. Even if it is just a shadow.”

Also, I NEED MORE ARIADNE APART FROM ANNA. SHE IS AN AMAZING CHARACTER, SO WHY ARE ALL HER SCENES JUST HER AND ANNA? Especially since Grace living at her house could have been a way for CC to give her some character development… CC please give your sapphic characters a role for once, please.

⇢Thomas and Alastair
WHY DID WE HAVE TO WAIT SO LONG FOR A HAPPY-ISH THOMASTAIR SCENE UGH. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!! The entire scene was adorable… the aftermath not so much. I just really want them to be happy even if that’s sort of wishful thinking…

“You were always my secret,” said Thomas softly, and Alastair turned a startled gaze on him.”

As for their solo development, I of course loved the start of Alastair’s journey. (If you don't like him at this point... All I have to say is HOW??) It was obvious that he made an effort and I loved seeing him healing after all the events that took place in Chain of Iron. Now all I want is for Thomas to be in a better place too so that they can be together. Crossing my fingers for no thomastair death trope.

⇢Grace and Christopher
So… it seems like CC has in fact decided to make Grace and Kit a couple? I don’t want to get into it that much because I know there are super conflicting opinions on them: some people say that they’re cousins and that’s it, and then there are others who argue that since they’re not blood related and that since Grace is more Tatiana’s ward than daughter that it’s okay.

I think I’m in the middle somewhere, so all that I will say is that it’s nice that Kit treats her like a friend even after all Grace has done and that he finally has someone who is interested in his experiments. I honestly just hope that CC will take the less controversial route and make them friends…

⇢The Ending

GOD. I WANT TO ATTACK SOMEONE RIGHT NOW OH MY GOD (/lh). Did I ask for whatever is going on with fairstairs? NO. Did I ask for James to be an idiot and make things worse? DOUBLE NO. Did I ask for Cordelia to misinterpret things and RUN OFF????? NO NO NO. And then the fact that I won’t even know what happens until Chain of Thorns? AHHHHHHH I HATE IT HERE

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ❦ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

My Chain of Iron Playlist:
my chain of iron playlist

MY BLOG ❦

MY SPOTIFY ❦