chain of iron ranting
honestly tbh iâve kinda just been struggling over this book like . i love it but there are so many things that i cannot get over so...i thought iâd compile them in one post just to get my mind off them
positives
of the many, many character relationships, i found myself caring the most about jordelia (w/ some matthew) and grace w/ everyone (surprisingly). itâs pretty obvious why i care about jordeliaâfrom all the domestic scenes to the almost absurd amount of miscommunication and heartbreak, i want to slap them both in the face and just get them to be happy. ofc, i understand why they arenât, but iâm mad (and waiting for chain of thorns).
ofc, when we talk about jordelia, we have to mention matthew. i am literally praying that matthew and cordelia arenât the final coupleâwhich is funny, because pre-chain-of-iron i was rooting for fairstairs. but iâve backed up on that decision. we saw real, genuine james in this book, and all the scenes with him and cordelia convinced me that jordelia (hopefully) is what weâll get in the end. and besides, cordeliaâs sorta said that she canât love matthew in the way he wants her too, and iâm half-convinced matthew doesnât actually love her in that way eitherâhalf-convinced, though. chain of thorns chould change my mind, iâm open to suggestions.
grace is slightly different. we got a look into just who she is, and i find myself...not liking, but understanding her better. the moments when she stops herself from using her power on christopher is one of my favorites (iâm still mad she pulled a one-eighty at the end though and pretend like it was nothing)
i love alastair in this book (...though i found myself not caring about him with thomas, which i found curious). we see more of the mature side of him, and heâs really one of the only characters who isnât flat-out lying in this book, which is refreshing. i found his attitude towards his father interesting, and his little thing about the child not having a father was heartbreaking. loved him here.
negatives
now that iâve got the stuff i liked out of the way...the negatives. i found myselfâsurprisinglyânot too fond of jesse and lucie in this book. i understand lucieâs motivationsâshe both âlovesâ jesse and owes jesse for jamesâ life, even if jesse wonât hold her to that. but man, i donât understand all the secrets. when lucie stood in front of cordelia, who was trying her damn hardest to not run a sword through lucie, all she could think about was jesse. jesseâs dead, and while she might have the power to save him, that isnât a healthy relationship. theyâre cuteâiâll give them thatâbut chain of gold didnât give us a glimpse into how far sheâs willing to go for jesse, and i donât like this new development. sheâs putting jesse over everyoneâover cordelia, over her entire family. and iâm not happy about it. imo this is a fantasyâlucie getting to be the main hero of her story, only itâs not a story that can have a happy ending. at least, in my opinion.
speaking of that, i thought there were several things that were forced in this. it might be because i hate that cordelia ran off with matthew (though i understand why she did it), but i think the whole âjames lucie will only listen to youâ argument is stupid. weâve never seen a case of this beforeâof lucie listening to james over her parentsâand i feel like it was a plot device used only to make sure james didnât run after cordelia and matthew.
i also found the whole âwin a game, get a questionâ thing a bit peculiar. itâs rarely used as more than an exposition device, and we see it used once so that cordelia can find out why the merry thieves hate her brother (to my memory). i think i would have liked it better if weâd gotten more moments with thisâafter all, they play chess or some other game every night, and we could have gotten so many moments (iâm still mad that we never got the end of the scene where cordelia is like âif you wanna know who i had a crush on you gotta beat me at chessâ like i want to see competitive james).
the...meh
there was stuff i wasnât too excited about here either. the plot was decentâi didnât expect the lilith twistâbut something about the pacing felt old. too slow in some places, and too fast in others. also thereâs more than one plot line here, and while the murder one was cool, the resurrection one felt a bit...messy. it kind of splits into twoâwhat lucieâs doing, and what grace is doing, and lucieâs gets a lot more of the spotlight. not really a decision i likedâi find graceâs motivations and how far sheâs willing to go more interesting, and iâve already discussed why i didnât really like lucie in this book.
i found anna and ariadne boring too. iâm not a person who cares about...steamy scenes that much, and steamy pretty much defines most of their relationship throughout the book. i would have liked it better if we spent more time on it, but this books juggles a lotâand i mean, a lotâof relationships, and it felt underdeveloped.
i also had some qualms about the dialogue. maybe itâs just me, but sometimes it took awkward jumps to reach certain conclusions (like there was a checklist for certain dialogues) and it didnât feel natural. but thatâs just me being picky.
...oh and iâm on the edge about alastair and thomas. the fact they spent their time together making out isnât something i liked. i would rather have them talk, because thatâs kind of what their relationship needs. i completely understand why alastair turned him down at the end, and while i pity thomas, i canât say i disagree.
i also canât understand why magnus and james spent so long in the spiral labyrinth. i read the short story at the end, and it kinda felt like a reason to just not have two trustable, actually sane adults to help. maybe i missed something (i was running on very little sleep by this point) but i didnât get it.
...well that was me ranting. i donât expect anyone to care, but i like writing things down. anyway (if anyone has finished this to the end, in which case, iâm thankful) have a wonderful day :)))


















