why was the intermission grief chapter just Cordelia crying over James in her bed (who was alive and well in Edom chilling with Matthew having food served to them) instead of Christopher’s friends actually grieving over his death at his funeral 💀

I don’t think I’ll ever get over hearing “girl is in her forest gump era”

"I'm more upset about the fact that I didnt love it" THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL OMG like I actually cried because I didnt love COT and gave it 3 stars

i'm not gonna lie i cried every single time jem and will's names were mentioned in the same sentence

"am I so hard to love?" shattered my poor fragile heart to pieces.. ooh that hit deep

We were cheated out of a bunch of scenes.... mourning over Christopher's death and his funeral, everyone finding out about London and how select people stayed back, the second marriage runes, the meals between the Carstairs and the Lightwoods.... we also could've used more herondaisy moments

We were robbed of a funeral. We could’ve had ragnor fell tearfully mentioning all the havoc Christopher is causing in heaven. I can’t believe we didn’t even see Cecily and Gabriel’s. At least Grace and Anna had some moments

i totally agree with you on the love triangle thing. Tbh, I’m one of those people who think that it should’ve been Lucie, Jesse and Matthew since that aspect of having one lover who is alive and the other who is a ghost is something we definitely have not since before, yet cassie chose the basic route 💀

Saw someone mention that Chain of Thorns is the last time we’ll see Will Herondale alive and well and I had a breakdown

I think that the whole "Cordelia ran" should have been condensed to three times: the one time in ChoI, at the beginning of Chapter 23, and at the last line. It would have been like a thing where the first time she's running FROM James, then she's running TO James, and then they're running together. I think it would have had a bigger effect.

Honestly I wish we could’ve seen the remaining Merry Thieves visit the Devil Tavern one more time at the end of the book. I think it would’ve helped to just let the characters (and readers) sit and feel Kit’s loss and have some closure there

i do think the writing was different, but what most bothered me was SPOILER ALERT 1. she completely disregarded christopher's death? i think the reason this book wasn't as heartbreaking as clockwork princess or qoaad is because she just didn't *write* his death or everyone else grieving him. one second he's hurt, the next he's dead, and we barely get to see james, matthew or anna reacting to it. i felt a bit cheated, tbh, i think he deserved better. and 2. matthew's character arc that she's been building since before chog was just thrown in the trash! the whole thing of the baby and charlotte was barely revealed, we barely got to see him telling james and the scene where he tells his parents (literally what he's been dreading for years) was just skimmed over. i think she dealt with the alcoholism part of it well, but at times she focused his arc so much on him suddenly being in love with cordelia that she completely lost all the potential of heartbreak that it had with the whole story of charlotte's baby and what he did (and that has been eating him from the inside for literally years). honestly, this could have easily been cassie's best trilogy and then so many things were rushed in the last book and so much potential was lost, i'm actually sad about it.

I loved the book, but was sad that they never said “Ave Atque Vale” to Christopher. That was the first time in all the books that a death did not have a proper goodbye. Also, some other things, but I love James and Cordelia too much to not have enjoyed it.

I'm the biggest Matthew Fairchild stan, bestie. I can't believe cc made the (bad) love triangle his only personality and didn't use him for a better subplot and then the other one he has, she doesn't develop it well

The way you described how normally you are lost in her books and in this one you felt you were reading a book… same. I normally am so engrossed in her books I am completely absorbed and can’t put them down. With this one, I could put it down and just didn’t feel as engaged or emotionally invested.

Having binged the three books in one week i can confirm that the writing was different in the third one. There were so many repetitions in the wordings but with the scenes as well. I feel like it could have benefited from editing, and maybe reworking the story, but also CC spoke on social media about feeling burnt out from writing (specifically this series) and wanting to take a break before writing the wicked powers, so that may be related...

her writing did feel very different. i completely agree. it was also hard for me to accept as someone that has been a fan of hers for so many years😭 i’m sad this series is over thank you for the amazing videos

Time to reread The Infernal Devices now because Will, Jem and Tessa never disappoints us ❤

I think because clockwork princess was the first true finale of a series that she wrote (not really counting city of glass here) everyone was tricked into thinking that cassie clare can always write an immaculate finale, when in fact every other finale she's written always seem to have an aspect of either too much convenience plot-wise or too many open ended or unresolved questions because they all serve as some sort of setup for the next series; the latter i don't think is necessarily a bad thing, it just ends up making her finales not really feel like finales and there's always some aspect of disappointment or dissatisfaction

I also expected Matthew to be the one to die, simply because I felt that it would have been a beautiful scene where Will could help James through the death of his parabatai because he also experienced it. And just a sidenote, I felt as if Lucie and Cordelia were not best friends AT ALL. I mean they fought so much and over such unnecessary details ( for example, Lucie did not know Grace controlled James through the bracelet, and also, why was Lucie so upset that Cordelia had a crush on James for a long time? Like, sure she should have told her that, but also, it doesn't really matter all that much like come on). And yes the fact that Cecily and Gabriel did not get a grief scene is criminal. And there should have been more domestic Herondaisy content

INFERNAL DEVICES REREAD VLOG SERIES MAY BE THE BEST IDEA IVE EVER HEARD i know so many people doing a full tsc series or tid reread after this book the timing would be PERFECT

Christopher was my favourite character from the first time he appeared in „Tales of the Shadowhunter Academy“ & his death was heartbreaking. But not because of how it was written, but because of how it was overlooked and brushed off. There was no real grief, no reactions from his family (other than Anna) and everyone seemed to get over it SO quickly 💔

I felt disappointed by this finale 😭The writing felt off and the characters sat around for a lot of the book doing nothing. But I was happy to see almost everyone get a happy ending.

So excited to watch this! Imo there was a lot of wasted potential and it was underwhelming in places like Matthew telling Charlotte and Henry about the secret was completely glossed over, James telling his parents about the bracelet, lightwoods finding out about Jesse... Just so much. Also there was not enough herondaisy, like chess??? Second marriage runes😭😭?? Wasted too much time on the dumb love triangle. Christopher defending grace right after James just told everyone about the bracelet was so unnecessary and weird. And killing him off after just seemed like a cheap way to have his words have more impact and get everyone to give Grace a pass. Not saying she doesn't deserve some sort of happy ending but eeek. Also speaking of, nobody gave a crap kit died 😭like we didn't even see cecily and Gabriel's reactions? No funeral? Everything got resolved wayyy to easily at the end after all that set up. Still really loved some parts like the romances we did get, the James and Matthew scenes in edom and merry thieves coming to help matthew. Also the part when they sent the first fire rune got me crying. Sad tlh is over :(

If you think this series had everything wrap up too quickly or had too much of a happy ending, just remember that no matter what, Tessa will go on to live through the deaths of both of her children!! 😃😃😃

Okay I’ve officially finished the vlog and I 100% agree with everything you said. I think it’s so disappointing that this book was just so absurd plot wise. There was so much potential and I’m so sad it didn’t live up to it. I think what really got me was how she wasn’t showing us anything important. Like where was the full scene of math telling his family about the issue, James telling his parents about the gracelet, James and Cordelia’s wedding runes, Jesse’s full identity being revealed, the mortal sword being used on lucie about her powers, math getting more help with his alcoholism, a final scene with the Merry Thieves without Kit, and finally where the HELL was all the grief and mourning about Kit??????????? Like ohmygod??? She glossed over it so quickly and didn’t seem like any of them cared that he died???? Anna was the only one I sensed any sort of grief from and maybe Thomas but James and Matthew??? Where was all that? She wrote grief and mourning out SO WELL in Queen of Air and Darkness but in CoT??? Nope we’re just gonna move on. I’m confused why so many things were told to us rather than show us was my whole point lolll. One scene I had full confidence was going to show up, but didn’t, was a scene from math’s pov where he feels the Parabatai rune like start to fade or feels pain when James was stabbed and everyone who was with him runs towards him as he falls to the ground or something like that then it switches to Cordelia healing him. That would’ve had a huge impact bc there’s a pause before he’s healed. Idk this book was unfortunately super disappointing and underwhelming to me, I hope TWP wraps everything up

fun fact: on her tumblr, cassandra clare said the og epilogue was James on his death bed seeing all his friends waiting for him bc he outlived all of them (they died "so horribly so long ago" - actual quote) so yeah, there's that!

I'm so scared for Ty and Kit, they deserve a great trilogy

The most disappointing thing for me was lack of reaction about kit death, I'm really sad and angry that cassie didn't show us Cecily and Gabriel reaction to kit's death.😞😑 And cassie PLEASE leave the Lightwoods ALONE, in every series she kill of the lightwoods. I want my lightwood_bane family, izzy and simon alive at the end of TWP. 😭😭😭

I have so many issues with this book, and the series as a whole has lost a lot of the quality it had because of it. I'm a little scared of TWP, not gonna lie. Ty and Kit are everything to me, and I don't want to see her treat either of them the way she treated Cordelia in this book... 🥺

Spoiler alerts: but the only thing I learnd from reading Chain of Thorns is that Esme writes fanfics, and doesn't give two fs about canon. For her Christopher is alive, gets married and a happy life XD XD

I loved COT but I did feel something was missing. I wanted to be an emotional wreck but I just wasn’t. I feel Matthew’s story was unfinished, especially because we never got his POV in the last hours. I’m hoping something happens between now and TWP which means he’ll be in the TWP.

I don’t know if it was just me, but I loved Christopher soo much and that's exactly why I'm so mad that she made it extremely obvious that she does not care about him. I feel like his character was underdeveloped and that his relationship with Grace deserved a happy ending. For me personaly, seeing a character who was into science like myself has been such an amazing experience. Killing him off like that before we got a chance to get more attached to him was a violation 🙂

I have never read a Cassie Clare book in my life but I’m so excited about Hanna’s reaction to the finale 😭

Yasss please re read TID and make a vlog too. That's my favorite series and I'd love to re read them too

Girl this book let me down hella big. Yes the writing I agree was just sloppy. The plot was all over the place and there were so many times I was saying “but why not do THIS instead??” I was really frustrated that so much happened off the page that we needed pay off for- Grace telling Cordelia about the bracelet, Matthew finally talking to his parents for example. I also feel like Christopher’s death was SO glossed over. Livvys death was such a pivotal moment in LOS and I feel like his death was not given the same treatment at all. So so so much disappointment

I'm actually of the opposite opinion that this book/series should have been longer, imo it should have been shorter, a duology would have been enough. As much as I love these characters the truth is that the plot of of this series was very lackluster and, like you kept mentioning, it felt very repetitive. By being a duology we could have killed Beliel after the whole possessing Jesse thing (and avoid the whole pointless plot of Lilith) and also avoid the love triangle/frustrating miscommunication. It could have just been a duology with much of the same plot but without the overuse of tropes and scenes.

Hey, Hannah, I don’t know if this is in every Chain of Thorns copy, but in mine, it has a part after the epilogue. So once you finish the epilogue, there should be the “Notes on the Text” part, and right after that is a bonus story called “Aught but Death” and it does indeed show Cordelia and Lucie’s parabatai ceremony. I know you were upset that they didn’t mention the ceremony in the book, but you probably will be happy to know that Cassie Clare did add an additional story about it!

I’m very sad about Christopher. He was the character that I related to the most.

i have not read a single cassandra clare book since clockwork princess when i was in middle school but i am having the time of my life watching this. seeing people care so much about books they love makes me so unreasonably happy

am I the only one that didn't forget about the marriage runes cordelia and james were supposed to draw on eo? it felt like the book was building up to a scene for that after the wedding or when they finally confessed their love for eo.. but it never happened?

Belial's motivation for me was that he is just completely infatuated with humanity. Even though he constantly downplays his motives and appreciation for it in the presence of others. To me, this is his way of compensating for losing God's favor as a fallen angel and becoming part of the creation he is so obsessed with once again.

Also a whole segment dedicated to THE Chapter 23 WE LOVE TO SEE IT

43:45 was literally me when I read it. I came up with hundreds of reasons why he couldn't be dead and refused to believe it until the very last pages of the book. And then came my reactions of TEARS

Watching this while never having read a Cassandra Clare series after mortal instruments reminds me of my friends telling me gossip of people I do not know and I love it

Yes to The Infernal Devices vlogs!! That would literally make my LIFE

I wish the Cordelia Matthew James love triangle had been Matthew Lucie Jesse. I think Cassie always intended Matthew to end up losing the girl and I much rather would have preferred him to "lose" Lucie. It made more sense because we weren't sure Jesse could even come back to life so it might've given us hope for Math and Lucie but then Lucie and Jesse become endgame in the end. That would have been so much better than parabatais fighting over the same girl AGAIN. the Cordelia James Matthew love triangle was literally pointless

i’m screaming the last hours taylor’s version playlist is PERFECT 😭😭😭

IT'S HERE EVRYONE DON'T PANIC I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS EVER SINCE I FINISHED THE BOOK I NEEDED TO SEE YOUR REACTIONS TO EVERYTHING

I liked graces and Cristopher relationship, i was pretty sad when he died and we didn’t get to see grace’s reaction to him laying there unalive. AND, i was hopping for more Anna and Aris content

"I am naive to trust the tree" ... no truer words have ever been spoken. 💔💔💔💔

I felt very similar as you about this final book. There were too many characters and not everyone got fleshed out. I'm a Matthew stand and I wanted more Matthew. I was hoping for Christopher & Grace to get together. I wanted more from Lucy & Jesse's relationship. I cried when Cordelia let Matthew down. It was just so much and the book felt very chaotic. I also was confused about where the plot was going until Lilith made the comment about the sword being able to heal and I was like ah ha. I gave the book 4 stars. I think Chain of Iron was my favorite in this trilogy.

chapter 23 sent me into one of the most extreme spirals i have ever experienced and I think it changed the trajectory of my life

I think the reason why CC became (for lack of a better word) lazy with Chain of Thorns is because she also had her newest Adult series to write as well. We all know that Shadow Hunters is and will forever be her main breadwinner when it comes to her authorial work. She'll forever earn money because of it, and so she knows that even if chain of thorns is not her best work, she'll still earn money because of it.

watch me sit down for an hour and watch this like it's a movie

The way you agressively tabbed that page at 32:36 was such a mood HAHA

The heartbreak thing is so true I cried when Christopher died but I expected more emptiness it was just kind of forgotten about.

I think the length of the book would have been fine if Cassie cut down on the info dumping and repeating and focused more on the relationships. Matthew and James needed more scenes, I NEEDED to see the scene where James and Cordelia gave each other their marriage runes, and Gabriel and Cecily reacting of Kit's death, and it didn't feel right when the characters barely cried over Christopher, since they were so close, and the emotional impact would have been there if we saw how the other characters reacted to the loss of one of their best friends. It just wasn't enough.

I think we can agree that Chain of Iron is the best book in this trilogy no?

48:33 “he is dead” i died with him

I'm going to miss these reading vlogs so much. It's so much fun watching you go through the exact same emotions I went through while reading these books. Thank you for making these the past few years

I am so excited! I have been waiting for your reaction! I loved the book so much!!!!!

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SINCE THE RELEASE DATE!!!!! I'm so excited to watch this!!!!

i've been waiting for this for what seems like forever!!! im so excited!!!

Apparently Cassie was going to make the ending sadder but she didn't want to continue with that ending because of COVID. I kinda wish she stuck with that ending

Omg! This is also what I've been waiting for, Hannah! Your reading vlog! 😭❤️

The reason why I was hyped as I was for the COT release is because I knew this vlog would soon follow 😭😭 I unfortunately haven't finished it yet but I have read a good majority of it so I will watch until the parts that I have gone through. Thank you for your hard work on this vlog 💖💖

No cos I totally agree with your thoughts on this one and the writing style and everything. I binge read this series for the first time through Jan prior to the release of chain of thorns and I was OBSESSED with the first two books. Loved them. But the third one I, like you, gave it three stars and just felt like there was something missing.

I literally loved this video you are so relatable I cried when you cried and made inhumane noises when you did too 🤧I'm gonna miss you talking about this series but hopefully you will do reading vlogs for the wicked powers when it finally comes out and we can go through this pain all over again 😫😍

i agree with pretty much everything you've said! i read the whole book within 12 hours of getting my hands on it and spent the entire time muttering curses under my breath and pacing around my room and screaming into a pillow, but overall it was definitely underwhelming as a series finale. i'd never experienced that feeling of disappointment for a book before, and i walked around in a daze for a long time after i finished it just trying to process. so thanks for the video to validate basically every thought I had about it!!!

I am literally pausing Howl's Moving Castle to watch this because I cannot wait to hear your thoughts!!

SPOILER FOR GHOSTS OF SHADOWHUNTER MARKET- The version of Belial that owes Jem a favor, the one we see in the Coda, appears in the "Learn about Loss" story in Ghosts of the Shadowhunter market. Belial tells Jem about the lost Herondales and, thanks to Sister Emilia, also gives Jem one last chance to spend time with Will, and it's heartbreakingly beautiful. Having read Ghosts, I was waiting for Belial's supposed debt to the Carstairs to be explained in The Last Hours and was definitely expecting it to be some sort of deal Jem makes with Belial to save Cordelia's life and preserve the Carstairs family (because they couldn't defeat him otherwise). This explanation was fine but a bit underwhelming and convenient- though I guess it underscores Belial's cleverness. He basically tricks Jem into it, knowing he can collect on it later and possibly gain something in return.

I LOVE watching your vlogs, it's like spending an afternoon together❤️❤️❤️

yes please do the reading vlogs for the infernal devices!! i’ve already skimmed them and spoiled everything for myself but i just bought them to officially read and would love to hear your thoughts

Hey Hannah I'm from India I love books I've been following you on KZfaq since 5 years And now that I've read considerate amount of books, I took inspiration from you and started my own bookstagram. Just wanted to say thank you for everything I've learnt from you❣️

I’m happy I’m not the only one who felt that this one was off. Where the hell did the parentheses in sentences come from???? I was also incredibly annoyed by how drawn out the drama was. It weighed the book down so much. The love triangle felt so forced the whole time because it was so obvious that Cordelia was not romantically interested in Matthew the whole time. I literally agree with everything you’re saying. I was just waiting for the end because of how much it DRAGGED. I am so mad that Christopher died. He brought science into everything and was the heart and soul. I thought it was ridiculous. I feel like the rush of trying to save him or find an antidote and not knowing what would happen would have been more of a rollercoaster. Okay. Rant over. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

thank god this series isn’t the last time we’ll see of Will like we’d all thought😭i gasped so loud at cassie’s london event last year when she said he will make an appearance in the wicked powers😭

I love seeing you get so excited over books! Makes me smile!

i remember when i saw ur goodreads rating i was like YES EXACTLY HOW I FEEL im excited to watch this omg

Ever since I saw your goodreads review I have been WAITING for this omggg

I literally just picked this up today, and immediately was wondering when you would put this reading vlog up😂😂. I love these.

I have been waiting what feels like so long for this video!

I've been waiting for your upload ever since I finished reading the book. excited to watch your reactions!!

The Jem/ Belial thing is addressed in one of the short stories from Ghosts of the Shadow market! Also my edition had an extra that included the Parabatai Ceremony?

I still can’t believe I love Alastair so much, I hated him when I read tftsa but he’s the best

Honestly I agree with everything you said. After finishing the book I was so emotional about it mostly because it was over, but I did expect it to hurt more. I did keep track of the times that I cried/felt really emotional (16 times haha). But the points you made were valid and I think we all expected more from this series than what we actually got. Did I enjoy the series? Absolutely. Did I have fun reading this book? Of course! But the Infernal Devices will always be King. I would love to see you do a reread of them and make a series out of them like you suggested at the end! A deep dive on my favorite series would be so fun to watch!

I've never read a Cassandra Clare book, but it has been such a joy watching these feature length reviews from you!!! Your reactions are EVERYTHING.

Ahh thank you so much for this video! I was so excited to see it!

Ok I’m gonna wait on this one cuz I still have to read COI and COT. Can’t WAIT to hear your thoughts!! Also, I absolutely LOVE your reading journal!!

The way I've been WAITING for this video

Loved the video! Thank you for your honesty! Could you do more reading vlogs on different series? Loved watching these so much!

yayyy it's here!! I've been looking forward to seeing your reactions and hearing your thoughts!

I’ve been WAITING for this ahhh

I saw your Goodreads review and couldn’t wait for this video because I also gave this book 3 stars. I agree with everything you said, you really put what I was feeling into words. Chain of Gold might actually be my favorite shadowhunter book so it’s really disappointing that the trilogy concluded like this. Matthew and Cordelia were my favorite characters for book 1 & 2 but I felt so underwhelmed by them in this book. Also, I might be reading too much into things (and the family tree🥲) but I think that maybe CC originally planned for Matthew to die instead of Christopher. Like Matthews ending and overall arc felt a bit rushed and not complete & I don’t understand why we had the Christopher/Grace stuff if nothing was really going to come from it.

Hannah. Please, please, PLEASE make the infernal devices reread vlog series.

I'm so happy we are getting your back to back videos... Waiting for all the vlogs for infernal devices series ...💕🥂

I rlly appreciate your honesty and willingness to openly discuss the books you're reading. some time has passed since I finished reading cot and I think I couldn't fully process it right away. but hearing your thoughts helped me make sense of everything and look at the book from a bit of a distance. I agree with you that considering this is the final book in the series, possibly the final one set in edwardian london, it felt incomplete and lacking some depth. I admit that I had high expectations bc her series have always found a way to surprise me and tug at my heartstrings. and I'm not saying that this one didn't, but like you said there were recycled plot points. I wanted the romantic relationships to be explored some more. I wanted a character's study on matthew, a lot more could be added to his storyline. I wanted more repulsive villains that I felt strongly against, not ones that had superficial motives for their actions. selfishly, I wanted more will-jem-tessa scenes. they could've helped their children more, or at least guided them, instead they were sent off to idris. I understand this series requires a lot of consideration and time and planning to write bc the cast of characters is so numerous and vibrant. but that's why I was looking forward to it so much. I just wish there was more attention to detail and character development. nevertheless, it's still one of my favourite series with some of my favourite characters that I'm gonna miss and keep thinking about for a long time

omggg been waiting for this video it’s finally hereeee

I totally agree, I was underwhelmed by this one. Thanks for your blog!

Omg I would love for you to do a vlog of the infernal devices books ! I was left feeling kinda empty after finishing chain of thorns and actually want to re read the infernal devices again as well ! Love your videos as always Hannah!