I just finished reading the Bane Chronicles, by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson.
This is a novella consisting of short stories about Mangus Bane - his past and unusual adventures. I read this as a part of Just Another Shadow Marathon!
I do have one suggestion: If you pick up this novella, make sure that you have read all of the Shadowhunter books first - both The Mortal Instruments series and The Infernal Devices! This gives a good background about Magnus but would spoil absolutely major points about the story plot of the main series!
"It is not easy being Magnus Bane. As a warlock, he's often called upon to fix the problems of others. His life has been long, and his loves have been many. And Magnus has a way of making sure he's in the right place at the right - or perhaps wrong - time. The French Revolution, Prohibition, the first great battle between Valentine and the New York Institute...
Magnus was there, and usually in the middle of it. Magnus will never be able to tell all of his tales. No one would believe him. But these eleven stories shed a little light on his often inscrutable character. They are stories he probably wishes had never got out."
Magnus was there, and usually in the middle of it. Magnus will never be able to tell all of his tales. No one would believe him. But these eleven stories shed a little light on his often inscrutable character. They are stories he probably wishes had never got out."
Each of the stories were unique in their own way - some really brough an interesting background for TMI and/or TID - while others were fun little anecdotes about everyone's favorite immortal.
One thing I absolutely loved was that each of the stories came with a one-page manga/comic strip relating to a part of the story. These were so well drawn and fun and quirky! They gave an idea of the tone of the story without giving anything away and were generally super fun!
I'll go through this review story by story. I'm not going to try to hide spoilers, so goodbye non-spoilery people! Note: The spoilers are for TMI/TID, it's hard to spoil short stories =P
What Really Happened in Peru
This story was probably one of my favorites! In one of the Mortal Instruments books, you learn that Magnus was banned from Peru, and refuses to say why - This story has a bunch of short stories that go over all of the stupid and/or unfortunate things that happened to/by Magnus in Peru... yet you never get to know exactly why he was banned from the country. You get a great introduction to Ragnor Fell and Magnus's background in general. This story was super fun and quirky, and often let me sitting there shaking my head and giggling!
The Runaway Queen
For me, this story was less interesting than the others - Magnus helps the Queen of France escape during the French revoltion. You do get a really cute relationship starting between Magnus and Axel, yet the story in general didn't catch my attention as much. I'm not too sure why, it just didn't stick with me ^^
Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale
This short story was so great! This is the point at which Magnus first meets a Herondale, Will's father. His dad is really cool and suave, just dropping in by jumping off of the roof, kind of like Jace! There's a cool fight scene in which Edmund saves Linette, a mundane, with Magnus helping out. There's a lot of Nephilim-Downworlder discussions, which is always interesting to read about, and there's more Magnus and Camille! One of the best short stories of the novella :)
The Midnight Heir (!If you had to choose one to read and liked TID go for this one!)
My feels broke on this one, over and over again. Why? The Infernal Devices, that's why. You guys know that that trilogy is a part of me and I love it and it gets to my emotions time and time agian. I can't wait to read it again! This short story is about Tessa and Will's son, James, who goes from being a super sweet, model teen to a rebel, because he believes he's damned. He is in love with Grace, another shadowhunter. Magnus brings him unconcsious to Will and Tessa, and they call upon Jem (Brother Zachariah) to help them heal him, and their encounter practically had me in tears. It was beautiful.
The short story went from emotional to really good when Grace started trying to kill Magnus. This is the shadowhunters I know and love!
The Rise of the Hotel Dumort & The Fall of the Hotel Dumort
To be fair, I mostly skipped these short stories. They didn't interest me as much as the others. There was a lot of tension and too many unfamiliar names for me to latch onto the story as much as the others.
Saving Raphael Santiago
This story, however, I really enjoyed! Raphael is a very enigmatic character in The Mortal Instruments, and it was great to have some of his background as well. His mother approaches Magnus to save him, thinking he's dying. You meet Raphael right after he transformed and killed the head of the vampire clan out of bloodlust. He's about to jump into a patch of sunlight when Magnus saves him and brings him to his house to live in, until he can pass off as a warlock rather than a vampire. Loved it!
What do buy the Shadowhunter who Has Everything (And who You're not Officially Dating Anyway)
Aah, a Malec story! This one was really cute! It's all about Magnus asking people what he should get Alec for his birthday, all while summoning a demon for a customer. This one was just a fun, quirky read! The demon, Elyaas, was the best!
The Last Stand of the New York Institute
This story was epic! It was about the end of the Circle, when Valentine had the Shadowhunters working against the Downworlders. There is an epic battle scene in which Magnus is trying to save a little werewolf girl while getting stabbed by Valentine, you get to read about when Jocelyn started bringing Clary to get her memories wiped, and you generally have an amazing background for at least the first three Mortal Instrument books! Highly reccomended!
The Course of True Love (And First Dates)
In short terms - Malec's first date. This story didn't contribute to the context as much as the previous one did, but it was cute and fuzzy and a must-read for any Malec fans!
This novella was super entertaining! I would reccomend it to any Shadowhunter fan!
I'm giving it a 4/5 feathers! Even though I didn't put much deapth into reading every single one, the ones that I did read were amazing!!
Have you read The Bane Chronicles? What did you think? Let me know! :D
Stay bookish!
I've read the Bane Chronicles! It was fantastic, though I agree that they were a bit too short for my liking. I particularly liked the comics! They were the highlight of my reading experience ^.^
ReplyDeleteThe comics were amazing! if only there were more, hahah
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