Chain of Gold

The Last Hours

By: Cassandra Clare

Narrated by: Finty Williams

Length: 21 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's Summary

Includes “Fairy Tale of London”, a bonus short story featuring Will and Tessa!

Number one New York Times best seller 

“A pure distillation of fantasy’s enchanting mirror held up to our own truths.” (Entertainment Weekly) 

“Richly imagined...rife with action, intrigue, and smoldering romance.” (Publishers Weekly)

From number one New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Cassandra Clare comes the first novel in a brand-new trilogy where evil hides in plain sight and love cuts deeper than any blade. Chain of Gold is a Shadowhunters novel.

Cordelia Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, a warrior trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to London in hopes of preventing the family’s ruin. Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignations, and supernatural salons, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. All the while, she must hide her secret love for James, who is sworn to marry someone else.

But Cordelia’s new life is blown apart when a shocking series of demon attacks devastate London. These monsters are nothing like those Shadowhunters have fought before - these demons walk in daylight, strike down the unwary with incurable poison, and seem impossible to kill. London is immediately quarantined. Trapped in the city, Cordelia and her friends discover that their own connection to a dark legacy has gifted them with incredible powers - and forced a brutal choice that will reveal the true cruel price of being a hero.

©2019 Cassandra Clare (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio

New Narrator Please!

The story is amazing as usual! The narrator, however, is a different matter. Flinty Williams does little to make a difference in the voices of the characters. Based on previous Clare novel narrators, Williams falls very short. The Merry Thieves should have been great Audible characters especially Matthew but it’s difficult to even tell them apart. Sad! New narrator please.

Hard to follow, too many characters

Wow this book is hard to follow. There are probably three dozen characters introduced within the first two hours, and they all have accompanying family trees that are impossible to keep track of. The characters aren’t very different, either in voice or personality, so trying to remember who is who is difficult. There’s also a lot of standing around and talking for a book about demon hunters. I’m going to give it another couple of hours but so far not a very enjoyable listen.

Eloquent. Entrancing. Exquisite.

A rare, priceless diamond by Cassandra Clare.
Her prose flows like music, her plot is woven in gold and her characters are dreams made true.

⚖️ Plot: I would have queued for days to buy this book just for the bonus story of Will and Tessa’s wedding that we were promised. And it was only when I finished it that it truly sunk in for me that what Clare’s gifting us is another full trilogy of Will and Tessa’s life after marriage! The fact that the rest of the plot is staggeringly brilliant is an added bonus.

🗺 World: For someone who doesn’t particularly like London, it always amazes how much more I appreciate it through Clare’s eyes. It’s a special brand of skill to make even the bleakest of weather sound so romantic. Each time that I’m sure I must’ve seen it all and met every demon there is, she brings in new supernatural and I’m back to learning anew.

💑 Characters: I‘m truly delighted to see this seamless blend of familiar and new characters. This was the link I was missing in the huge time skips between the different series. I wonder if this is why we have a mature sounding Finty Williams as the narrator here. While her reading pace was much slower that I like, her performances were commendable, especially in the Welsh accent of my darling Will!

Cassandra really came THROUGH!

Just some notes While I was reading lol.

THANK GOD FOR THIS AUDIOBOOK! IT SAVED ME! I couldn’t for the life of me read the ebook. The narrator voice is amazing and so soothing and the narrator was even SINGING! I almost cried when James left Cordelia  on the dance floor for grace. I love Mathew so far I swear if Cassandra does him dirty like jem theres going to be a problem! Periodt on that! I really do love the friendship between Mathew and James more then all the other ships and relationships! But I do hope we get to learn more about Mathew in the next book.

Idk if I trust grace somethings weird about her, plus she’s so annoying and so useless. I knew their was something wrong grace that sneaky ass BIHH playing games with our precious Jamie! James has to be under a spell from grace because his love for grace is so unnatural! or this is just some messy ass love triangle yet again just like TID.

I really love Cordelia so much, she speaks her mind, she’s brave, and unpredictable ,smart, and the female character we NEEDED! This is the first cc book where I actually enjoyed the action scenes. IM HERE FOR THE M/M F/F ROMANCES! I can’t explain how much I love Cordelia and James together, even more then will and Tessa. But I don’t know how to feel about the marriage i don’t hate it but I don’t love it because I just want the best for Cordelia. I swear James better not break my girl heart!

I love the whole group of friends fighting together its really wholesome. In the infernal devices I only cared about will now in chain of gold I only care about Cordelia. I CANT BELIEVE IM SAYING THIS, I LOVED EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER EVERY! THIS IS TOP 5 OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS! CASSANDRA REALLY CAME THROUGH! I’m just so happy This lived up to the hype because I was so close to stop reading cc books.
“Their were all heroes.”

Couldn't keep track of what was going on.

I restarted this a couple times or backed up, it did not hold my interest. Slow and too many characters. At times it seemed sort of like a Harry Potter book but never quite as good. Finally gave up on it, something I don't usually do. Please don't ask me what it was about as I never could quite figure that out. Just not my cup of tea I guess.

Cannot wait for the next book!!!

Loved all the characters. So many little open ends that I am intrigued to find out what happens. Loved loved loved the narrator!!

Hate waiting for next in series :-)

Can't wait for the next book and hopefully some of the treacherous people's plans will be thwarted!

Cassandra Clare does not disappoint

I have the entire Shadowhunter series in my Audible library. I have listened to most of them several times over. While some in the series are not my favorites, Chain of Gold is definitely in the top. Then again, the Clockwork series is my favorite of favorites. I listen mostly at work, and found myself taking the long way home to get in just a few more minutes of listening.

The only thing I did not enjoy was part of the performance. Certain characters, ie: Magnus Bane, have a distinct tone and you know who it is before the narrator even tells you who it is. I however did not find this with Tessa as I usually do. Tessa is an American, from New York, however she has an English accent in this book. She has been in nearly 20 audiobooks and her accent has always been American. I am not sure if this is because the narrator is not able to perform in one, or if it was an oversight, but it made it difficult at times to distinguish who was talking when she was interacting with others.

Other than that, the book was wonderful and I cannot wait until the next installment is out!

Beautiful & Complex

I find all of Cassandra Clare’s books complex ,with lots of subplots, action and romance. Knowledge of previous series which contain the characters is also very helpful. I was wishing there was a book where I could just look up the characters! With so many characters in a book is sometimes difficult to follow, especially when you’re listening to a book. The narration was very good, I am looking forward to the next book in the series!

Where’sCyril?

Sophie ascended and Bridget is still in service so where’s Cyril? Brave and stalwart, More lucky than is brother Thomas, Cyril fought against the clockwork army with the other denizens of the London institute and survived yet when the story resumed he’s nowhere to be found. Okay this first book of the Final Hours is a loverly tale of James and the Merry Thieves complete with a family reunion no one would want and his earthly cohorts at Blackthorn House. Flinty Williams delivers a smooth and soothing performance