Review: Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale

Today the third installment of The Bane Chronicles – Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale – is available as an ebook and we already have a review for you which, unlike my review for What Really Happened in Peru, isn’t spoiler-free. Don’t worry though, I’ve marked the spoilers.

Here’s the synopsis:

Magnus Bane leverages his alliances with Downworlders and Shadowhunters on a venture to Victorian London.

When immortal warlock Magnus Bane attends preliminary peace talks between the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders in Victorian London, he is charmed by two very different people: the vampire Camille Belcourt and the young Shadowhunter, Edmund Herondale. Will winning hearts mean choosing sides?

Let me start with this, I loved reading every single page! I laughed out loud at so many passages and my heart also broke a little bit, especially at the ending. If you are a fan of the Herondales (like all the girls here on TMI Source), you will love this ebook and I’m sure even non-Herondale fans will enjoy it very much. There are so many great lines in Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale – I added 24 notes and bookmarks on my Kindle because some comments were pure gold!

The story is set in London in 1857 and we meet a lot of characters we already know from Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices – Camille, Edmund and others 😉

These ties to TID are very nice and made me smile many times. There are also references to the first two installments of The Bane Chronicles, but you don’t have to know what happened in these to follow the events of this ebook. TBC #3 also answers a question that some The Infernal Devices fans may have asked themselves – it relates to a pair of parabatai (not Will and Jem), but that’s all I’m going to say.

These peace talks between Shadowhunters and Downworlders are incredibly frustrating to read unless they talk about scones so it’s good to know that things will change in 2007 (The Mortal Instruments).

The book is fast paced and funny right from the start. Magnus is enamoured by Camille Belcourt and her bosom and is then a bit torn when he meets the young and handsome Edmund Herondale. We’ve all been there, don’t worry Magnus 😉

Although you will probably smile or laugh a lot while reading, I also really enjoyed the serious topics. Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale is also about sacrifice, prejudice and fighting for what you believe is right. I think Cassandra and Sarah found a very nice balance here.

Now to the spoilery part of my review – highlight the text to read it.

For me, Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale comes very close to a love story. We have Edmund and Linette, Magnus and Camille, and Ralf Scott and Camille. Undoubtedly the focus is on Edmund and Linette though. It was great to see where Will got certain character traits from and I loved how Edmund turned from a young man who didn’t believe in marriage to someone who gave up everything for his one love. My chest constricted and I shed a tear when Edmund was stripped of his Marks and like Magnus I wanted to save him from this excruciating pain.

Reading about Silas Pangborn and his parabatai made me even more excited for The Dark Artifices because I really, really want to know why parabatai aren’t allowed to be in love with each other.

I liked how selfless Magnus was at the ending– he knows that he is immortal – so he steps back to give Ralf Scott a chance to be happy with Camille first. Sadly, we know that both love stories  don’t have happy endings.

I know I’ve said it before, but I truly loved this ebook. The main characters are charming, witty and not afraid to spring into action when necessary. The secondary characters plus the new information we get about the Shadowhunters from The Infernal Devices were interesting and I hope we’ll get even more information in The Midnight Heir. I’ll end this review with two quotations that struck me the most, but I won’t reveal the speakers’ identities.

“I am not perfectly certain I believe in marriage. Why have just one bonbon when you can have the box?”

[…]

“Very well,” x said. “Let us pause for a moment and consider—oh, you have already run off. Splendid.”

Cassie and Sarah did a marvelous job and I can only say thank you for the reading pleasure! This installment of The Bane Chronicles is now my favorite – 5 out of 5 scones – and I cannot wait to meet yet another Herondale in The Midnight Heir (July 23)!

How did you like Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale? Sound off in the comments!