‘Chain of Iron’ hits #1 on New York Times bestseller list!

Good morning, afternoon or evening! You may have already seen the announcement on social media, but if you have not: Cassandra Clare’s Chain of Iron is a New York Times best seller! The book hit the number one spot on the Young Adult Hardcover List.

Congratulations, Cassie! I am so thrilled for you ❤
Cassie also took to her Instagram stories to thank her readers:

Due to the current pandemic, a real book tour for Chain of Iron was sadly not possible so everything happened virtually this year. The only UK tour event was last Thursday with journalist and author Anna James, whom some of you may know from past London events/tour recaps. Cassie and Anna chatted about Chain of Gold and Chain of Iron, research, the characters, and more. I wrote down the most important or interesting information that Cassie revealed. Make sure to make it until the end because there is a Chain of Thorns tease. 😉

• The family tree and The Bane Chronicles stories were kind of why Cassie decided to write The Last Hours.
• It was nice to introduce Cordelia because Cassie had more freedom to create her. We hadn’t met Cordelia’s parents before whereas we knew all about Tessa and Will. Cordelia is definitely the heart of the books.
• Having a big cast of characters is fun and also challenging because of different arcs. All characters play a part.
• Right now she would love to be a Shadowhunter with Cordelia, Lucie and James instead of Tessa, Will and Jem. She loves them all, but since she’s spending so much time with the first trio, she’d pick them. She is always happy to revisit with the trio from The Infernal Devices, though. Besides, if she picked Cordelia and Co, she’d get Tessa and Will as adults.
• The theme of Chain of Iron is secrets: what’s the end results? Who knows about what?
• Cassie would write a spin-off story about Matthew, it’s be “fun to do.” She also mentioned that Matthew doesn’t believe he is deserving of requited love.
• Cassie is always doing loads of research for her books and also involves her friends and even her mum! They all acted out a fight scene while they were in London. It’s important for Cassie to know stuff like “How long does it take to get from place a to place b?
• Cassie misses doing research in person, she loves the area around Borrow Market and she has often stumbled upon interesting places that have then made it into her books (like the Cross Bones Graveyard in south London).
• She spent six months reading Edwardian literature and books about the Edwardian era and often finds really interesting information during her research.
• Research is like an iceberg, you only see 10% on the page. For Chain of Iron she has learned a lot about Edwardian houses and how they are set up.
• Because of her research for Chain of Gold, Cassie wanted to know less about pandemics when the current one started last year.
• Due to the pandemic Cassie was mainly alone when she worked on Chain of Iron and there are themes of disconnection in Chain of Iron that may reflect her feeling of loneliness.
• Cassie’s grandfather Max Rosenberg lived on Curzon Street and that’s why the street is featured in Chain of Iron.
• The Hell Ruelle is part fantasy, but based on real literary salons. The French word ‘ruelle’ refers to the space between a woman’s bed and the wall. It was a slang term for literary salons in Paris that were almost always run by women.
  The Hell Ruelle is “meant to amuse and delight” the Downworlders and it’s also a place for LGBTQ+ characters.
• Slight spoilers ahead! When writing sex scenes, Cassie keeps an eye on the explicitness but there is a lot of sexy business in Chain of Iron. There is one couple that quickly jumps into a very intense physical relationship. They are not addressing the major problem at the heart of the relationship that’s preventing them from having a more committed and serious relationship. Instead of having a conversation, they are having sex.
• Cassie is defensive of love triangles, which are often dismissed in YA, and adverbs.
• Cassie is still in the first third of Chain of Thorns and she is switching between it and Sword Catcher. She knows what is going to happen in Chain of Thorns.
• Chain of Thorns word clues: Paris, kidnapping, Cornwall, a party where a terrible thing happens, death (“somebody’s gonna die”), inventions, science, secrets revealed, a new Shadowhunter arrives in London.

That’s all for today. Congrats once again to Cassie! Chain of Iron is now in stores.