The Most Important Things We Know About ‘Chain of Thorns’

Happy Tuesday! It’s the final Tuesday without Chain of Thorns and as it is tradition here on TMI Source, I have compiled a list of pretty much all the things Cassandra Clare has shared about the final The Last Hours novel. If I did in fact miss any information, please send me the link and I will add it with credit.
Ready? Here we go! 😀

Synopsis

James and Cordelia must save London—and their marriage—in this thrilling and highly anticipated conclusion to the Last Hours series from the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Cassandra Clare. Chain of Thorns is a Shadowhunters novel.

All first edition hardcovers will include full-color reverse jacket art, ten black-and-white interior illustrations, and a bonus short story!

Cordelia Carstairs has lost everything that matters to her. In only a few short weeks, she has seen her father murdered, her plans to become parabatai with her best friend, Lucie, destroyed, and her marriage to James Herondale crumble before her eyes. Even worse, she is now bound to an ancient demon, Lilith, stripping her of her power as a Shadowhunter.

After fleeing to Paris with Matthew Fairchild, Cordelia hopes to forget her sorrows in the city’s glittering nightlife. But reality intrudes when shocking news comes from home: Tatiana Blackthorn has escaped the Adamant Citadel, and London is under new threat by the Prince of Hell, Belial.

Cordelia returns to a London riven by chaos and dissent. The long-kept secret that Belial is James and Lucie’s grandfather has been revealed by an unexpected enemy, and the Herondales find themselves under suspicion of dealings with demons. Cordelia longs to protect James but is torn between a love for James she has long believed hopeless, and the possibility of a new life with Matthew. Nor can her friends help—ripped apart by their own secrets, they seem destined to face what is coming alone.

For time is short, and Belial’s plan is about to crash into the Shadowhunters of London like a deadly wave, one that will separate Cordelia, Lucie, and the Merry Thieves from help of any kind. Left alone in a shadowy London, they must face Belial’s deadly army. If Cordelia and her friends are going to save their city—and their families—they will have to muster their courage, swallow their pride, and trust one another again. For if they fail, they may lose everything—even their soulsThe chapter titles

The book trailer

General information

• Chain of Thorns is 778 pages long. (UK: 678 pages due to a smaller font.) It has 35 chapters, 167 scenes, an intermission, a coda and and epilogue. The final word is “ran“.
• It is set about one week after Chain of Iron and opens with Cordelia and Matthew in Paris.
• Words to describe Chain of Thorns: 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.
• There is one romantic scene in Chain of Thorns that Cassie is excited for us to read because she thinks it’ll surprise us. There is one romantic scene that doesn’t play out in the expected manners where people will think “Woah, I did not know this was gonna happen!”
• “There is an interesting Jem POV at the end of the book in which we find out the answer to a pretty important question about Belial.”
• We’re going to new places like Paris and the Gate to Nowhere in London “plays an important role” in Chain of Thorns.
• “Someone we know and care about does die in Chain of Thorns, maybe more than one but at least one.” 😥
• Cassie thinks her readers will have complicated feelings about the end of Chain of Thorns. Some are going to be really happy about some of the characters, others will be like “It’s just good that you survived” and some will probably not be happy about what happens with some characters. Cassie said that the third book is the hardest because “usually, structurally, that’s where bad things happen and you cannot put certain things off anymore.”

The characters

Alastair

• Alastair is looking after Cortana and he is actually using it because it attracts a lot of demons. The demons are trying to steal Cortana from him.
• “Alastair and Matthew both yell at Charles. At the same time, even.”

Ariadne

• Ariadne will choose a new name for herself.
• Ariadne is going to live with Anna.

Cordelia

• She meets a ghost in Paris. This ghost is someone important in her life who tells her that “terrible danger is coming.”
• The secret of the necklace will be revealed. ❤

Grace

• Grace is in jail in the Silent City.
• Grace and Christopher “definitely interact. Christopher needs help with his fire message plans.“

James

• James shows up in Paris at a “very bad time.”
• He takes Jesse shopping for new clothes. [The tweet with the question got deleted, but I know it was about James.]

Lucie

• There is a reason why Lucie flinched when she practised the parabatai ceremony with Cordelia. It has nothing do to with the parabatai oath and Lucie’s powers, though.
• Lucie and Cordelia have a fight, which was painful for Cassie to write, and then Lucie writes The Wicked Queen Cordelia where Cordelia is put into the dungeons.
• We are going to see more of James and Lucie’s relationship and how James is going to react to what Lucie did at the end of Chain of Iron.
• There might be consequences to Lucie’s actions.

Matthew

• Matthew is thinking stuff that Cassie doesn’t want us to know so that’s why he won’t have a POV.
• Matthew’s time in Paris will have similarities to Oscar Wilde’s time there but there are also going to be differences. Matthew also wants to tell people his secret, “especially his family, especially his parents, especially James.” Telling Cordelia was easier for him because she doesn’t know and love Charlotte.
• Matthew is attempting to solve his drinking problem in the wrong way.
• Matthew “takes someone shopping for waistcoats.“
• Matthew tells Cordelia how he could afford a flat: he has some extra money that was willed to him by grandparents.

Other characters/information

• Two Truths and a Lie:
  “One of the people who runs a major institute is killed by a demon.”
  “Belial flies around on a giant talking bird.”
  “One of our main core characters dies but is reborn as a vampire.”
• Effie and Jem will return.
• We will find hear about Rupert and find out whether he still loves Tatiana.
• The reason why ghost!Jesse and ghost!Rupert never saw each other is revealed in Chain of Thorns.
• “We will find out why “Mina is not in danger from Belial” and why she won’t have powers like her siblings.
• This was originally a question after Chain of Gold was published since we didn’t get an answer in Chain of Iron: “we will eventually find out why, in Learn about Loss, Jem and Belial seem to kind of know each other.”
• We will find out why the Clockwork Princess family tree isn’t correct. Cassie “invented a character called Esme Hardcastle. Esme is working on the family tree and is “clearly a bit unhinged”. She asks the characters terribly personal questions that they answer incorrectly but Esme still writes everything down. […] Esme wants to be very accurate but her family tree actually ends up very inaccurate.”
• The name of the Blackthorn Sword will be revealed.

Please bear in mind that some information given by Cassie could have changed during writing and might no longer be in the book!

We also got two new snippets last week, the first from Cassie’s publisher and the other one from Cassie herself.

This could be James talking to Matthew, or Cordelia talking to Matthew?

Since the quote is about books and love, it must be a Herondale talking, right?

You can click here to catch up on all the snippets that were published.

If you want to check out the beginning of Chain of Thorns, you can watch the video below where Cassie reads from the book:

This is it. We are so close to the publication of Chain of Thorns and I couldn’t be more excited! Now there’s only my review left, which I am going to share on January 31.

Pre-order Chain of Thorns now to get a Collector’s First Edition. The first edition will have ten illustrations by Alexandra Curte, a reverse cover and a short story featuring Lucie and Cordelia’s parabatai ceremony. You can also still order the Illumicrate special edition.

Chain of Thorns is published in one week! 😀