The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu
All Magnus Bane wanted ws a vacation – a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke. Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand and its elusive new leader before the cult can cause any more damage. As if it wasn’t bad enough that their romantic getaway has been sidetracked, demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever – even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping.
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Alec and Magnus are my favourite characters in the entire Shadowhunter world so reading this book has been a must for me for a long time now. It didn’t disappoint! It is a spin off from Cassandra’s “bigger” series about the Shadowhunter world so it’s fun and short and sweet with just enough angst to really dig in deep. The growth between Alec and Magnus in this book was so nice to see because in The Mortal Instruments series it feels like we miss a lot of that. After this book they continue to be my favourite Shadowhunter characters and their trust and communications puts all others to shame! I’ll definitely be reading the sequel.
This book takes place in the missing moments in between City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels while Alec and Magnus are travelling through Europe, before they get called back to deal with Camille. I will say, having read this book and then knowing what happens next is a bit jarring. It seems so unlikely that after all they’ve been through in this spin-off story, they’d continue to be untrusting and jealous as soon as they get back to New York. It doesn’t fit the narrative for me. There was so much character development in this. Alec got so much more confident in himself and his relationship and Magnus learned to trust a little more and to let himself fall even knowing in the end he’ll still lose everyone he loves. As soon as they get back into the regular series, it’s like all of the development disappeared. That’s my only complaint and it doesn’t even have much to do with this book.
It was a log less PG than a lot of the Alec/Magnus stuff we’ve seen in the past in the main series and the banter between them was alive and well. We also got introduced to some other amazing characters and had cameo’s from some old favourites. We got to see how Aline and Helen met, learn a bit more about Raphael, and meet some of Magnus’ warlock friends (Tess was there! Tessa was there!!). Also getting to dig deeper into Magnus’ past was fun (I will never read The Bane Chronicles because there’s just tooooo many). The only thing truly missing was the beloved team of misfits that usually backs this couple on their adventures.
It was fun, it was adventurous, there were some extremely tense and angsty moments, and we had a happy ending…. AND a cliffhanger because Cassandra Clare is cruel. I highly recommend it if you’ve read any of the Shadowhunter books. I know there’s a lot of spin-offs but this one is definitely worth it and I feel fits more into the regular plot. 5 stars.