Book Review: The Bane Chronicles (1 - 11)

The Bane Chronicles
by  Cassandra Clare
Date Read:  4/27/15
Rating: ★ ★ ★

My husband bought me the compilation of these books.  There was no way I was going to pay $3/e-book.  And I’m glad I didn’t, because there were a few I didn’t particularly care for and would have been upset if I’d paid $3 for it.

I won’t go through and review every single story, but I’ll talk about the ones I liked and didn’t like.  I really didn’t like the “What Really Happened in Peru” story.  First, I could tell that it had been collaborated on.  Second, it was all jumbled and hard to follow. And thirdly, YOU DON’T FIND OUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED!  Seriously?  And that was what started off this book….do I need to tell you that I then had pretty low expectations for the rest?

I did really enjoy “Vampire, Scones, and Edmund Herondale” because who doesn’t love reading about Herondale boys? And it was actually interesting because it was during the time they were trying to pass the Accords.  This was the first interesting story of the Bane Chronicles.

The Midnight Heir was one of my favorites because it brings back all the characters we love from The Infernal Devices series – Tessa, Will, Jem, and Magnus.  If you have not finished reading TID series, don’t read this book! It will have a major spoiler for you.  I loved seeing all of them grown up and as parents now.  Definitely a must read.

“The Rise of the Hotel Dumort” and “The Fall of the Hotel Dumort” were meh to me.  I didn’t love them and didn’t hate them, they were just there.  Interesting just based on importance to the series, but the stories themselves weren’t that great.

I enjoyed “Saving Raphael Santiago”.  Raphael is actually a very interesting character.  His family is very religious, so watching his inner turmoil as he now has a damned soul is very captivating.  I actually liked the relationship between him and Magnus as well.  Overall a pretty good story.

“The Last Stand of the New York Institute” was a good read too because it finally tells the story of watching Valentine come to power.  You see all the characters from The Mortal Instrument Series within Valentine’s Circle….and finally, we got the full story on when Jocelyn brought Clary to Magnus.  That was by far my favorite part of that story.

The hardback book had an additional bonus story “The Voicemail of Magnus Bane”.  It was kind of funny…but also a little long and obnoxious.  If you just read the ebooks, you really aren’t missing anything in this.  It’s just a bunch of angry voicemails.  I think Simon’s voicemail was my favorite…but the rest, specifically from Isabelle, were mostly annoying.  If you have the hardback, read it.  If you didn’t get the hardback, you’re not missing much.

Overall the stories were good.  I’m still very glad I didn’t buy each individually since there were several I didn’t like.  Honestly, after reading the first two, I probably wouldn’t have continued buying them…and if that were the case, I would have missed a few good ones.  I think Cassandra Clare should stop milking this series and write something new. I know we all love this world and she’s created characters we love, but she’s going to get to the point where people are sick of it or she’s going to do something to a character that we won’t forgive her for – I think of the epilogue to Clockwork Princess – I still refuse to acknowledge that it exists.