The Bane Chronicles

Okay okay okay I'm so very pleased. The whole thing was very enjoyable and portrayed Magnus in a very positive light, as very human, very vulnerable, and very fabulous, and very ideal. It's actually a 4.5 stars for me, the half star taken away because one of the stories I wanted to read most (What Really Happened in Peru) was very underwhelming and we never actually found out what really happened in Peru, though it was lovely to meet Imasu and it held some marvelous, quotable bits.
It was fantastic, though, to see Alec, and Magnus with Alec, and Alec with Magnus, my little sweet beans, my sons, my children. I'm even sad that I probably ran out of Malec scenes, though I'm probably missing something in the new series (speaking of, that show more little brief mention of Mark Blackthorne? Please and thank you).
Over all, super enjoyable, even though I'm usually not one for short stories compilations, as it takes me quite a bit to get into each individual story, but that's a me issue. The humor I missed so much in the last Shadowhunter books was very much there, and also the pain and heartache and fluff and butterflies and I am into it.
More, please? show less

https://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/the-bane-chronicles-cassandra-cla...

I’m just gonna go ahead and say it.

Magnus Bane is a sexy, sarcastic, magically gifted Forrest Gump.

Please know, before I go ahead with this metaphor, that Forrest Gump is my favorite movie of all time so this is the highest compliment, I promise.

Basically, we roll through five hundred pages and as many years (if you can trust Bane’s word) and fill in the gaps and shadows behind the scenes from Infernal Devices and Mortal Instruments.

If you have been around me for five minutes over the course of my reading of this world, you know that I am unreasonably obsessed with Magnus. It’s his wit, his charm, his skill, and his habit of, even if a little show more reluctantly, always coming to the aid of Shadowhunters and Downworlders in distress. He is also bi so that’s a super fun, relatable thing.

I am sad beyond measure to be putting his solo book down but on the upside, I know that true to form, he’ll pop right up again in The Dark Artifices.

If you’ve read the other parts of the series and have been putting this one off…go read it, now, please show less

A collection of short stories devoted to the back story of everybody's favorite Brooklyn warlock: Magnus Bane. This is definitely for fans of Clare's other books; a newbie would be completely lost. I've read the Infernal Devices trilogy and the first three Mortal Instruments books, and the only story I didn't really understand was the very last one (which refers to a specific incident in City of Lost Souls). I loved these. I loved seeing more of Bane's backstory, seeing familiar scenes from his point of view, and getting a couple more extra glimpses of the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices characters from outside their personal dramas. Perhaps the best touch was that these were almost all cowritten with other authors. Clare is a show more fine story creator, but her writing leaves a bit to be desired. The influence of the other writers is definitely felt here - for the better. Definitely recommended for fans of the series. show less

This is several stories about the life of Magus Bane. I enjoyed it. He has such personality, and has lived so long. Some of the events and people included were real, but of course things are changed just a bit to include him. Some of the stories are random adventures. Shadowhunters of the past and present from the other books pop up also. Several include a love interest of his. That's what I took away from this the most. Magus never looses his ability to love and yearns to find it. Despite everything he isn't left cold with the idea of life. He's open to it.

The Bane Chronicles follows the the adventures of warlock Magnus Bane, who, by the time The Mortal Instruments series was released (whose events take place in 2008 New York), has become the High Warlock of Brooklyn. He is extremely powerful and of course, immortal. Throughout both book the Mortal Instruments series and the Infernal Devices trilogy, he consistently refers to incidents that occurred to him in the past, but he never really bothers to elaborate on them. This book compiles some of Bane's more illustrious adventures and also helps strengthen the link that Bane has with many of the ancestors of the characters in the Mortal Instruments series.

First of all, let me say that this book was by and large hilarious. Every short story show more that is written here is not only funny, but has a flair for the dramatic, which is just like Bane. However, I will admit that I did not like the first story. It did not appeal much to me but I trudged on, hoping that the next short story would be better. It definitely was. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Magnus was present when Edmund Herondale met his future wife. This couple would go on to give birth to Will Herondale, one of the three main characters in The Infernal Devices. In addition, I was delighted to learn more about Will and Tessa's children (both main characters in TID) since the trilogy did not mention them too much.

Of course, another really nice aspect of these short stories (particularly the last three) is that readers are able to learn more about how Alec Lightwood and Magnus's relationship developed. Alec was a supporting character in the Mortal Instruments series and while some attention is attributed to him, it's largely lost in the shadows of the blazing glory that is the main character Jace Herondale (that was sarcasm there. I don't know why but Jace irked me in the series, possibly because I thought it was drawn out and I liked his ancestor Will, much much better). So, for readers that were wanted to see more the Lightwood siblings, it's nice to see more of Alec and understand how his feelings developed better. Also, we get a cameo by his kickass younger sister Isabelle.

There are many little details that I liked in this book and I think it's the main reason why I enjoyed it so much. Picking up on references and once again reading about other characters such as Raphael the vampire and Ragnor Fell the warlock, was definitely a treat. Magnus's wit and sarcasm also make the stories extremely enjoyable and I flew through the book. I find that the Shadowhunter World can be a hit or miss for me, but this was definitely a hit. show less

What Really Happened in Peru
I liked getting to see more of Warlocks living and interacting together. I felt so much for both the boy and for Magnus, how this is two different stories and loves and lives through two different eyes. I also love seeing how much you can go through, accept and forget if you are among those who are living forever. I'm not sure this was long enough to warrant a huge write-up yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how that goes.

The Runaway Queen
Gah. And then GoodReads ate my review for this one after I wrote it up. Lets see if I can do a fast split out on it all again.

Installment two! We are now out of Peru and into Paris. We engage politics with both Downworlders and with crossing into the French show more Revolution (as a lot of this has to do with, as the title says, "The Runaway Queen," of whom we're speaking of it's not too hard to guess then). I loved that in this one we got more into intruige and magic, into the political lines of who can do what, when, with who, and why, especially under what rulers, at what "seen" and "unseen" levels of society.

Vampires, Scones & Edmund Herondale
All my hearts, stars and love, again.

This one, more than the one before it, took me back into the enchanting world I loved.

The slow grace of the Mages, Vampires, and Werewolf romances. I was so, so, so moved by how Camile, Magnus, and Ralf romance triangle worked here. The way we're continually looking at the choices people make when they watch mortals or other immortals in love. The last conversation with Camile and Magnus seriously locked it in for me in this book where it came to this subject.

As for the rest of this books, oh my god. WE NEED MORE SCONES! I think that should be the caption for this one. The politics were delightful! Horrid, terrible, oppressing, oppressive, looking down their noses, asking and agreeing to terms only if people would agree to be slime and then scoffing when the dirt under their feet came expecting what they were offered, equality. I was so hurt (and by that HAPPY) to see how the Accords came about. That it took anger, hurt, insult, growing, everything on all the sides before it happened.

I loved that we see how it divides the lines between The Shadowhunters and the vampires, the mages, the werewolves. Who was willing to play ball after the big explosive conclusion and who really wasn't.

And, of course, Edmund Herondale. Who you can't help but love. Being a dashing Shadowhunter, watching him make choices of daring and do to talk to Magnus, to court the beautiful woman he saves, and where those ripples lead. The way we know what will become of that life, and it's so painful almost then. Wistful, sad. Because you see all his potential and we already know (as readers of the series) what will happen to him, his wife, his children, the box he's keeping.

The Midnight Heir
I think, oddly enough, the thing that made me love this book most fiercely was the end of it. Yes, I did adore getting to see the trio, and the fact they are almost almost entirely still addressed as a trio, or as three different equally important relationships all existing side by side with each other. But my favorite part -- about this being Magnus's book and series -- is the end. Because he leaves. Without helping. Emotional and dramatic as he is, and he goes home. Without helping. And finally I got to see the him that wasn't saving the day, that was just a little too old, and not wanting to be involved, and that felt right, for how often it's all referenced being in there.

The Rise of the Hotel Dumort
These are becoming like monthly popcorn, and I have to say I think there's something to it. It's like tv snippets, or comic books on Wednesday, and I'm kind of learning to slow down and love getting a monthly slice of Magnus's life. Getting to check in on him, through the years and through my busy weeks and months, as these tiny bites are released.

I loved this one. A great little story folded around the events of Prohibition and The Great Depression. While one is happening, and leading up to/going through the other. The non-involvement of the supernatural kind, and the whole idea of being outside of time. What is the fall of one economic system, after all, when you've already lived through the rise and fall of whole countries and continents during your life?

I like the way a lot of things are spun differently, and we still have Magnus wandering around with his heart on his shoulder even if it is the kind of heart that would as soon forget you as charm you as wander two floors away and hide from you. I find him to be compelling character for all of these things, and because of a lot of the way we play with history in these.

Saving Raphael Santiago
Very much so a delightly. I love getting more morsels on Magnus, but I loved seeing a secondary character who was so staunchly himself. That needed direction, knowing both what he didn't want and what he had, but could not turn away. The mother was brilliant, but I loved best Raphael and even his friendship with Magnu's bur of mage friend best. All these tiny glimpses into the world that made up our favorite demon-mage, friend and baston of the main books.

The Fall of the Hotel Dumort
This is another one of those I'm not quite sure how I feel about. It's a very middle of the road and middle of the world story. It's drug use, and collapse, the nitty gritty of this time period. I definitely didn't dislike it, but it simply didn't end up being a favorite story of Magnus's.


I did love the ending and the choice he made regarding his love. Both for her and for himself. It felt complicated and the kind of thing he would do.

What to Buy the Shadowhunter who has Everything
I really did kind of love this one. I have a hapless adoration for the moments when immortals fall in love with very mortal people and suddenly have no idea what to do to talk to/display their affection to a mortal person, because they've strayed so far from mortal things for so long, that they wander around confused like teenagers again, even with their great age and history. More of this. Love.

The Last Stand of the New York Institute
This one was good but not quite as good as the one I read before it. I did love getting to see more of Tess and Clary's mother. I did love getting to see more of Valetine's Circle in action -- both those who knew what they were doing and delighted in it, and those were disgusted with realizing just exactly what they'd fallen in to.

I like the idea Tess was the one to decide about Clary, but I also feel like that is major revisionist history at work, when it was never part of the original Magnus telling. And I'm also a little sad it didn't go any further past the point it ended at a little too safely.

The Course of True Love [and First Dates]
I madly, truly loved this bookend story to our whole roller coaster with Magnus. I love just how terribly uncertain and certain everyone is, and how they keep messing up from both sides, and that outside world is not helping him them in the slightest really. But the nugget of gold at the center, that feeling of newness and wanting, is so fragile and raw and true. I love that we see a shadow hunter helping someone for no more reason than to help, and I like the tenuous feeling of hope and fledging joy at the end. show less

Short stories about episodes in the life of Magnus Bane. Some were better than others, but the variety of readers was good. Cecil Baldwin's story sounded very Night Vale-y. Also Andrew Scott, who was perfect for a story that reached back to Will and Tessa, but was a bit too soft to listen to in the car. Entertaining, but I'm not really a fan of short stories, and everything felt quite disjointed.