Bane Chronicles (9) - The Last Stand of the New York Institute by Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson
And to the 9th part: The Last Stand of the New York Institute by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson (Der letzte Kampf des New Yorker Institutes, Le dernière bataille de l'institute) with 59 pages in the German version of the Bane Chronicles Volume.
The Circle rises. Magnus knows that they are going to hit New York and hit hard. Nevertheless, he's taken aback by their cruelty when it happens. Years later, the Uprising has failed and the Shadowhunters involved have been punished. Even though most of the survive, Magnus is more than surprised when one of them suddenly stands in front of his porch, with a little baby in her arms...
Poor Lucian. Seriously, poor, poor Lucian. And poor Tessa. In this story you actually witness the scene in which Valentine tortures that werewolf girl with silver coins... good God. It surprised me that everyone in the Circle was there except for Jocelyn. But she's pregnant... on the other hand, Maryse has a months old son, why didn't she stay home? Well. Stephen is interesting. As is the blind fanatism of him and the rest. It's really fascinating, how charismatic Valentine is, how they all treat him like he's the Archangel himself.
Poor Tessa. The fate of Stephen really had to hit her hard. I wonder why she didn't visit Jace before City of Heavenly Fire. They knew about his true name since over a year...
But the story explains why Magnus helped Clary's Mom. Tessa. Of course, always Tessa. She's just as good a woman as Catarina, even though she doesn't sacrifice so much on a daily basis. I like both of them. They are probably pretty good friends. It would have been cool if there was a story about how Catarina and Tessa met. And about how Magnus and Catarina met – or Magnus and Ragnor. How Magnus came to the Silent Brothers, his whole youth! These are the Bane Chronicles. So many stories have actually no real meaning in Magnus life! No real meaning for the world. Like what happened in Peru. So, why then are not the really interesting things in here as well? I'm not saying that all stories in there are unnnecessary. The whole things concerning the Hotel Dumort and Raphael or this story are important. But some of the others – like the advertisement for the Last Hours – could have been replaced.
Well, to come back to the story at hand. I'd like to have known more about this Whitelaw-generation. When Magnus visited the institute, he could have met Darling Rachel, which would have given her death more meaning and would have explained her family's extreme reaction far better than to simply say she was everybody's favourite.
In brief:
In the end, I give stars for characters, ideas, content and the fanaticism.
Prequel:
What to buy a Shadowhunter who has everything
Sequel:
The Course of True Love (and first dates)