Book Review: The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson

Magnus, you were trying to flirt with your own plate

It’s been awhile since I read anything by Cassandra Clare and I wanted to revisit her world of Shadowhunters. I decided to start with The Bane Chronicles because I knew I loved Magnus a lot in all the Shadowhunter books.

Book Review: The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

Rating:


Title & Author: The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson
Genre: Fantasy, Humor
Release Date: November 11 2014
Series: The Bane Chronicles
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Synopsis

This collection of eleven short stories illuminates the life of the enigmatic Magnus Bane, whose alluring personality, flamboyant style, and sharp wit populate the pages of the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices.

Originally released one-by-one as e-only short stories by Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, and Sarah Rees Brennan, this compilation presents all ten together in print for the first time and includes a never-before-seen eleventh tale, as well as new illustrated material.

I give The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson four out of five hearts. I still think Magnus is the best character from the entire Shadowhunter Universe, but not all of the short stories were extremely good.

My favourite stories were What Really Happened in Peru and The Voicemail of Magnus Bane, but everything else I liked only a little bit less. Only The Midnight Heir, The Rise of the Hotel Dumort, The Fall of the Hotel Dumort and What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything I didn’t really like. Most of these were written with Maureen Johnson, I don’t know what that says about the collaboration between Cassie and Maureen. But I have the intend to read Truly Devious by Maureen, so I hope to see if that brings me some insight in why I didn’t like those stories. The novellas are very funny, some are just better than others.

Overall I think that if you like the Shadowhunter Universe, you will like The Bane Chronicles for certain. Magnus is a witty character and that comes across very clearly. Cassandra Clare has him completely worked out and (in my eyes) Sarah Rees Brennan knows how to use that to her advantage. Maureen Jonhson seems not as capable in doing that. The short stories are still really great. But Johnson’s and Brennan’s work are different and you might not like the difference too much.

Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.

For now, let books enrich your life!

Goodreads
Cassandra Clare
Sarah Rees Brennan
Maureen Johnson

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