Book Review: The Bane Chronicles

Title: The Bane Chronicles
Author: Cassandra Clare
Co-Authors: Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson
Series: The Mortal Instruments / The Infernal Devices
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Magic, Short Stories
Published: 2014
Read: February 2016
Rating: ★★★★

My Copy

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
Cover: Paperback
Purchase Location: Hugendubel

Goodreads Summary: It is not easy being Magnus Bane. As a warlock, he's often called upon to fix the problems of others. His life has been long, and his loves have been many. And Magnus has a way of making sure he's in the right place at the right - or perhaps wrong - time. The French Revolution, Prohibition, the first great battle between Valentine and the New York Institute... Magnus was there, and usually in the middle of it. Magnus will never be able to tell all of his tales. No one would believe him. But these eleven stories shed a little light on his often inscrutable character. They are stories he probably wishes had never got out.

My Review

For the first half of this book I would have only given 3 stars, but reagrding the fact that I really enjoyed the second half I gave it a star more. I really enjoyed the stories, but the first few stories were too much and too long. Cassandra has a talent to describe things in so many descriptive words, that there barely is any more space for imagination (which isn't a bad thing, but sometimes it's just too much). 

So the book contains 11 short stories from Magnus' past and they really shine a light on different events. We get to meet a lot of known characters and also a few famous ones (for example Queen Marie Antoinette). Vampires, Scones, and Edmung Herondale nd The Last Stand of the New York Institute were kind of depressing because the stories have a deep meaning (especially if you've read both The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments. We finally learn how Raphael Santiago became a vampire and I think I actually have a little sympathy for him now, because I never really liked this character. The story about the Circle (Valentine's followers) surprised me and then just left me there thinking: "Why?" Valentine was really cruel and this story just underlines that because we learn how they attacked a werewolf pack. 

The Course of True Love (and first dates) & What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You're Not Officially Dating Anyway) were for obvious reasons my favourite chapters. I'm such a huge Malec fan and I really cherished these stories and was devastated that there wasn't more. I need more Malec! I think I nearly passed out reading 'The Course of True Love' because it was all I needed and now I need more! Does anybody know if there'll be more Malec stories? Because I'm in desperate need of them. 

The Voicemail of Magnus Bane was the shortest read and also quite 'amusing'. Well it wasn't really amusing, but I have no idea how to put it better in words. It makes me like Isabelle that much more and seeing that even Clary and Simon tried to convince Magnus to give Alec another chance just makes the character relationships so much more compacter. 

All in all, very amusing. I really like how the stories go through different time periods and also tell us about the world in different ages. It also shows how Magnus evolved as a character and how exhausting it can be to be immortal. His humor made up for all the long pages and I really am glad for this book! 

I hope that there are many more Malec stories to come because I will NEVER get enough of them!

My Tip

If you haven't read The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices I would keep my hands of this book because you won't understand all the references, puns and jokes and definitely won't get the importance of these short stories. If you have read the two series then I strongly recommend you read this book because you will love it!