"The Red Scrolls of Magic" - Cassandra Clare with Wesley Chu

"The Red Scrolls of Magic" by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

SUMMARY:

All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation—a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke.

Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand and its elusive new leader before the cult can cause any more damage. As if it wasn’t bad enough that their romantic getaway has been sidetracked, demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever—even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping.

☆

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd

368 pages

WHAT I LIKED:

The idea of a demon-hunting tour of Europe could have been really interesting. After all, it's an interesting spin on such an overdone concept. It would have been really interesting if the book didn't feel so touristy, it would have been more interesting if they went to countries or areas less popular. Paris, is a bit overdone. It would have been nice to see Portugal and Southern Spain instead of so many chapters on Paris and Rome/Venice. Or perhaps Northern and Eastern Europe for even a greater change. 

I did like that they went on the Orient Express, I thought that was really fun. And it is something that I would love to have the opportunity of doing. However the chapter on the Orient Express was rather silly.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

[...and there is a lot.]

I found this book to be riddled with gay stereotypes, and all originality and depth behind these characters that I used to love, were reduced to chararicature-like qualities. What really annoyed me, was that every single chapter focused on what they were wearing and what clothes they had to buy. Having Magnus critique everyone's clothes, and dressing up Alec. It was so stereotypical and kind of offensive really.

Part of my issue with this book was that it didn't read like Cassandra Clare's writing-style at all. Not even in the slightest. It was messy, and had a completely difference voice than all of her other books. Clearly Chu, wrote this story for Clare and she just capitalised on it, putting her name huge on the cover. But this was not a story for Chu to write and the fact that he did was inappropriate. He wrote LGBT characters like they were a different species almost. Clare was always really tasteful in how she portrayed queer characters in her books, this book was anything but tasteful. 

Honestly, why did Clare approve of this? How did she read this and think that it fit into her series. This was just really boring, poorly written fan-fiction. 

There was so much poor writing in the action sequences, which read so robotically. And in Chu's weak writing habits in general (lots of telling instead of showing).

This book was such a disappointment, and I nearly had to DNF it. If it wasn't for the audiobook, I would have. But the audiobook was terrible too, the accents made absolutely NO SENSE at all. 

I am rereading "The Infernal Devices" at the same time, and the differences between Magnus in each of these books is kind of ridiculous. They aren't even remotely similar in their characterisations. Magnus in "The Infernal Devices" was so interesting and original. What happened?

OVERALL:

Like I said, this book was a massive disappointment. The cover alone is bizarre when put next to the other books in the series. It's clear that while the characters belong to Clare, the story is not her own. And thankfully so, because this was a disaster!

I'm unsure as to whether I might continue this series or no. Reading the excerpt of "The Lost Book of White" at the back of the book intrigued me. There is a good chance that I might continue this series, but I'm not overly eager to read anything by Chu again. And will make note, not to try any of his books in the future.