Hello everyone!
A good friend of mine, who is just as much a devout Shadowhunter fan, convinced me I need to go back and sit to the second trilogy in the Mortal Instruments series, which is how I remembered, because I'm like that, that I had never, in all actuality, finished reading the collection of short stories concerning Magnus Bane.
THAT kicked me into super high gear, because Magnus might just be one of my all-time favourite characters, and coupled with Alec Lightwood it's easy to figure out just why I like him so much.
But he's quite likeable of his own accord, too!
Anyway, I first got into Cassandra Clare's books on a whim after starting Shadowhunters, and deciding I wanted to know more about this world of hers.
Then I realized I'd already read some of her things, those hilarious short diary entries about Lord of the Rings characters, and I fell with gusto on her original writings. I have to say I've enjoyed the lot of them so far even though it shows they were written for YA.
Some of the teenage stuff that happens in the books is ... well.
But with Magnus, there's a whole OTHER set of problems!
There are ten short stories in this collection, plus a bonus one of voicemails from a certain warlock's phone which only make me giggle harder. Magnus has such a personality that I really don't know how I've managed to survive not knowing him for this long.
I'll go through them all briefly.
What Really Happened in Peru is a collection of vignettes about Magnus and several other warlocks, Ragnor and Catarina, who keep popping back into the story, and what happened to ban Magnus from Peru. Unfortunately, sinking cargo ships, aiding criminals, and horribly mangling an instrument aren't actually reasons for his banishment. Truthfully, neither Magnus nor we ever get to know the reason - the warlocks of Peru simply ban him.
My bet is on his musical inclinations.
The Runaway Queen meets up with Magnus when he's living in Paris right around the time of the French Revolution, when Axel von Fersen asks him to aid the Queen of France in her escape. Of course, Magnus does this spectacularly - with a balloon - and ends up in trouble with vampires, and the Revolutionists, and has a crush on Axel, but luckily he emerges out of it alive.
The same couldn't be said about Marie Antoinette, but, you know.
Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale is basically the story about how Shadowhunters are incredibly hard against their own members. The other things that happen are less important to the fact that Edmund Herondale, who is the father to Will Herondale, falls in love with a regular human, and as she has responsibilities she can't Ascend, and so he is stripped of his Marks and thrown out of the ranks in disgrace, and into exile.
The Midnight Heir tells how Magnus returns to London and reuintes with the Herondales, because Will and Tessa's son, James, seems to be head-over-heels in love with a beautiful girl whose mother ... is insane. Luckily however, Magnus finds the boy and delivers him back to his parents, but even HE is creeped out by the mother-daughter duo, who want to kill Shadowhunters to transform their life fire into dark magic.
The Rise of the Hotel Dumort, aka the den of the vampires, sees Magnus Bane in New York, living the jazz life, as the financial situation in the roaring twenties deteriorates. He also runs into someone else we know - Camille Belcourt.
Saving Raphael Santiago introduces us to the Raphael we love to be annoyed by, although in these short stories he's far more amusing than anything else. A mother hires Magnus to find her teenage son, but Raphael is beyond saving seeing as he's a vampire now. But, Magnus DOES convince him that he doesn't need to just make a break for it, so he did something good with that, right?
The Fall of the Hotel Dumort is the continuation of the Rise short story, only this time Magnus is contacted because vampires under Camille's leadership are pretty much acting out, and no one wants the Shadowhunters breathing down their necks. What happened is that Camille and her cohorts were drinking blood from people who were high as kites ... and getting high themselves. Honestly, Magnus just kind of closes off the Hotel until the lot cleans themselves out.
What to Buy the Shadowhunter who has Everything (And Who You're not Officially Dating Anyway) is the longest title I have ever seen, but it tells about Magnus and his problems because he doesn't know what to get Alec for his eighteenth birthday. In the end, he settles on making sure Isabelle, Alec's sister, gets some extra kick to her weapon that should protect her, and is pleasantly surprised because Alec chooses to visit Magnus even though the warlock originally thought the boy would spend the day with family.
The Last Stand of the New York Institute delves into the time when Valentine Morgenstern and his Circle were only just beginning their rampage, and sees Magnus plead for help from the Institute, only receiving it to see the Circle kill off the Shadowhunters who come defending innocent werewolves they had wanted to kill. The story ends with Magnus and Tessa meeting Jocely and Clary, and agreeing to help her shield the girl from her heritage.
The Course of True Love (And First Dates) is both endearing and hilarious as it's about Malec's first date which begins awkwardly, goes into them saving a teenage werewolf from herself, and ends with a steamy makeout session in Magnus' loft. Really, how can you NOT love these two?
Also, Alec falls down the stairs. Priceless.
The Voicemail of Magnus Bane is a collection of voice mails several people connected to Alec, and Alec himself, leave Magnus after our favourite couple hit a rough patch, and we can only assume that Magnus does not, in fact, speak with Alec for a considerable time.
The last one was heartbreaking in a way, but then again I'm counting on a HEA!
If you have yet to read these, you really, truly have to, because Magnus is hilarious.
And he has killer fashion sense. Although how one could defeat Shadowhunters in neon pink colouring is still beyond me ...
xx
*image not mine
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