The Red Scrolls of Magic

By Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

From #1 New York Times bestseller Cassandra Clare and award-winner Wesley Chu comes the first book in a new series that follows High Warlock Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood as they tour the world after the Mortal War. The Red Scrolls of Magic is a Shadowhunters novel.

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.

Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black and Sara J. Maas.

Also by Cassandra Clare:

The Dark Artifices:
Lady Midnight
Lord of Shadows
Queen of Air and Darkness

The Eldest Curses:
The Lost Book of the White
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Apr 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781471162152

Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare is the author of the #1 New York Times, USA TODAY, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestselling Shadowhunter Chronicles. She is also the coauthor of the bestselling fantasy series Magisterium with Holly Black. The Shadowhunter Chronicles have been adapted as both a major motion picture and a television series. Her books have more than fifty million copies in print worldwide and have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Cassandra lives in western Massachusetts with her husband and three fearsome cats. Visit her at CassandraClare.com. Learn more about the world of the Shadowhunters at Shadowhunters.com.

Reviews for The Red Scrolls of Magic

[linyarai · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was set after the first war, and there were a lot of feels going back so far. Any mention of Tessa, Jem, or Will always gets to me. I did enjoy the story and the beginning of these character's relationships.

[theyodamom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent audiobook, fabulous narration. Magnus and Alec in the new days of love and distractions are everywhere.

[hauntedghost · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

TLDR: Cassandra Clare finally learns to write well written gay characters, develops a sweet and wholesome plotline of a holiday gone wrong, and somewhat redeems herself of the terrible characterisation she gave Alec in a series that concluded five years prior to this book being published.

☆☆☆☆☆

Who knew 397 pages of sweet, dramatic gay love would inspire me to write a 600+ word review? Buckle in for a ride folks, because this gay disaster has a LOT of feelings about this book.

It's been seven years since I was a tired 15 year old swearing off Cassandra Clare books forever, tired of the seemingly same plots popping up in every one of her series. With this bitterness, I think I tainted Clare's writing in my mind, because reading this series was almost like coming home. Clare has a way with words, but especially a way with dialogue, which is unique to herself.

This book. God, this book.

Before I get into a rant about character analysis (a good rant!), I'll speak about the book itself first. This is set obviously very early on in their relationship; after City of Glass, but before the following book in the series (the wiki indicate they've been together for about two months at that point, but I'm not sure that feels necessarily accurate) The book is about a sweet vacation for lovers gone wrong -- in the first few chapters, we meet Tessa (best known from Clare's 'The Infernal Devices' series, and find out that Magnus jokingly started a cult decades ago. As things often go in young adult action/fantasy/dramas/whatever you want to call it, this is not as simple as it seen, thus starting off a convoluted adventure across Europe. The plot here is well crafted and enjoyable, although it isn't exactly a shocking plot twist.

It should be noted that while this book COULD be read on its own (Clare and Chu have written this in such a way that newcomers to Clare's world won't be completely lost and flailing), some knowledge of the series would definitely be helpful; for example, Shadowhunters aren't ever really explained in depth. Alec also mentions his Parabatai a few times with no explanation to an audience as to what a Parabatai is or why it's so important. However, watchers of Shadowhunters on Netflix won't face many problems (but might be shocked at how differently some background characters are portrayed), and anyone with access to the internet could google these terms and find plethora of knowledge on the Mortal Instruments Wiki.

On to my promised rant about characterisation (for anyone who cares enough to still be reading). The other reason why I swore off Cassandra Clare, after the finale of her ever popular Mortal Instruments Series, was the fact that Alec was a token gay character, coming off as a two dimensional character. I liked him -- of course I liked him, at the time it was probably the only representation in mainstream literature we got to see a gay character in a non-romcom book, but the reality is that he always felt that he was there for diversity, and not for the plot. In COHF, we saw Alec become a sassy, stereotypical gay guy; completely at odds with his previous characterisation (does anyone else remember the pie scene in Edom? Cringe.).

Clare redeems herself here. Alec is starting to become a fully fleshed out character deeply in love with Magnus Bane -- we get to see him as a soft, sweet, naive soldier deeply in love and willing to go to the ends of the earth for his love. We finally get to see some of that neglect, and trauma of being a young gay person in a deeply homophobic community, that the Mortal Instruments neglected. I'm very excited to read the next book in this series, as I hope to see Alec continue to grow and perhaps become a little less naive.

[Allonsy Pasteleria · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lo ame. Ojalá Haya más libros sobre Malec. Muchos más. Ame la historia. Su relación creciendo. TODO!!!!

[jane3phillips-2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Warlock Magnus Bane, is on vacation in Paris with his boyfriend, Shadowhunter, Alec Lightwood, when they discover that a demon-worshiping cult, actually founded by Magnus as a joke, is causing around the world chaos. The pair must stop the cult, hounded by demons and not sure who is friend or foe. Whilst I think this book is a promising start in an exciting series and can appeal to adults, it is a teen read and I found myself not into it as much as I would have liked. The book leaves the reader eagerly waiting for book 2 though!