Review: The Lost Book of the White (The Eldest Curses #2) by Cassandra Clare & Wesley Chu

Title: The Lost Book of the White

Series: The Eldest Curses #2

Other series in the Shadowhunter Chronicles: The Infernal Devices | The Mortal Instruments | The Dark Artifices

Previous book in this series: The Red Scrolls of Magic

Authors: Cassandra Clare & Wesley Chu

Genre: YA, urban fantasy

Publication date: September 2020

Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Source: Purchased hardcover

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Synopsis: Life is good for Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood. They’re living together in a fabulous loft, their warlock son, Max, has started learning to walk, and the streets of New York are peaceful and quiet—as peaceful and quiet as they ever are, anyway.

Until the night that two old acquaintances break into Magnus’s apartment and steal the powerful Book of the White. Now Magnus and Alec will have to drop everything to get it back. They need to follow the thieves to Shanghai, they need to call some backup to accompany them, and they need a babysitter.

Also, someone has stabbed Magnus with a strange magical weapon and the wound is glowing, so they have that to worry about too.

Fortunately, their backup consists of Clary, Jace, Isabelle, and newly minted Shadowhunter Simon. In Shanghai, they learn that a much darker threat awaits them. Magnus’s magic is growing unstable, and if they can’t stop the demons flooding into the city, they might have to follow them all the way back to the source—to the very realm of the dead. Can they stop the threat to the world? Will they make it back home before their kid completely wears out Alec’s mom?

My rating: ★★★★★

I know I’ve said this before, but it makes me really happy that Magnus and Alec have their own series. I just had the best time reading this! This book takes place after The Mortal Instruments and Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy (Simon has only been a Shadowhunter for about 4 months at this point) but before the events of The Dark. Artifices, just FYI. The prologue takes place during City of Glass, just before Clary goes to look for Ragnor and finds out that he’s dead. This scene was a lot of fun but really set the scene for the entire book and for Ragnor’s reasoning behind him faking his death.

As the title suggests, the Book of the White, a magical book that Magnus had, was stolen, so Magnus and Alec go in search of it and try to stop a warlock or two from doing horrible things.

"I serve," said Shinyun, "the Greatest Demon!"
There was a pause. "Capitalism?" hazarded Magnus.

This book was so much fun! I loved it... much to the surprise of no one. Lol. One of my favorite things about this book was that the TMI gang was back together!

Alec and Magnus are joined by Clary, Jace, Isabelle, and even Simon, who's fresh out of Shadowhunter Academy.

"Why not? Let's go fight two powerful warlocks and a demon so bad it took an angel to kill him last time. I'm sure all my classroom experience will come in handy."
Isabelle came over and affectionately tousled Simon's hair. "Sure, sweetie, you're just a newbie. You were never an invulnerable Daylighter vampire who's been to hell dimension or anything."

It was so nice to see them all back together after so long. I just love their sass and especially the banter.

“I'm going to take these... unexpected factors"—this while waving generally at Magnus and his friends—"and return them to Earth, and then we can get on with things the way we're supposed to."
"Hey," said Magnus, "I've always wanted to be an unexpected factor."
"You used to be an unexpected factor all the time," Clary said.
"Used to?"
"Well," she said, "eventually we started expecting you."

It was kinda weird seeing them all as adults, especially because we went through so much with them when they were teenagers. But it was also cool to see how they've changed since then. Jace, for example, (yes, I'm using Jace as an example, and if you're surprised, you clearly don't know how much I love him...)

😆 Anyway, Jace, I noticed, has mellowed out a bit. He doesn't seem as arrogant and snarky as he used to be. I mean, he's still sassy and has quips for days, but he's not the sad, angsty teenage boy of The Mortal Instrument days. I just love that he's happy now.

Speaking of Jace, another thing I loved about this was the romance. The fact that Clary and Jace are still super cute together after all this time... I love it! But as much as I love Clary and Jace, Magnus and Alec...

I love them so much! They are just so freaking cute! I can't get over it! Especially now that they have Max. I love their little family!

And they obviously had to leave little Max with someone while they went on this mission.

"She's a Shadowhunter! She's supposed to be able to handle warlocks. She raised you!" He ducked his head back into the bedroom and his eyebrows. "She raised Jace."

Maryse was more than happy to watch her grandson after Magnus convinced Alec that she could handle it, especially considering that she raised Jace 🤣 Omg I'm cackling! And the little scenes we got as she watched him... I loved it!

I just loved everything about this book—the world, the characters (we got to see Jem and that made me so freaking happy!), their relationships, and the banter. We also got to see some different demons and creatures, such as a Chinese Phoenix, which was very cool! And I loved that the gang was back together! The action was good and I enjoyed the story as well. So many shocking things happened that I didn't see coming... And that ending? Oh man, I am SO nervous!

But I'm really looking forward to reading book three! I can’t wait!

There was also a short story at the end of the book, In Dreams Begin, which I have not read yet, but I’ll get to it eventually 😅

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊