The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses #1) by Cassandra Clare & 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-worshiping 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.
I’m a big fan of the shadowhunters universe but I also am one of those pain in the ass people that are always saying “oh, I would love if Cassandra Clare wrote something else”. Well, I'm’ not saying that now am I??? Because no matter how many new characters she comes up with I will never love anyone more than I love Alec and Magnus.
The book is not mind-blowing but is a nice enough story that fills the reader on what happened in Alec and Magnus vacation right before “City of Fallen Angels”. The plot is compelling enough, but of course, the best thing about the book was the humor from Magnus comments on clothes and disastrous events and how thirsty Alec is to finally jump on Magnus' bones. Those two together are so good!
It was also nice to see some characters to which we are later introduced (on a chronological level) and see how Aline Penhallow and Helen Blackthorn really meet. They are both so adorable and every time I read anything about them I just start to blush.
My favorite part though was not the story, but during the acknowledgments at the end of the book where Cassie took us through her journey of how difficult it was to represent a healthy gay relationship in her books. When The Mortal Instruments started being written and then published, being LGBTQ+ and the public perception of what it meant to be gay was completely different from nowadays. It’s hard for us now to watch a tv show without a gay character (well or badly written, it’s there), and even in the fantasy and sci-fi world literature, we can count on a lot more representation. It was not like that not so long ago. She went from having two LGBT characters being considered as sexual content even before they had kissed to now writing a book with barely any straight characters.
I feel like I should also mention, all the scenes in which racism, xenophobia, and just plain discrimination are also depicted in this book. Cassandra Clare never disappoints when it comes to using a fictional medium to teach us about the real world. I’m so looking forward to the next book in which Cassie can develop on that mind-blowing plot twist at the end.
6/10
