The Red Scrolls of Magic by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu is the first book of Clare's enormous Shadowhunter saga that focuses on popular characters, Alexander Lightwood and Magnus Bane. Fans of the Shadowhunter world have been waiting ages for this book, thus the expectations were extremely high. In my opinion, Clare and Chu managed to meet and surpass these expectations.
The writing of the story is exactly what you would expect from a book told in the perspectives of Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood: beautiful, funny and extremely sarcastic. Clare and Chu know exactly when this story is taking place, hence they don't fall into the trap of creating characters that do not fit with the books that precede and follow it. The authors do a great job of further developing the story of The Mortal Instruments and The Dark Artifices without damaging the story and characters in those books. The plot of the book fits perfectly between The Mortal Instruments, while also adding a new layer to the world. Furthermore, the authors create new interesting characters like Shinyun, a new strong female character we learn to love. The book also contains a LOT of fun references of characters we've loved and does a great job of developing some that The Infernal Devices, The Mortal Instruments and The Dark Artifices did not spent much time on. The story also, evidently, does a great job of being inclusive and diverse since Magnus and Alec are bisexual and homosexual, respectively. Besides the main characters, the book develops other secondary non-heterosexual characters and explores the impact Alec and Magnus' relationship has made on their lives and the Shadowhunter world. Furthermore, the book has characters from a wide range of minorities and nationalities.
If you enjoy the Shadowhunter world, The Red Scrolls of Magic will not disappoint. The book is a well earned prize after reading ALL of the many books in this series. However, I wouldn't recommend reading it without reading at least The Infernal Devices and the first three The Mortal Instruments books. This book can only be truly enjoyed if the reader knows the experiences that have led Magnus and Alec to this trip.
A More In Depth Review
***SPOILER ALERT***
(Spoilers for TRSOM, TMI, TID, TBC, TFSA and TDA)
The Red Scrolls of Magic takes place between City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels of The Mortal Instruments series. Therefore, the Magnus and Alec we encounter are not the power couple we've seen in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and The Dark Artifices, but the new and insecure one we saw throughout the last three books of The Mortal Instruments. Consequently, my main concern going into this book was, ironically, how much Clare has grown as an author since The Mortal Instruments and how that could possibly affect the time line of her stories.
I love The Mortal Instruments, however, we have to admit that Clare's writing on that series was very green and inexperienced. In The Mortal Instruments, Clare's writing was not as splendid as she has shown in her other works and one of the main factors that suffered from it was Magnus and Alec's relationship. In The Infernal Devices and The Dark Artifices, Clare does a splendid job of developing all the characters and plot points of her stories. However, in The Mortal Instruments, characters besides Jace, Clary and Simon were extremely underdeveloped, especially in the first three books of the series. This was extremely disappointing since, in my opinion, The Mortal Instruments has some of the most interesting characters of the world and fans didn't get enough time with them as they would've liked. Characters like Isabelle, Raphael and Max were used when convenient and then casted aside for the heroes of the show. Magnus and Alec's relationship is one, if not the most, interesting plot point of The Mortal Instruments. However, readers didn’t get to see their relationship much. We know they love each other because the author tells us they do, not because we've seen them fall in love. Due to the popularity of both characters and their relationship, Clare has tried to rectify this mistake by sharing more of their story in The Bane Chronicles, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and The Dark Artifices. However, readers have wanted more than snippets of their life and The Eldest Curses series has been Cassandra Clare's respond to this call for more.
As many fans, I was ecstatic when I learned that a series with Magnus and Alec as the main characters was going to be written. However, I was extremely worried that a book written by a more experienced Clare would not fit between City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels. I worried that by integrating a book that had more experienced writing, Clare and Chu would create plot holes or damage the reading experience of the last trio of books in The Mortal Instuments. Thankfully, that was not the case. Both authors know the Magnus and Alec they are writing about in The Red Scrolls of Magic. They know where these men stood and the status of their relationship at this point in their lives. The author's didn't try to write a more secure and confident Alec or trusty Magnus for the sake of fan service and creating a more romantic story. They knew that at this point in the story, both characters were battling with issues that would eventually lead to the many problems they face in the last books of The Mortal Instruments. Cassandra Clare didn't let her more experienced writing interfere with the story. Instead, she used it to further develop her previous books and perfect a story that was already pretty great.
During The Red Scrolls of Magic, Clare and Chu develop some of the underdeveloped characters in The Mortal Instruments adding more meaning to the plot of those books. For example, they do a great job of portraying Raphael and his friendship with Magnus. In City of Heavenly Fire, Raphael's sacrifice to save Magnus' comes out of the blue and extremely convenient for Clare who wanted to keep the immortal warlock around. There was never an indication that Magnus and Raphael were close friends before he sacrifices his life for him. Even when he does this, readers get the impression that he does it more out of debt than friendship. Therefore, his character in The Red Scrolls of Magic is a blessing. It not only provides with a new amazing character that we love, but also improved his scenes in City of Heavenly Fire and the plot of that book. Before this book, I was indifferent to canon Raphael and, surprisingly, he was my favorite part of this book. I loved Magnus and Alec's romantic and funny scenes, however, Raphael was truly the most unexpected and amazing thing that came out of the book for me. His scenes made me wish that Clare had opted to bringing him back from the dead instead of Ragnor. He was a sarcastic little shit and I loved him.
Other characters and plot points like Lily Chen, Catarina, Helen and Aline were also further developed making their scenes in previously released books more impactful. Another plot point that is further explored in this book is Magnus and Alec's dealing with the loss of Ragnor and Max, respectively. The characters reactions to their deaths is one of my biggest pet peeves about The Mortal Instruments. When Max died, I was appalled about how little they mention it afterwards. In comparison with Livvy's death on The Lord of Shadows, Max's death is quickly forgotten by both, the characters and the reader, because we didn't really know Max. Ragnor's death also didn't impact me as Clare would've probably like, because I had no idea who he was. It wasn't until I read The Bane Chronicles and Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy that his death in City of Heavenly Fire started gaining a meaning. The same happens a little with Max because of the further development Clare and Chu provide in this book. However, it still does not feel as enough, but at least it's something.
Finally, this book also does a great job of teasing the relationship problems Alec and Magnus will face in the near future. The authors show perfectly the insecurities and communication problems they have and foreshadow their manifestation in the future. Many readers found Alec's jealousy and actions in The Mortal Instruments to be annoying and childish. However, The Red Scrolls of Magic does a great job of showing where this actions and doubts come from. In the last three books of The Mortal Instruments, readers don't get to see how extremely closed off Magnus' is with Alec. Therefore, some didn't understand how Alec could be so insecure in his relationship with the warlock. The Red Scrolls of Magic portrays perfectly why and how would those insecurities come from by showing us Magnus' reluctance to open up and how much Alec is being affected by his father's rejection. Add to these problems the fact that he has never been in a relationship before and is only 18 years old and you get a whole mess of insecurities and rash decisions. On the other hand, the book also explores why Magnus' is so reluctant and afraid to share his life with Alec. Therefore, it does a great job of deepening their story line in The Mortal Instruments.
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