12 must-read sci-fi and fantasy releases to escape with this March

March 2021 book release: Chain of Iron – Cassandra Clare

The highly anticipated next installment in Cassandra Clare’s The Last Hours series, Chain of Iron basically picks up right where the first novel Chain of Gold left off.

Shadowhunters James Herondale and Cordelia Carstairs are getting married, a sham event meant to protect her reputation after she lied to protect him at the end of the previous book. Cordelia, of course, genuinely loves James, but he’s still fixated on Grace Blackthorn, a girl who appears to have the ability to compel men to her will. (To what end, we’re still not entirely sure.)

But they’re not the only ones struggling: Lucie Herondale can speak to ghosts but hasn’t helped her figure out how to help raise Jessie Blackthorn, Grace’s brother, from the dead. James’ parabatai Matthew is drinking too much, Cordelia’s brother Alistair is still keeping secrets, and the magical Carstairs family sword seems to be rejecting its bearer.

But that’s not even the worst of their problems: A dangerous serial killer seems to be stalking Shadowhunters throughout the streets of Edwardian London – and James may or may not have a grim connection to the murderer.

The official synopsis describes the story in more detail.

"Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever wanted. She’s engaged to marry James Herondale, the boy she has loved since childhood. She has a new life in London with her best friend Lucie Herondale and James’s charming companions, the Merry Thieves. She is about to be reunited with her beloved father. And she bears the sword Cortana, a legendary hero’s blade. But the truth is far grimmer. James and Cordelia’s marriage is a lie, arranged to save Cordelia’s reputation. James is in love with the mysterious Grace Blackthorn whose brother, Jesse, died years ago in a terrible accident. Cortana burns Cordelia’s hand when she touches it, while her father has grown bitter and angry. And a serial murderer is targeting the Shadowhunters of London, killing under cover of darkness, then vanishing without a trace. Together with the Merry Thieves, Cordelia, James, and Lucie must follow the trail of the knife-wielding killer through the city’s most dangerous streets. All the while, each is keeping a shocking secret: Lucie, that she plans to raise Jesse from the dead; Cordelia, that she has sworn a dangerous oath of loyalty to a mysterious power; and James, that he is being drawn further each night into the dark web of his grandfather, the arch-demon Belial. And that he himself may be the killer they seek."

Chain of Iron is available on March 2.