The Lost Book of the White

By Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

From #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Cassandra Clare and award-winning author Wesley Chu comes the second book in the Eldest Curses series, which continues the love story between Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood. The Lost Book of the White is a Shadowhunters novel.

Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood are settling into domestic life with their son Max when the warlocks Ragnor Fell and Shinyun Jung break into their loft and steal a powerful spell book. Realizing that Ragnor and Shinyun are being controlled by a more sinister force, Magnus and Alec set out to stop them and recover the book before they can cause any more harm. With the help of Clary Fairchild, Jace Herondale, Isabelle Lightwood, and Simon Lovelace (who is fresh from the Shadowhunter Academy), they track the warlocks to Shanghai.

But nothing is as it seems. Ragnor and Shinyun are working at the behest of a Greater Demon. Their goal is to open a Portal from the demon realms to Earth, flooding the city of Shanghai with dangerous demons. When a violent encounter causes Magnus’s magic to grow increasingly unstable, Alec and Magnus rally their friends to strike at the heart of the demon’s power. But what they find there is far stranger and more nefarious than they ever could have expected…

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

Also by Cassandra Clare:

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

The Eldest Curses:
The Red Scrolls of Magic

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Sep 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781471162114

Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass. City of Bones was a Locus Award finalist for Best First Novel and an ALA Teens' Top Ten winner. She is also the author of the upcoming YA fantasy trilogy The Infernal Devices. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her boyfriend and two cats.

Reviews for The Lost Book of the White

[hauntedghost · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wrote a long, glowing review for The Red Scrolls of Magic which basically gushed over the plot and the characterisation for Alec. This book won't be receiving such a review.

This wasn't a bad book, by any means and was actually an enjoyable read. However, the plot was exhaustingly obvious, the characterisation was less breathtaking than the last book, and more than once, in the middle of battle we get to listen about Magnus or Alec gushing about how beautiful the other looks. Literally, their son is in extreme danger and is being held by an enemy and Magnus is busy gushing about how lovely Alec looks post-shower.

I'm not going to lie. The last fifty pages or so left me confused and tired. All of a sudden, everything is fixed, the day is saved and everyone goes home with the book ending on a happy ending. The following epilogue sets the following book up well, but I'm honestly not sure I'll bother reading it. If it's anything like this one, we'll see a lot of hiding of important information (Magnus has terrifying dreams that he thinks could be prophetic and doesn't even mention it to anyone), Magnus and/or Alec gushing over one another at poor times, and an obvious plot

✩✩✩ - 3 stars for the writing and dialogue
✩ - a bonus star because I'm a soft lesbian and the last chapter had me gushing.

[Ana Rita · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As much as I love Magnus and Alec and would read a thousand books with them,unfortunately "The Lost Book of the White" wasn't a favourite.

Firstly, it is hard to believe on a life-and-death mission when you know that the characters are gonig to survive, because they appear in other books that happen after this. But that's a small point, and if it was only that that I didn't like, it would still have been a favourite because it's Magnus and Alec.

But...the tone of this book was strange. It started fine, but then at some point it just turned ridiculous. There is no other word. Scene after scene that was just ridiculous, and it didn't fit with the tone of the book that was set at the beginning. At some point, I didn't know if the book was supposed to be a comedy, or if this was serious stuff that was happening with the characters that I should care about.

I have read almost all Shadowhunter books published so far and I know Cassandra Clare puts some funnier scenes in there, some banter to light up an otherwise dark, gloomy plot. But this time it didn't work at all, it was just strange. More than that, it completely took me out of the book.

And this is frustrating, becase I genuinely loved "The Red Scrolls of Magic", and was expecting to love this second book just as much. It has Magnus and Alec as serious boyfriends now, with a family (!), it has beloved characters from TMI and it even has a Jem cameo. It could have been amazing, and I'm frustrated that I didn't like it was much. Maybe a reread could help, but who knows....

[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!

[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.