I don’t know if it’s the cold weather or the worst reading slump I’ve ever had or if Chain of Gold is just boring, but I could not make myself care about this book. It felt so long and nothing happened, and every time it felt like something might happen, it was really just Clare finding a way to take the most basic plot point and make it as convoluted as possible.

Chain of Gold should have been a 300-page book; in and out in a few hours, adrenaline and action and unrequited (or is it?) love. Instead, almost 600 pages and five days later, I’m falling asleep even thinking about it. Clare took the time to describe the most mundane details while skipping through anything that could be exciting. And with all the potential for good queer love stories and found family and ‘brotherhood’, we’re left with closeted beards, ‘bohemian’ and anti-love non-politicals, superficial friendships and that rich fraternity that throws the best parties, but keep your eye on your drink and watch your back.

Clare hyped up this parabatai nonsense, but it fails on every level. Matthew can’t tell when James isn't being himself and is being forced down a path he doesn’t truly want. James can’t tell that Matthew is always drunk and clearly struggling with his past and present. Neither of them seems to know the other very well, and most of the time they spend together seems to be in silence or hunting demons, where James takes the lead and Matthew does as he’s told if he’s not too drunk. As the relationship that defines what a parabatai is for the reader, it does a very poor job.

There are a few genuinely interesting concepts that I wish had been developed further. The whole Jesse situation was the hook that started this book, but so little time was spent on Lucie, let alone on her attempts to learn more about Jesse, that it barely progressed past the first few chapters.