The Lost Book of the White is the second book of The Eldest Curses trilogy, co-written by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu.
Description[]
Life is good for Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood. They’re living together in a fabulous loft, their warlock son, Max, has started learning to walk, and the streets of New York are peaceful and quiet—as peaceful and quiet as they ever are, anyway.
Until the night that two old acquaintances break into Magnus’s apartment and steal the powerful Book of the White. Now Magnus and Alec will have to drop everything to get it back. They need to follow the thieves to Shanghai, they need to call some backup to accompany them, and they need a babysitter.
Also, someone has stabbed Magnus with a strange magical weapon and the wound is glowing, so they have that to worry about too.
Fortunately, their backup consists of Clary, Jace, Isabelle, and newly minted Shadowhunter Simon. In Shanghai, they learn that a much darker threat awaits them. Magnus’s magic is growing unstable, and if they can’t stop the demons flooding into the city, they might have to follow them all the way back to the source—the realm of the dead. Can they stop the threat to the world? Will they make it back home before their kid completely wears out Alec’s mom?[1][2]
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…
Chapters[]
Prologue Part I: New York
Part II: Shanghai
|
Part III: Diyu
Epilogue |
Characters[]
- Magnus Bane — the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus encounters an old enemy and friend, who stab him with a magical weapon, forcing him and his friends to go after them.
- Alec Lightwood — a Shadowhunter on a mission to save his boyfriend, Magnus, and safely return home to their son.
- Shinyun Jung — a corrupt warlock who steals the Book of the White from Magnus and lures them to Shanghai.
- Ragnor Fell — Magnus's oldest friend, presumed dead, returns and seems to be working on the side of a Greater Demon.
- Jace Herondale — Alec's parabatai, known as the best warrior of his generation; Jace accompanies his parabatai on this mission but is struggling with a decision of his own.
- Clary Fairchild — Jace's girlfriend, a Shadowhunter with the ability to create new runes.
- Isabelle Lightwood — Alec's younger sister whom never backs down from a fight.
- Simon Lovelace — boyfriend of Isabelle and Clary's parabatai, Simon is a newly-Ascended Shadowhunter in need of more experience.
- Ke Yi Tian — a local Shadowhunter they meet in Shanghai who assists them in their investigation and offers his hospitality as a distant relative to Jem Carstairs.
Gallery[]
Art[]
Editions[]
International covers[]
Special content[]
- First edition: All first editions include a reversible cover that has the Anne Lambelet cover on the inside to match the original hardbound The Red Scrolls of Magic cover. They also include the short story In Dreams Begin, which is the story of Jem and Tessa's wedding and explains why the other attendees do not remember it.[3]
- Waterstones' Exclusive Edition: This special edition is covered with Vision runes and contains In Dreams Begin and an exclusive deleted scene—now titled A Tale of Brunch—features The Mortal Instruments gang going out to celebrate Simon's graduation from the Shadowhunter Academy.[4]
Trivia[]
- The title is referring to the Book of the White.
- This book is told from a few characters' point of view, mainly: Magnus, Alec, Tian, and Sammael.
- The Lost Book of the White was initially set to be the first book in the trilogy before Cassandra Clare decided to switch the title order of the series.[5][6]
References[]
- ↑ The Lost Book of the White | Simon & Schuster
- ↑ The Lost Book of the White on Amazon.com
- ↑ Cassandra Clare's May 2020 newsletter
- ↑ The Lost Book of the White Exclusive Edition on Waterstones' website
- ↑ Lost Book of the White | Simon & Schuster (2017 cached capture of the page)
- ↑ "... but as we wrote the books, it turned out that it was a better title for the second book, so it got changed. It doesn't mean anything for the plot or the story or the characters." Cassandra Clare on Tumblr