*I was given an ARC of A Sea Change in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Cassandra Clare and Daphne publishing for my copy of the book*
Synopsis:
Embark on a seafaring murder mystery from Greece to Constantinople with Matthew Fairchild, his loyal dog Oscar Wilde, and Sylvain Verlac, a captivating Parisian Shadowhunter.
Most travellers are running from—or searching for—something. But not Shadowhunter Matthew Fairchild and his loyal golden retriever, Oscar Wilde. No. Matthew is searching for himself aboard the Majestic, a grand 19th century ocean liner sailing from Greece to Constantinople.
Matthew wants nothing more than to mourn the death of a friend and peacefully enjoy his travels before reuniting with his friends James Herondale and Cordelia Carstairs at the London Institute of Shadowhunters—a secret society of angel-blooded humans who protect the mundane world from demons and Downworlders. But that’s interrupted when someone is murdered on the ship—and a vampire Downworlder lurks in the darkness.
Together with Sylvain Verlac, a mysterious and captivating Parisian Shadowhunter with a secret grief of his own, Matthew must find the murderer on the Majestic before death strikes again.
Review:
It’s been a while since I read a Cassandra Clare book so I was more than excited to jump into A Sea Change. My love for Matthew dwindled in A Chain of Thorns as I hated that he ran off to Paris with Cordelia (I was and am a huge James x Cordelia fan so this hurt me). Plus I wanted more Oscar Wilde (the dog) in my life.
It was nice to get a little insight into the aftermath of A Chain of Thorns. Hearing about James and Cordelia as a married couple and Matthew dealing with the loss of Christopher, which is a huge spoiler but The Last Hours series has been out for quite a while now, so I won’t apologise for it. My reviews of Cassandra Clare’s books are always spoiler heavy as I absolutely have to comment on everything that happens – I don’t have friends that read her books.
My absolute favourite line in all of A Sea Change is “Not every creature with a soul makes good use of it”, which is said by Sylvain Verlac, a Parisian Shadowhunter who is Matthew’s polar opposite. Did someone say opposites attract romance? Anyway, this is said in defence of the vampires on board the ship, who they believe have been killing people.
I love it when we get to meet new characters in the families that we know from previous books. Hands up if you remember Sebastian claiming to be a Verlac in City of Glass. That made me way happier than it should have.
I can’t comment too much on the story without giving everything away, this is only a novella after all. It is an interesting mystery though and as always with these books, things are not as they seem on the surface.
I also loved the budding romance between Matthew and Sylvain. I hope we get to see more of them, but I don’t think it will happen. Shadowhunter novels are coming to an end soon, which is something I will need to take time to mourn. They’ve been part of my life for such a long time. I’m glad we got to see Matthew even a little bit happy for a while – he deserves it.
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