What Really Happened in Peru

The Bane Chronicles #1

by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan

Fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices know that Magnus Bane is banned from Peru—and now they can find out why. One of ten adventures in The Bane Chronicles.

There are good reasons Peru is off-limits to Magnus Bane. Follow Magnus’s Peruvian escapades as he drags his fellow warlocks Ragnor Fell and Catarina Loss into trouble, learns several instruments (which he plays shockingly), dances (which he does shockingly), and disgraces his host nation by doing something unspeakable to the Nazca Lines.

This standalone e-only short story illuminates the life of the enigmatic Magnus Bane, whose alluring personality populates the pages of the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series. This story in The Bane Chronicles, What Really Happened in Peru, is written by Sarah Rees Brennan and Cassandra Clare.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Short Stories, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Magic, Novella

65 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Tehran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old.

Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on a Jane Austen short story of the same name (and which later inspired her current pen name).

After college, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids where she reported on Brad and Angelina’s world travels and Britney Spears’ wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her YA novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favourite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again.
Cassie’s first professional writing sale was a short story called “The Girl’s Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord” in a Baen anthology of humor fantasy. Cassie hates working at home alone because she always gets distracted by reality TV shows and the antics of her cats, so she usually sets out to write in local coffee shops and restaurants. She likes to work in the company of her friends, who see that she sticks to her deadlines.

City of Bones was her first novel. Sword Catcher is her most recent novel.

Reviews

[She-who-must-not-be-named · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unpopular opinion : Magnus' puns about Ragnor's green skin are to die for, but other than that, the story felt very slow and dragged and at one point I even felt like discontinuing it.

I never thought 65 pages could feel so slow

[Valeria Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

To them, as to Magnus, time was like rain, glittering as it fell, changing the world, but also something that could be taken for granted.
Until you loved a mortal. Then time became gold in a miser's hands, every bright year counted out carefully, infinitelly precious, and each one slipping through your fingers.

There are *counts with fingers* ...
One trilogy that is about to be a movie;
another trilogy that is quite my favorite & which conclusion I'm desperately waiting for;
an expanded trilogy for the first trilogy that is SO NOT going well for me;
and a new trilogy coming up.

& yet, there is THIS stories announcement. If it was, like, any other thing I'd be like *shrug* I could check it up.

... *grins*

BUT THIS IS ABOUT MAGNUS BANE.
Magnus Bane.

Do I have to say why I am so excited? He's one of the motives I kept reading TMI. Because he's AWESOME!! & knows how to have fun.
This gets 3.5*'s
The first 2 stories are rather meh-ish; REALLY meh-ish. & Ragnor is such a boring, party killer dude.
Can't you get immortal friends that are more active, Magnus, dear?
Like Catarina!
Who is she? I want to know her better.
The other 2 stories are worth a little more, to know Magnus in the inside & to feel for him an both happy & pity ways.

But...
NOTHING HAPPENED IN PERU!
Nothing.
They don't say why, exactly, he got banned, so I'll just assume the countless crimes, parties & adventures Magnus had over the years got at the Peruvian warlock's patience (who are all boring dudes, like Ragnor) & he got banned.
Once & for all.
& that's it.

Well now, there is no point in immortality, unless you have someone to share it with, that's it.
Poor Magnus, really.
I like him SO much, & man, he endures... *sigh*

[Andre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have you ever been curious why Magnus is banned from Peru? Why all those warlocks decided he was not welcome anymore? Where you burning with that question what could be so horrible to receive such a punishment?
No?
Well good for you because this book doesn't answer that question anyway.

This is what the synopsis promised:
Fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices know that Magnus Bane is banned from Peru—and now they can find out why.

Well the last time I encountered such a lie was in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Guide. Actually this book is somewhat similar. But more to that later, let's look at what the synopsis promised:

A fucking lie.
Sure it starts out with teasing you that it will answer the question, but it never does.
So this is the start:
It was a sad moment in Magnus Bane’s life when he was banned from Peru by the High Council of Peruvian warlocks. It was not just because the posters with a picture of him that were passed around Downworld in Peru were so wildly unflattering. It was because Peru was one of his favorite places.
He had had many adventures there, and had many wonderful memories, starting with the time in 1791 when he had invited Ragnor Fell to join him for a festive sightseeing escape in Lima.

And this is the end:
Magnus’s sudden turn to a life of crime, shockingly enough, was not the reason he was banned from Peru either. The High Council of Peruvian warlocks met in secret, and a letter was sent to Magnus several months later announcing that he had been banned from Peru, on pain of death, for “crimes unspeakable.” Despite his inquiries, he never received an answer to the question of what he had been banned for. To this day, whatever it is that actually got him banned from Peru is—and perhaps must always remain—a mystery.

See what I mean?
And if you think that I spoiled it for you now, don't worry either, because neither start nor end have anything to do with the rest of the book.


I mentioned that it is similar somewhat to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Guide and this is why:

We don't really learn much about Magnus that we didn't know already. It is basically the same stuff that was already said in her previous books. In most cases Magnus also acts the same and we don't really get to know any new people and these two warlocks serve to point anyway despite Ragnro being Magnus's opposite and Catarina kissing Magnus's ass. And where are all the warlocks of Peru anyway? We never meet any warlock we didn't know from the Mortal Instruments already. And that is the problem: we only meet the additional warlocks Ragnor Fell and Catarina Loss. Not only are their names as stupid as that of Magnus, but we also either knew them or knew of them from the Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices. Why not some new warlocks?

And this is not all, reading how Magnus acted I could not help be remembered of Jace from the Mortal Instruments and Will from Infernal Devices books. If that is the character Clare had in mind when she decided to pair him with Alec in Mortal Instruments no wonder she did it, in this book he seems like Jace 2.0 (or 3.0 considered that Will was already Jace 2.0) and Alec had a "crush" on Jace. His attitude, his behavior, that all reminds me of Jace and Will. It seems like the same character, again. He is just as annoying, arrogant, selfish, shallow and fickle, not to mention to be completely incapable of seeing his own flaws. Also he seems very grafted and not developed. If the authors wanted to make him sympathetic, they failed, they failed miserably. I never really liked Magnus in the other books because I thought he acted like a child and here it is even more so. I can't say too much now, I will leave that for the spoiler section, but I can say this: While reading this I just too often thought "What an asshole." Fans can be lucky they never read too much of Magnus in the other books, because if he was supposed to be the way he was in this book he is just… You will see what I mean, if you dare.

The funny thing is that some parts of the book I actually had to laugh at. It was in many ways written like a parody or a general sitcom or comedy. And as funny as it was, that is the problem. It is supposed to be a book that gives you insight into an actual character. A character that is not from any comedic genre and thereby it fails in itself. This Magnus, and many of the other characters, are usually not real people. They are caricatures and nothing more.

Several times the thought "what did they smoke" crossed my mind. The characters don't really develop, a lot makes no sense or has no relevance, there is weird language and weird characters, with Magnus being the worst, and no real sense behind it all. We don't really get to know anything about Magnus we hadn't known before. It is overall a very useless book, except as an example on how not to write and how gullible and crazy fans are who likes this. If you want to read it, get a copy from a library or lend it from a friend, but don't waste money on this, it is not worth it.
Much of what they write doesn't make sense and too often I asked myself whether they even can write and how much research of the respective time periods did they even make. A lot of the book was just cheap attempts at reader manipulation in my eyes and it was so obvious, that was the worst.

There is one thing I just noticed:
For someone who supposedly made such a big deal to have Magnus played by Godfrey Gao in the upcoming movie and have Jem be portrayed by an Asian model on the cover of Clockwork prince (albeit they didn't get his hair or eyes right) it is surely weird that for this cover she didn't seem to have bothered to get it across. Sure it is obvious that the character is neither African nor Australian but still, what is he? European? Asian? I think this is intentional and stinks of the practice of not wanting to show Non-White models on the cover.
Ok, I will leave the rest for the spoiler and stop here or otherwise I will spoil it for everybody.

Ok, now to the main part of my review, I guess it is more than the book is worth but seeing all the praise here for such a bad book I could not do any different but take notes while reading this, and I actually don't want to. Someone has to say it. This must have been the worst review I ever made; because the book is just… how can you do so much wrong in so little time? How is that possible? How???
This book was so bad it triggered a review/rant of mine that was so long it could not fit here. So this here is the short version, if you want to read the long version you would have to read it on my Deviant Art Journal: http://fav.me/d63cu8a
The one on Deviantart also has the most spoilers since there was just so much crap. So this version here is actually the version suitable for children.

Well, see for yourselves if you dare, but be warned out there will be spoilers (and possibly strong language, depending on your age group):



This thing had so many things gone wrong in so little time that I decided to categorize it. So again be warned, if you loved Magnus in the other books, for whatever reason, you might be disappointed and possibly enraged by this.
Ok here we go!


1. Obvious and stupid manipulation

Like I said the book's attempts at manipulation are very cheap and obvious and numerous, but there is a character limit here. It already stated with the preface when it states that it was such a sad moment for Magnus when he was banned from Peru… You know it always seemed to me in the Mortal Instruments that this particular piece of information was rather there for laughs, so why it is now used for something supposedly sad is kind of beyond me. You would think that Magnus's background provides for more but apparently not. I guess his childhood was not interesting enough for something called "The Bane Chronicles". This stuff about him being a stranger everywhere he went, that is basically there to give him the troubled past so cliché in romance literature, clear as fuck. The authors do it later as well by coming with the whole stuff with his mother and father, but here is another problem: we already knew that
The same with him not speaking his native tongue often, because it reminded him of his oh so bad childhood, not that we are ever told how that childhood was.
The book tries to sell it that he was heartbroken after one of his flings (Imasu) dumped him and he got all deep about maybe warlocks becoming to detached from humanity to be lovable and all. Maybe I would by it if he would act according to supposedly being heartbroken.
Totally useless in my eyes since the whole book it's pretty obvious that other people are there for Magnus's amusement.


2. Too much acceptance

There are several cases where normal people were simply far to accepting about the weird and unusual around them. Despite not being glamoured Ragnor's deep green skin was simply accepted and later Magnus's gay relationship with Imasu seems to be way too much accepted considered the time and area. I mean wasn't Peru mostly catholic at that time?
During a dance with some unknown girl he uses magic to literally set the girl's skirts and his own coat on fire so that both become actually spinning towers of flame and the girl he danced with had thought it was some marvelous trick. She had been enveloped in real, bright fire and she had tipped back her head and laughed What??? Were these writers on pot or something? What did they take that they think anybody, especially from that time (1890s) from Peru would react that way? Even today someone who sees him/herself on fire suddenly would panic.
Why would Ragnor's parents at first thinking he was a faerie child be any help in those days? There were stories a plenty in Europe about stolen and replaced babies, so why should the parents not have thought that Ragnor was not their child? By the way, of course Magnus looked like a normal baby at first, only later did his cat eyes develop. Wow, how convenient for him. The romantic interest is the pretty one, wow, so typically Clare.


3. They call that good writing?

"What were they writing" I asked myself several times, especially since there it was again, the question on whether people can actually visualize what they were writing or even know what makes sense and what not.
The demonic languages they name are Purgatic and Gehennic and Tartarian… Apparently they cannot come up with something more original than the languages based on purgatory, gehenna and tartarus.
And speaking of unoriginal: a jaguar demon? They could not come up with a concept, or at least a better term, than jaguar demon? Do they even try?
Speaking of bad terms and concepts: only some warlock children died young because their parent abandoned or killed what they saw as unnatural creatures? Just some???? What??? You think your child is demonspawn, something feared all your life and leads to all sort of cases of hysteria and only some children got abandoned or killed?
They wrote The monkey advanced, chewing in a menacing fashion. How do you do that? How is it possible to chew in a menacing fashion? How does that look? Did he have a menacing facial expression and chewed or what? And it doesn't stop there: He heard it in hot pursuit and fled faster … If that was the case why was the monkey suddenly gone when Magnus bumped into Ragnor during the flight?
And why did he flee anyway, he was ready to fight a jaguar demon but would not fight a monkey? Ragnor himself reminded Magnus that he can do magic and all Magnus said was: I am not going to ensorcel a monkey! Honestly, Ragnor. What do you take me for? Why not? He has no problem ensorcelling humans, so why not a monkey? He could have made it temporarily dizzy or hang in the air, nothing that would harm the monkey but give Magnus time to escape. So why not? Or does magic suddenly have bad side effects for non-warlocks which we never were told about?

We are told that Spanish was the first language Magnus learned to speak after his native language. And what is his native language? We are never told, again.
Later we are told about the Dutch and Batavian blood in his veins. So does that mean he is from Jakarta? Since Batavia was Jakarta's name during the Dutch colonial empire. So what is Magnus's native language? Is it Malay?

Was Magnus supposed to be serious when he referred to guano as bird droppings? Was that another example of his "humor" or of the author's incompetence? Actually guano is the feces and urine of seabirds, cave-dwelling bats, and seals. And here is the other problem: later in the book Magnus and Ragnus supposedly are deep in stinking guano. And here is the problem: For that guano would have to be liquid. But guano was sometimes literally mined. And that is not a word you use for liquids, no way. So guano was dry (actually the ideal type of guano is found in exceptionally dry climates so apparently you cannot sink in), it was collected.
And the end of chapter 1791 the book says that It was not Magnus’s fault when the ensuing warlock tantrum managed to sink the boat full of guano, but he was blamed just the same. What tantrum, where did that come from? In the sentence before that Ragnor only said that he wanted to go home, while stuck deep in guano. So where did it come from? Did Ragnor suddenly have a tantrum? Did Magnus? What happened? They never explained that.
What is a swift economical gesture? Does that mean his hand barely moved? What does that mean? And I never before read or heard the something like Imasu's mouth curled beneath Magnus's. And there is more: Geoffrey had the nose of a man who never shut up??? What kind of sentence is that? Is that even a legitimate sentence?
What purpose was there to use the word infinitesimally to describe that Magnus had still been growing/changing in his early years? How many even know that this word exists? Also to say that Magnus was still growing back then you would not have needed that word.
Magnus can create an earthquake on accident? Then why were his talents so underused in the other books? And not only that, in this book it is stated He could make music flow from the air or the river or the curtains if he so chose. Again, if he can do all that, then why was it not used more in the other books?
In the 1890 chapter we are early on told that Carried on the clear mountain air, out over the lake water and through the house, rang Magnus’s melody. Apart from the fact that he would have to play extremely loud for his melody to be carried out over the lake water, we are also not told what melody it is; fast or slow, stakkato or what?
The book mentions how Ragnor's and Catarina's skin forced them to live a life of solitude, before they were able to make glamours to hide themselves, and apparently Magnus did not have to. Ok, sure blue and green skin is a bit more obvious than cat eyes, but still, they are cat eyes. There is no way that you would mistake them for human eyes, especially when they are described as gold-green, slit-pupilled. Apart from the fact that the authors reveal their ignorance regarding cat eyes and how they function (the pupils are only slits in direct bright light) such eyes are pretty obvious, so before glamour or sunglasses came into his live Magnus would have only been able to watch things from afar, never really participating in anything, but apparently the authors do not consider that.
The stuff with Magnus' "music" was actually extremely funny, but that is also the problem here. You see the book is neither a sitcom, nor a parody or any other sort of comedy.I had to laugh out loud at this, I couldn't help myself. Actually the whole book would be good for a comedy. But it's not and that is the problem. It is supposed to be taken seriously and in a realistic setting. But you do not write stuff like that in a serious book when you want to have the readers sympathetic to a character or inform them about character background and live stories. You do that in parodies. In real life people acting like Magnus are… What the heck, just look at point 5 of this review than you will know what I mean.


5. Magnus Bane himself

And of course there is the biggest problem with the book is Magnus himself. I have no idea why people love this guy even after all that. Like followers of my reviews know I was never much of a fan of Magnus, but that was mostly because he acted like a spoiled teen, but this book made him really unlikeable to me. His whole character is so incredibly flawed and seems to have no actual redeeming qualities.
He constantly moans about it when people say hurtful comments about him, but based on how he acts their stance is totally justified. And who is Magnus to judge? He constantly insults and tricks Ragnor in the first chapter and it's no better afterwards, even when Ragnor asks him not to. He doesn't treat Catarina that much better.
It often seems as though Magnus lacks empathy of any sort. He constantly seems to want to be complimented, he cannot stand criticism and he acts like an asshole even to his friends. If the way he treats Catarina and Magnus is how he treats friends, I ask myself what he does to his enemies.
Magnus acts totally reckless all the time, apparently even before the events of 1791..
And he is so full of himself and arrogant. And so shallow. It doesn't seem to be conceivable to him that someone would prefer Ragnor with his green skin over Magnus.
In this book she lets him lie on purpose about his age and states that it is a habit of him since an early age and that he never dropped the habit. If that is what he does, then apparently he also lied to Alec, the boy that is supposedly so important to him that Magnus would give up his immortality for him.
No matter what happens due to his god awful music he just doesn't get it and to make it clear his music caused a riot, crying children, withering plans and fleeing cats and lamas. But wow when he gets criticized, then he acts like a child and doesn't want to hear it. Only his new fling (Magnus started music just to impress him) can convince him. And then Magnus actually gave music up way too easily considered what he did before.
And if this is not convincing enough listen to what the authors wrote after Imasu said that: Magnus made it his policy to listen to people who were kind, encouraging, and extremely handsome. Do I really have to say anything about that?

Not that I think their relationship is great, because while Magnus told Imasu about his Dutch and Batavian blood he didn't bother to say anything about his demonic parentage or magic. Does he think the guy is stupid? Also if Alec from the Mortal Instruments was so right for him why was there no mentioning about Magnus wanting to tell Alec about his past? I guess readers are supposed to believe that he "learned his lesson" so to say and that in Mortal Instruments he did not want to rush things or so, yeah right. If that was what the authors wanted they did a pretty bad job.
I guess the whole break up was there so we are once again supposed to feel sympathetic to Magnus and maybe I would be if he didn't act like an asshole all the time anyway. But in either case it is, like so often in this book, clear that Magnus considers you a friend if you are kissing his skinny ass and an asshole if you dare not to.

I can say it with 99,99999999999% confidence: The Magnus Bane in this book is a backstabbing, shallow, whimsical, ungrateful, everything fucking egomaniac.

[MischaS_ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seriously! What REALLY happened in Peru, why Magnus Bane was banned from Peru. And the reason is... is nothing. Who knows? Magnus not and neither CC does.

And actually, I'm pretty sure (I may be mistaken) Jace or somebody else said during the TMI series that he/she knows what happened in Peru. But if Magnus doesn't know why he was banned... so? Just too confusing!
Lazy, lazy.

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing apparently.

[human · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoiler Warning! Because I. Am. Pissed.


You have got to be forking kidding me right now.

To this day, whatever it is that actually got him banned from Peru is—and perhaps must always remain—a mystery.

Um, what sort of ending was THAT??

Let's be clear: I absolutely adore Magnus Bane. He's probably my favorite character from TSC (I say, as though I've read past TMI and TID).

But even Magnus couldn't save this short story.

There was absolutely no point to this. I went into this think that I'd find out, oh gee, WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN PERU . And what did I get instead??? A few flashbacks to times when Magnus got up to some crazy sh!t in Peru, trace amounts of angst (it isn't from The Shadowhunters Chronicles if there isn't at least some angst), and then a cop-out ending.



Not impressed, Cassie. Not. Impressed. At all.

[Stephanie (Bookfever) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I shall call this ebook The Merry Adventure of Magnus Bane, Ragnor Fell and Catarina Loss!
I have just finished Clockwork Princess before I started this. Let's say I was in need of a Magnus fix after that.
How I loved this ebook about how Magnus got banned from Peru. Everything from Magnus himself to his friends to the setting to everything they do was just so much fun! And with fun I mean monkeys, llamas, freaking flying carpets and what not!
I simply adored Ragnor Fell or as I will call him from now on my little cabbage. With his green skin and slightly suspiciousness towards Magnus he's one hell of a travel companion which brings us to Catarina Loss. I really liked her. She's awesome with her blue skin and white hair. I bet she's really pretty!
But of course it wasn't all fun and games. Sometimes there were sad parts, however they weren't frequent or anything. And yet, I feel so bad for Magnus. But anyway, this was a great short story all about Magnus Bane's greatness and I can't wait to read more!

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun entertaining read! If he were only a real character, I feel Magnus Bane and I would be great friends (until I died a mortal death, of course).

Reread 2021.

[Stacia (the 2010 club) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the actor playing Magnus in the upcoming Mortal Instruments movie. Isn't he lovely?

Two words about What Really Happened in Peru :

Fun
Forgettable

This is a short story which takes place pre-Mortal Instruments. As many short stories go, it's not much more than just a collection of brief extras, showing Magnus in a few adventures while out on his own. You will not have needed to have read either the Mortal Instruments or the Infernal Devices series in order to read this, but I don't see why the story would be all that interesting to anyone who doesn't already have a love for Magnus. As well, there are brief mentions of characters from other series (not having to do with the story, however), that might fly right over your head if you don't know who they are from reading the companion books.

If you can't get enough of Magnus, you'll enjoy this collection of short stories. Otherwise, don't feel pressured to have to read this. It's not a "have-to" in order to keep up with the world.

Not that I was complaining about having to spend time with Magnus or anything...

"Magnus, you were trying to flirt with your own plate."
"I'm a very open-minded sort of fellow!"

[xrysa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnus is a magnificent warlock and one of my favorite characters in the "shadowhunter-world".

1791
During this year Magnus drags Ragnor and they visit Peru.

"We're on holiday."
"You are always on holiday." Ragnor pointed out.

I never thought that Ragnor could be funny and I have to admit that his sarcasm left me smiling.

I love Magnus because he is the madness personified . He wears weird mexican hats and he's being chased by a monkey!
With his peapod (Ragnor) they do some pretty crazy stuff but this is not the year when they ban him from Peru.

1885
Nothing special happens except from the fact that we are introduced Catalina , a friend of Magnus.

1890
In this year I laughed a lot. Magnus is falling in love and he is going crazy.Learning to play the charango is something that he likes but the whole town doesnt approve.

"You told us to leave you in the desert because you planned to start a new life as a cactus."



1962
In this year we finally learn why they banned Magnus from Peru.



All I have to say is that Magnus is amazing and I cant wait to read more about him!

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Humans did not live forever. They could only hope what they made would endure.”

This follows Magnus and many of the different years that he spent in Peru. In 1791, with Ragnor Fell, and taverns, and monkeys, and pirates! Then we get to see Magnus in 1885 with Ragnor and Catarina, where Magnus is accepting a mysterious job. Then we jump to 1890 when Magnus meets Imasu and we get to see him drinking, riding magic carpets, mentioning people from TID, and falling in love. This was my favorite year, because there is just something so pure about seeing three very different warlocks coming together to talk about their lives, their demon fathers, and the expectations that have been placed upon them just by living a life that they didn’t ask for. Lastly, we see the year 1962, where Magnus meets a person named Kitty who is also a con-artist, a thief, and someone who is looking for love and adventure. And even though these little glimpses were fun, I was still just let down that we don’t truly know why Magnus was banned from Peru.

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(I read this in The Bane Chronicles!) ✨

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

"He'd learned this lesson a long time ago: Even in the midst of heartbreak, you could still find yourself laughing."

3 stars!

This short story is simply a compilation of different trips that Magnus took to Peru over the span of many years, with fellow warlock friends. The adventures they'd had...drunk and sober. The heartache he experienced while there.
So why did Magnus become banned from Peru?
That remains a mystery to us all...including him.

[Radmila · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75 STARS!!!

"I can't get enough adventure", Magnus said lightly. "And adventure cannot get enough of me."

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 always an adventure stars



Narrated by Cecil Baldwin, Jamie Bamber, George Blagden, Gareth David-Lloyd, Jordan Gavaris, Stephen Lunsford, David Oyelowo, Andrew Scott, Michael Trevino, Jesse Williams

One of ten adventures in The Bane Chronicles.

Magnus Bane is one of my most favorite characters from the Mortal Instruments, he is flamboyant, brilliant, dashing and sarcastic. During the entire time reading the Mortal Instruments, we were teased with the knowledge that Magnus has been banned from Peru so I was quite excited to jump into this little novella.

Magnus takes us through his Peruvian shenanigans beginning with 1791, then throughout the years of 1885, 1890 and 1962. There is no shortage of entertainment, with his partners in crime, Ragnor Fell and Catarina Loss. Not to mention his stint with the monkeys, the ship and lets not forget the charango. But in the end I was a lil bummed, we got a whole lotta history but never the real reason ... Regardless it was a fun listen, the Narrator depicts Magnus and his cohorts so well, it just makes you settle right in for the ride.

[Christine Riccio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was expecting more, but it's always fun to hear more about Magnus and his life. I just posted my booktalk, lets discuss it! http://youtu.be/SmK9-SGYSMI =D

[Lex · Rating 3 out of 5]

HOLY. MAGNUS. CRAP. The Bane Chronicles... Hello there. :P I'd love to read you especially with Godfrey Gao in my mind while reading the stories, even this short ones. :P

UPDATE: Out now!!! I love the cover! I think it's Godfrey Gao! Damn. *melts* I'm gonna read it now!!!

REVIEW
As you all know, I really like Magnus. Love him even. So WHY?! WHY does it have to have a title like that if you'll just end it like that?! WHY?! Here I am wishing I'll know some of his secrets. But noooooo... I'm a bit disappointed at HOW it ends. :(

BUT I must say I love the second part of the book. That part where he was drunk. So drunk! LOVE that part! I really enjoyed that part. Was laughing at the office while reading it. My seatmate was like "You're so happy there. What's up?" LMAO.

“You told us to leave you in the desert, because you planned to start a new life as a cactus,” Catarina said, her voice flat.

“Then you conjured up tiny needles and threw them at us. With pinpoint accuracy.”

“Magnus, you were trying to flirt with your own plate.”

[Isa Cantos (Crónicas de una Merodeadora) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnus Bane, ¡eres el mejor warlock con el que me he topado! Las aventuras de este brujo son increíbles, sobre todo cuando está acompañado de Catarina y Ragnor. En sus andanzas por Perú, Magnus se enamora, viaja con piratas, hace sangrar los oídos de las personas que escuchan su música, crea las líneas de Nazca y... sucede algo que termina en su expulsión definitiva del país, chan chan chaaaaaaan .

Tema aparte, ¿podemos pararnos a pensar lo duro que debe ser para Magnus el ser inmortal, amar profundamente y ver morir a sus parejas?

It was true. Magnus had not been settled anywhere since his lover died—not his first lover, but the first who had lived by his side and died in his arms. Magnus had thought of her often enough that the mention of her did not hurt him, her remembered face like the distant familiar beauty of stars, not to be touched but to shine in front of his eyes at night".

Otra cosa genial de Magnus, no rechaza ninguna clase de amor <3

"I see", she said.
"Madam, you do not see".
"I do. I see it all most clearly", Catarina assured him. "What is her name?"
"I resent your implication", Magnus said. "There is no woman in the case. I am married to my music!".
"Oh, all right", Catarina Said. "What's his name, then?".

Ni siquiera con los platos, jajaja.

"I'm sure I must be sobering up at that point", Magnus argued.
"Magnus, you were trying to flirt with your own plate".
"I'm a very open-minded sort of fellow!".

[Grace (LovingDemBooks) Z. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buy this book HERE on Amazon

2 of 5 stars (Please read my rating system further below). I had super high expectations for the opening short story of The Bane Chronicles. Sadly, What Really Happened in Peru wasn't very near to meeting expectations. The writing was very inconsistent, which makes it very evident that the story was written by more than one author. The inconsistent writing took away the endearing experience that I usually have while reading books in the Shadowhunter's Chronicles and I was really disappointed by that. My favorite part about this short story was being able to find out what Magnus was doing before we met him in any of the Shadowhunter books, it was pretty great.

My rating system: (I do use half stars.)
5 - I do not use the 5 star. Not because a book might not be worthy, but because a book is never perfect.
4 - I loved it! There weren't too many flaws, and I had no trouble getting through it. (A 4 star rating is the highest rating I've ever given a book.)
3 - I enjoyed the book, but there we're flaws that made me enjoy it less.
2 - I finished the book, but there were too many flaws for me to enjoy it.
1 - I could not finish the book, and I probably did not finish it....

[celine (celinereads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I LOVE Magnus (which is why I'm giving this two stars instead of one). He's funny and sassy, but What Really Happened In Peru was slightly disappointing and the ending was a little frustrating :(

[Althea ☾]

It was okay and I found it entertaining. I liked how we finally got more of a look of how Magnus is with the other warlocks and gave more of Magnus' history since we haven't really gotten a lot of that before.

I really liked Jesse Williams narration as well. Their voice is exactly what I would imagine Magnus' voice to sound like <3

COFFEE SHOP JAZZ AMBIENCE ROOM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0_ej...

---
I'm so excited to get back into this world

also I just started the audiobook but I already love the voice actor's voice

1. What Really Happened in Peru - ★★★☆☆
2. The Runaway Queen - ★★☆☆☆
3. Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale - ★★★★★
4. The Midnight Heir - ★★★★★
5. The Rise of the Hotel Dumort - ★★☆☆☆
6. Saving Raphael Santiago - ★★★★☆
7. The Fall of the Hotel Dumort - ★★★★☆
8. What To Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything - ★★★★☆
9. The Last Stand of the New York Institute - ★★★★★
10. The Course of True Love [and First Dates] - ★★★★★
11. The Voicemail of Magnus Bane - ★★★☆☆

⟹ BLOG | SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI | BOOKSIRENS ⟸

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was hilarious. But at the end it never explained why Magnus was banned lol. Made me want to scream. Unless all his antics are the reasons why lol.

[Ferdy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoilers

Pointless. Why? I still don't know why the fucky fuck Magnus was banned from Peru?! And that was meant to be the whole point of this fucking bastard novella!!

I have to say, Magnus wasn't nearly as enigmatic and charming in his own novella. He had quite a few POV's in TID and TMI, and in those he was still more or less interesting… That's probably because his previous POV's were short thus making it easier to portray him as complex and mysterious. But now that I've been in his head longer, it's quite clear that Magnus is just a whiny-crybaby-bitch.
All he did was moan, and I just couldn't feel sorry for him — he was immortal, he had super cool powers, he had a million lovers, he fell in love with everyone and anyone, he had good friends, he got to do whatever the hell he wanted, he travelled all over the world and did all sorts of exciting things. YET he still acted like he had shit life… Ugh.

There was no real story in What Really Happened in Peru, it was just a bunch of scenes mish-mashed together… But because they were all set in Peru, I'm guessing I was meant to think that there was an actual story with a beginning, middle and end. That was not the case.

A breakdown:
-The first chapter (set in 1791), Magnus and Ragnor came across a monkey and then ended up in bird shit.
-Second Chapter (set in 1885), Magnus and his friends help some random person locate some random object.
-Third chapter (set in 1890), Magnus learnt to play an instrument so he could get closer to some musician guy, he then fell in love with said musician, he was then dumped by said musician and then went on a bender and felt sorry for himself because he had a twagic wuv life.
-Fourth chapter (set in 1962), Magnus bumped into some random girl in the street, she happened to be a con-woman/thief and even though Magnus/con-woman knew each other less than 30 seconds they decided to run off together and be criminals, naturally they fell in love.

So yea… It was all just random unconnected stuff that Magnus did in Peru at different periods of time — and none of those things were the reason he was banned from Peru.
Why write a synopsis that says:
'Fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices know that Magnus Bane is banned from Peru—and now they can find out why.'
…WHEN THAT DIDN'T FUCKING HAPPEN?!

I'm really starting to hate Magnus - he's so whiny and I'm put off by 1. How many times he's fallen in love and 2. How easily he falls in love. It just makes his 'love' for Alex seem like nothing special and I no longer buy that Magnus even loves Alex. It's clear that when Alex dies that Magnus will have no trouble moving on and finding someone new to love. I hope Alex finds another guy in CoHF because he deserves better than being Magnus's latest 'love'.

Will I read the next one? Yes, but I shall borrow an e-copy from the library. I refuse to waste my money on Magnus's boring-whiny-selfpitying 'adventures'.

[Hud-c]

IS THIS REAL????


*Goes and rechecks, rereads Cassandra Clare's FB posts, Tumbler, website news

DAMN ITS REAL!!!!







I'm crying. Because aside from Simon Lewis, there's someone who makes my boiling point reach its limit - a warlock name Magnus Bane. (It has nothing to do with anger but has got to do with what we called "primitive animal desire")

2 months of waiting? Nah, not bad.






SCREW YOU

GO RELEASE IT NEXT MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


or else I'm using my secret CAT GUN.

[Annie Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Magnus, the Magnificent Warlock...have I ever told you how much I love you?! Have I?! You are superb! Fantastic! Amazing! Sexy! I love love love the hell out of you! It's no surprise that I'd love this short story. Cassandra Clare can do no wrong. Seriously. She's...g*d damn perfect! I love Cassie! I love Magnus! Thank you for giving us this piece of awesomeness! I can't wait for the next short story, next month and the next journey we get to ride on with Magnus. I love him! I love him! I love him! Thank you!


Oh yay!!! We get to find out "What Reaaallllly Happened in Peru" with Magnus!!!! Love the title. Dying for this book now! Love my witty Warlock! EEEEP!!!!

[Claudia Lomelí · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun to read, but not really interesting. Anyway, I love Magnus Bane and I'll be reading his whole Chronicles :).

[Evelyn Swift (Featherbrained Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This what a bit anticlimactic...I mean the title is “What Really Happened in Peru” so you think that would have been answered?

It was set in short stories from various years Magnus has visited Peru, and while I enjoyed the first story with Ragnor, I didn’t really care for the other ones or the abrupt ending that didn't actually answer why Magnus has been banned from Peru.

I really hope the other novellas are better!

[luciana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

You seem always ephemeral, like a glittering shallow stream that passes the whole world by. Not something that will stay, not something that will last. Not someone permanent.”

While Magnus is an interesting topic to read about, I thought the transitions were poor and the world building was minimalist.

[Jessie · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars
Just...nothing special. I was expecting something fun, but instead I got a few chapters of what Magnus did in Peru. The whole thing bored me out, and nothing was answered. I hope the other novellas are better than this. You could've done a lot better, Clare.

[nefeli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 ⭐


Buddy read this with Sanyam :))
Read his review here

“Moreover, I wish to assure you both that I did not make any amorous advances on female monkeys.”

Magnus Bane is simply iconic and I love him. He was so crazy when he was younger!!

“You told us to leave you in the desert, because you planned to start a new life as cactus," Catarina said, her voice flat. "Then you conjured up tiny needles and threw them at us. With pinpoint accuracy.”

“Magnus, you were trying to flirt with your own plate."
"I'm a very open-minded sort of fellow!"
"Ragnor is not," Catarina said. "When he found out that you were feeding us guinea pigs, he hit you over the head with your plate. It broke."
"So ended our love," Magnus said. "Ah, well. It would have never worked between me and the plate anyway.”

That scene where Catarina explained to Magnus what he did when he was drunk was hilarious😂😂

I also really loved his relationship with Ragnor!

“You are just jealous," Magnus remarked calmly. "Because you do not have the soul of a true artiste like myself."
"Oh, I am positively green with envy," Ragnor snapped.
"Come now, Ragnor. That's not fair," said Magnus. "You know I love it when you make jokes about your complexion.”

“Ragnor looked very regretful about all the choices that had led him to his being in this place and especially in this company”

Anyways, I guess the mystery of what happened in Peru will remain a mystery...

“We live forever by the grace of human love, which rocked strange children in their cradles and did not despair and did not turn away.”

~ The runaway queen: Review 3/5 ⭐

[Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say, I was incredibly disappointed with this one. I love Cassandra Clare's books, and Sarah Rees Brennan's book Unspoken was surprisingly great, but together, they don't quite mix. It was off somehow. I don't know how to explain it. The writing was too dumbed down at times then with these random SAT words thrown in the mix, and it just didn't sound right. Then there was the story itself, which was subpar and all over the place. Not to mention that dumb line at the end of every chapter that just...urgh. "But that was not the reason Magnus Bane was banned from Peru," or whatever it was. I think the only worthwhile part was Imasu and his infinite adorableness. Also, the whole thing with the musical instrument (I can't remember its name) was just...bordering on moronic.

I was expecting the usual playful and flamboyant Magnus mixed in with his wisdom and sort of bitterness, but instead I got his party side on steroids, and I didn't like it. Let's see if the next installments are any better.



Also, Alexandra's review sums up my feelings perfectly and a bit more eloquently than mine.