Point of View

Chain of Gold is written from the third-person omniscient perspective, where the author does not include herself or the reader in her telling of the narrative, but where she does share with the reader the innermost thought of the characters themselves, providing that omniscient knowledge which not every third-person narrative provides. The main benefits of this point of view are that the book follows the norm in traditional young adult novels and thus is told in a familiar story-telling style which readers of young adult fiction would be familiar with and feel is accessible; and that the book allows author Cassandra Clare to build literary irony in her work, revealing to the reader some of the characters’ thoughts and frustrating them time and again as they watch the characters struggle to accurately or effectively communicate with each other. In the context of a book about...