Lady Midnight
By Cassandra Clare
Average Rating: 4.56
The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.
It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.
Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions…
Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?
Glitz, glamours, and Shadowhunters abound in this heartrending opening to Cassandra Clare’s Dark Artifices series.
Disclaimer: Mini spoilers ahead. Not very significant but may be considered spoilers. Sorry.
And we are back in the Shadowhunter world!!! *jumps for joy* I’ve been waiting years for this book to come out, so when it finally came out, I knew I had to get it in my hands some way, some how. Finished it in about two days, maybe a day and a half and boy, was it a rollercoaster of emotions!
Cassandra Clare is off to a great start with her new trilogy starring Emma Carstairs, Jem’s descendant, and Julian Blackthorn, her parabatai!!
Okay, the basics. The novel starts five years after CoHF, so Emma is 17 years old. Julian is Emma’s parabatai, and that is extremely important with the semantics of their relationship. (Holy hell, Cassie went there.) Mark, Julian’s older brother comes back into their lives after the Fae captured him for the Hunt and brings havoc along with him. (Let’s see how many times I try not to spoil anything…) If you haven’t read the previous Shadowhunter novels then no worries, Cassie briefly recaps everything and reintroduces elements like runes, the stele, the Clave, Downworlders, parabatai, etc. So, even if you haven’t read the precious series in the Shadowhunter Chronicles, it’s okay if you start with this one. (I do recommend reading the others to enhance your reading experience though)
“I thought it was ‘the Law is annoying, but it is also flexible.'”
The running engine of this novel is Emma’s love for breaking rules which is foreshadowing all on its own. She’s a firecracker and her sarcasm hits me at a personally level. She may be my soul sister. I refuse to admit it, but Emma is the female version of Jace (sorry!) but so much better!! Her parents were part of a ritualistic murder, and the blame was put on Sebastian Morgenstern. She knows that that’s not the case. Someone else killed her parents and she’s going to find out who. She’s only 17, and she’s been looking for her parents’ killer for years. She’s desperate. She’s wants answers, the real ones, once and for all. And she’s going to do anything she can to get them. Ambitious, that girl, let me tell you that. If you haven’t already noticed, Emma is full of personality. Cassie made sure of that. Emma is a complex character and I love that about her. She is the perfect protagonist for this new series.
Julian has a secret. A big one. (And that’s all I’m telling because you book lovers out there need to read this book.) Julian is an artist and dude, that is so attractive. He makes my heart skip a beat at his sweetness and his struggle with [spoiler! I couldn’t help it. I had to!!] his treacherous feelings for Emma. His internal struggle just broke my already fragile heart. So many feels! Even more, Julian is that boy who didn’t get to be a boy. He had to take care of his siblings at age 12, and it’s so heartrendingly sweet, sad, attractive, amazing, and every other adjective you can think of! His relationships with his siblings and along with Emma are just impeccable. Julian is THE book boyfriend and *sigh* I can’t form coherent thoughts when I think about his character. Who am I kidding this book in general just messes with my emotions and my thoughts.
How you ask? Because every single moment was like a slap in the face (in a good way!). THE STORYTELLING. THE WORDS. THE STORY. It pretty much blew me away. You think after a 6-book series, a trilogy, and some extra short stories, things would get old and repetitive. They don’t. They just don’t. I’ve read most of Cassie’s novels and save for the wonderful parallelism between the books, she always brings something new to the table! Lady Midnight proved that Cassie can keep on writing in this Shadowhunter world with no doubt that the books will be successful.
“Patches of skin were burned, black and red, bubbles rising where the burn were worst, like lather on a bar of soup. His gray shirt was torn open, and across his chest and arms marched lines of black runes, not the runes of Shadowhunters, but a twisted demon script.”
The events leading up to the big epic conclusion to the mystery of the demonic murders were well-paced, and the killer took me by surprise. The romance between Emma and Julian is THE literary relationship. The fighting scenes are amazing; there are plenty of seraph blades being swung around, ichor being spilled, runes engraved, Emma being badass, parabatai moments (swoon) and Mark being Mark. I approve the secondary characters: Kieran, Cristina, the Blackthorn children, and Diana, just to name a few. We also get special appearances from Magnus, Jace, Clary, Alec, Jem and Tessa! *yay!* Pretty much, everything in this book was extraordinary. I don’t think I can say that enough! XD
Okay, let’s talk epilogue. I’ll try to make it brief, but what. the. hell. CASSIE YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!! YOU CANNOT END IT LIKE THAT. That is complete agony. And who knows when the next book will come out! Probably in a year. A year. (What’s funny is that’s nothing in the life of a book addict.) Anyway, thank you so much for the severe book hangover. Much appreciated. You shall find me curled up in my bed, rereading your book.
Lady Midnight is Cassie’s best book yet, and I’m utterly excited for this new series! It just sucks that I have to wait another year or so before the next book comes out!!! (still not happy with that ending) I will definitely be rereading this book and all her other ones in the Shadowhunter Chronicles in hopes of healing my book hangover…
Lady Midnight is full of mystery, romance, friendship and comedy, making it the perfect (and I mean perfect) young adult novel. Well done, Cassie, well done.
Keep calm and read on,
Addictively Turning Pages 
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[…] I absolutely love the Shadow world and I thought I couldn’t love another couple as much as Clace and Malec but this new series by Cassie blows me away with the new content and IM LOVING THE SHIPS!! 😍😍 Emma is the new heroine and she is a star. She’s so badass, and I just get all squealing when I read about her in The Mortal Instruments when she was a kid. She’s so grown up. *wipes away tear* The hangover was short with this one but very strong. It was easier to heal from this because I had a lot of other content to indulge myself with. *cough* Like 2 series worth of 9 books. 😀 [Review] […]
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[…] You have to say, this is a beautiful and haunting cover. It is why I picked it for the best cover of the year. The book is just as beautiful on the inside as the outside. 😍😍 [Review] […]
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