Lady Midnight

https://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/2018/04/21/lady-midnight-cassandra-clare/

I was a bit nervous about The Shadowhunter story jumping coasts.

I had only briefly met the crew at The Los Angeles Institute and they seemed sort of two dimensional compared to the New York and London collection I have grown to love.

I probably don’t need to tell you, by now, that Cassandra Clare never disappoints.

Entering into the first book of The Dark Artifices was almost like when you see cousins at a family reunion. You kind of know what their lives have been like and you know some stories. They seem like strangers but feel like home.

By about the second chapter, I found myself thinking, “Clary who?” And the rest was history.

The Los Angeles show more Shadowhunters are so different in so many ways than the Manhattan clan. They’ve lost far more, experienced more heartache at an early age, had more responsibility thrust on their little shoulders. They were also all raised Shadowhunters, different than Clary and Simon. The fierce bond of family is so strong in this segment of the chronicles that you can pretty much reach out and touch it through the pages.

Like most of the series, there’s some Big Bad to be dealt with and in this edition, it falls in the arena of tracking down the true killer of Emma’s parents. At the end of The Mortal Instruments, we all pretty much assume that Sebastian was the one who did away with Emma’s mom and dad. She’s convinced otherwise.

In the spirit of old-school Noir and classic Hollywood, Emma digs in with the rest of her institute to the murders seemingly (to her) connected with murders that continue popping up, even five years after her parents go missing.

And that’s exactly all I can tell you but holy cow it is a wild ride.

I have yet to be let down by Clare and this certainly wasn’t the book to do it. I’m kind of in denial that this is my last book in the series. I know there will be a third, this fall, and Clare is coming out with a new chapter that falls between The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments. Still, I so hate waiting. Excuse me while I go sob into the pages of Lord of Shadows. show less

Of all of the Shadowhunter stories, this is by far the most compelling. I felt devastated and sad throughout the entire story. The story had such a grim and hopeless energy that I couldn't shake. I couldn't put the book down until I finished (although I did throw the book a few times). Every time one door opened, I felt another door shut. More than anything, I am terrified for Julian. These poor children and these terrible secrets they have to keep. They're enduring all of this alone. I can't imagine the trilogy ending well for any of the protagonists. My heart is so heavy for these children.

This might bounce around between four and five stars, mostly because I found the romance a little bit squicky. It's not a spoiler. Julian and Emma seem more like brother and sister to me, because they grew up together, and ... eh. I'm also not liking that romantic love makes parabatai stronger, because I hate the notion that romantic love is better than platonic or familial love.

Most of the book, though, was fucking fantastic. I fell in love with all the characters real fast, but my favorite is probably Ty Blackthorn. I'm happy because he's an autistic Shadowhunter, and I rarely, rarely get representation on the autism spectrum that isn't a book about being autistic. Also, I ship Kit/Ty, oh dear lord, I fell for this ship HARD. Ty show more literally has a knife pressed to Kit's throat and all Kit can think is Oh No He's Hot, and then Ty can't stop looking at Kit's eyes. Personally, I can't look hot people in the eyes. But.

Mark is another one of my favorites. It's funny to see him as a fish out of water, and I think this is the first time I've ever seen a bi love triangle (that I can remember)! Actually, it's more of a love shitshow. Julian/Emma/Mark/Christina/Diego/Kieran. Mark ends up with neither of them which I appreciate, because by the end, one has betrayed his trust and the other has another love interest and ends up forgetting Mark. At the same time, Emma and Julian can't be together, so now I'm watching Mark and Emma, two heartbroken people, make really bad decisions. Neither of them particularly like each other, but it's a pairing out of heartbreak and necessity. It's an interesting direction. Cassandra Clare's good with some of her love triangles, actually - guess who started crying about Will/Tessa/Jem AGAIN. That one shattered my heart.

My other favorites are Julian and Emma, but not Julian/Emma. Julian's so caring and loving and gentle, yet he can be ruthless and cunning when he needs to be. He's such a well-developed character. It's so heartbreaking to see how much he cares for everyone. I want to give that poor boy a break and a hug and some hot chocolate. He's carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. And Emma - Emma is brave and ruthless and loving, willing to sacrifice just as much as Julian is for her adopted family, and it's absolutely beautiful. I love both of them.

The plot was wonderful as well. I did see some of it coming, but it was an entertaining ride, and it's really fascinating how well Clare managed to integrate a completely unrelated poem into the story. It threw some kinks into the world we've all known about, and I am beyond ecstatic for the next installment. show less

Five years after the war in The City of Heavenly Fire, Emma Carstairs is living in the Los Angeles Institute with her best friend, Julian Blackthorn, and his family. They are Nephilim, or Shadowhunters: part-human, part-angel, and sworn to protect mundanes (regular humans) from Downworlders (vampires, werewolves, and more) and uphold the law of the Clave, the sort of ruling class of Shadowhunters. When murders start occurring and the victims' bodies are left much like Emma's parents, with strange markings on them, Emma starts investigating even though she knows that, with many of the bodies being Faerie, the Clave won't like her getting involved - the negotiations after the war left the "Cold Peace" and restrictions in helping any fae, show more including the two half-Faerie Blackthorns, Mark and Helen.

I hadn't quite figured out how confusing this all sounds until I started to write it all out. This is the first in a new series within the Shadowhunter world, and while it's not absolutely necessary to read the other books before reading this one (it's been over a year in my case, and I still followed everything), I'm not sure I'd recommend starting with this one. Emma and Julian are an interesting pair, and the other secondary characters are fleshed out well, all of them individual and realistic, people you can root for without being perfect. I especially like the way the relationships between the Blackthorn siblings are described, and I like Ty who seems to be on the autism spectrum but treated with such love and respect by his siblings. Emma is as wise-cracking as Jace was in the original series, and I burst out laughing at a couple of scenes. Really fun reading, and I'm looking forward to continuing the series when the new book comes out in May. show less

Quick Thoughts
1. Not bad for a continuation of a very long series. I am getting a little bored of the same world though.
2. I liked these new characters but they felt almost the same as our old ones. Part of me wishes we didn't see our old characters at all in this series.
3. The plot was the best part. It was a little mysterious and it was fun trying to figure out some of the riddles.
4. I'll probably continue on with the series but if we don't see some different things happen then I'll most likely get bored and stop.
5. I find Cassandra Clare's writing never gets any better. I found there were A LOT of really awkward lines that really had no purpose in the book. We saw it with the condom line in CoHF and we see that same awkwardness show more here in this book. show less

Why didn't I read this sooner????

There was beauty in the idea of freedom, but it was an illusion. Every human heart was chained by love.

Soooo I really wanted to give this 5 stars. It is by far the best book Cassandra Clare has ever written. Unironically. TMI had mostly crap characters with a pretty cool plot; TID had great characters with a lame plot; this had stellar characters with an amazing plot. It really threw me for a loop. The big plot twists didn't come out of nowhere but also weren't super obvious. When we get the big reveal, I literally gasped and rethought the whole book, zeroing in on those little details she planted that didn't seem important at the time but actually meant everything. It was so well done!

The characters in show more this really stole the show. Cristina starts strong and honestly, stayed there. She was an icon and I stan. Emma wasn't a cardboard cut out of a Strong Female Character either; she felt like an actual teenager and I seriously appreciated that. Julian was fantastic and really delivered on his character premise of boy forced to raise his siblings. Love him a lot. Mark sometimes felt too Holly Black-esque but I liked him a lot. The whole fam was great and actually behaved like siblings in a large family, which was honestly so wonderful. I'm the 5th of 6 kids so I know very well what big families are like, and books usually get the dynamic wrong. So kudos to Clare on that! Malcolm and Diana were also really great!

The plot was freaking fantastic!!!! It did family drama, murder mystery, and cult conspiracy all so well, tying together everything so seamlessly! I loved every minute of it! I was worried as I neared the end that it would retcon like crazy just to setup a sequel, but it actually flowed quite naturally and did the framework all on its own without any convoluted additions.

Now, on to why this is 4 stars and not 5, even though I basically loved everything about this book:

Well, Clare couldn't help but include a love dodecahedron (between the main cast, therefore making the characters lovesick puppies for no good reason) and calling back to TMI in the most convoluted and needless ways. She's been trying to shoehorn into every single release that ~the love between Jace and Clary is the most pure, most lovely, most amazing love in the whole entire world; that no one loves as strongly or as completely as they love each other. They are perfect for each other in every single way~ yadda yadda yadda. : :| It gets a little mind numbing after 10 books. And their inclusion in this book just felt like Clare was trying to toot her own horn. The self-indulgence was ridiculous. She might as well change her pen name to Cassandra Clace at this point.

And to add to that, Clare just straight up reused some plot points and plot devices. Granted, they probably worked better here than in her previous work, but it was really annoying to basically just read the mix-and-match version of her other series. It didn't negatively impact the plot but it did hamper my enjoyment.

All in all, though, I loved it, and I'm extremely eager to read the next one. show less

Why didn't I read this sooner????

There was beauty in the idea of freedom, but it was an illusion. Every human heart was chained by love.

Soooo I really wanted to give this 5 stars. It is by far the best book Cassandra Clare has ever written. Unironically. TMI had mostly crap characters with a pretty cool plot; TID had great characters with a lame plot; this had stellar characters with an amazing plot. It really threw me for a loop. The big plot twists didn't come out of nowhere but also weren't super obvious. When we get the big reveal, I literally gasped and rethought the whole book, zeroing in on those little details she planted that didn't seem important at the time but actually meant everything. It was so well done!

The characters in show more this really stole the show. Cristina starts strong and honestly, stayed there. She was an icon and I stan. Emma wasn't a cardboard cut out of a Strong Female Character either; she felt like an actual teenager and I seriously appreciated that. Julian was fantastic and really delivered on his character premise of boy forced to raise his siblings. Love him a lot. Mark sometimes felt too Holly Black-esque but I liked him a lot. The whole fam was great and actually behaved like siblings in a large family, which was honestly so wonderful. I'm the 5th of 6 kids so I know very well what big families are like, and books usually get the dynamic wrong. So kudos to Clare on that! Malcolm and Diana were also really great!

The plot was freaking fantastic!!!! It did family drama, murder mystery, and cult conspiracy all so well, tying together everything so seamlessly! I loved every minute of it! I was worried as I neared the end that it would retcon like crazy just to setup a sequel, but it actually flowed quite naturally and did the framework all on its own without any convoluted additions.

Now, on to why this is 4 stars and not 5, even though I basically loved everything about this book:

Well, Clare couldn't help but include a love dodecahedron (between the main cast, therefore making the characters lovesick puppies for no good reason) and calling back to TMI in the most convoluted and needless ways. She's been trying to shoehorn into every single release that ~the love between Jace and Clary is the most pure, most lovely, most amazing love in the whole entire world; that no one loves as strongly or as completely as they love each other. They are perfect for each other in every single way~ yadda yadda yadda. : :| It gets a little mind numbing after 10 books. And their inclusion in this book just felt like Clare was trying to toot her own horn. The self-indulgence was ridiculous. She might as well change her pen name to Cassandra Clace at this point.

And to add to that, Clare just straight up reused some plot points and plot devices. Granted, they probably worked better here than in her previous work, but it was really annoying to basically just read the mix-and-match version of her other series. It didn't negatively impact the plot but it did hamper my enjoyment.

All in all, though, I loved it, and I'm extremely eager to read the next one. show less