Lord of Shadows

https://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/2018/12/15/lord-of-shadows-cassandra-clare/

"There was a long silence. Magnus broke it. "I have to hand it to you," he said. "I never thought Jace and Clary would be topped by anyone else in terms o insane, self-destructive decisions, but you all are giving them a run for their money." (p. 628)

I've run into so many people who stopped after The Mortal Instruments. Maybe they gave The Infernal Devices a chance or dipped their toes into The Bane Chronicles and Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. But I continue to get questions regarding the worthiness of The Dark Artifices.

Unequivocably, my answer is "yes". Yes, read them. Yes, they are worth it. I know it's tough to start over with a whole new set of show more folks, at a completely different Institute. But it's Cassandra Clare and she is a goddess.

Lord of Shadows is, perhaps, one of the emotionally heartwrenching books in the entire Shadowhunters set and I love it for that. Without giving too much away for those who haven't read to this point, there is as much tortured love and lust as there is torture and bloodlust. That's one of the things Clare has always done well. The seamless integration of warfare and love affairs has always been the guiding force, returning me to her pages.

I love the Blackthorn family, so much. There is not nearly as much fierce love between family members in the rest of the series and for some reason, it just tugged at my heartstrings. I also realized that while the rest of the Clave and the Downworld appear to always be at odds with one another, our little group, despite the time period or location, has this knack for rounding up faeries, vampires, warlocks, werewolves, and Shadowhunters, all outcasts, and fighting for unity at all cost. I think that's one of my favorite things.

On to this last book (Queen of Air and Darkness). I've put it off for too long and I shan't be afraid of the ending of it all. Nope. I'm brave. Really. show less

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I was lucky enough to be approached by LoveReading to review and join the blog tour for The Dark Artifices series by Cassandra Clare. Starting today, and posting every Wednesday, you will get to see what I thought about this series.

Series: The Dark Artifices

#1 Lady Midnight - ★★★★
#2 Lord of Shadows - ★★★★★
#3 Queen of Air and Darkness - ★★★★★



Welcome back to the sequel of The Dark Artifices series. After reading the first book and getting to know all the new characters, the second book contained by far more detail and more adventures throughout.

The book starts where it left all, after the team defeats Malcolm, but now new dangers arise, as sea demons start show more summoning, and the Faeries, as usual, are planning some mischief.

Emma, as you might have guessed, is still my favourite. But, this time, we got to see more about the ”little children”, Kit, Ty and Livvy. As I kept reading and finding out more about them, I realised them I loved them more and more every single page.

I loved how Cassandra Clare managed to put differences aside, and teach us how it’s okay to be different and you will be accepted by the real friends in your life. While Ty is autistic and unique in his own way, he is accepted and loved by his family and friends, and his uniqueness makes him lovable character to all readers as well.

We fear things because we value them. We fear losing people because we love them. We fear dying because we value being alive. Don’t wish you didn’t fear anything. All that would mean is that you didn’t feel anything.

The best part of the book for me was everything that had to do with Faerie land. All the writing about how beautiful, but at the same time dangerous it is just made me want it more and more. So beautiful, and yet so cruel. A world where you get enchanted and then hurt, a world where time is irrelevant and beauty is forever.

Mark and Christina’s dance was one of the moments I will cherish forever in this book, and I don’t fall easily for romantic scenes.

Lord of Shadows was amazing, with so many adventures and different plots and character developments throughout. We have a lot of characters, and they all develop in their own way, and we get all their backgrounds and feelings, and actions that make them grow in a certain way, and each of these moments was precious to me in a different way, but all the same. We have Emma seeing her father (or an illusion of it) and having to kill him. Then there is her forbidden love to Julian. We have Kit, the lost Herondale and how he slowly fits into the academy. And most importantly, we have Magnus appearing in the book with Alec, and singing Spanish lullabies to his son.

So many amazing moments, too many bookmarks, and only one feeling of love towards everything Shadowhunter-y. I can’t wait to dive into the next book. Looking forward to it! show less

What a ride... There was so much I really enjoyed about this book. For one, Kieran, Cristina, and Mark's dynamic was fantastic. I really appreciate that it's gone beyond a love triangle to something more and I hope it stays that way.. Please Cassandra give us a polyamorous relationship with these three.

I also LOVED that Diana is trans. It's fantastic to have trans characters in fiction that is not 100% about their gender and their struggles, it's great to see a black trans woman in a really badass role with a great romantic interest and own storyline apart from being trans. It was handled surprising well and I respect that.

I'm enjoying seeing where Kit and Ty's relationship is going, I'm so glad Cassandra broached the subject of Ty show more being Autistic head on and acknowledged it. I'm beginning to get pretty excited for their series.

But then that ending.... Oh my god. I have no many emotions and so many worries now... I am so stressed for the last book but it's so long away. Rip me. show less

Oh my god??? This book was one of the wildest fucking rides I've been on. Cassandra Clare is brutal, guys.

So I'm going to get the bad out of the way first, which was really the reason why I took off one star. The romance. The fucking romance, guys. There are so many romances and they're all tangled up in each other and every single one was tiring to read about, especially Julian and Emma. I can only read so much about forbidden love angst, and I reached my limit like, 20 pages into the book. We get that you can't be together. There was so much angst I sort of dreaded coming up on scenes with them together. The same goes for the whole thing with Mark, Kieran and Cristina. I feel like heated kissing and angsting took up a lot of show more unnecessary space in the book.

That being said, there was one romance I did enjoy: Kit and Ty. At first I was kind of simmering with rage because fucking Kit and Livvy kissed and I had to take a moment to put my book down and scream about how if Cassandra Clare made Kit/Livvy cannon I was going to sue for false advertising, dammit, but it looks like Kit/Ty's happening after all, though it's not the way I wanted or even imagined it would happen. They're slow burn all the way - Ty showing his comfort with Kit in ways that Kit recognizes and loves, and Kit feeling fiercely protective for Ty. They seem like the most believable romance to me. Or maybe I'm just a slow burn kind of person.

As for the plot: holy shit. It was nicely-paced, for the most part, and jumped between viewpoints so that you couldn't stop reading. There was so much going on, but you didn't really get lost easily, and I really felt like some people wouldn't make it out alive. I could guess that Arthur was going to die and I'm glad he went the way he did - it was noble and brave of him. The incursions out of Los Angeles to Faerie and London and Idris were really nice and it was interesting to see how the Shadowhunters are getting on five years after The Mortal Instruments. There's a lot of conflict brewing up. The Clave continues to be completely incompetent. I'm really excited to see where the rest of the series takes us.

One thing I find of particular interest is how current events have had an impact on the plot of this book pertaining to Zara Dearborn and her Cohort. Her call for Downworlder registries is reminiscent of the far right's prejudice against Muslims, and the bigotry of the Clave resonates even more in the current political climate. It was really interesting to see how that was explored in the context of the Shadowhunters universe. Also, I hate Zara Dearborn more than I've hated possibly any character in recent memory. Fucking choke.

And the ending, dear god, the ending. I thought everything was going to be a-okay until the last ten or so pages and then EVERYTHING WENT TO SHIT. Robert Lightwood. Dead, along with the leniency he may have granted Julian and Emma, the good he does because his son loves a Downworlder. LIVIA BLACKTHORN. Oh, my god. My heart fucking broke in that moment and I spent the rest of the drive back kind of traumatized because LIVVY. I can't believe she would do that. I can't even imagine how the Blackthorns must be feeling - Ty and Julian especially. I'm so fucking sad now leave me to die show less

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

"Magnus Bane, the Ultimate Traitor."
"Not my favourite nickname. I prefer 'Our Lord and Master' or maybe 'Unambiguously the Hottest.'"

"Your pretense does not fool me, gnome. My eye will be upon you."

> LOVE QUARRELS
Geez, I had so much fun reading this! There were so many hilarious situations and sarcastic retorts that I laughed like an idiot most of the time, differently from Lady Midnight where the only thing present was drama.
Well, to be honest there was a soap-opera-like atmosphere in this book too, but I managed to enjoy it much more as everybody was arguing and shouting to each other, misunderstanding everything misunderstandable. You could ask "And what is there to enjoy?" I don't really know how to explain it, show more but it was better than just seeing Emma and Jules's struggles. It was more... lively, I suppose?

> PLOT AND CHARACTERS
But now let's be more objective: the plot was definitely better than the first book. Firstly because there was much more action, suspence, tension and plotting, without mentioning the unforseen and mysterious ending.
Secondly because I managed to know a Jules I didn't know existed. Just how much of a complex character is he?! I was really stunned. I used to picture him just as a... well, fluffy, caring, often overprotective boy, thus seeing his "darker", ruthless side left me totally amazed and made him look sooo intriguing!
To be honest all characters underwent an amazing development, showing new and unexpected sides of themselves. This is probably the best perk of Lord of Shadows.

"Look at me, if you doubt what I say I will do," said Julian. "Look at my eyes. Do you think I am someone who as anything to lose?"

> TO SUM UP
As you can see I haven't rated it five stars, but just because I'm in a stage when I can't enjoy this kind of books as I used to a couple of years ago. Thus you'll probably like it more than I do. Anyway, though I'm still not totally accostumed to the new characters, I appreciated how Cassandra Clare managed to blend harmoniously old and new. show less

Shadowhunter universe is probably one of the best fantasy universes currently – only after Potterverse and the Middle-Earth though. Cassandra Clare has great imagination, an exec Ellen knack for combining myth, folklore and fantasy with current socio-political climate and ultimately giving us a world full of characters that we can root for. However, one of her great strengths is writing love triangles. Reading romance novels gets exhausting after a period of time and as we grow more cynical, it gets harder to empathize or even choose our favorites in a triangle. But Cassie writes such beautiful characters that it gets difficult to choose your favorites, but for a whole other reason – you want all the three to be happy, to find love show more and to be together. You don’t want any of them to be separated. You fall in love with all of them and then can’t extricate yourself from the entanglements of their love. My all time favorite trio is always going to be Tessa, Jem and Will from TID but this book gave me a similar feeling regards to Mark, Christina and Kieran. Their love has this undercurrent of pain, betrayal, friendship and so much more and I am very sure that I will grow to love them more.

This book is probably Cassie’s best writing in terms of character development. We get to hear many different points of view and get to know them for who they really are. Julian is tormented in his love, Ty is both sure and unsure of everything , Kit feels out of place initially but grows into his love for Ty and the Blackthorn family, Emma is brave, Livvy is strong, Dru is lonely and Mark is conflicted. We see the story from everyone’s eyes and sometimes are even able to sympathize with Malcolm- why he turned out to be the villain. There are also so many diverse personalities here and you can see that what unites them is so much more stronger than their differences. These characters make you care about them. They make you want to do something to make them happy, drive away their loneliness and fears, just be with them. It is because of these characters that everyone is still reading about the Shadowhunters even ten years after the first book.

Coming to the plot itself, much of the story is quite as expected. It’s still interesting to venture into various cities including Fairieland and learn certain unexpected things about our favorite characters and their motivations. The best part about the plot is the way current issues are woven into the narrative but they seem so true to their world as well. And it proves, if you keep denigrating/controlling/punishing one group of people because of actions of a few and because you think your group is superior, the consequences will be bloody and devastating for everyone – even the innocent – especially the innocent. That’s what happens at the end – innocent blood is shed and we will see the consequences of a bigoted and unjust world in the next book. But alas… very excruciating two year wait it’s going to be for THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS. show less

4 stars

“The bad things can't matter more than the good things”

THIS BOOK.... THIS BOOK FUCKED ME UP SO MUCH.



After months of waiting for this book at my library I finally got it! This book made my emotions go all over the place. From happiness to crying to so much rage. Everything about this book was so good and I’m in so much pain.

Half of this book was filled with sexual tension between Julian and Emma and between Cristina and Mark. I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THE BLACKTHORN CHILDREN SO GODDAMN MUCH! I also love Kit as well. Who I absolutely can’t even deal with is Zara and her little minions. I hope when Magnus recover that he can turn Zara into a garbage fire. I’m also so so glad that Alec annihilated her though The Cohort, show more especially Zara and her minions can be eaten by Sea Demons. I’m so so happy that Magnus and Alec an appearance in this book with Rafe and Max. I also loved the relationship between Kit and Ty. Then there’s Diana. GIVE HER ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD! I really really loved her backstory.

The reason why I’m giving it 4 stars is because firstly the relationship between Julian and Emma, half the time I just couldn’t careless about it.



Then there’s the incredibly slow parts. I really do like the details, but sometimes really long chapters are extremely draining. Lastly, the ending.... GODDAMN IT! LIVVY DID NOT DESERVE TO DIE. SHE DESERVED NOTHING BUT HAPPINESS, but obviously Cassandra Clare didn’t want to let the Blackthorns to be one happy family.I can’t believe that, that was the end of the book and we’re left with a cliffhanger. I’m so not crying and fuming over the ending. To be completely honest I loved Lady Midnight more and I expected a little bit more in LoS. Now let us wait ‘patiently’ for 2 more years, because waiting for 2 years is so much fun right!!!!! 😄 😄 😄 show less