Book Review: Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #1)

Release Date: December 4, 2018
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Length: 912 pages
Source: Purchased Book/eBook

Dark secrets and forbidden love threaten the very survival of the Shadowhunters in Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness, the final novel in the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling The Dark Artifices trilogy.

What if damnation is the price of true love?

Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the blight that is destroying the race of warlocks.

Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.

    

Review:

Characters: This story begins right after the end of Lord of Shadows, meaning most of our protagonists are in mourning after the tragic murders of Robert Lightwood and Livia Blackthorn. Much of this story deals with loss and how our protagonists cope with their grief. In fact, a lot of the choices that these characters make going forward has the tragedy of Livvy's death in mind, whether consciously or not. Losing someone like that, and the fear of losing someone else can make people do crazy things. I loved seeing how all our protagonists faced their struggles, even if I didn't agree with how they chose to handle their grief, and the journey that they all take, whether alone or together, in this story is fantastic. Since this is an insanely long book, there's so much that these characters go through, so many trials and tribulations, yet every choice they make, every step they take, feels organic and authentic to who they are as characters and even when I don't agree with their choices, if they were to make "the right" choice, it wouldn't feel as realistic as them making "the wrong" choice.

Romances: This series focuses on two main romances, that of Julian and Emma, the parabatai that were never meant to fall in love, and Kieran/Cristina/Mark the "love triangle" of this series. When I first started this series I wasn't expecting to get as swept away by the romances in this series as I did, and this installment brings everything to an amazing head and the complications of these romances aren't small little things that are easily dealt with, there are real stakes in this story that extend to the romance as well, partially because in Emma and Julian's case their romance is one of the main plot points of this entire series. I love how everything comes together and even the smaller romances in this series, the ones featured in the past, or will be featured more heavily in the future, despite the heartaches, there's always hope, and that's always something I've loved about Cassie's works, there's always hope.

World-Building: Ohmigosh! Seriously this installment cranks everything up to 11 and doesn't exactly stop. This is a story where things are going to get worse before they get better, which is mainly why it took me so dang long to finish this story. In addition to all the assholery (yes, that's a word) that goes on from the members of the Cohort, there are quite a few scenes that brought back memories from the other final installments in The Shadowhunter Chronicles so far. I can't talk really talk about them in anything other than very vague terms as they're huge spoilers, but even though I wasn't a huge fan of one of the aspects to the story at first, as I felt it was TOO reminiscent of a previous finale, by the time that aspect was finished, it felt so immensely important that I didn't mind it anymore and in fact I'm hoping to see more in the future. This is also an installment where big changes come, and the Shadow World may never be the same after this installment.

Predictability: Holy Crap. I'll admit it's been a couple of weeks since I finished this book, but looking back I can't pick out a single moment that I saw coming in advance. On the contrary, there were so many moments that completely blew me away and the twists and turns this story takes will keep you gasping until the very end of the book.

Ending: What a phenomenal final climax. I mean, I wasn't expecting such a phenomenal action sequence full of heartache, heartbreak, and just heart. So much goes down in the final climax of the story, but that's not the end. Even though there are a few moments of high tension after the final climax, including something that left me stunned speechless, I think it's more than safe to refer to the "final battle" of this book as the final climax. After all, is said and done and all the crazy insane stuff goes down, there are a couple of chapters that show the characters that are left and what they're up to and there's one scene that had me bawling like a baby and I'm not even ashamed.

Rating:

It's no surprise to me that I love this final conclusion to The Dark Artifices. This series is so tense and exciting and overall amazing. There's so much more I could say about this story and how much I love it, but I feel if I go on too much longer I won't be able to censor myself from spoilers.

Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) by Cassandra Clare (WOW #19)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that everyone’s excited about!

Sunny Los Angeles can be a dark place indeed in Cassandra Clare’s Lord of Shadows, the sequel to the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Lady Midnight.

Emma Carstairs has finally avenged her parents. She thought she’d be at peace. But she is anything but calm. Torn between her desire for her parabatai Julian and her desire to protect him from the brutal consequences of parabatai relationships, she has begun dating his brother, Mark. But Mark has spent the past five years trapped in Faerie; can he ever truly be a Shadowhunter again?

And the faerie courts are not silent. The Unseelie King is tired of the Cold Peace, and will no longer concede to the Shadowhunters’ demands. Caught between the demands of faerie and the laws of the Clave, Emma, Julian, and Mark must find a way to come together to defend everything they hold dear—before it’s too late.

Lord of Shadows releases on May 23, 2017 from Margaret K. McElderry Books

Look at that cover! Seriously, it's kind of tripping me out here. I loved Lady Midnight so much, much more than I actually thought I would and I cannot wait to dive back into this fantastic series and see where our heroes will go next and what dangers they may face. On a less vague note, I'm particularly interested in the romantic entanglements that seem to center around Mark Blackthorn, he's fake dating Emma, but he had a thing with Cristina, and while he was trapped in Faerie had some sort of romantic relationship with the dark faerie prince Kieran. Plus, I'm interested to see how the reawakening of Lady Midnight will factor into the overall storyline since it's not mentioned here.

So, what are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Book Review: Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1)

Release Date: March 8, 2016
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Length: 720 pages
Source: Purchased Book

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.

    

Review:

Characters: Like other Shadowhunters books this series has a wide cast of characters that tell this tale. Foremost we have Emma, the girl we first met in City of Heavenly Fire, who will at any cost find out who really murdered her parents during the Dark War. Emma is a very driven character who gives almost no heed to danger or the rules. Then there's Julian, who after the harsh ruling of the Clave exiling his sister and giving up on looking for his brother, has become the primary caregiver of his four younger siblings. He will do anything to protect his family, that protection also extending to his parabatai Emma, even if that means doing something unsavory. Then there's Cristina Rosales, a girl on her travel year from the Mexico City Institute, who quickly befriends Emma and the Blackthorns. Christina is a very wise and loyal person, she also has secrets, such as why she's even at the LA Institute. Finally there's Mark (there are more characters but we'd be here all day if I kept going,) after spending what felt like years in the Wild Hunt he's returned to his family changed. He doesn't quite look older physically, but he acts much more like one of the Fair Folk than a Shadowhunter, Each of these characters I've mentioned, and the ones I haven't, are so multi-layered, and as the story progresses we learn more and more about them. They develop and grow beautifully and I can't wait to see where they go.

Romance: So normally I'm not a fan of forbidden love. It's something that's been done so much it should be taught in How to Write Romance 101. However this forbidden romance intrigued me. Until this book it's never been explained why parabatai cannot fall in love. The only explanation to it being the Shadowhunter mantra, "The Law is Hard but It's the Law." In this book Julian and Emma aren't automatically already in love or at least not that they fully realize. As this book goes on their feelings start to bubble to the surface and, not like I already wasn't, I was rooting for them. I love how their love is described, it's definitely not this pure and innocent thing, there are some rough edges to it, but it's still written so well. As for the other romances in this book, since you know Cassie Clare can't resist lots of romance, that's a bit of a tangled mess. I was surprised to discover that this story has a love triangle of sorts, and I'm not completely sure how I feel about it. I mean, I do enjoy the tensions and drama of the triangle (square?) I'm just not entirely sure I know where I want these characters to end up.

World-Building: WOW! There's a lot of world-building in this book. So first off let me say that I love the change of scenery in this book. While I love the New York crew they were very much cut off from Mundane culture, except off handed references from Clary and Simon, however the entire LA crew has knowledge of Mundane culture and thrives in it. It feels much more present day than TMI did, not that it didn't it's just different, anyway then there getting to know the Blackthorn family and learning what's happened with them since the Dark War and where they stand after the Cold Peace. In fact it isn't just the LA residents of the Shadow World who've changed, the entirety of the Shadow World lies changed after the Cold Peace, Things that six year prior would have been perfectly legal, like a Shadowhuter protecting a Fae, is now illegal unless given permission by the Clave. Things are different and this world is different and there are those who aren't afraid to take advantage of these changes for their own nefarious purposes. And of course as this world gets bigger and expands into new series we see and check in on characters from the past who come to help out and check in on out current group of protagonists.

Predictability: So the central mystery of this book is the seemingly random serial killings that have strange ties to Emma's parents deaths. There are other mysteries such as many of the central characters' pasts, but for the most part it's looking into the deaths so that the Blackthorns can get their brother back permanently. I have to say even with the rather spoilery things I knew before starting this book (the internet is an evil place) I still had my doubt about who did it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Cassie Clare is a wiz at foreshadowing. She never makes anything too obvious, but leaves just enough so that when it's revealed, even if it seems to come out of the blue, there's enough that makes it all make sense.

Ending: So the ending to this book is kind of weird. In a way there are like two endings. The first ending where what I think is the final climax goes down. Every thing is full on tension and action, with a few crazy twists thrown in, followed by a seemingly reasonable cool down period where things are explained, and this installment is seemingly put to rest. But then no, there's another climactic moment not too long after, where more action and fighting goes down, more characters show up, and more twists are lobbed around and revealed. Followed then by the real, final cool down period where this book comes to a close, but not before a short epilogue with a confusing but nonetheless chocking cliffhanger.

Rating:

Gah! This book was amazing, I loved the characters, loved the world-building and the secrets that were revealed, even the ones I was in no way expecting, and finally I loved the Annabel Lee inspiration this book has.