Name: Lord of Shadows
ISBN: 9781471116650

 Cassandra Clare

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. Lord of Shadows is a Shadowhunters novel. 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

anna ˖*°࿐

A #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller Sunny Los Angeles can be a dark place indeed in Cassandra Clare’s Lord of Shadows, the bestselling sequel to Lady Midnight. Lord of Shadows is a Shadowhunters novel. Emma Carstairs has just learned that the love she shares with her warrior partner and parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden—it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorn family is threatened by enemies on all sides? Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn embark on a journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky new scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.

Ellie M.

** spoiler alert **
           I need therapy 🫠 I was sobbing so hard during those last few pages like an idiot because I had no idea what to do except let it all sink in 😭 that ending will definitely be stuck in my head forever like a broken cd player repeating over over to one part only. Beautiful storytelling as always, but I wouldn’t call this a masterpiece because I don’t find it as good as the first one. It didn’t feel very dragging as I am used to this type of writing, but there were many filler scenes making it a bit messy due to the multiple POVs so I felt bored at some parts, but then I wouldn’t have it any other way. The Blackthorns are such a wonderful family, I see the beginning of kierarktina finally falling into place, the blackstairs angst was perfect, and there were certainly comedic parts (like that photo of Mark’s foot), but I felt incredibly frustrated at the events in this book due to the prejudice and injustice of the Clave, and I would love to do the honor of murdering those power-hungry bigots and their fascist organization (shoutout to Zara for being the biggest bitch in the world) 🤍 anyways, I am a living person walking around with a dead heart thanks to this book and I hope I’ll get paid for the damages brought upon me because I wasn’t strong enough for that 👽

Special thanks to Claudia for being the best emotional support system 5ever!! 🤍 You were there when I started the book till the end aaah 💞

Ok, so remember how in my review of Lady Midnight, my one complaint was that I wished the plot was a little tighter? And how I think it could have been trimmed down to fix the pacing issues?

I loved this one even more than the last book. All of the aspects I loved from Lady Midnight were still present (deep characters, fantastic romances, engaging plot), but it just seemed like we got so much MORE of that in this book. 

Many of the characters that I felt had not enough depth were developed beautifully here, and the characters who had depth got even deeper. The plot was engaging from page 1, as opposed to Lady Midnight, which had a slower beginning. The romances were all so beautiful and angsty, but they actually explored other emotions besides the love these characters felt for each other, where those emotions came from, and their place in the relationships.

I am just continually impressed by CC and her knowledge of writing emotions. As someone currently in school to become a counselor, it is always something I appreciate in books.

To give you an idea of how much I loved this book, I finished it last night at 2:36 a.m. and wanted to scream but couldn't because my roommate was asleep and needed to rest. And since it was so late at night, I couldn't call anyone because everyone was asleep, so I suffered in silence. And it was WORTH IT!

Overall I really, REALLY loved this one and am excited to read QOAAD. (...I also maybe bought the box set of the Mortal Instruments despite what I've heard about it because I'm desperate for more of this world. Stay tuned for that).

P.S. To everyone who had to wait for the finale of this series after the ending of this book: I salute you. I sympathize with your pain and hope that Cassie Clare has reimbursed you for your therapy bills to cope with that ending. 

Emily B

4.5 STARS:

Ok, so remember how in my review of Lady Midnight, my one complaint was that I wished the plot was a little tighter? And how I think it could have been trimmed down to fix the pacing issues?

Yeah. No such problem with this book. 

I loved this one even more than the last book. All of the aspects I loved from Lady Midnight were still present (deep characters, fantastic romances, engaging plot), but it just seemed like we got so much MORE of that in this book. 

Many of the characters that I felt had not enough depth were developed beautifully here, and the characters who had depth got even deeper. The plot was engaging from page 1, as opposed to Lady Midnight, which had a slower beginning. The romances were all so beautiful and angsty, but they actually explored other emotions besides the love these characters felt for each other, where those emotions came from, and their place in the relationships.

I am just continually impressed by CC and her knowledge of writing emotions. As someone currently in school to become a counselor, it is always something I appreciate in books.

To give you an idea of how much I loved this book, I finished it last night at 2:36 a.m. and wanted to scream but couldn't because my roommate was asleep and needed to rest. And since it was so late at night, I couldn't call anyone because everyone was asleep, so I suffered in silence. And it was WORTH IT!

Overall I really, REALLY loved this one and am excited to read QOAAD. (...I also maybe bought the box set of the Mortal Instruments despite what I've heard about it because I'm desperate for more of this world. Stay tuned for that).

P.S. To everyone who had to wait for the finale of this series after the ending of this book: I salute you. I sympathize with your pain and hope that Cassie Clare has reimbursed you for your therapy bills to cope with that ending. 

"til forever falls apart" by ashe, finneas (this song reminds me of emmajulian)

i will never forgive the author for THAT ENDING WTF 

 like everything happened so fast i still haven't processed what happened

“someone you have known all your life becomes no longer familiar to you, but strange in a marvelous way, 

as if you have discovered a beach you have been visiting all your life is made not of sand but of diamonds, and they blind you with their beauty

“he wasn’t leaving the shadowhunters. he wasn’t going anywhere. because where the Blackthorns were, was his home now.”

“people say we’re unlucky because we don’t have parents. But I think they’re unlucky because they don’t have a brother like mine.”

i love reading about the adventures of the blackthorns along with familiar faces from the other books! so many crossovers and parallels! honestly, there was so much going on and so many storylines but the author’s writing felt cohesive at the same time! the author really delivered on forbidden love and found family in this one!

julian’s love for emma is so profound and dreamy - a love that might only exist in books (written by women) - most of my highlighted quotes are about julian’s love for emma

“i believe ours, yours and mine, are made from the dust of the same star. that’s why we’ve always been drawn to each other like magnets, all our lives. all the pieces of us belong together”

“but I could never hate you, hating you would be like hating the idea of good things ever happening in the world. It would be like death”

“julian hadn’t fallen suddenly in love: he always had been in love. he had only just that moment realized it. and after that, he longed.”

anyways julian blacktorn deserves all his dreams to come true

p.s malec moment <3 + alec going off on bigots

“This is what I want and what I’ve chosen,” he said. “How dare you tell me it’s a tragedy?

. . . but choosing Magnus is one of the easiest things I’ve ever done

and I will be a uniquely lucky person, because there will be someone who always remembers me. Who will always love me. Magnus won’t always mourn, but until the end of time he will remember me and love me.”

"anchor" by novo amor
"til forever falls apart" by ashe, finneas (this song reminds me of emmajulian)
"august" by taylor swift - living for the hope of it all
"start a riot" by banners

i will never forgive the author for THAT ENDING WTF tears streaming down my face like everything happened so fast i still haven't processed what happened

“someone you have known all your life becomes no longer familiar to you, but strange in a marvelous way, as if you have discovered a beach you have been visiting all your life is made not of sand but of diamonds, and they blind you with their beauty”

“he wasn’t leaving the shadowhunters. he wasn’t going anywhere. because where the Blackthorns were, was his home now.”

“people say we’re unlucky because we don’t have parents. But I think they’re unlucky because they don’t have a brother like mine.”

i love reading about the adventures of the blackthorns along with familiar faces from the other books! so many crossovers and parallels! honestly, there was so much going on and so many storylines but the author’s writing felt cohesive at the same time! the author really delivered on forbidden love and found family in this one!

“His Emma, his universe, his blade”

julian’s love for emma is so profound and dreamy - a love that might only exist in books (written by women) - most of my highlighted quotes are about julian’s love for emma

“i believe ours, yours and mine, are made from the dust of the same star. that’s why we’ve always been drawn to each other like magnets, all our lives. all the pieces of us belong together”

“but I could never hate you, hating you would be like hating the idea of good things ever happening in the world. It would be like death”

“julian hadn’t fallen suddenly in love: he always had been in love. he had only just that moment realized it. and after that, he longed.”

anyways julian blacktorn deserves all his dreams to come true

p.s malec moment <3 + alec going off on bigots
“This is what I want and what I’ve chosen,” he said. “How dare you tell me it’s a tragedy?

. . . but choosing Magnus is one of the easiest things I’ve ever done

and I will be a uniquely lucky person, because there will be someone who always remembers me. Who will always love me. Magnus won’t always mourn, but until the end of time he will remember me and love me.”

I tried to read this back in March but...I didn't wanna make myself wait so long for QOAAD so here we are like a week after it came out finally finishing it!! 

I. Loved. This. So. Much! I never know what to say when I finish Cassandra Clare books, and yet again I am just speechless. I love all the characters so much in this trilogy and just all the references are obviously to die for. I really can't wait to see where this trilogy ends, but at the same time I'm really not ready to see my boy Julian suffer...

The ending left me so shook, I honestly want to cry right now,  and now I'm really glad I waited to have QOAAD first before finishing this! I'm so ready to jump into the next book (though I'm really scared to read it tbhhhhh I can't face it!!) 

As I said I really never know what to say for Cassie's books!! When I finish them I'm always in a state somewhere between super happy (bc of reading about the characters) and just distressed!! I am just so not okay after that ending.

Jamieson

REREAD QUICK NOTES

➙ I would definitely die for Emma. A queen. We stan. 
➙ I still adore Julian with all my heart but he scares me EVEN MORE
➙ Ty's letter makes me CRY jhgkjdfhkjfgkdfjghdfk
➙ "my dream is that we all get to go back to the institute together and be a family" Cassandra that was cruel
➙ I HAVE SO MANY QOAAD THEORIES CAN'T WAIT FOR THEM TO ALL BE WRONG
➙ Ok ..... I kinda hate Kieran less? Still aint a fave tho :/
➙ MARK IS SO PRECIOUS IN THIS BOOK LMFKJLFGS
➙ Alec Lightwood remains iconic, that roast was off this charts good
➙ JEM AND TESSA NEED TO COME BACK


original review

yes, five months later my official review is here. I've finished screaming. I'm ready to talk 

Continue on for 25% memes, 50% why I love this book, 25% more screaming

(there may be mild spoilers untagged like new character names but everything major will be tagged)




  “Everyone is afraid of something. 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.”



by Oblivion's Dream on tumblr I ADORE this Emma art!

I ..... I am shocked to be saying this but, THIS is my favourite Cassandra Clare series. I'm sorry Infernal Devices, IM SORRY. (but also not really this series is so good) Like, if you tear out the final pages of this book it's nearly perfect and Lady Midnight IS perfect. 


  LORD OF SHADOWS IN GENERAL


I don't think I loved lord of shadows as much as I loved Lady Midnight but I still really really enjoyed it. I absolutely adore the characters in this series, especially Emma, Julian, Cristina, Livvy, Kit and Ty so having them all back in Lord of Shadows was of course a highlight. 

I just love how COMPLEX these characters are. Every single one has so many dichotomies and intricacies that make them fascinating. I think in Julian, especially, that is showcased, but also in Mark, Cristina and Emma too. 

The way the plot moved from location to location, featuring the Faerie Realms, London, Alicante and LA was fun for me, I liked how the story moved around more then it did in Lady Midnight. 

There was also so many moments that left me genuinely shocked and I read this entire book at maximum speed because so much of it left me having to know what happens IMMEDIATELY. I know heaps of people find Cassandra Clare boring, but I personally find her books really addictive, and I want to know what happens straight away. You know the old 'take a peek at the end of the chapter because what the fuck is happening' trick? me in every chapter of her books. 


  “Kit thought about Emma with her sword, Emma saving his life, Emma hugging Cristina and looking at Julian like he hung the moon” 




Lord of Shadows feels much more mature then Lady Midnight and I think that is a real strength of this book. Lord of Shadows definitely critically examined the world we live in today through the lens of the shadow world, and much of the discussion and plot point was very on-point for current events. That did show a maturity in Cassandra Clare's writing, and I do definitely think this is her most political and developed book (and series). 

Representation was also fairly good for a Cassandra Clare book. Mark and Kieran are bisexual, Diana is a black transwoman, Cristina, Jaimie and Diego are all Mexican. Ty is autistic and heavily implied to be gay, and Kit is heavily implied to be bisexual. Dru is fat. 
Aline (gay, chinese), Helen (bisexual) and Jem (chinese), Alec (gay) and Magnus (biracial and bisexual) also appear but are only in it for a very short time. 

I DID HAVE SOME ISSUES WITH BISEXUAL REPRESENTATION WHICH YOU CAN READ ON MY TWITTER THREAD

I didn't like Lord of Shadows as much as Lady Midnight because of some of the characters and the plot points and I'll get into that below. But it's still such a fucking solid book I really loved reading it. 


CHARACTERS

EMMA: Honestly, y'all who hate Emma can get off my fucking lawn I love her SO MUCH. She's brave, smart, loyal, loving, protective, caring. She cares so much about the Blackthorns and her parents and she wants to be loved back so much in return, and I just really need her to be happy and okay. I love her strength and resilience so much. She's definitely my favourite character I love her. (view spoiler)[ALSO SHE DESTROYED THE MORTAL SWORD !!?? SHE KILLED A FAERIE RIDER !! DOES SHE GIVE 1 MOTHER FUCK ??? SHE DOES NOT !!!!! WE LOVE A LEGEND !!!  (hide spoiler)] 

JULIAN: HE SCARES ME BUT I LOVE HIM. He's so soft with the kids even though he's NOT SOFT IN GENERAL and his character is really interesting because there is this dichotomy between the soft, loving parent he is for the kids, and then the hard, callous shadowhunter he has the potential to be and often exhibits. I'm really, really excited to see where his character arc is taken in Queen of Air and Darkness because the ending of LOS has left him in a position to swing in an extreme direction. JULIAN JUST LOVES THOSE KIDS SO MUCH AND HAS DONE SO MUCH FOR THEM AND LOVES THEM SO MUCH AND IT MAKES ME EMO. !!!! 

MARK: I have to admit... I don't love Mark as much as everyone else but he's okay. I was really wanting to see some good character growth from him but ... I'm a little iffy on him. This I'm gonna get into. 

CRISTINA: Cristina is such a GREAT CHARACTER. I love her relationship with Emma and her growth as a character and how she's become part of the family. I liked the exploration of her past with Jaimie and Diego. BUT, I found her plotline with Mark/Kieran really annoying. 

KIT, TY AND LIVVY: I absolutely loved this trio. They definitely added a new dynamic that wasn't there in Lady Midnight. Each is such a fun character, though Kit was my favourite because I loved his humour, and how his mundane culture clashed with the shadowhunter culture in both positive and negative ways. (view spoiler)[ The scene with Kit talking about autism with Julian re: Ty was one of my favourite scenes. I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT LIVVY BECAUSE IM UPSET AND NOT OKAY WITH IT (hide spoiler)]

DRU: Dru is a character I really want to like, and can really see myself liking in the future, but I found her arc a little awkward and boring. I did like her arc concerning her self-image and her role amongst the blackthorns, and I'm excited to see more from her in The Wicked Powers

ZARA DEARBOTH: god .... (view spoiler)[ I HATE HER SOOO MUCH. HERE IS A SUMMARY OF ME EVERYTIME SHE SPOKE

WHEN SHE CALLED EMMA A SLUT


EVERYTIME SHE SAID SOMETHING RACIST




 (hide spoiler)]


  

  
  




  ROMANCE


Right, the main issue I had with Lord of Shadows was the oversaturation of romance and make out scenes. WE GET IT, EVERYONE IS SUPER HOT.

Lets start with Kieran ....... 



His relationship with Mark is Unhealthy And Needs To Be Discontinued Immediately 

- forgetting what you did doesn't excuse what you did
- sending ...... someone ...... dreams ................... it wasn't .... cute
- remember when he manipulated Mark many many times
- like not... spill the tea. but.... people need to shot shipping them just because they're two hot guys because Kierat really isn't a NICE GUY
- im salty

The drama with Kieran/Mark/Cristina was ANNOYING, it was annoying.  And literally all the "I looked at him and immediately had to make out with him" IM EXHAUSTED. No one has this much sexual chemistry and tension in real life nO ONE

Emma and Jules are NOT free of this because they were also bad, though I don't think they are AS BAD but fgfj still STOP KISSING AND START SOLVING YOUR MANY ABUNDANT ISSUES. 

There was so many make out steamy scenes I actually got bored of steamy make out scenes. 

Kitty and Kitliv is excused from this mess they are all Pure. 


by Oblivion's Dream on tumblr


  PLOT


I found the first 100 pages kind of underwhelming not gonna lie. But after that it got way way better. Enjoyed the Mark/Emma dynamic, and their genuine friendship that came from it. Really liked the trip into Faerie, and what we saw from Julian and Emma there. 

LOVED the scenes in London, and all the references to the TID characters, as well as the appearance of tmi/tid characters. Was super cool to see Magnus and Alec as dads. 

MY TOP 5 SCENES
(view spoiler)[
1: The fight scene with the Faeries outside the London institute and then at the cabin. The action sequence was amazing and there was so much genuine tension I really thought everyone was gonna die
2: The entire fight scene at the Unseelie court. Loved the vulnerable side of Emma we saw unmasking her "dad" and also the vicious side we saw from Julian. 
3: Jules and Emma's talk after the fight. I thought it was a scene of such good character development and really needed. Their relationship is great I really love it and I think they're good together. 
4: Kit in general. Loved him talking to Ty, especially when they talked about Livvy. Loved his discussion with Jules about Ty, and also loved his list of shadowhunter problems jgfhjf
5: Ty's letter to Annabel was amazing, and not just the letter itself but how much it meant to Julian to read that and know how much those kids fucking love him. 
 (hide spoiler)]


  “Sometimes the most ruthless heart speaks the most truth” 


Lord of Shadows is an absolute monster of a book, and there is so much to talk about. This small review barely even covers the surface of my feelings about this book. I truly adore all the characters so much, I have so much genuine concern over their happiness. 

The plot really picked up and I am DYING for Queen of Air and Darkness. I can't believe we have to wait until 2019. (view spoiler)[I AM READY FOR ANTI-HERO JULIAN TO RISE (hide spoiler)]

There is so much going on in these books, and so many little arcs that accompany the larger one, but the books are so fun and definitely Cassandra's strongest works character, plot and writing wise. I have always been willing to criticise her work, but I do think she worked on some of those criticisms in this series. Its much, much stronger then tmi AND tid in my opinion. 

I AM NOT OKAY WITH THE ENDING. I don't think it's possible to be okay with that ending. 

(view spoiler)[ LIVGBBHD LIVVY GOT TO GO TO HEAVENT GTGEHT TTHE CLOCK CHIMIMED IT CHIMED gfjhk JULIAN CRYING OVER HER DEAD BODY I WASN'T OKAY I WASN'T READY I CAN'T BREATHE JUST THINKING ABOUT IT HE LOVED HER SO MUCH LET HER BE GHDJH (hide spoiler)]


  "Julian! Julian! Carry me .... "



by Oblivion's Dream on tumblr

SOME MEMES TO LIGTEN THE FUCKING MOOD

(view spoiler)[

me walking into the bookstore to buy this book the literal second the shop opened 



When they mentioned Will Herondale and Will/Jem as kids and Lucie and James and basically anything to do with tid


me finishing it and having to watch livvy die
[image error]

me everytime kierat whined 


me when emma killed a rider then proceeded to burn down a stone church


WHEN EMMA DESTROYED THE MORTAL SWORD, AN INSTRUMENT GIVEN TO JONATHON SHADOWHUNTER BY THE ANGEL RAZIEL


When Zara got roasted in front of the entire clave 


Ty when someone asks him to chill about Kit. Also Emma convincing Robert to let her go to Mexico 


WHEN ALINE AND HELEN GOT TO COME BACK AND THE BLACKTHORNS WERE SO EXCITED AND GAVE THEM A MILLION HUGS


 (hide spoiler)]

my lord of shadows playlist is literally all thats getting me through these emotions



4.5* bumped to 5

hey @cassandraclare I will literally give u anything you want for queen of air and darkness

Sunny Los Angeles can be a dark place indeed in Cassandra Clare's Lord of Shadows, the sequel to the #1 New York Timesand USA TODAYbestselling Lady Midnight. Lord of Shadows is a Shadowhunters novel. 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.

Beatriz Aguiar

brianna

cassandra.... you fucking sick for this one ma

Wow, this book. Left me in tears with that cliffhanger

Annabella

jaya

oh that hurt so bad judith i hope both sides of your pillow are warm for the rest of your life

don't talk to me please i don't think i will ever recover from this

Sunny Los Angeles can be a dark place indeed in Cassandra Clare’s Lord of Shadows, the sequel to the #1 New York Timesand USA TODAYbestselling Lady Midnight. Lord of Shadows is a Shadowhunters novel. 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.

catia

** spoiler alert **
           "livvy, livvy, my livvy"
this was so heartbreaking

A Shadowhunter's life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners -- sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love. Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn't just forbidden -- it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides? Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and "unsuitable" Nephilim. They'll do anything in their power to expose Julian's secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own. When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows -- the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.

Livia

Edit: After thinking about it more, I decided to give this book 4 stars.

WHAT WAS THAT? WHAT. WAS. THAT?

I would like it if the last 10 pages didn't happen.

I admit, the middle part of the book is slow, and I thought I would give it around three-stars. But oooooh-my-god. The last 100 pages happened. That part alone is 5 stars. But I still didn't feel strongly for the middle part, particularly Emma and Julian's part (I still love Emma, she's awesome), so it deserves four-stars. Partly because CC just rips my heart out and shred it to pieces.

I'm kinda torn about Julian, though. I admire his steel and wit, but sometimes, he crossed the line. He would literally do anything. Like, anything, for his family. This seems heartwarming (and I assure you, it is), but at some point, he scared me a little.

Still trying to wrap my head around everything now. It's too much.

Haley Sherman

I hate this book. Cassandra Clare sucks. Five stars cause it was great. Cassie Clare breaks my heart though.

Natalie Noble

That ending was brutal. I don’t want to believe it’s real.

Cassandra Clare has definitely gotten better at story telling and character development, the mortal instruments was frustratingly slow paced and didn’t let the characters shine as much as they had the potential too which is surprising given it’s her longest series. The infernal devices is still my favourite series. The dark artifices so far has a well paced plot and the character development is astoundingly well written and progresses naturally within the plot which is to be commended considering the much bigger cast of characters in this series. Each character I feel is given an appropriate amount of spotlight. 

This book also does a good job of touching on real world issues of bigotry and racism within the lense of the shadow world if you imagine downworlders are races other than white a lot of the themes are relevant still in todays society which is incredibly sad. The book also touches on autism and how little understanding there is amongst the general population of what that means and how people that are not neuro-typical are often written off as being less intelligent which couldn’t be further from the truth. We also have LGBTQIA+ representation with Diana being revealed to be transgender and the burden that puts on her in a society that isn’t ready to accept her, Mark who is bisexual, Kieran who is bisexual, it’s implied Kit is bisexual and Ty is likely to be gay. For the most part the representation seems authentic and not performative with the exception of maybe Diana’s story which just felt dropped into the story, I’m hoping she opens up to the blackthorns in the final book. 

My issues with Emma as a character from the first book are still but are entirely due to her age, as an adult reading this her choices are incredibly frustrating, but this is a YA novel so that is sort of par for the course. I do think she’s really funny and I actually imagine her getting along better with Jace than with Clary but her friendship with Clary is still sweet. 

Julian Blackthorn. Oh my. I don’t know if it’s wrong for me to love him so much when he’s obviously great at lying and makes these ruthless decisions but his motivations are so loving I just can’t fault him for it and it’s kind of hot. He loves his family and Emma so much and the way he fights for them, this poor boy has had to grow up so fast. I hope they can break the parabatai bond only because Julian deserves the world and I want him to be happy. 

Ty/Livvy/Kit. The trio we didn’t know we needed. I LOVED them in this book and I am so heartbroken by Livvy’s death because I just wanted more of them. I’m definitely getting the impression Kit and Ty may end up romantically involved and I don’t know how I feel about that. I think they have such a beautiful friendship and I don’t think Cassandra Clare allows friendships to shine without adding in romantic plot lines because the fans love to ship any pair that has chemistry but chemistry doesn’t have to be sexual or romantic. I just love Ty with my whole heart and I don’t know how he is going to cope with the death of his twin. Kit is coming into his own and want him to feel loved he feels so alone at the moment. 

Kieran/Christina/Mark. I agree with Emma I need a faerie threesome please because the tension between these three is too much. And I can’t decide on a couple between them so give me the thruple I’m here for it. 

Drusilla. Again I’m trying not to find her annoying because of her age but every time she complains it’s so entitled and whiny. She doesn’t want to babysit Tavvy as if Julian wanted to be a parent when he was twelve just look after your brother jfc. And she feels like they treat her like a kid. Umm you are a literal child. And I know she’s always like Julian and Emma etc were doing stuff at her age but like that’s not normal and they want better for her they want her to have a childhood they were robbed of and she’s so ungrateful but again she’s 13 so I’m trying to put it down to age. 

Tavvy is still cute. The cameos of Max and Rafael for him to play with were adorable. 

What the fuck is happening to Magnus!? Don’t you dare harm him. Malec need to live happily ever after. 

Sophie 

WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED !!!!
I’m sorry one so much death Jesus and then I blinked and BAM death of a character I loved wtf !!!!
Other than all the death, a fab read. I loved how it focused mostly on my boy Kit my little king !!! Jules and Emma too heheh yessss !!! Also the appearances of my NY babies !!!!!! I legit can’t believe what I just read but holy hell I’m so ready for the finale and EVERYONE to get happy endings !!

“You’re a Herondale. That’ll never be nothing.”

Flavia Louise

5 stars

Cassandra Clare knows what she is doing and she keeps getting better at it. Lord of Shadows was so heartbreaking and amazing and funny. All in one book and often all on one page. The Shadowhunter universe keeps on expanding and I love it. I am amazed how these books manage to affect me so much over and over again. I cried in this book and I cried multiple times. THAT doesn't happen.

Kaitee Tredway

Broken.

To quote a friend: things are bad. Things are very bad.

hope

paris (taylor’s version)

Luna

not going to name names but SOMEONE needs to stop killing off children. 

i love these characters but the plot was just not living up to lady midnight at all. i also kind of hate this book because it ruined my mental health (cough cough some serious triggers that um .... no one mentioned) but my love for julian saved this from being a one star read. i had to switch to the audiobook because i just couldn't get through this and i cannot wait to be done with this series and this weird plot and the way it just throws in mental illness. praying that chain of gold is not nearly as wild as this series.

Elaine

I really liked this addition to the series and was sad when it was over. 
Emma and Julian have such a wonderful story. 
I also really enjoyed Kit in this one. 
And the ending, the ending was devastating.

Mariana Afonso

WOW.
I think my heart is no longer in my chest. 
Not after this. WOW.

Lord of Shadows is amazing, brilliant. As always, Cassie offered us a book with tremendous emotion, cleverness and deep characters.

A List of things that amazed me in Lord of Shadows:
1. The characters development from book one to two - everyone seemed so much more mature, each one in its way. 
2. We got to see points of view of more people, and we got to understand everyone really really well.
3. Autism,LGBT, racism/discrimination and political extreme groups - these themes were bravely and honestly written in this book. These are four things that concern our world, how people are treated, how human rights aren't always "extended" to all as they should be, how some people life choices or the they are proudly born are reasons for closed and retrograde minds to accuse them of being somewhat wrong. The way this is tangled in the Shadow world, that's award winning. 
4. ALL THE HINTS ABOUT THE NEXT BOOK AND THE NEXT SERIES. 
5. The relevant appearances of characters of other series's.
6. Emma's pun jokes.
7. Kit - Our new and awesome Herondale. (I mean, if we'd not know his name, would we even second guess to which family he belonged? Of course not. I bet he hates ducks as well.)
8. Livvy and Ty - Together. Individually. With Kit. Their personalities. These two are great. I loved to be able to get more scenes with them.
9. Mark - let's talk about growing, shall we? He grew so much on my heart. In the first book, I was a little unsure about I felt about him, but now I know. His kindness, his wanting to be better, to love and to give, to take are of his family, he's a golden star.
10. Julian - oh my my! I'm in love, seriously. Before, we had seen how much he loved his family and Emma. We already knew he would do anything for them. But damn, this guy is brilliant. Ruthless, but brilliant. Out of love, he always finds an idea that will trick others, or manipulate them, or just bend them to his will, or find an alternate plan in the most pressing situation. It can even scare a bit, how he can so easily and convincingly lie, but he's a genius.
11. THE ENDING - that ending was brutal. Confused, heart breaking, cruel, honest. I hope one day my heart will stop aching. I can't phrase it any other way.

celeste

This rant review is going to be a MESS™ and I think it's kind of poetic since it fits the mess of a book that was Lord of Shadows. This will contain spoilers for this book.

Cassandra Clare was never a favorite author of mine but I've always enjoyed reading her books, and while I enjoyed most of Lady Midnight, save the few things I had problems with, I had high hopes for Lord of Shadows. Yeah, it was a complete and utter disappointment from start to finish, so I'm going to try and make some sense of all the things I felt while reading this book.

I think I'll start talking about the only good thing that I found in this book, and that was the development of Kit and Ty's friendship. I honestly feel like out of the hot mess that this book was, this was the only thing that was done well. We get to see how Kit acclimatizes to the shadowhunter world now that his father's dead and he has to live in the institute together with the Blackthorns, and we get to see how well Kit and Ty complement each other, each one giving the other what they need, most of the times without even knowing it. If CC is going where I think she's going with these two characters, I'm going to be extremely happy because honestly that's the only thing I'm interested about The Dark Artifices right now. 

Now onto the major problems I had with this book. 

First of all, where was the plot? where was it? was this book even edited? because I can sure as hell tell you this was an entire mess in terms of pacing and multiple meaningless storylines that made no sense whatsoever. This book SHOULD HAVE been at least 200 pages less than what it was because nothing EVER HAPPENED. I got to the last few pages of a 700 page long book and nothing major had happened, it was all filled with unnecessary drama and the whining of teenagers who can't be with the people they love because of 'reasons'. Honestly, was the main plotline the fact that the Blackthorns had to retrieve the black volume from Annabel? because them searching for it literally was dealt in only one fucking chapter where Emma and julian look through Malcolm's diaries to see if there's any clue as to where Annabel is. THAT WAS IT. Was the main plotline the Unseelie King? because he literally appeared in like two chapters and that was all there was about it. What I'm trying to say is that CC tried to have these multiple storylines that for her, they might have been intricate and amazing, but tbh, there was no big plotline to drive the story forward and that was why the pacing was all over the fucking place. There was no big bad or big evil for the characters to move forward with the story, it was always stuck in this meaningless teenage drama and whining that never seemed to end. In TMI we had Sebastian, we had Valentine, we had concrete bad guys whom we had to fight off and deal with in every book, in TID we also had a main plotline that drove the story forward, and even in Lady Midnight we had a mystery that made the characters actively DO SOMETHING, but that never felt like it happened in Lord of Shadows. You can tell me it was Annabel, but she literally appeared in only 3 scenes, or the Unseelie King, but he was also dealt with in only 1 scene, or even the Riders of whatever their name was (and I'm going to go back to that specific part later on) but let's be real, there was never a climax, there was never a resolution, there WAS NO MOVING FORWARD WITH THE STORY BECAUSE THE CHARACTERS NEVER HAD ANYTHING TO MOVE FORWARD TO. 

Emma and Julian's curse - I don't know about you, but I am sick to death of these forbidden romances that CC does. First we had the possible incest between Clary and Jace, then we had Magnus and Alec who were going to be looked down upon because, oh no a downworlder and a shadowhunter, how dare they? and now this parabatai curse that is going to drive parabatais mad if they fall in love with each other. sighs for the next hundred years. I just think the whole curse thing is lame okay, I think she could have come up with a more creative way of creating angst between these characters.

OOC behavior - Clary talking about dying soon to Emma, as if she were to confide ONLY in her, whom she hasn't seen in like forever instead of her parabatai, you know, the guy she's known her entire life since they were kids, her best friend for life, Simon? and then she proceeds to say that he'll 'think she's losing it and send her to therapy' AS IF, AS IF our boy Simon would ever be that insensitive and stupid, when we know the last thing he'd do would be brush off what Clary's telling him after EVERYTHING they went through together in TMI books. That was just utter bullshit and unrealisitc, but let's move on.

The registry of Downworlders - The Hitler similarities rubbed me the wrong way, the mention of numbering them was a way too blatant connection with WWII and the Holocaust, which I did not like at all. It was way too cliché to fall on that plot device, besides we've been in this world for 12 BOOKS AND WE ARE STILL FIGHTING OVER THE SAME STUPID LAME AND RACIST SHIT? REALLY? fuck the shadowhunters tbh, why are we even dealing with their nonesense? they've always been racists towards any other supernatural creatures, enough is enough. CC's been using the same plot device for 12 books!!!! I think she could come up with a little bit more creative storyline than to fall for the overused 'downworlders are bad and untrustworthy and we are superior and pure and perfect' bullshit plotline. I'm sorry but just the fact that CC used what happened in WWII with not only Jewish people but also other minorities is just horrible. I didn't like it one bit, no matter how 'realistic' it may be, I don't care, it felt cheap and awful to use something like that for her book. Which brings me to another thing that relates to this, and that's the blatant introduction of US politics into this book, which was obviously done to represent the conflict between conservatives v. liberals which I could not care less about, and to have that shoved down my throat in every page of this book was tiresome. The Centurions were literally an insert of those supremacist P.O.S that yell 'build that wall' and 'make america great again' but in this case, against downworlders. sighs.

The overly convenient things that kept happening that solved every inconvenient problem that arose - First we had Cristina's pendant, that oh miraculously had the magical ability to prevent time from passing by in faerie to the one who wore it and those nearby. Well, how nearby? if I were to be ten yards from her would it still work? do I have to be stuck next to her for it to work? so fucking lame and lazy writing. Then the fact that Ty, Kit and Livvy found an object that had kept the memories of, oh how convenient, Annabel's trial. Really? Then the fact that Kieran conveniently had amnesia and forgot what he had done against Mark which ended up in Emma and Julian being whipped? L A Z Y W R I T I N G, only done to create more drama and angst between the characters (even if we are explained as to why that amnesia happened)

The gazillion love triangles in this book - This was what ticked me the most. HOW MANY CAN YOU FIT INTO ONE FUCKING BOOK? APPARENTLY AN ENDLESS AMOUNT! because who even has heard of a friendship between a man and a woman, am I right? friendship? what is that? JUST GET THEM ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED EVEN IF THE CHEMISTRY IS NONEXISTENT! I am going to talk about each one of them because I AM PISSED:

Emma/Julian/Mark: yes, we do get the reason why Emma did it in the previous book, but that has got to be the stupidest reason why you would date your crush's brother, just saying.

Mark/Cristina/Kieran: one of my most hated love triangles in the history of love triangles. Why would you do that? there was literally ZERO chemistry between Cristina and Kieran, Kieran, whom was grumpy AF and didn't care for any shadowhunter at all except for Mark, suddenly falls head over heels over Cristina after having like two conversations? LMAO, try again! because he says she's generous and pure.. umm excuse me, but you literally just met her, and I don't get why everyone is claiming those things when Cristina hasn't even done anything relevant? like, going to faerie to get Kieran back? yeah, she was there alongside Mark and Julian and Emma. I don't see the logic or the correlation between the actions the character Cristina makes in the book and what is always said about her, sorry. I felt zero chemistry between Mark and Cristina in this book, and while I could see it in Lady Midnight, I always felt like they could be better off as friends, especially when she had helped him come to terms with now living with his family and having to behave more like a shadowhunter than a faerie. Even though there were some indications as to them possibly having feelings for each other, have we forgotten that Cristina was literally in love with Diego like a week ago? and that she chose him in the end of Lady Midnight? yes, she can change her mind, especially after finding out about Diego and Zara, but that's not the point, the point is that in this book I felt nothing between Mark and Cristina, and every scene in which they were together was cringy and forced, especially the stupid 'bonding spell' plotline, which again was purely done so that their 'feelings' would come to the surface and realize how much they love each other. I think it's blatantly obvious that CC tried to recreate what Will/Tessa/Jem had, but failed miserably at it, because honey, that was the only good thing you were able to do when it comes to love triangles.

Cristina/Diego/Zara: irrelevant love triangle, even more so than the others. 

Livvy/Ty/Kit: I get why people might say that it was 'queer baiting', but I don't think it was and to be honest, that's the only thing I will defend from CC, because it's obvious the direction in which she is going to go with Ty and Kit. And that is the only sliver of hope I have for this series. Even though I think that the Livvy/Kit thing was unnecessary, I love the way Clare is developing Kit and Ty's relationship.

Now I want to talk about some of the UNREALISTIC things that happened in this book. Yes, the Riders of Mannan. They have existed since the beginnings of time, they have fought warriors, armies, killed an endless amount of people, they are fearsome warriors, but Emma is able to singlehandedly fight 4 of them. SURE, JAN, TELL ME MORE! not only she stood against 4 of them and wasn't even scratched, but one of the riders IMPLORED HER TO STOP HURTING ANOTHER RIDER, because of course, these immortal warriors whose fighting skills are unequaled will be scared of and defeated by a 17 year old. Okay. How about next time you try to introduce some unbelievably fearless warrior race you actually make them, I don't know, BELIEVABLE. And the fact that even Kit, a kid who hasn't even had training in his life was able to stand a match against one instead of getting killed in a MILLISECOND BY THESE IMPOSSIBLE-TO-KILL WARRIORS IS COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC. But of course they are CONVENIENTLY saved, yet once again at the right moment, by Annabel who just happens to come to them because of Ty's letter. Who knew that it took only a letter for her to come meet them, when here they were, spending the 700 pages of this book thinking how on earth they could find Annabel, when in reality all they were doing was whining about their love lives.

This book should have been at least 500 pages long because if you were to take away all the unnecessary drama and angst, that was not even well written angst, you would be left with nothing of a book. I'm not even going to mention what happens in the end because again, I think it was the result of poor writing only done to elicit a sense of shock or heartbreak from the readers. To have that scene as the ending for your book speaks volumes of how much of a mess your book was, that you need to add something like that in the end, that makes 0 sense whatsoever, to sort of make up for the lack of action that pervaded the book. That whole last scene was poorly written fan fiction, and there's nothing else to be said about it. After finishing this book, I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders because I can finally and safely say, that I am done with Cassandra Clare's books from the shadowhunter world. I AM FREE AND I HAVE NEVER FELT HAPPIER. GOOD RIDDANCE!