Name: Shannon C's review of Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare
Item: Queen of Air and Darkness
Rating: 5
Author: Shannon C

 Cassandra Clare

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 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling The Dark Artifices trilogy. Queen of Air and Darkness is a Shadowhunters novel. 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. Their society now teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the disease 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 there 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 the Shadowhunters before a deadly curse destroys them and everyone they love.

Queen of Air and Darkness

Christopher, family for me was never blood. It was always the family I chose. But it turns out it's nice to have someone I'm related to in this world. Someone I can tell boring family stories too. Do you know about Will Herondale? Or James Herondale?

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. Queen of Air and Darkness is a Shadowhunters novel. 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 disease 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.

anna ˖*°࿐

Karen Hinh

While the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and focus on saving the world of Shadowhunters before the parabatai curse destroys everyone.

Queen of air and darkness

Shannon C

4.7..........UM okay now give me the wicked powers...so many things weren't resolved because it was setting up TWP and I'm here for it

Ellie M.

This is such a touching finale to cassie’s best series yet. It is so full of everything familiar to me, and I truly felt the grief, regret, longing, and pain of every character that I’ve known from the start and felt attached to. I don’t even know how many times I cried. Seriously, I need therapy lol. 

Truthfully, I don’t know how to fully express how I feel about this book because I felt so many emotions reading it and the realization that Julian and Emma’s story has finally reached its end made me feel sad and nostalgic because I will miss the Blackthorns and everyone.

Helena

** spoiler alert **
           THAT ENDING?? stay away from clary

tessa being pregnant… my heart !!
the malec wedding was so wholesome, my ships are sailing and i’m HAPPY
clary and jace are just my teenage dream i love them so much

i loved every blackthorn sibling and their storyline, and i loved how characters from the past books had roles in this. the parabatai runes disappeared miraculously but apart from that everything was so perfect. 
i hope we get kit and ty endgame in the future, tho. and more livvy, however that goes.

THANK GOD.
the ending was beautiful. 
Cassie, you did a GREAT job. 

i thought i was moving on from The Mortal Instruments, because they’re not my favorite series. but then i realized how much i missed Clary, Jace, Simon, Izzy and Alec.

Tatiana

Queen of Air and Darkness: 4/5

 “The story that I love you, it has no end.”

Not only is this a beautiful conclusion to The Dark Artifices trilogy, but this was truly a convergence of the prior 15 shadowhunter books I have read thus far. 

Queen of Air and Darkness is an incredible, fast-paced end to an incredible series. Now, you may ask me, "Tatiana, how can a 900-page book be fast-paced?" And to that, I can only say that I have no idea. Cassandra Clare's writing is the closest thing to magic this world may ever have. This is escapism at its finest. I am enthralled with these characters. I have lived their lives; I have lived in the worlds within this series. It all feels so real, and I am grateful to have the privilege of being part of it.

The Dark Artifices is like no other. We have the setting of an urban fantasy set in 2013, in a world similar to our own, but the depth and complexity of the characters we met in The Infernal Devices. Furthermore, Queen of Air and Darkness is really the first time we witness all the characters we've met in past series and books come together for one unified cause. I would say you MUST read both The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments before reading The Dark Artifices. I cannot imagine it would have been nearly as enjoyable as it was if I had not had those prior books under my belt.

“As long as you exist and I exist, I will love you.”

Queen of Air and Darkness picks up immediately after Lord of Shadows. While we are witnessing the grief of the Blackthorn family, a new threat is rising. The Cohort, powered by their anti-downworlder agenda, seeks to gain control and rise to power. Emma, Julian, the Blackthorn children, Cristina, Kieran, and all others find themselves entangled in the purpose to regain control and create change for the better. 

Once again, Cassandra Clare expands the limits of the shadowhunter world. Not only do we revisit the Lost Angeles Institute and Faerie that was introduced in past books, but we also get a whole new setting called Thule, which was highly interesting and fantastical (but no spoilers).

 “As we all have an infinite capacity to make mistakes, we all have an infinite capacity for forgiveness.”

Every piece of this book had me on the edge of my seat. Truly I could not put this book down, and I finished all 900 pages in 24 hours. Although it was all amazing, the climax of this book outshined every other. I was laughing on one page and sobbing on another. This felt like so much more than an end to a trilogy. I've been on a long shadowhunter journey for the past month, reading every shadowhunter book in Cassie Clare's order, and this book felt like everything I had learned in the prior 15 books converged into this final battle. It was breathtakingly beautiful to understand every reference, every line, every spark of magic I knew the meaning behind. It is unlike any reading experience I've ever had before. 

Queen of Air and Darkness is like watching the inner workings of an extreme game of chess finally come to a close. Cassandra Clare is always two moves ahead, always thinking about how the pieces of this world can collide, and I cannot rave about it enough. Truly, I cannot emphasize enough that these books are worth the time and effort to get through. The character development that every single character goes through, main or side, is immense and effortless. Cassandra Clare leaves no stone unturned and explores each character with the attention that they deserve. 

The romance in this book is top-tier. This is slow burn forbidden romance to the max. My heart was aching and yearning for more. Not only do we have the incredible romance of Emma and Julian, but many side characters as well. I am just ITCHING to gush and spoil everything, but I won't. All the romance plots are so unique and I am obsessed with it.

I cannot wait for The Wicked Powers to come out in the future, and I am ecstatic that the series isn't over yet. I still have The Last Hours!

shru

** spoiler alert **
           damn this was good. but i gotta say i enjoyed the family parts more than the romance, which is weird but overall a good book :) cassie never fails to amuse me. i hated the ending though, i wanted a huge sacrifice :/ the whole giants thing was stupid tbh and i thought the curse would be more dark magic, like julian and emma teaming up and almost doing something bad to the family? not giants. and the parabatai bond breaking,  how convenient.

** spoiler alert **
           i want to know more about emma and julian's travel year but overall i love this book!

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. Queen of Air and Darkness is a Shadowhunters novel 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.

nina 

cant stand annoying people 
 

“Faith isn’t never having any doubts; it’s having what you need to overcome them.” 
PSA: I still can’t pick a lock

Well where do I begin? That was a book and a half- literally. (It was almost 900 pages!- what's the deal with authors nowadays writing huge finales that take forever to read?!?) I was very intimidated by the sheer length of this and was hesitant to start, and judging by how long it took me to read, (almost a month) I am glad it is over. 

Unfortunately this has been my least favourite installment of the Dark Artifices trilogy. Lord of Shadows was slightly better, but I think the first book was a definite favourite. The vibe I got from Lady Midnight (especially since I read it right after COHF and TFSA) was missing in the other two, but what saved the series for me was our beloved characters. 

The major problem I had with this book was the pacing. I liked where Lord of Shadows ended, but starting off again in Queen of Darkness was where we hit a problem. I found the story arc to be confusing, and the points of interest were spaced by long periods of boring, slow or irrelevant chapters that did little to move the plot forward, or just gave countless examples how certain Shadowhunters really suck *cough* Zara and Vanessa *cough*). There were scenes that I thought weren't necessary, and too many perspectives that would interrupt the action and bring the plot to a screeching halt (which was really disappointing, since I have never experienced this for a Shadowhunters book). For example, Cristina's perspective and her story line in this book was only to have her interact with her love interest (correction: love interests) or with Emma, where all they talked about were, no surprises here, her love interests. No further character development was made, in fact, I believe it reverted. Pre-QoAD Cristina was where it's at, no tea, no shade. 

But since I am so much invested into the Shadowhunter world and these families, I will always want to find out what will happen to the bigger picture and the implications for the Shadow World from the events and decisions made by these characters. I'm not necessarily disappointed in where the series went and how it ended to set up for the next series, it was only just that I struggled with how the overarching plot was told. As a whole, I believe the Dark Artifices added to the greater plot to tell the story of the Shadowhunters. 

I'm off to read Kingdom of Ash now, which is another 1000 page book.

I feel like I'm going to be in a reading slump after these two.

While I thought it was a good conclusion, I think this was my least favorite of the TDA books. For much of the book, it seemed to meander a bit and not know where it was going. It wasn't until the halfway point that things really took off, and it found its footing.

That being said, I still really enjoyed this book. I felt like, even though the plot struggled a bit, the characters really had a chance to shine.

I still maintain that these books read a bit like soap operas but in the best way. It is a lot of relationship struggles, plot twists, and whatnot. However, I felt like the author really had something important to say in this series about bigotry and prejudice. I was honestly really impressed.

I will probably reread this series once I have gone through all the other books just to see if my perception of this series changes with added context. I just really wanted to run an experiment and see if this series can actually be read without the other books or if you need to read TMI and TID in order to enjoy TDA properly. 

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this series. It gave me similar feelings to when I first read Throne of Glass: a near-obsessive need to finish all the books and devour them. I do recommend this series, and I think if you go into it with the expectation of just having fun, it will be a great time.

P.S. I am so sorry to all the people who have been waiting for the Wicked Powers after that ending. You have my sympathies, and I now join your agony.

Emily B

4.25 STARS:

While I thought it was a good conclusion, I think this was my least favorite of the TDA books. For much of the book, it seemed to meander a bit and not know where it was going. It wasn't until the halfway point that things really took off, and it found its footing.

That being said, I still really enjoyed this book. I felt like, even though the plot struggled a bit, the characters really had a chance to shine.

I still maintain that these books read a bit like soap operas but in the best way. It is a lot of relationship struggles, plot twists, and whatnot. However, I felt like the author really had something important to say in this series about bigotry and prejudice. I was honestly really impressed.

I will probably reread this series once I have gone through all the other books just to see if my perception of this series changes with added context. I just really wanted to run an experiment and see if this series can actually be read without the other books or if you need to read TMI and TID in order to enjoy TDA properly. 

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this series. It gave me similar feelings to when I first read Throne of Glass: a near-obsessive need to finish all the books and devour them. I do recommend this series, and I think if you go into it with the expectation of just having fun, it will be a great time.

P.S. I am so sorry to all the people who have been waiting for the Wicked Powers after that ending. You have my sympathies, and I now join your agony.

Natalie 

4.5⭐️ this series has been so fun and special, I’m sad it’s over🥲

cher elle

This book really didn’t need to be as long as it was and albeit the semi-interesting (and I use that term very loosely) political discourse which is obviously supposed to be direct reference to current political affairs in the world, but it feels extremely out of touch in comparison to the other books in the series. It heavily banks on the sentimentality of familiar characters rather than offering a satisfying climax to otherwise a very well constructed addition to the shadow world. It feels as though sometimes Cassie was holding back which makes me feel there’s a lot more to come. It was okay, but it could have been amazing and it disappoints me.

alexandra

originally posted on twirling pages

if you haven't read Lady Midnight or Lord of Shadows, i suggest reading those reviews OR BETTER YET: reading those books ;))

if you know anything about my reading loves, you probably know that i'm SHADOWHUNTER TRASH. and i love the shadowhunter books with all my heart. (although we've come a long way.) my excitement for Queen of Air and Darkness was beyond words – mostly because of the ending of LoS (send help). think: post-Mark of Athena, waiting a year for House of Hades. pure trauma.
honestly, i was a bit scared to read Queen of Air and Darkness. Lord of Shadows was just so much pain. which probably why – even after its release – i was wary of starting it and it took me so!! long!! to!! finish!!!
my biggest problem was the pacing. i couldn't bring myself to continue even though i wanted to continue. it was the weirdest thing. maybe it was because it was too big?? maybe i was too busy irl?? (true fact) maybe it was TOO MUCH. i kid you not, it took me 400 pages to actually feel like things were started to happen. 400 pages is a normal sized book, and nearly 50% through. but at the same time, there was actually TOO MUCH going on. 
the plot was overwhelming to keep track of. true to series finale patterns, there are about five plot lines going on. maybe more, maybe less. we have a huge cast of character and constantly change pov (normal to cassie's writing). but because of it, i had a hard time connecting right away. BUT. oddly enough, if i hadn't read it for a week and pick it up again, i would immediately get sucked in and start sobbing.
in general, i think i had a poor reading experience but the book was good. it's sad. if i read it at a different time with a different headspace, i know i would've enjoyed it more. this isn't to say i didn't like QoAD; i just thought i would've liked it more. i wish i'd waited and binged the entire series. through the past year, i lost connection with the characters and that made it harder to get through – especially when the book is SO BIG.
but cassandra clare is still the queen of conclusions. through QoAD, i remember why i love cassie's world so much. even though it's HUGE and at times feels draggy, the ending is so satisfying. i wasn't a fan of The Mortal Instruments, but City of Heavenly Fire – just the ending itself – made up for all that was lost for all prior books. although this ending wasn't quite as BAM, it was still wonderful and made it all worth it. there are definitely tears and lot of love. 

spoiler-filled discussion beginning! if you haven't read the book, i would highly recommend LEAVING & reading the book for yourself. you've been warned!!
Spoiler

let's talk about some THINGS.

characters & relationships

can we talk about JULIAN?????? AND EMMA?????? okay, first things first: julian in the first half of this book was just... unnerving. scary? SCARY. i love him and his unwavering slytherin-ness but this was just – 

high key send help. it also didn't help that we didn't get his POV at all during his time without his emotions. poor emma had to deal with THAT. plus the entire ordeal with the clave and the bigots i scream. actually, now that i think about it, the plot is crazy but more on that later.
in general, the emma & julian ship was so Angsty™. i often found myself either a) rolling my eyes at how horny they were or b) feeling upset about the situation or c) screaming. t'was not fun but THAT'S CASSIE CLARE FOR YOU.
now let's talk about my favorite trio turned duo: ty and kit. brO. ty dealing with livvy's death was the worst. on one hand, i understood his denial because high-key ME. on the other, i wanted to scream at him for literally raising the dead. also kit having a lot of Feelings for ty and not being able to sort them out made me hfbdjknslajpko;zl.
how about the actual trio of mark, cristina, and kieran. cassie always throws out unconventional ships (like clary and jace, when they were siblings) but somehow they always work. like, i usually despise love triangles. this was the first triangle (does tessa, jem, and will count? not really??) that was a LEGIT TRIANGLE. it was weird and wonderful. we got the best of both all worlds! 
the blackthorn fam is my ultimate fave!! i mentioned it before in my previous discussions but SERIOUSLY. i love their big family feels. it's so authentic I LOVE IT. dru trying to get closer to ty, helen working on getting to know them again, tavvy asking for julian – IT ALL MAKES ME EMO. 

things that went down

i feel like things were slow until emma and jules went to thule. honestly, i don't even remember what happened prior to that – aside from the fact that julian got rid of his emotions and livvy's funeral was a thing. the entire thule ordeal reminded me of that one episode of suite life of zack and cody where they end up in a parallel universe. ring a bell?
REMEMBER THIS

anyway, the biggest thing was when livvy appeared and ALL MY FEELINGS WERE OVERWHELMED AGAIN. when she wrote that letter to ty i just – i could not.
i wanted to talk about the council but there's nothing new aside from: we hate zara. the dearborns are bigots. it's frighteningly accurate to how the us government is right now. yay!!!!!
in other news, TESSA IS HAVING A CHILD?!!!! i feel like we knew this but i think i forgot and i needed to mention it. I'M SO HAPPY. tessa is my actual fave and she deserves all the love ughhhhhhh.

the entire fucking ending

i was honestly feeling pretty meh about the ending UNTIL emma and jules became giants (giant angels? or just angels?). it didn't feel like a huge series conclusion, then this happened. thinking back, it was mostly just... weird? confused but i'll take it.
HOWEVER. the part that had me sobbing in the corner at my dentist's office (no joke) was when tavvy insisted on saving julian and emma. the blackthorns strode up to the two of them and began professing their love!! i guess it was a positive thing but it just made me SO EMO. just thinking about it makes me cry.

also, MALEC'S WEDDING?!!! for some reason, the epilogue almost felt like a fan fiction become canon. the scenes were too good to be true and all was well and it was WONDERFUL.
ALSO. we find out who KIT FUCKING HERONDALE actually is?!!!! not only is a herondale, but he's half faerie?!!! okay but MORE IMPORTANTLY: ty and kit's argument at the end???? they never make up, go their separate ways, and i'm tearing my hair out it's fine. i know there's going to be another series with them and i know they're where they need to be BUT STILL. i'm –
lastly: ash??? i'm not sure how to feel about him. i honestly don't remember him at all prior to this book so i'm like meh, but i know his role will play an important part to the next series. i'm nervous, excited, and HYPED.

Megan O’Connod

"pancakes for dinner" by lizzy mcalpine - "Sometimes when you start a war, you want to make pancakes"

"the highway and the ocean beyond. The whole world going on in its ordinary way, not caring about the problems of Shadowhunters and warlocks."

this was such a rollercoaster like so so much was happening! there’s so many different povs and storylines, bouncing from one to another, especially unexpected ones that i didn't see coming! it was MESS tbh but I loved it!! crying one chapter and laughing in the next! i loved seeing all the familiar faces like this was the ultimate crossover book!

"as we all have an infinite capacity to make mistakes, we all have an infinite capacity for forgiveness."

there so many great quotes but this one quote's foreshadowing was insane!!

"there is fire inside us, Emma, and as it blazes, it burns us, and the burning causes pain—but without its light, I cannot see to draw.”

after all the pain, cc really gives us the ending we needed <3 my heart feels full! also the epilogue!! i screamed

"great war" by taylor swift
"find my way back" by eric arjes
"carry you" by ruelle, fleurie
"pancakes for dinner" by lizzy mcalpine - "Sometimes when you start a war, you want to make pancakes"

"the highway and the ocean beyond. The whole world going on in its ordinary way, not caring about the problems of Shadowhunters and warlocks."
“I love you. I love you. I love you”

this was such a rollercoaster like so so much was happening! there’s so many different povs and storylines, bouncing from one to another, especially unexpected ones that i didn't see coming! it was MESS tbh but I loved it!! crying one chapter and laughing in the next! i loved seeing all the familiar faces like this was the ultimate crossover book!

"as we all have an infinite capacity to make mistakes, we all have an infinite capacity for forgiveness."

there so many great quotes but this one quote's foreshadowing was insane!!
"there is fire inside us, Emma, and as it blazes, it burns us, and the burning causes pain—but without its light, I cannot see to draw.”

after all the pain, cc really gives us the ending we needed <3 my heart feels full! also the epilogue!! i screamed

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 disease 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.

The Dark Artifices #3

Saskia Lambeth

Remind me not to fall in love with my Parabatai….

After months of reading this and it even turning into a buddy read (I started it on release day) it's over and I'm currently sat crying about it at 2am, I. Love. It. So. Much.

I feel like it took me so long to finish this because I wanted to savour it, you only get to experience a book for the first time once so I wanted it to last. I absolutely adore this book so much, it's heartbreaking and beautiful but also made me so happy. Somehow I wish it was longer, I love all the character so muchhh and all the ships, gah it's just so amazing! I don't even know what to say!

I don't think I'll ever read a Cassandra Clare book that won't get 5*. They're just so incredible, I'll never get over how amazing the world building alone is!

I literally just bougut the regular paperback the other day so now I own 2 copies, hell yeah.

Anyway I'm so excited for what's to come and that God damn cliffhanger got me, (I have RSOM on my shelf to go read!!) I can't wait!

Aishling

** spoiler alert **
           Thinking back on this book I’m changing my 4 star review to a 3.5 stars.

I LOVED this series so much with the first and second books, I remember screaming at the end of them both and I was so excited for this one. But because of the third book I’m just not that into it anymore.

I didn’t like the whole giants thing, it felt like something CC just made up to cover her ass cause she couldn’t figure out how to solve the parabatai bond issue. It’s just felt too convenient? It all just happened and there was no repercussions and that was that. It was a let down really. 

I also was not feeling the Mark/Kieran/Christina dynamic. Well mostly I wasn’t feeling Christina and Kieran. I didn’t really feel much of a connection with them and felt it was a bit forced. 

I honestly can’t remember much more of the book (thanks brain fog) so I can’t say more about what I liked and didn’t, but overall I just feel like it was a let down compared to the previous books and I’m sad that a series I loved so much ended in this way.

mercy

my least favorite in the trilogy but i would RISK IT ALL for any and all of the blackthorns

Jamieson

this truly WAS the infinity war of the shadowhunter chronicles, it was so wild to see so many characters from across this universe play a role here and I LOVED IT.


 I've had like a month to process this book and okay like I don't think my brain and heart will EVER be able to process what this book just did to me but I'm going to try. So, yes below you can read my 
  FULL REVIEW OF QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS


 (also, I'm saying now I CANNOT PROMISE THIS REVIEW WILL BE SPOILER FREE OK YOU WERE WARNED)


  “The sky was a road and the stars made pathways; the moon was a watchtower, a lighthouse that led you home.”


This book was easily my most anticipated book of the year. I had made a big claim that if Queen lived up to Clockwork Princess, then The Dark Artifices would become my new favourite series of Cassandra Clare's. I don't know how I feel about that now. This ending wasn't as good as the Clockwork Princess ending for me, but there was SO many things I loved about it. I loved the characters, (most) of the plot, the angst, the romance, and seeing all the different series come together (most of the time). But there was some things (the lst 100 pages) that annoyed me so I just couldn't give it a five star even though it SHOULD HAVE BEEN ..... it COULD HAVE BEEN ....... im furious ! Anyways, lets break this bad bitch down: 


  “I whisper your name, Ty. I whisper the most important thing: 
I love you. I love you. I love you.
Livvy” 






  CHARACTERS


Lets start with characters because it's my favourite part of this series

Emma remains my favourite character, what an iconic queen. I honestly ADORE Emma and she's one of my favourite CC characters ever. She's changed and developed so much between book one and three, but I love what a strong badass she is whilst also being caring and compassionate and maintaining important relationships. It's nice to have a female character who'd badass and blunt but not necessarily cold. I literally love her, and I really want her to punch me in the face because it'd be an HONOUR. 

Julian for some reason a lot of people don't like Julian but I LOVE JULIAN. He's such an interesting and unusual main male character, especially from Cassandra Clare. So I think he adds a really great dimension to this series and is such a contrast to characters like Will or Jace. AND ANTI-HERO JULIAN FINALLY KINDA ROSE AND I WAS SCARED. All in all I loved his arc in this book .. the dark julian contrasted with actual julian was painful to read but I loved it. YOU ARE IN THE CAGE? I cried. Also, I just love Dad! Julian and how he treats his entire family dfjghdfkj. ALSO WE LOVE A DEMISEXUAL !! KING!!!!!

Mark, Cristina and Kieran SO I have always felt meh about Mark. I don't dislike him .. I actually like him quite a bit. I just don't like him as much as some people seem to. I felt pretty much the same about him in this as I always have. I love Cristina and I loved her in this too. But I felt she didn't get as good an arc as the other characters? Her entire plot was pretty much romance which was kind of annoying though I DID LOVE HER TEAM UP IN FAERIE. ICONIC!! Kieran I still feel mixed on. I've never liked him much but he did grow on me a bit in this. I actually kinda ended up liking him even though I still don't care about him on the same level as the other characters. But his character arc was great. 

Kit and Ty THEY WERE NOT IN THIS ENOUGH?? Okay yes they literally had a major plot arc BUT STILL. Ty should of have a POV but he never did! I also hated the conclusion of their arc ... obviously it's going to be the main focus of The Wicked Powers but it was SO unsatisfying here. I also though Ty's literally had no growth in the 700 pages of this book which was annoying. But I LOVED KIT SO MUCH. Thats my son !!!! I really liked his role in this book and his POVs were some of my favourite. He is fucking iconic and hilarious .. "you are so forked", bitch you better BET i laughed

Dru My unexpected fave of this book. In Lord of Shadows I liked Dru but felt I didn't really know her. She had SO much development and growth in this and I loved her role. I didn't expect to love her so much but I seriously do, and I think of all the characters I am MOST excited to see more of DRU in The Wicked Powers! She stole my heart, I love her. 

Jaimie and Diego They were in this more than I expected and I didn't .. love it. Honestly I did Not like Diego's chapters much, I just don't care about them that much so their chapters were always the ones that made me want to put this book down. But I did like their characters in relation to their character arc with Cristina.

Diana  I LOVE DIANA and I honestly don't have heaps more to say about her?? I liked how she became a more important role in the Clave in this book and I also liked how there was more focus on her being an older sister to Emma and Julian in this. 

Helen and Aline  MY SAPPHIC QUEEEENS ! I love both of them so much. Aline was such a fun character because she was so different to Helen and even to Jules and Emma in terms of how she handled the kids. Helen was sweet and I LOVED her relationship with Mark in this. Seeing those two interact were some of my favourite parts of this book. Aline and Helen are also so fucking cute jghfkgj it's unfair of Ms Clare to show us gays a pair of gfs that cute when she KNOWS none of us can achieve that irl because all gays are too useless to actually date other gays. 


  “Grief can be so bad you can’t breathe, but that’s what it means to be human. We lose, we suffer, but we have to keep breathing.” 




  PLOT


Queen of Air and Darkness picks up right where Lord of Shadows ends. I loved this choice but also I WAS IN SO MUCH PAIN. The scenes of Julian crying and Ty passing out were hard to read and seriously I was emotionally wrecked by page 25 I literally had to take a break. 

I pretty thoroughly enjoyed the first third of this book. The chapters in faerie were exciting and I liked seeing so many different characters play a role. Simon, Isabelle, Jace, Clary and more appearing was so fun and I loved the cameos. The plot in faerie reminded me a lot of Lord of Shadows but I decided I didn't mind it. That fight in the throne room also reminded me of that fight scene in The Last Jedi with Kylo/Rey and bitch I was HOLLERING. 

The only plot in the first third I wasn't a fan of was Julian's emotions things - I didn't think it was bad but it just came out of nowhere? In no previous books, even when Emma and Julian discuss their "options" did him removing his emotions come up so it felt out of nowhere and kind of lazy? 

The second part in Thule was literally my favourite part of the book which seems to be an unpopular opinion, but I thought it was SO MUCH FUN. It was like a canon AU and I was loving it. Seeing the world as it would have been was interesting, and I loved Emma and Julian's arc in this. The focus on their romance and Julian's choices was great and Thule really allowed a lot of emotional catharsis and tangible contrast between what is and what could have been. ALSO JULIAN AND EMMA FUCKING WHILST SAYING THEIR PARABATAI VOWS WAS HOT AND LITERALLY IS MY KINK

The final section was my least favourite and where everything seemed to fall apart. I felt Cassandra Clare had so many thread and plots and character things to work with and they ended up not coming together great. It definitely felt like she lost control of the story a bit. The climax was .. incredibly disappointing and so cliche. Again, the whole "Nephilim Parabatai" thing just came literally out of nowhere. The ending of Julian and Emma's complications with being Parabatai was so lazy and wasn't even foreshadowed as a legitimate option until it randomly happened. Using heavenly fire again also felt lazy and the whole "family talks you down" thing was SO cliche. I felt so unsatisfied with the ending here, and I really just can't get over Emma and Julian randomly going giant, throwing around the evil elf army like what the FUCK even was that. It was just messy and weird. 


  “Be good, my archer boy. Come back to me.” 




  ROMANCE & ANGST


So where the plot let me down, the angst came THROUGH. Honestly I was going into this wanting some sweet, sweet, painful angst and phew, once again the good sis Cassandra delivered. 

JULIAN AND EMMA .... *kisses fingers* oh yeah thats the STUFF. Like I've said multiple times, I adore them. ADORE THEM. I honestly love their friendship/relationship so much and the whole set up of them being best friend, literally Being Eachother's People, like no one loves them as much as they love eachother ... oh fuck YES thats the shit. I THRIVE off of that. And she delivered in spades .. she really did. AND OH THE ANGST OF DARK! JULIAN. And Dark! Julian being like lowkey hot ... yeah I'm into that. Anyway, truly excellence once again. 

Mark, Cristina and Kieran ... FINALLY the OT3 we all love and deserve. I see you boring bitches whining about the ending of this love triangle but it is WHAT. WE. DESERVE. Turning your love triangle into a polyam ship? inspired. And it honestly was so well written? That they're all equally in love with eachother?? That Mark/Cristina or Mark/Kieran or Kieran/Cristina doesnt even work because they're all thinking about one another like .. it's mess and I adore it? And the three way ship is perfect?? BUT THE ENDIGN .... I hate that omg ! It was so unresolved which was annoying as fuck but also I stan King Kieran so idk phew that is a tough one. I feel it will also be resolved in The Wicked Powers (IM HOPING)

Ty and Kit ... they're so cute aw man. I love Kit's inner monologue around Ty, he's so enamoured with him in such a pure and cute way and there is definitely going to be an arc around him Realising He Is Queer which should be fun. He really is the bi king I deserved. And Ty always recruiting Kit and trusting Kit was so sweet, they're both sweet and even tho I'm an angst DEMON I was rooting for them and their softness. 

Jace and Clary. LOOK ALL I AM GOING TO SAY IS THEM GOING BACK TO THE GREENHOUSE TO WHERE IT ALL STARTED HAD ME EMO AND ALSO THEM BOTH BUYING A RING ....... INSPIRED



  “You might be in the cage, Jules, but as long as you are like this, I am in the cage with you.”



  ISSUES


Alright the gush has been real now it's time to do some quick rants x 

Although I loved the Thule chapters, I had one huge issue and that is MAKING SEBASTIAN THE VILLAIN. Sebastian is the one behind all this nonsense and I HATE THAT. It is SO lazy to just bring an old dead villain back, and it's fucking annoying. What is the point of TMI and killing Sebastian if random alternate universe Sebastian can just return to fuck it up? I thought that was so lazy, and completely the opposite of what I had come to expect from CC in this trilogy. In Lady Midnight, Malcolm being the villain completely subverted my expectations because she kept setting up warlock = good, and then she undermined it, which was neat. Malcolm was also such a strong villain with interesting and complex motivations. And while I love Sebastian as a villain, he doesn't fit here, and he's just pure evil, which is fun in tmi but ultimately boring to repeat over and over. I felt CC really let down the great start to the series and intricate plot she had set up. 

I also was ... so sick of the cameos. Does anyone else wish she would just let TMI go?? At first they were fun, but they started to totally eclipse the other, main characters. I don't want a continuation of their plots, I want the Blackthorns story! LET THEM GOOOO. Also, the epilogue totally sets up The Wicked Powers as City of Lost Souls 2.0 and i am ... not keen. 

And like I said the last 100 pages were just .. messy. I'm annoyed because I SHOULD have given this a five star .. it was going so well. Everything I came for was there. The angst was top notch, the character interactions were great, and the book was fast paced and exciting. But those last 100 pages were too much and just so cliche and weird. And the ending was complete fanservice, which usually I don't mind, but this was WAY too much. I've said this soo many times but I HATE when books with dramatic "this is going to change everything this is the end of the world" plots have literally no consequences. Like the tagline of this book was literally "everything changes" but in the end nothing happened and everyone got to be happy. LOOK I LOVE PAIN AND SUFFERING OKAY. But I just think it's a super let down and doesn't deliver on my expectations of something Big happening.

Okay, I admit the loss of Idris was big and will probably play a big role in the next book .. but again it's the same problem I have with other plot lines. Nothing was finished off in this series ! It was all left for the next one. Which is lazy and unsatisfying. I get her series run on to eachother, but the ending of each individual series should still be satisfying and contained to that series in my opinion. 



  “If aught but death part thee and me, Emma,” he said, and pressed his lips to the strands. Emma closed her eyes as she whispered, “Julian. Julian. If aught but death part thee and me.” 




Alright .. that is IT! This is an extremely gushy and messy review I recognise and own it. You'll just have to live with it. PLEASE chime off in the comments I still need to discuss this book I am still in shock

This book! Wow. Once I started reading this book I couldn’t put it down. It was a pure joy to read. It had me laughing and it had me crying. I haven’t felt this satisfied reading a book in awhile

Sophie Hutchings

Ok, I don't think it has ever taken me this long to get through a Cassandra Clare book. 

I really struggled to get into Queen of Air and Darkness, it was a big old book and the first 50% of the book I was just not enjoying but I pushed through and HIGHLY enjoyed and loved the second part. The ending was a killer, I loved it. 

Very excited for the next books that Cassandra has planned and interested to see where the ending leads.

Abi Baker

this is without a doubt a three star book because cc doesn't know how to write books that aren't overly long with unnecessary scenes that essentially detract from the plot BUT i'm rating it four stars for kit/ty and mark/kieran/cristina

Annabella

"You're the only person I've ever loved like this, and I know you're the only person I ever will. And I'm not myself without you, Emma. Once you dissolve dye in water, you can't take it back out. It's like that. I can't take you out of me. It means cutting out my heart, and I don't like myself without my heart, I know that now."  
   "You're the love I chose. [...] At the edge of everything, love and faith brought me back, and back to you"   
I... have been through a roller coaster, as always. Thank you for this journey. There are things not everyone liked, but this book has put my heart through the ringer and it's given me joy and pain and more joy. Someday, I'll be able to make more sense, perhaps. Until then, just know my angsty self loved every minute of it.

Karen Hinh &
Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

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Karen Hinh &Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

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Karen Hinh &
Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare