Review: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
Title: Lady Midnight
Author: Cassandra Clare
Pages: 668
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publish Date: March 8, 2016
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Paranormal
Synopsis: The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.
It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.
Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions…
Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?
Glitz, glamours, and Shadowhunters abound in this heartrending opening to Cassandra Clare’s Dark Artifices series.
This review will contain spoilers, so caution to all thee who may enter. You have received your warning: spoilers are ahead.
I’m not one of those people that claims TMI have changed my life, and got me to where I am today as a book blogger. I haven’t even read all of them. So I am not biased when talking about this book that has been everywhere these past few weeks. I’m not just gonna gush about it; it has it’s faults.
Lady Midnight is a wonderful book. Cassandra Clare is a lovely author. She just goes overload with the details. Details are good, yes, but not when they are piled on so thickly that nothing is really happening. Background is good too, but is it really that important?
The first half of the book bored me.
There was really nothing going on. It was mostly background and seemingly unimportant details that didn’t keep my interest. Granted, I’m not as invested in this world as others. Most of the details were about things I didn’t care about.
Don’t get me wrong, I like this book. A lot actually. I gave it four out of five stars on Goodreads. I just wish half the crap was cut out that didn’t really add anything to this storyline.
The characters were great! Clare always writes a great bunch of characters. My favorite character is probably Ty. I feel as if there’s more to him than we know. Also, I feel as if him and Kit would be a cute couple. That’s the vibe I got when reading about their first meeting where TY snuck into the basement of Johnny Rook’s house.
Emma and Jules need to be together. I don’t care about the whole law aspect to it. Is there a way to sever the connection between parabatai? Maybe the next “evil” character will do that, but what he doesn’t know is that he’s really helping them. I wanted to rip Emma’s hair out at the end when she was pretty much cutting all ties with Julian. I was pretty much screaming at her to just kiss him and get over it. So what you turn into something evil?
Also, Emma and Mark? I don’t ship it. At all. I liked Mark and Christina, but she’s with Perfect Diego. Everytime I read his name I thought of that kid’s show, Go Diego Go! That’s actually what I was telling him. Go Diego Go and let Mark have Tina. I feel as if there’s something fishy about Perfect Diego. I think he needs to be watched during the next novel. There’s something off about him.
I liked the cameos. At first.
Then, I was like go away and let these characters have their own story. Clary and Jace have six novels, do they really need to trump Emma and Julian's? I felt as if they were mentioned way to often. I get it, Jace is the most powerful Shadowhunter and Clary is beautiful. Now let me learn more about Emma and Jules so I can love them as much as I do Clary and Jace.
I might’ve squealed when Magnus made an appearance because he is my favorite character from TMI.
I never suspected Malcolm being the killer. It was a plot twist I never saw coming, and I normally can see plot twists from a mile away. I good at guessing the murderer. I’m kind of sad that he was the killer, though, because I really liked him. I guess I just like warlocks.
The fight scene was amazing! It wasn’t disappointing (like some are), and it exceeded my expectations. Everyone got a little action. It was nice.
That epilogue though! HOW?!?! Do you think Annabel Lee’s going to be a problem later on? I do. I feel as if Jem and Tessa will be the first to have to deal with her though.
Overall, Lady Midnight was a great book. I cannot wait to read the next book. I really like the Blackthorns and Carstairs, and I want to know more about them. (Preferably without Jace and Clary being mentioned all the time.) I highly recommend it.
About the Author
Cassandra Clare was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of fantasy books. Cassandra worked for several years as an entertainment journalist for the Hollywood Reporter before turning her attention to fiction. She is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. Cassandra lives with her fiance and their two cats in Massachusetts.
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