We have been talking about buddy reading Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows this year before the release of the last book in this trilogy. Our buddyread just happened to start a bit sooner when our friend Melissa from Melissa’s Fandomworld suggested we all read them together! This is a good thing, because we probably wouldn’t have started reading them so soon!
So today we want to share our review of Lady Midnight. With the release of Queen of Air and Darkness, this week is going to be The Dark Artifices week on the blog! Let’s start with this review!
In a kingdom by the sea…
In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word.
A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other—but they can never fall in love.
Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries—the most powerful of supernatural creatures—teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge—and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.
Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?
The darkly magical world of Shadowhunters has captured the imaginations of millions of readers across the globe. Join the adventure in Lady Midnight, the long-awaited first volume of a new trilogy from Cassandra Clare
“There was beauty in the idea of freedom, but it was an illusion. Every human heart was chained by love.”
Candyce
This was actually a reread for me! I read Lady Midnight for the first time in March 2016, so I definitely needed to dive back in before starting Lord of Shadows. I’m very glad I did, because I forgot so many details about this book!
Lady Midnight starts 5 years after the end of The Mortal Instruments. The main characters, Julian & Emma, are characters we met in City of Heavenly Fire. They both have been through horrific things, but have been trying to find their way. Julian’s siblings are a lot of fun and I think it’s amazing he sacrificed a lot of his childhood to take care of his siblings. It’s clear he really cares.
One thing that did bother me while reading Lady Midnight, is that events from previous books and how the Shadowhunter World works gets explained over again. Yes, I know this a technically a seperate series people can start with, but for fans like me, it’s annoying. I thought so anyways!
I also forgot how long the chapters are! Yes, there are small breaks when the point of view changes, but 30 (!) pages is long! I am definitely a reader that prefers shorter chapters. What I do love is that the story is told from different point of views. I love how you get a feeling you’re getting the whole story. This also gives more than one opinion, so it makes it feel more realistic.
One thing I love about this world having so many books, is that they all end up fitting together somehow. I love the characters or events we are reminded of while reading. All the families are connected in one way or another. I think that’s my favorite part of this series.
Lady Midnight lets us get to know this amazing family and how they work together. There’s something going on, but the mystery of it keeps you on the edge of your seat. This book is filled with family, friendship, love and even some betrayal. The ending had some plot twists I totally forgot about!
The Blackthorns are a well oiled machine that keep finding ways to adapt to the curveballs thrown at them. I love how much they love each other and will stop at nothing to keep the family strong. Julian & Emma are my favorite though. I love the bond they have. They know the other so well! I can’t wait to see how this story continues in Lord of Shadows. I know we’ve seen nothing yet!
“When no one you know tells the truth, you learn to see under the surface.”
Isabelle
I had started reading Lady Midnight about a year ago, or something like that. In my memory I hadn’t come that far and not much had happened. It turns out, I did read over a 100 pages, so it took me a while to get to the point where ‘new’ things started happening. Because of that I read quite slowly at first. Not much happened and it felt like I was getting nowhere. But once I got past the point where I stopped the last time, and events started to unfold, the book really started to grab me and I flew through this big beast.
As Candyce mentions, the chapters are LONG, this was part of my slower reading pace. When you end a chapter in a regular book, it’s quite easy to just read one more. But when you know a chapter is this long, that’s not happening, at least not for me haha. Since it’s been awhile that I read the other Shadowhunter books I didn’t mind the reminders as to what happened before. But I would much rather get reminders as to some of the details than the ‘big’ things. I remember the important stuff, but the details not so much.
We get to meet a ton of new characters in this book and get to know the Blackthorn family and Emma a lot better. They were in the last installment of The Mortal Instruments so we do know them a little, but after Lady Midnight you really know them. Dru and Tavvy are probably the least developed but given their young ages that makes sense. I adore Livvy and Ty and can’t wait to read more about them. They might actually be my favorites, so that makes me so excited for The Wicked Powers trilogy, just have to wait until 2022 😉
Emma and Julian are the main characters and while I do enjoy them a lot, their story might be the one I’m least interested in haha. I don’t dislike it or anything like that, I’m just more interested in everything else that’s going on. Emma is my favorite shadowhunter heroine though! Christina, Diego, and Kieran are some new characters and I love reading about them. They all have interesting storylines going on and I’m quite passionate about them haha.
And of course there is Mark, another character we knew a bit. It was wonderful learning more about him. Cassandra Clare gave us some truly amazing characters with a lot of character development! The only thing that annoyed me was Marks name, runes are called Marks as well and I got a bit confused with some sentences every now and then haha.
There is so much happening already in this first installment of The Dark Artifices and I’m sure the story will be even more expanded in the sequels. There were some plottwists I didn’t see coming and that makes me very excited. From what I gathered, Lord of Shadows will be an even more intense read with twists and turns and feels! All in all, Lady Midnight was a great start to this new trilogy.
“Lex malla, lex nulla. A bad law is no law.”
Candyce: 
Isabelle:
“The choices we make, make us.”
It was amazing being back in the Shadowhunter World. We have many posts planned for you this week, so make sure to keep an eye on the blog! Have you read any of the Shadowhunter books? What series is your favorite?
