review + discussion: lady midnight by cassandra clare

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
Series: The Dark Artifices
Published March 8th 2016 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre: fantasy, romance, young adult, werewolf, vampire, demons, fey, warlocks, paranormal

links: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

rating: ★★★★★

summary:

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?

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NOTE: read The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments before starting Lady Midnight – oh and Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, trust me, you will miss out if you don’t.

Although this is my second time reading Lady Midnight, I still find myself in awe with it. I’m head over heels with this book and I’m preparing myself for the pain and joy I’m going to experience while reading Lord of Shadows. TDA may be on the same level as TID since Lady Midnight stole my heart.

Unlike Clary and Tessa in the previous two series, Emma grew up in the Shadowhunter world. It’s refreshing to experience the world through somebody who thrives in such environment. Emma lost her parents at a young age, and since then lived with the Blackthorns family at the Los Angeles Institute.

Apart from the usual Shadowhunter business – monsters, demons, romance, action, the family drama held a main portion of the book which I absolutely loved. The Blackthorn family members are so incredibly different from one another. One thing that I’m really impressed with Cassandra Clare is that every character in Lady Midnight is rich in depth and personality, and they all have their own demons and problems. I can’t help but want to protect the Blackthorn family and Emma.

Lady Midnight left me breathless and speechless. Cassandra Clare’s growth as a writer is evident, her writing improved drastically from TMI. Her world-building and character development was fantastic in Lady Midnight.

you have to be prepared to get your heart broken and tissues ready beside you. It’s not a Cassandra Clare book if it doesn’t have plot twists, if it doesn’t scares you to no end and if it doesn’t hold your heart so tightly yet you never want the book to end. There’s great family dynamics, great characters and an unsurprisingly well-written plot and dialogues.

At the end, everything was beautifully wrapped up and left me wanting more.

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THAT’S THE END OF THE NON-SPOILERY SECTION!!! You’ve got to read Lady Midnight. you’ll get majorly spoiled if you scroll down!

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As much as I’m grateful that Kieran was with Mark the whole time they were in the Hunt and him helping the Blackthorns in the cave, I can’t see them as a couple. I’m a Cristina and Mark shipper through and through. Maybe it’s because I wish and hope at the end of everything, Mark can be reunited with his whole family and not go back to Faerieland, and having Cristina would be better than Kieran. Cristina is a fierce fighter, she’s intuitive and kind, someone Mark needs. Kieran kinda hurt my feelings after he caused Julian and Mark and Emma to be whipped. i’m not ready to forgive him.

but perfect diego and cristina seems like a good pair too. i hope mark and cristina work out their feelings. when mark saw diego and cristina kissing and he “hoped that he went back to the hunt” i was like HELL NAH, YOU ARE STAYING.

When Kieran told Gwyn and Iarlath about Mark telling Cristina about Gwyn’s cloak and they got the whipping I was furious. FURIOUSSSSSSSS. YOU THINK BY DOING THAT YOU CAN BRING MARK BACK TO YOU?! YOU WERE WRONG!!!!! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUUUUU!???! Gwyn the Hunter surprised me, I thought he would be expressionless or emotionless during this whole punishment scene, but he seemed sympathetic towards Emma the whole time. he’s a cinnamon roll.

All those scenes when Julian’s breath hitched or he gasped or he freezed when Emma accidentally brushed against his skin or was drawing runes, I WANTED TO DIE. arghhhhhhhhhhhh. the agony, seeing them wanting each other but because of the freaking parabatai bond, they can’t……… They clearly need to talk things through but they aren’t. Emma can’t you just tell Julian the reason you can’t be together with him and he’ll understand, and then you guys can find out a way to actually be together and then live happily ever after. for my sake, please don’t destroy my heart by not being together. and Mark, what were you thinking? why lie? WHY LIE? omg. i don’t even want to think about that. the pain julian is going to feel in lord of shadows, seeing you two together, poor jules. it’s going to drive him insane.

” you’ve always been mine, and I have always, always belonged to you!”

^ julian, why are you so perfect for emma. swoooooooon.

the knowledge that julian had been taking care of the institute since he was 12 broke me. he had to take care of his siblings at such a tender age. he sacrificed so much for his siblings. the scene when julian broke down in the kitchen was horrible, i could hear my heart cracking for jules. i couldn’t comprehend how they seemed so unappreciative towards julian just because mark was back. (I did want him to lash out and get everything off his chest instead of just burst of sarcasm, so that his siblings could understand )

it seems like for the most part of the book, i’m in pain or agony or upset about something.

let’s talk about malcolm fade. you might not believe me, but i didn’t trust him a single bit from the start. since we already have a high warlock we all love and adore – magnus bane, i didn’t believe that cassie clare would put another high warlock in for nothing. and wow, cassie clare seriously owns the title of queen of foreshadowing. malcolm coming to LA to raise his love, him saying there’s no higher law than love. i didn’t catch all the clues she left the first time. lol me.

he’s so devoted to annabel blackthorn, and his rage propelled him into this whole thing. oh and i was happy that it was little tavvy who solved the case for them(yay go tavvy!!), with his children’s book and the poem of annabel lee. BUT, i do believe malcolm fade isn’t dead, he’s too powerful to die because of emma’s stab.

also, how did annabel lee get resurrected? was any blackthorn blood spilled?

did you know that all the chapter titles are from the annabel lee poem? i’m so impressed with cassie clare.

another thing, i didn’t expect julian and emma to have a sexy time in the book at all. all i expected was tiny kisses here and there, nothing too big. but i guess i should have expected the unexpected with cassie clare. and they did it on the beach, level-headed julian went mia.

how can i not talk about kit right? how can i not.. i remembered the first time i read this part, i had to put the book down for a while and just stare at “Christopher Herondale” for five minutes. my heart was beating so fast and the only thing i could think about is “omg, he’s the lost herondale” repeatedly. WHAT THE FUUU. GUYS. DID YOU SEE THAT COMING? my mind was blown. i can’t… he’s related to will herondale guys, and tessa and jem were finding kit the whole time, and he’s a herondale… will herondale’s somebody. the herondale family map is going to have a major change after lord of shadows.

some favourite scenes:

• mark asking for a plate/bowl of strawberries & picking up mundane girls
• mark wearing multiple shirts fearing one may be robbed of a shirt
• mark wearing nothing but a huge fur coat
• julian and emma dancing in the lottery, the vulnerability and love in his eyes
• cameron as llama on emma’s phone & the subsequent conversation with cristina
• cristina and emma wishing they could be each other’s parabatai

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THAT’S THE END OF MY RAMBLE. i wanna know what you think about LADY MIDNIGHT! i love it so so so so sososoosoososos much.

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oh gosh, whoever finished reading this blog post is amazing. thank you so much for sticking with this post for so long. my own attention span is pretty short so if you made through this blog post, you should treat yourself to something.

(my aesthetic for lady midnight)

“There was beauty in the idea of freedom, but it was an illusion. Every human heart was chained by love.”

love.belle.