Lord of Shadows Review

 

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. (Image and Synopsis from Goodreads)

*Warning: There is a spoiler section at the bottom, so be careful. I have marked it, but if you do not want to be spoiled, do not scroll past that point.”

Hey y’all! I just finished Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare and it was amazing! It is the second book in the Dark Artifices series, which is by far Cassie’s most sophisticated and developed series. I read Lady Midnight when it came out last year and gave it 5/5 stars. Since then, I was impatiently waiting for Lord of Shadows to come out. This book broke me completely, but it was in the absolute best way. I gave it 5/5 stars and would absolutely recommend that you pick up this series if you haven’t yet! But you must read The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices first! Tales from Shadowhunter Academy is not required, but it is highly recommended!

There are so many things I loved in this book, but the main one was seeing all of our favorite TMI/TID/Tales from Shadowhunter Academy characters. Jace, Clary, Tessa, Jem, Magnus, Alec, Jessamine, and John Cartwright were all in this book and my heart was bursting with happiness every time we saw them!

There is a lot of mental illness/ gender/ sexulaity rep in this book and it is done incredibly well! Things are addressed appropriately and treated properly, which is incredibly refreshing compared to other books I have read recently. The way things were introduced and explained was realistic and made sense with the book. It was not simply stuck in to appease readers.

There is so much that happens in this book. You think it is going in one direction, but then it flips around. Plus every character has something else going on and it is a lot to keep up with. If it were any other author, everything would be scrambled and confusing, but Cassie did such a good job writing it that I didn’t have too many problems. Most people would think that the events in this book would need 3 books to occur, but it flowed so well that everything worked out.

For those of you wondering about the ending, I will say it is rather bleak. I cannot believe it ended there and that I now have to wait a whole year before finding out what happens next. For those of us who have read ACOMAF, I would compare it to that. Not necessarily the situation, but the feeling of hopelessness and helplessness.

That is all I can really say without spoiling things. Since this book is the second in a series and so much happened, so I cannot say much more. I enjoyed this book and if you have not read it yet, you should.

*There are spoilers ahead. If you have not read the book yet, please do not go on.*

• Magnus and Alec’s children are the cutest things I have ever seen. I used to not be the biggest Malec shipper, but now I am so on board.
• Mark and Christina or Mark and Kieran or Cristina and Diego. I am so conflicted.
• Can we take a moment for Clary’s reason for not marrying Jace. I do not trust Cassie enough to not kill her off. I don’t even know how to respond to this.
• Who is that person that Dru saw? What does it have to do with anything? What is Jamie doing?
• I ship Kit and Ty so hard. I don’t know if I have ever wanted anything to be cannon more than this. When Livvy died, if I am completely honest, my first thought was, “Well, now Kit and Ty can be together.” Then I realized what was happening and started crying.
• Arthur dieing on a heroic note is all I could have ever asked for. I didn’t particularly like him, but he sacrificed himself for the kids and that redeemed him for me.
• What is going on with Annabel killing everyone? She murdered 3 people in under a minute. This is not okay.
• What does it mean that Cortana broke the Mortal Sword? Will it not work anymore? Is this the end of Shadowhunters as we know it? I am so concerned.
• This whole parabatai thing is not going well. Plus, Robert Lightwood is dead and the next Inquisitor will not be so accommodating towards Emma and Julian. How else is Emma going to be exiled (although, I am okay with this because this was a really bad plan)?
• What is happening to the Warlocks? I am so concerned for my baby Tessa. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Unseelie King’s magic. Could the blight be carrying over to Warlocks?
• Where did Anabel go at the end? Did the Unseelie King kidnap her for the book? But shouldn’t that not be possible because of the wards? Unless this magic that makes the runes not work blew past the wards. I don’t know man.
• Zara. When she says it would be funny if Magnus died in his arms, I threw the book across the room and cried for a good 5 minutes. I don’t know if I have ever hated anyone more. She is the actual worst. My friend who is also reading the book texted me and asked if we could throw a party if she dies. I am now bringing the cake to said party (even though she isn’t dead yet…).

Okay, I realize that was just a lot of questions, but this book raised a lot of questions and someone needed to ask them. If you have any theories or can shed some light on this for me, please comment them below. I need answers, very badly.