The Dark Artifices
Juvenile Fiction
Simon and Schuster
March 8, 2016
Hardcover
720
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.
WrensReads Review:
Really, I do not know where to begin with this review besides that it was 99% flawless.
Clare has stepped up her game since her first novel and has taken to a writing style that is pleasing to the ears, flows easily and holds your attention like teens hold onto their cell phones.
The majority of the characters in this book are those who we met in the later books of The Mortal Instruments series.
Now I think it is very important to say that you can read Clare’s stories out of order. The second series is a prequel, which means you can read it 2-1-3. BUT, personally, I think you should read things the way it is written. I say that because I like to see the evolution of an author’s writing. This series can’t be read without the other two being read first though BECAUSE it would be a huge spoiler since characters from both book series are in this one.
Carstairs Family
Emma: Heroine; Julian’s Parabatai
Blackthorn Family:
Arthur Blackthorn: Head of the Los Angeles Institutes
Helen
Mark: Hero; Main Role
Julian: Hero; Main Role; Emma’s Parabatai
Livia and Tiberius: The Twins; Supporting Roles
Drusilla: Supporting Role
Octavian: Supporting Role
Rosales Family
Cristina: Hero; Main Role
Diego: Supporting Role
Other Supporting Roles
Diana Wrayburn: Shadowhunter
Malcolm Fade: Warlock
Magnus Bane: Warlock
Clary Fairchild: Shadowhunter
Jace Herondale: Shadowhunter
Jem Carstairs: Silent Brother
Tessa Gray: Shadowlock
Okay, now that’s over with… back to the review…
This book separates itself from the other stories because it isn’t about a girl who didn’t know she was shadowhunter; it is a story about a shadowhunter girl seeking revenge for her parent’s death.
As I said before, Clare’s writing as SKY ROCKETED. She has become an even better story teller and writer, which is why I say read as the author writes; it’s amazing to see how they develop. Clare has always been good at dreaming up stories to write, and now she is even better at telling them.
This story starts after the Dark War with that one guy that was Clary’s brother (Sebastian). Emma is still trying to find out what happened to her parents, the faeries are exiled from all Downworlders and Shadowhunters, and the Shadowhunters have opened up a lot of different types of schools for new shadowhunters and specialty shadowhunters.
There is a killer of mundanes and faeries a foot and, after a series of events, the Los Angeles Institute has to go undercover, without anyone else’s help, to figure out what is going on.
Nope. Nothing could go wrong.
A question that I have ALWAYS wondered is why Parabatai’s can’t fall in love and get married. This series is going to tell us that. And for the character’s sake, I hope they find a way around it.
The book does have some closure, so she doesn’t make you want to throw the book against the wall because you have to wait for the next one. But there are many questions unanswered and there is going to be a lot of things happening; I can feel it.
Clare is a wonderful story teller and I am sad that I am all caught up and can’t continue the journey with her brain child.
Order to Read this Series:
The Mortal Instruments #01: City of Bones
The Mortal Instruments #02: City of Ashes
The Mortal Instruments #03: City of Glass
The Infernal Devices #01: Clockwork Angel
The Mortal Instruments #04: City of Heavenly Fire
The Infernal Devices #02: Clockwork Prince
The Mortal Instruments #05: City of Lost Souls
The Infernal Devices #03: Clockwork Princess
The Mortal Instruments #06: City of Fallen Angels
*The next two (The Bane Chronicles and Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy) are optional. They are groups of novellas. I believe in reading novellas so you can pick up different things in the books that follow.
The Bane Chronicles #01: What Really Happened in Peru
The Bane Chronicles #02: The Runaway Queen
The Bane Chronicles #03: Vampires, Scones, & Edmund Herondale
The Bane Chronicles #04: The Midnight Heir
The Bane Chronicles #05: The Rise of the Hotel Dumort
The Bane Chronicles #06: Saving Raphael Santiago
The Bane Chronicles #07: The Fall of Hotel Dumort
The Bane Chronicles #08: What to Buy the Shadowhunter…
The Bane Chronicles #09: The Last Stand of the New York Institute
The Bane Chronicles #10: The Course of True Love
The Bane Chronicles #11: The Voicemail of Magnus Bane
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #01: Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #02: The Lost Herondale
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #03: The Whitechapel Fiend
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #04: Nothing but Shadows
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #05: The Evil We Love
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #06: Pale Kings and Princes
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #07: Bitter of Tongue
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #08: The Fiery Trial
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #09: Born to Endless Night
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #10: Angels Twice Descending
The Dark Artifices #01: Lady Midnight
The Dark Artifices #02: Lord of Shadows
The Dark Artifices #03: Queen of Air and Darkness
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