Lady Midnight, by Cassandra Clare - Review

Book: Lady Midnight

Author: Cassandra Clare

Series: The Dark Artifices (first book)

Publisher: Editorial Planeta (Portugal)

Release Year: 2016

Genres: YA Fantasy

Pages: 656 (portuguese edition)

Where I bought it: Fnac (Portugal)

Synopsis:

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?

I absolutly LOVED this book and I don’t have words to describe how much I did!

Lady Midnight is the first book of The Dark Artifices.

It takes place five years after the Dark War (The Mortal Instruments), in LA and we have a better look of some of the characters that had showed up in City of Heavenly Fire, like Emma and the Blackthorn family.

This book has so many strong characters!

Emma is a warrior, she is still looking for her parents’ murderer because she doesn’t believe that Sebastian have killed them. Jules, without Helen and Mark, has to take care of his younger brothers and sisters and it’s just so cute! Julian is so precious and I just love him.

And the Blackthorne family is so close! They’re all so diferente but you can see (read) the love between them. I love every single on of them. Their dynamic is so strong and I think that this is something that we don't see much in this type of books.

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

Lady Midnight it’s like a meeting of new and old characters and I just love when Cassandra Clare does that, it’s like we never have to say goodbye to these characters and I’m so happy everytime I see their names.

Parabatai is nothing new to us, we had it in The Infernal Devices, we had it in The Mortal Instruments and we have it now in this first book of The Dark Artifices. And I know I have said it before, but Cassandra is really a genius!

We had Jem and Will who fell in love with the same woman, we had Alec and Jace who were like the re-telling of Robert and Michael (but with a happier ending) , and now we have Emma and Jules and their forbbiden love! I got so emotional with them (I’m still emotional). Too good to carry. I LOVE IT! Their bond is so strong and beautiful. I can’t wait to see it in the next books.

“We are bound together, Emma, bound together—I breathe when you breathe, I bleed when you bleed, I’m yours and you’re mine, you’ve always been mine, and I have always, always belonged to you!”

So back to Emma’s purpose, with the Blackthorn’s help and Cristina’s help they follow the clues to find the person who killed Emma’s parents, but they’re doing it for years and they found nothing. Until the faeries decide to help them, with a price of course...( and more - unexpected - ships).

Things started moving and they find this poem of Edgar Allan Poe and I was so excited when I read it because I knew it and once again Cassandra could include this poem in her story and even the author. It’s really interesting the way she does it, just like the poem was made to fit in this book, she is so clever.

“These pictures are my heart. And if my heart was a canvas, every square inch of it would be painted over with you.”

You know when you reach that part of the book when you’re like “Oh! That’s why the book has this name!”. Well, in Chapter 21 you discover why “Lady Midnight”. You learn WHO was Lady Midnight and her story.

From there you know who killed Emma’s parents and it’s such an amazing plot twist! I wasn’t expecting that and it was so well written. And you will even be surprised with the person who solved the mystery!

“You'll fix me, because we're parabatai. We're forever.”

The book ends with a question and you have to wait for the next one in pain, full of emotions that you weren’t ready to handle.

I recommend this book with all my heart! I recommend any book that has anything to do with the Shadowhunters world to be honest. Cassandra Clare’s writting is getting better and better, the stories are getting catchier and catchier, in a way that you won’t be able to put the book down until you finish it (and when you do you will just cry for more).

P.S. I really loved that bonus at the end of Lady Midnight with the characters from The Mortal Instruments in a certain party…

Well, let me know your opinion about the book, my review or both!

#LadyMidnightbyCassandraClareReview