Queen of Air and Darkness

The Dark Artifices #3

by Cassandra Clare

What if damnation is the price of true love?

Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the disease that is destroying the race of warlocks. Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult Fantasy, Fiction

893 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 4, 2018

About the author

Hello Goodreadsers. Here's my official bio:

"Cassandra Clare was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of fantasy books. Cassandra worked for several years as an entertainment journalist for the Hollywood Reporter before turning her attention to fiction. She is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. Cassandra lives with her fiance and their two cats in Massachusetts."

You can find me online at

www.cassandraclare.com

I have a blog:

http://cassandraclare.livejournal.com/

and a Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/Cassandraclare

and a Twitter:

www.twitter.com/cassieclare

I'll be available here on Goodreads to answer questions for a Goodreads Author Discussion starting September 18 — http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/3...

Go sign up so you don't miss the conversation when it starts!

Reviews

[Beatrice in Bookland · Rating 5 out of 5]

"At the edge of everything, love and faith have always brought me back, and back to you."

1) Lady midnight ★★★★★
2) Lord of shadows ★★★★★

The whole Shadowhunters saga has my heart and that's never going to change.
I'm never going to be able to thank Cassandra Clare enough for creating a world that has literally changed my life.

[Hannah Azerang · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review is up!: https://youtu.be/IEReoynz6eo

[Emma Giordano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out my spoiler free reading vlog and spoiler filled review!

Reading Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F36Sc...

Reviw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB6m8...

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

1.) City of Bones ★★★
2.) City of Ashes ★★
3.) City of Glass ★★★
1.) Clockwork Angel ★★★
4.) City of Fallen Angels ★
2.) Clockwork Prince ★★★★
5.) City of Lost Souls ★★★★
3.) Clockwork Princess ★★★★★
6.) City of Heavenly Fire ★★★★★
*.) The Bane Chronicles ★★★
*.) Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy ★★★
1.) Lady Midnight ★★★★★
2.) Lord of Shadows ★★★★
*.) Ghosts of the Shadow Market 8/10

“There was blood on the Council dais, blood on the steps, blood on the walls and the floor and the shattered remnants of the Mortal Sword.”

Friends, it has been a ride. I have spent the last six months reading everything that Cassie Clare has created for the Shadowhunter world, and it was all leading up to this moment – the release of Queen of Air and Darkness. And friends, it was so worth it. Not only was reading all of these books and stories, and falling in love with so many of these characters and worlds, a highlight in my reading year, it was just a highlight in my 2018. And I just want to thank each and every single one of you that came along with me on this journey.

“Blood always matters, to the wrong sort of people”

And this book picks up immediately after the events in LoS. Fascists are trying to control the Clave and dictate how Downworlders should be treated. In Faerie, the Seelie and the Unseelie court are trying to hurt each other, while the Unseelie King has something that the Seelie Queen doesn’t want to live without. Warlocks are hurting, so many of our main cast of characters are missing, and so many people are grieving the loss of loved ones.

“Sympathy is common. Knowing the exact shape of the hole someone’s loss leaves in your heart is rare.”

Queen of Air and Darkness is truly a love letter to grief. The first section of this review is going to be spoiler free, so I’m going to try to be really vague. Ty is choosing to ignore his grief, Alec is throwing himself into work and wanting a better world because of his grief, Julian thinks revenge is the only way to work through his grief, Emma has finally made headway with her past grief, to only be forced to experience more all over again. We see parents grieving the loss of their children, children grieving the loss of their parents, and everyone grieving the loss of loved ones because of wars they didn’t ask to be a part of. But that’s what happens when you love people, and you let them in, because nothing is permanent, and grief is inevitable. There is no wrong way to grieve, but you do get to choose the actions you perform in the name of that grief. And we get to see people make a lot of hateful choices, and take a lot of hateful actions, because of their grief; Cohorts and fae queens and kings alike.

And this third and final installment in The Dark Artifices series does get rather dark, so please use caution. Content and trigger warnings for hate speech (always challenged and always negative), threatening to out someone, talk of wanting to sexually assault someone, self-harm, death, loss of a loved one, murder, torture, captivity, blood depictions, strong depictions of grief, trauma, and depression, talk of suicide, a lot of violence, and war themes.

As always, Cassie is so very inclusionary and gives us so much rep that is very respectively done. From so much sexuality and gender representation, to racial diversity, to giving us a main character on the autism spectrum, to body diversity, to really respecting mental health in this book. I’m not saying that Cassie Clare is the pinnacle of what representation in books should be, but I’ll be dammed if she isn’t trying, and if she isn’t doing a better job than any other cis white woman writing YA currently.

Overall, it is also actually wild how talented Cassandra Clare is, because the cast of her books are so large and expansive, but I’d die for almost every single one of them. I had so much fun reading this last installment, even if it wasn’t my favorite. But I will talk more about that below! I will say that I need The Red Scrolls of Magic, The Last Hours, & The Wicked Powers right this very second. Like, the wait is probably going to kill me. But I’m going to die with the biggest smile on my face.

Please use caution reading the rest of this review if you have not read this book and all the series leading up to this book! And as always, I’m going to do a little mini character breakdown on my thoughts and feelings on all the main characters in this book. Spoilers ahead!


(Art by Alice Duke!)

➽ Emma Carstairs - You all, I can’t even talk about Emma properly. She is my favorite Shadowhunter of them all. I love her, I love her bravery, I love her empathy, and I love how she loves. I’ll be honest, the worst part about turning the last page of this book is knowing that I’ll never be able to read another new book where she is the main character.

➽ Julian Blackthorn - First off, Madalyn pointing out that Julian is probably demisexual added ten years to my life and I needed you all to know this. Next, Julian Blackthorn is my everything and I hate that I’m so weak for this soft boy, but it is the damn truth.

Also, because I’m a perv and this needs to be said, Julian and Emma reciting the parabatai vow while fucking? My kink. My fucking kink. Damn. The gifts CC gives us.

➽ Church - The real MVP of this book.

➽ Helen Blackthorn-Penhallow - Helen and Aline are going to be the best moms ever, and I am so happy that Cassie finally let us see this power couple! And I can’t wait to actually see them fall in love during TRSoM, but I know it is going to be my favorite thing in this entire series!

➽ Aline Blackthorn-Penhallow - Okay, Helen and Aline are my TRUE OTP! And Aline literally give me life, while standing up for Helen, during this entire 900+ page story. And I’m here for any story that is a bout an Asian girl getting into a sapphic relationship with a fae girl. I mean, it is kind of my life goal.

➽ Mark Blackthorn - You all, we did it, and CC answered our prayers! And she gave us the polyamorous relationship of my dreams! I will say that I don’t entirely love that they only have their cabin to share their love, but I hope that a lot happens in future books to make this trio able to truly spend all of their lives with one another. But that scene on the boulder between the three of them? 11/10, I will be rereading once a week for the rest of my life.

“All this time we were waiting for you. We loved each other, and it was a great thing, but with you, it is even greater.”

➽ Cristina Rosales - I just love Cristina. I love her friendship with Emma, but I loved her deciding, at her own pace, what she wanted in her life. And she’s so damn strong, while being so damn giving, and she honestly deserves the entire world. Also, no offense, but Cassie Clare also gave her the worst Shadowhunter weapons, imo.

➽ Kieran - I mean, you all know I’m trash for dark (ever changing) haired fae princes who end up being king. But like, I’d love Kieran even if he was none of those things. He is honestly probably my third favorite character in all of the Shadowhunter world. And when all the fae people were remembering all the kind things he did for them, and when the little girl gave him the white flower? Friends, I’m weak, and soft, and crying, and in love with Kieran so very much.

➽ Adaon - Wow, the resident sleeper and true hero of this story.

➽ Kit Rook / Christopher Herondale - Alright, Kit is going to have the coolest power(s) in the Shadowhunter world. But I truly loved how this book officially proved that Kit is going to have an actual claim to rule all of Faerie, and I’m here for it.

➽ Tiberius Blackthorn - Oh Ty, my sweet Ty. You know this necromancy and dark magic are going to follow him all the way through TWP! You all also know that I’m a sucker for siblings who are best friends, and Thule Livvy’s letter actually gutted me.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.”

➽ Livvy Blackthorn - I don’t really understand how ghost Livvy works, or how the connection with Ty works, but it equally breaks and warms my heart. But I do really wish she would have just been able to rest in peace.

➽ Octavian Blackthorn - I feel like Poor Tavvy is the character that is looked over, but it is because he is still so little. But I cried really hard when he told Julian that he just wanted to go home at the end. Julian really raised all these kids to be brave, to be strong, and to love always.

➽ Dru Blackthorn - Dru truly has grown up and came into her own during these three books. I love her, and I loved seeing her journey. And I especially loved seeing Ty spend more time with her. I can’t wait to see her grow and shine even more in TWP where she will be a main character.

➽ Ash - Did Cassie really have to give him Rhysand wings? Truly? Honestly? Lord, why? But… I’m here for it, and I also ship him and Drusilla so damn hard already. When he picked up that picture that Julian drew and learned her name? I screamed. I can’t wait for that to make another appearance.

➽ Magnus Bane - You all know Magnus is my favorite. Every book I fall more and more in love with him. And seeing him as a dad? It is truly the best. Also, Magnus having a heart to heart with Ty about gutted me, because it was so damn beautiful.

➽ Alec Lightwood - I honestly feel like Alec was a real shining star in this book. And he is going to completely change the world with unconditional love. And seeing him become Consul of the Clave? I don’t even have words. Alec started out as a character that was hard for me to like, now he’s a character that’s hard for me not to love.

“No shining new world could be built on blood and bones.”

➽ Zara Dearborn - Worst part of this book? That Zara didn’t die. And now she has her own little private city to breed her hate. I am so not looking forward to what is going to come of her and her hateful gang being left alone. Real talk, I would have been like, “We will leave all you Cohorts alone, as long as you give us her!” *winky face* I’m a petty and bitter bitch.

➽ Horace Dearborn - Thank you, next.

➽ The Kelpie (that Julian saved) - I always love the magical creatures of stories, that come and help and save that day. But this was too damn much for me. TOO DAMN MUCH.

➽ Manuel Casales - This guy is so chaotic evil. And I’m so bitter that he didn’t die while Emma and Julian were on their wild rampage.

➽ Diego Rosales - I also really couldn’t ever truly like Diego. Yeah, he did Kieran a solid, and I respect it, but I still never really liked him. He is one of the few side characters I’m okay saying goodbye to.

➽ Jaime Rosales - I feel like CC is just going to give Dru all the options between Ash, Cameron, and Jaime, but Jaime is the one that skeezes me out for some reason. I just, don’t want it to happen. Nice dagger gift and all, boy no.

➽ Diana Wrayburn - I will say that I was a little uncomfortable with how Julian and Emma found out about Diana being trans, but I am honestly just so happy that she is living her best life now, while being able to be open. And the talk she has with Julian and Emma, when she is like, “No, I’ve always been a woman.” Praise/bless. Give me an entire Diana series, please, Cassie Clare.

➽ Gwyn - Wow, the best character in the entire Shadowhunter universe. The blessings.

➽ Catarina Loss - Catarina is the best side character, and she does so much good, and she is so pure, and I wept extra hard when she stood by Magnus at his wedding. Like, these warlocks put me in my feels every single time.

➽ Ragnor Fell / Shade - And this warlock just makes me laugh so damn hard. And I cheered out loud when the reveal actually came to fruition! I can’t wait to see even more of him with Ty in Scholomance.

➽ Annabel Blackthorn - What a missed opportunity in this book to not give Annabel a better story. I’ll talk more about this below, but Annabel deserved better, especially with how breathtaking this cover it.

➽ The (old) Unseelie King - I don’t know if I just forgot, or if I never picked up on it, but this dude had a half skeletal, half handsome face? That’s actually badass.

➽ The Seelie Queen - This bitch. She legit just shows up in every book, in every timeline, just to rain on everyone’s parade.

➽ Tessa & Jem - I screamed all over again after they announced they were pregnant. And now that they are going to raise a Herondale, Kit, so he can be safe? Ah, I just love this little family so much.

➽ Izzy & Simon - I really wish they played bigger roles in this story, and that we would have received two weddings in this 900+ page tome!

➽ Clary Fairchild - I won’t lie, I was really disappointed when we found out what Clary’s vision really was. God, I mean, I knew Cassie wouldn’t actually kill her, but I wanted to so much more, and it was a really anticlimactic reasoning.

➽ Jace Herondale - “I would die for Jace to shoot finger guns at me” - Lea, 2018. Real talk, Jace had me actually laughing out loud during this entire book and I loved and hated every single second of it. Especially his banter with Kit, I mean, Christopher. And when Jace voted in Alec for Consul of the Clave? The tears just won’t stop, friends.

➽ Evil Jace Herondale - Lord, why do you want us to suffer?

“There is nothing simple about vengeance, and nothing pure”

Okay, so one element or “trope” that I hate when books do is that alternate and/or parallel universe storyline. And I never, in a million years, would have guessed that Cassie Clare would pull this in QoAaD, but here we are. I’ll be honest, I kind of loved the concept of a Mad Max world where Sebastian Morgenstern not only won the Dark War, but now rules, but the entirety of Part Two was a little too much for me. Especially because they didn’t even bring back Thule Livvy and Thule Raphael. And in return, it almost felt like tragedy porn seeing them live again. And now we have an evil Jace in our world and on the loose to… kill Clary? Love Clary? To do something with Clary? Yikes.

But the true reason I am giving this book four stars, and the reason I probably think it is the weakest book in The Dark Artifices is because of Annabel. What a missed opportunity to have an amazing villain character. Instead, she dies at 60%, only for us to be rickrolled with a demon pretending to be her. She died so easily, too, and it felt so bad. I mean, she is on the cover of this book! And the title is completely her! Why would she barely show up in the 900+ pages, have the lamest death, and have no character development when she could have been such an amazing and intricate character.

“Please don’t leave me in this world without you.”

And then let’s not forget about Julian and Emma turning into giant, angel versions of King Kong, picking up and yeeting the bad guys. Even though, Zara conveniently didn’t get yeeted. Like, for a second I actually thought Emma was going to die, and then, in turn, Julian would have died, too. But when Emma said, “Let us burn.” I thought they would just die and become angels together, and my emo and sappy ass would have loved that. But instead, the whole wild giant thing happened, and then words of their loved ones “healed” them. Which was eyeroll worthy, but also sweet. Yet, when the heavenly fire didn’t damage ANYTHING except their parabatai bond? You all, I can’t. It just feels so unsatisfying. And Emma and Julian really are my favorite couple in all things Shadowhunter, but even I can’t just accept that and pretend it was realistic. I honestly think CC just wrote herself into a hole, and putting a bright and shiny bow on it was the only option, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I will also say that the ending was completely and utterly fanservice, but it was fanservice that I ate up with a spoon and asked for more. Magnus and Alec’s wedding was everything, and Alec’s proposal made me actually ugly cry. Just seeing everything that these two have been through, all the lives they’ve impacted, all the family they have made, they were just so damn deserving of this happiness. And then the short story after the epilogue? With Jace and Clary in that greenhouse? God, that greenhouse. It really feels so full circle, doesn’t it? All of these original characters have brought me so much happiness in 2018, and seeing them get moments of pure happiness at the end of this book was honestly everything.

“As long as you exist and I exist, I will love you.”

Overall, I’d give my life for Emma Carstairs and any of the Blackthorns and I will never forget this reading experience. Picking up City of Bones this year was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. And now I finally get to wait and suffer for the next thing Cassie Clare publishes with the rest of you! And special thank you to Lea, Sol, Madalyn, Jane, & Amber for allowing me to cry and scream and gush with you! You all made the experience even more special and I love you all! ❤

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[Jiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you mean this trilogy is over?

It’s 2 am and I just finished this. Now I need to cry myself to sleep because what do you mean this trilogy is over??

Full RTC.

Buddy read with my girls: Amy, May, & Maram. ♥

Update Nov/4/2018: holy shit there’s one more month left you guys holyshitholyshitholyshit

Update 12/11/2017: COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVER REVEAL GUYS GOD I AM SO DAMN EXCITED. BUT DECEMBER 2018?! THIS IS WAY TOO LONG HELP.

Update 8/9/2017: GUYS!!! Release date has been pushed forward, I repeat, RELEASE DATE HAS BEEN PUSHED FORWARD! It's now set for Fall 2018 release!!!!!! I may or may not be crying right now.

24/5/2017: That moment where I have to wait TWO DAMN YEARS for this. Where can I find a time machine???? After the ending of Lord of Shadows, I won't even make it through today, let alone two more years.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) 730 more days:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Elle (ellexamines) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... a whole mess.
**Spoilers are marked in text, and in case character talk was what you were here for, I keysmashed a bit at the bottom of this page.

➽P A C I N G I S S U E S G A L O R E

Fuck, you guys, the scope and pacing of this was wild ride. Generally, this just felt very thrown together in comparison to the fairly well-balanced nature of earlier books.

Let’s talk some details.

First of all, the concept of Thule… is good. [And Melanie’s description of it as a Mad Max version of the Shadowhunters world is honestly real.] BUT it takes up about a quarter of this 900 (nine hundred) page book, and it. has. no. bearing. on the plot. until the epilogue. in which it is used to set up another whole ass trilogy.

Also, what the fuck happened with Annabelle? Annabelle honestly has one of the better villain setups Cassie has ever pulled off, and the fact that she does nothing except die, and dies halfway through the book is just. It’s just a mess. I hate it.

Just as in… every one of CC’s conclusions I’ve read, I think the first five chapters or so should have been incorporated into the last book. She has a tendency to set up The Final Showdown conflicts at the beginning of the third book rather than at the end of the second, which messes with her flow, leaving us with abrupt book two endings (Lord of Shadows. i loved that book but admit it, this is a problem) and lacking buildup for events in book three.

Here is a simple way this couldve been done to this particular book: end it not on the note of Livia’s death, but on the note of Julian’s trip to see Magnus. This both makes the ending of book two less abrupt and, more importantly, given how weirdly disconnected some of this conflict feels, sets up an approximate book three conflict.

Oh, and speaking of villains, remember how Zara was going to die and I was going to be all


Yeah. I don’t either.

➽F A N S E R V I C E I N P S

Remember back in my review of book one, when Jace and Clary’s heavyhanded but brief cameo was the most I’ve liked them in the entire canon of the universe, and yes it was fanservice but it was fun? Oh man. Good old days. This could have been The Mortal Instruments book #7, City of I Don’t Give A Shit for all the TMI presence.

I don’t even know if I’m referring to stuff with earlier characters, because I actually don’t mind that too much. Magnus and Alec, two of the only characters in TMI I actually like, have stopped being done dirty finally; Jem and Tessa are two of my favorite fictional characters and I can’t even pretend to complain about their cameo; even though I never got to their minor presence in TMI part two, Helen and Aline are amazing. So maybe it’s not even about the fanservice; it’s just that the. scope. is. so. so. wide. By this, I am of course referring to: Thule, and the return of Sebastian Morgenstern and his secret?? son?? a character I will not even pretend to give a shit about. And also Emo Jace.

And okay, listen, I know Cassandra Clare isn’t exactly trying to get all of her work done completely sans-fanservice: the investment in the characters and relationships is the backbone of her work, what makes it so easy to enjoy. But unlike some of her other books, this just… fell flat? It feels like the heart, the enthusiasm, the genuine love that she poured into The Infernal Devices and earlier books in this series was just... missing.

➽T H E A C T U A L E N D I N G

Uh, so first of all, I will say that I didn’t totally 100% hate the actual ending. I just didn't really feel it was built up enough. And to me, it demonstrated just how little progress was made within this book.

Here's the thing: of the three main character dynamics used for conflict within this series — Christina & Kieran & Mark, Kit & Ty, and Julian & Emma — only one is genuinely resolved. And the thing is, this lack of resolution sort of works; one dynamic is about half-resolved and just dealing with problems, and one is not even close to being resolved but they're getting a whole series written about them, so fine. But I think my overwhelming feeling upon first finishing this book was... wow, is that all we're resolving? Is that all the progress we've made? Really, in 900 pages? In that case... couldn't it have just been 500 pages?

Moving on. The final battle is... sort of cool, but it is awkwardly written, and feels fairly contrived. We know something magic is going to happen at the end, and we hope it'll lead to a somewhat decent ending, but the buildup falls apart just a little on the way. On that topic: no one dying. See, I actually hate major character death, so I can’t really pretend to be upset about this, but no one really gets changed permanently by the battle, either. To me, it just feels like this series has been pretending the ending is going to make us all sooooo sad, and it doesn't. It's a series about hope and coming together, which is great — it just shouldn't be talked about as a tragic romance, that's all.

➽I S W E A R, I D I D N’ T H A T E I T

Um… I thought the first 20% or so of this book was really pretty solid? This section was also a lot funnier! Examples of this phenomenon include:
➽“and- julian is like sebastian morgenstern!” *cue Diego laughing really hard*
Julian putting his boots on Horace’s desk like a legend
➽“you two have really fucked up.”
➽“ever wanted to move objects with your mind?” “sure, sounds great!”
➽“who hates you? I’ll kill them!” which is just a deeply Aline thing to say

I’ve sort of alluded to this already, but the most coherent main theme of this book is the idea of grieving for the lost being a necessary process, and when that theme stands out amongst the generally muddled plot, it’s handled well. Julian’s arc around grief is nuanced and fairly well-handled; Emma’s arc has sort of always been about grief, it’s just that this book realizes it better than earlier books. Ty’s arc around grief is honestly just kind of heartbreaking. Kieran’s arc focuses more around finding forgiveness, but it feels coherent with the rest of the arcs. Alec’s arc (I know) is around worrying about eventual grief and is… honestly better than any character arc he got in TMI? SORRY.

For those of you in the comments saying I’m rating generously… I mean, I guess I am. But I can’t actually give this book two stars because, as I deepdived into in previous reviews (#shamelessselfpromo), I like these characters way too much.

OH AND. You all know I’ve been talking about this nonstop, but Mark and Christina and Kieran!! Being a canon dynamic!! I really really wanted more out of their buildup, to be honest, because it’s been utterly fantastic up to this book and felt sort of meh here, but I’m just. So so happy. That the polyamorous trio is canon. I’ve been waiting six months but the rest of you have all been waiting years so round of applause for that!!

I also think, removing all critique, that juggling ten to fifteen lead characters with any degree of success is incredibly difficult, and the fact that this is even somewhat pulled off is really impressive. I mean, even putting important-in-the-future characters like Dru (who deserved more airtime), Tavvy, Dark Livvy, Gwyn (the only man i trust), Cameron, Jaime (who i dislike. just facts), Diego (who i now love!!), and Ash (??) to the side, and even eliminating villains like Zara, Manuel, Horace, the Seelie Queen, the Unseelie King, Annabel, Sebastian, and Dark Jace, and even not counting the massive presence of TMI characters like Helen, Aline, Jace, Clary, Magnus, Alec, and Ragnor Fel — several of whom have actual character arcs in this book — we still have Julian and Emma, Mark and Christina and Kieran, Kit and Ty, and Diana starring as genuine leading characters. That’s a total of thirty-one names including eight leads. Impressive as fuck.

➽E N D I N G T H O U G H T S

No one has ever accused me of being coherent.
→this series could also be called Julian Makes A Bad Decision: News at 11
→Everything Diana And Gwyn Have Ever Done. It’s Flawless And Good
→There was a line in this book in which Aline’s posture is described as “straight,” which is something no self-respecting gay would write without making a joke. That’s not a flaw. I just think I’m funnier than I actually am.

Anyway. Yes, as we’ve discussed, the entire existence of this whole world is kind of ridiculous, but I’m not going to pretend I don’t kind of love it. I just wish this conclusion had come through a bit more.

looking out for:
The Red Scrolls of Magic | 2 April 2019
Chain of Gold | 19 November 2019
The Wicked Powers | sometime, 2022

dark artifices reviews:
book one | ★★★★★
book two | ★★★★★
book three | ★★★☆☆

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[Claudia Lomelí · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wild ride (and a really LONG one). I’ll try to write a review :).

EDIT: Mini-reseña en español a petición popular.

¿Pues qué decir? Si me conocen, saben que va a ser muy difícil que un libro de -my queen- Cassie Clare me falle, y este no fue la excepción, ¡estuvo buenísimo! Tuvo de todo, y no hubo parte que considerara aburrida, en cada momento estuvo pasando algo y casi me dan once paros cardiacos (???) mientras lo leía. Además, casi lloré en tres ocasiones. Ahora, quiero simplificar esto haciendo listas:

Lo que no me gustó:
+ Que es DEMASIADO largo, sí creo que le sobraban unas 200 páginas (o tal vez unas cuantas más). A veces siento que Cassie ya los está haciendo largos just because. Solo porque sí.
+ Que eran MUCHAS historias qué seguir, muchos plots, muchas tramas, muchos personajes. Teníamos la historia principal (que ya ni estoy segura de cuál es) y teníamos unas 15 más. Cada personaje estaba haciendo algo diferente y ya no supe qué tuvo más peso.
+ Que se supone que Annabel era la ultra villana (¡hasta le dieron la portada!) y su participación fue casi irrelevante.
+ La decisión de Julian al inicio del libro. Me molestó e hizo que se me olvidara por qué me gustaba el personaje.
+ La forma en la que se resolvió lo de la maldición de los parabatai. ¡Fue súper conveniente y poco creíble! MUY SENCILLO. SIN CONSECUENCIAS. Toda la trilogía se trata de eso... ¿y lo resuelven de esa forma? BYE. Cassie ya resolvió la vida de todos sus personajes con Fuego Celestial (obvio decir "todos" es una exageración, pero ustedes me entienden).

Lo que sí me gustó:
+ Kit y Ty preciosos. Los amo. Pero estos hijos míos tienen mucho qué hablar y resolver en los próximos libros, no se pueden quedar así. LLORO.
+ Dru Blackthorn, ¡la adoro! Creo que se volvió mi Blackthorn favorita.
+ La parte de Thule me encantó. No sé si sea opinión popular, he leído reseñas de personas a las que se les hizo puro relleno (que ok, tal vez sí lo fue un poco), pero se me hizo muy AMAZING.
+ Jace y Clary en este libro estuvieron increíbles.
+ La boda. (No diré de quienes, pero ufff esa boda me hizo muy feliz).
+ El humor de las hadas, jajaja, las frases que soltaba Kieran eran lo más bonito-gracioso. También Mark de repente soltaba algunas que me hacían carcajear.
+ ¡Aline y Helen! LAS MEJORES.

Las veces que -casi- lloré:
(Todo es spoiler, así que lean bajo su propio riesgo).
+ Cuando Tessa muere en Thule. MI BEBÉ HERMOSA.
+ AY, cuando Julian revela que se van a llamar "Livia's Watch".
+ Cuando Alec le propone matrimonio a Magnus, TODA ESA ESCENA.

Por ahora eso es lo que puedo recordar. Si le quité una estrellita fue por todo lo que está en la lista de "Lo que no me gustó", pero sepan que en general fue una lectura que disfruté de principio a fin y que me hizo fangirlear y gritar de la emoción y de la histeria. ADEMÁS este libro sirvió de "introducción" para The Wicked Powers y nO PUEDO ESPERAR. CASSIE, ¡me vas a tener leyéndote 84 años más!

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The inside dust jacket!!!



This is one of the most beautiful covers!



Well shit! This book had all the feels in the world!! Sadnesssssss, happiness, anger - ALL OF THEM!

I'm happy with this ending. That epilogue! You know what? I said I wasn't going to read any more books she writes in this series because I'm done. But after all of that, I might read the other books coming out to see what else is going to happen. Always makes me nervous with my favorite authors out there because I'm afraid they are going to kill too many of my loves. There are actually books I haven't continued because I know a love is going to die. Guess it's time to buckle up buttercup and read ALL THE BOOKS!

Peace, love and apple pie!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾😘🦄💕

[✨ jami ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this truly WAS the infinity war of the shadowhunter chronicles, it was so wild to see so many characters from across this universe play a role here and I LOVED IT.


I've had like a month to process this book and okay like I don't think my brain and heart will EVER be able to process what this book just did to me but I'm going to try. So, yes below you can read my FULL REVIEW OF QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS

(also, I'm saying now I CANNOT PROMISE THIS REVIEW WILL BE SPOILER FREE OK YOU WERE WARNED)

“The sky was a road and the stars made pathways; the moon was a watchtower, a lighthouse that led you home.”

This book was easily my most anticipated book of the year. I had made a big claim that if Queen lived up to Clockwork Princess, then The Dark Artifices would become my new favourite series of Cassandra Clare's. I don't know how I feel about that now. This ending wasn't as good as the Clockwork Princess ending for me, but there was SO many things I loved about it. I loved the characters, (most) of the plot, the angst, the romance, and seeing all the different series come together (most of the time). But there was some things (the lst 100 pages) that annoyed me so I just couldn't give it a five star even though it SHOULD HAVE BEEN ..... it COULD HAVE BEEN ....... im furious ! Anyways, lets break this bad bitch down:

“I whisper your name, Ty. I whisper the most important thing:
I love you. I love you. I love you.
Livvy”

CHARACTERS

Lets start with characters because it's my favourite part of this series

Emma remains my favourite character, what an iconic queen. I honestly ADORE Emma and she's one of my favourite CC characters ever. She's changed and developed so much between book one and three, but I love what a strong badass she is whilst also being caring and compassionate and maintaining important relationships. It's nice to have a female character who'd badass and blunt but not necessarily cold. I literally love her, and I really want her to punch me in the face because it'd be an HONOUR.

Julian for some reason a lot of people don't like Julian but I LOVE JULIAN. He's such an interesting and unusual main male character, especially from Cassandra Clare. So I think he adds a really great dimension to this series and is such a contrast to characters like Will or Jace. AND ANTI-HERO JULIAN FINALLY KINDA ROSE AND I WAS SCARED. All in all I loved his arc in this book .. the dark julian contrasted with actual julian was painful to read but I loved it. YOU ARE IN THE CAGE? I cried. Also, I just love Dad! Julian and how he treats his entire family dfjghdfkj. ALSO WE LOVE A DEMISEXUAL !! KING!!!!!

Mark, Cristina and Kieran SO I have always felt meh about Mark. I don't dislike him .. I actually like him quite a bit. I just don't like him as much as some people seem to. I felt pretty much the same about him in this as I always have. I love Cristina and I loved her in this too. But I felt she didn't get as good an arc as the other characters? Her entire plot was pretty much romance which was kind of annoying though I DID LOVE HER TEAM UP IN FAERIE. ICONIC!! Kieran I still feel mixed on. I've never liked him much but he did grow on me a bit in this. I actually kinda ended up liking him even though I still don't care about him on the same level as the other characters. But his character arc was great.

Kit and Ty THEY WERE NOT IN THIS ENOUGH?? Okay yes they literally had a major plot arc BUT STILL. Ty should of have a POV but he never did! I also hated the conclusion of their arc ... obviously it's going to be the main focus of The Wicked Powers but it was SO unsatisfying here. I also though Ty's literally had no growth in the 700 pages of this book which was annoying. But I LOVED KIT SO MUCH. Thats my son !!!! I really liked his role in this book and his POVs were some of my favourite. He is fucking iconic and hilarious .. "you are so forked", bitch you better BET i laughed

Dru My unexpected fave of this book. In Lord of Shadows I liked Dru but felt I didn't really know her. She had SO much development and growth in this and I loved her role. I didn't expect to love her so much but I seriously do, and I think of all the characters I am MOST excited to see more of DRU in The Wicked Powers! She stole my heart, I love her.

Jaimie and Diego They were in this more than I expected and I didn't .. love it. Honestly I did Not like Diego's chapters much, I just don't care about them that much so their chapters were always the ones that made me want to put this book down. But I did like their characters in relation to their character arc with Cristina.

Diana I LOVE DIANA and I honestly don't have heaps more to say about her?? I liked how she became a more important role in the Clave in this book and I also liked how there was more focus on her being an older sister to Emma and Julian in this.

Helen and Aline MY SAPPHIC QUEEEENS ! I love both of them so much. Aline was such a fun character because she was so different to Helen and even to Jules and Emma in terms of how she handled the kids. Helen was sweet and I LOVED her relationship with Mark in this. Seeing those two interact were some of my favourite parts of this book. Aline and Helen are also so fucking cute jghfkgj it's unfair of Ms Clare to show us gays a pair of gfs that cute when she KNOWS none of us can achieve that irl because all gays are too useless to actually date other gays.

“Grief can be so bad you can’t breathe, but that’s what it means to be human. We lose, we suffer, but we have to keep breathing.”

PLOT

Queen of Air and Darkness picks up right where Lord of Shadows ends. I loved this choice but also I WAS IN SO MUCH PAIN. The scenes of Julian crying and Ty passing out were hard to read and seriously I was emotionally wrecked by page 25 I literally had to take a break.

I pretty thoroughly enjoyed the first third of this book. The chapters in faerie were exciting and I liked seeing so many different characters play a role. Simon, Isabelle, Jace, Clary and more appearing was so fun and I loved the cameos. The plot in faerie reminded me a lot of Lord of Shadows but I decided I didn't mind it. That fight in the throne room also reminded me of that fight scene in The Last Jedi with Kylo/Rey and bitch I was HOLLERING.

The only plot in the first third I wasn't a fan of was Julian's emotions things - I didn't think it was bad but it just came out of nowhere? In no previous books, even when Emma and Julian discuss their "options" did him removing his emotions come up so it felt out of nowhere and kind of lazy?

The second part in Thule was literally my favourite part of the book which seems to be an unpopular opinion, but I thought it was SO MUCH FUN. It was like a canon AU and I was loving it. Seeing the world as it would have been was interesting, and I loved Emma and Julian's arc in this. The focus on their romance and Julian's choices was great and Thule really allowed a lot of emotional catharsis and tangible contrast between what is and what could have been. ALSO JULIAN AND EMMA FUCKING WHILST SAYING THEIR PARABATAI VOWS WAS HOT AND LITERALLY IS MY KINK

The final section was my least favourite and where everything seemed to fall apart. I felt Cassandra Clare had so many thread and plots and character things to work with and they ended up not coming together great. It definitely felt like she lost control of the story a bit. The climax was .. incredibly disappointing and so cliche. Again, the whole "Nephilim Parabatai" thing just came literally out of nowhere. The ending of Julian and Emma's complications with being Parabatai was so lazy and wasn't even foreshadowed as a legitimate option until it randomly happened. Using heavenly fire again also felt lazy and the whole "family talks you down" thing was SO cliche. I felt so unsatisfied with the ending here, and I really just can't get over Emma and Julian randomly going giant, throwing around the evil elf army like what the FUCK even was that. It was just messy and weird.

“Be good, my archer boy. Come back to me.”

ROMANCE & ANGST

So where the plot let me down, the angst came THROUGH. Honestly I was going into this wanting some sweet, sweet, painful angst and phew, once again the good sis Cassandra delivered.

JULIAN AND EMMA .... *kisses fingers* oh yeah thats the STUFF. Like I've said multiple times, I adore them. ADORE THEM. I honestly love their friendship/relationship so much and the whole set up of them being best friend, literally Being Eachother's People, like no one loves them as much as they love eachother ... oh fuck YES thats the shit. I THRIVE off of that. And she delivered in spades .. she really did. AND OH THE ANGST OF DARK! JULIAN. And Dark! Julian being like lowkey hot ... yeah I'm into that. Anyway, truly excellence once again.

Mark, Cristina and Kieran ... FINALLY the OT3 we all love and deserve. I see you boring bitches whining about the ending of this love triangle but it is WHAT. WE. DESERVE. Turning your love triangle into a polyam ship? inspired. And it honestly was so well written? That they're all equally in love with eachother?? That Mark/Cristina or Mark/Kieran or Kieran/Cristina doesnt even work because they're all thinking about one another like .. it's mess and I adore it? And the three way ship is perfect?? BUT THE ENDIGN .... I hate that omg ! It was so unresolved which was annoying as fuck but also I stan King Kieran so idk phew that is a tough one. I feel it will also be resolved in The Wicked Powers (IM HOPING)

Ty and Kit ... they're so cute aw man. I love Kit's inner monologue around Ty, he's so enamoured with him in such a pure and cute way and there is definitely going to be an arc around him Realising He Is Queer which should be fun. He really is the bi king I deserved. And Ty always recruiting Kit and trusting Kit was so sweet, they're both sweet and even tho I'm an angst DEMON I was rooting for them and their softness.

Jace and Clary. LOOK ALL I AM GOING TO SAY IS THEM GOING BACK TO THE GREENHOUSE TO WHERE IT ALL STARTED HAD ME EMO AND ALSO THEM BOTH BUYING A RING ....... INSPIRED

“You might be in the cage, Jules, but as long as you are like this, I am in the cage with you.”

ISSUES

Alright the gush has been real now it's time to do some quick rants x

Although I loved the Thule chapters, I had one huge issue and that is MAKING SEBASTIAN THE VILLAIN. Sebastian is the one behind all this nonsense and I HATE THAT. It is SO lazy to just bring an old dead villain back, and it's fucking annoying. What is the point of TMI and killing Sebastian if random alternate universe Sebastian can just return to fuck it up? I thought that was so lazy, and completely the opposite of what I had come to expect from CC in this trilogy. In Lady Midnight, Malcolm being the villain completely subverted my expectations because she kept setting up warlock = good, and then she undermined it, which was neat. Malcolm was also such a strong villain with interesting and complex motivations. And while I love Sebastian as a villain, he doesn't fit here, and he's just pure evil, which is fun in tmi but ultimately boring to repeat over and over. I felt CC really let down the great start to the series and intricate plot she had set up.

I also was ... so sick of the cameos. Does anyone else wish she would just let TMI go?? At first they were fun, but they started to totally eclipse the other, main characters. I don't want a continuation of their plots, I want the Blackthorns story! LET THEM GOOOO. Also, the epilogue totally sets up The Wicked Powers as City of Lost Souls 2.0 and i am ... not keen.

And like I said the last 100 pages were just .. messy. I'm annoyed because I SHOULD have given this a five star .. it was going so well. Everything I came for was there. The angst was top notch, the character interactions were great, and the book was fast paced and exciting. But those last 100 pages were too much and just so cliche and weird. And the ending was complete fanservice, which usually I don't mind, but this was WAY too much. I've said this soo many times but I HATE when books with dramatic "this is going to change everything this is the end of the world" plots have literally no consequences. Like the tagline of this book was literally "everything changes" but in the end nothing happened and everyone got to be happy. LOOK I LOVE PAIN AND SUFFERING OKAY. But I just think it's a super let down and doesn't deliver on my expectations of something Big happening.

Okay, I admit the loss of Idris was big and will probably play a big role in the next book .. but again it's the same problem I have with other plot lines. Nothing was finished off in this series ! It was all left for the next one. Which is lazy and unsatisfying. I get her series run on to eachother, but the ending of each individual series should still be satisfying and contained to that series in my opinion.

“If aught but death part thee and me, Emma,” he said, and pressed his lips to the strands. Emma closed her eyes as she whispered, “Julian. Julian. If aught but death part thee and me.”

Alright .. that is IT! This is an extremely gushy and messy review I recognise and own it. You'll just have to live with it. PLEASE chime off in the comments I still need to discuss this book I am still in shock

[Josu Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un antes y un después en el universo de Cazadores de Sombras.

ESTA RESEÑA CONTIENE LIGEROS SPOILERS. LA PARTE DE SPOILERS SE ENCUENTRA DEBIDAMENTE INDICADA.

Uffff. Por fin he leído La reina del aire y la oscuridad, novela que no me atrevía a leer por la cantidad de páginas que tiene. Sin embargo, ha merecido muchísimo la pena, y os cuento por qué.

Antes de nada: WHAAAAT? CASSIE DID THAT. Obviamente, como final de una trilogía y siendo la antesala de la trilogía final del universo, algo grande tenía que pasar. Sin embargo, se asientan unas bases para la saga The Wicked Powers que sinceramente no me esperaba. Pero hablamos de eso más adelante.

En esta tercera entrega de Renacimiento / The Dark Artifices nos encontramos con una situación peliaguda: una nueva guerra parece inminente, los tiranos están en el poder, y todo el Mundo de las Sombras parece tambalearse. Me ha gustado mucho estar continuamente con la sensación de que todo puede cambiar, de tener miedo por los personajes, por las decisiones irracionales de aquellos que están en el poder... Porque de vez en cuando, sin quererlo ni beberlo, aparecían nuevos giros en la trama que cambiaban todo, y que no veía venir. En ese sentido, me ha parecido que Cassandra consigue mostrar perfectamente cómo es cuando las personas de extrema derecha se encuentran en el poder: son irracionales, tratan de inculcar miedo, odian los desconocido, quieren el poder a toda costa para controlar la población, etc. A nivel político, es la novela más completa de todas, y los juegos de poder están a la orden del día. Es, sin duda, uno de los mejores aspectos del libro.

Respecto a otras tramas, tenemos desde los pesados de Julian y Emma con su maldición de las narices, hasta Ty y Kit con cierto librito, a Cristina, Mark y Kieran con sus hormonas. Hay tramas importantes para todos, a decir verdad, e incluso tramas de peso para personajes de los primeros libros: Magnus, Alec, Jace y Clary. Aquí tengo que decir que hacia la segunda mitad de la novela la cosa se pone demasiado como The Wicked Powers en teoría va a ser, por lo que personalmente, Cassie va a tener que sorprenderme realmente con esa saga.



Cada personaje, como ya es costumbre en esta trilogía, tiene sus miedos, sus ilusiones, sus amoríos... Hay tiempo para todos ellos y nada queda inconcluso. Sin embargo, ya sabemos que hay personajes más favoritos que otros, y en este caso la trama de Julian y Emma me ha resultado un poco pesada, concretamente cuando viajan a Féera (por partes) o a Thule (parte que me sobraba un poco bastante). Sin embargo, al mismo tiempo, me encanta que se le haya dado más protagonismo a Diana, a Dru y al duo Kit y Ty.

Menos mal que he leído Ghosts of the Shadow Market antes de este -a excepción de esos dos relatos finales que spoilean esta novela-, ya que gracias a tener cierta información que se expone en los relatos leídos, he sabido apreciar más ciertos momentos y revelaciones de La reina del aire y la oscuridad. Si los habéis leído, sabéis de lo que os hablo.

En cuanto a temas globales del universo de Clare, como la maldición parabatai, las sucesiones al trono en la cortes Unseelie o el tema de la Cohorte, me han parecido increíblemente interesantes porque todas las situaciones propician problemas futuros mientras encuentran la solución. Es decir: es una pausa en el camino, no algo definitivo. Y me gusta tener esa sensación cuando el final de muchas de estas tramas que afectan globalmente al Mundo de las Sombras, porque me hace ver lo real que es todo, lo bien escrito que está. Me hace temer por los personajes, por lo que pueda pasar, porque sabes que en cualquier momento puede haber traiciones, o un Idris subversivo, o una rotura de la Alianza... Hay tantos detalles a explorar en la última trilogía que estoy deseando leerla (y sí, Ty y Kit siendo los protagonistas es una muy importante baza...)



Entonces, hagamos un resumen:

PUNTOS POSITIVOS
· Cada personaje tiene su momento, su trama, sus conflictos y su final.
· Hay cambios en el universo que asientan bases más que interesantes para la última saga de todas.
· La escritura de Cassandra Clare es detallada, su libro vibra, te hace conectar muchísimo.
· La situación política está increíblemente bien representada y tratada. Podría hasta decir que esta novela es la primera de todas en tener ese toque de subtrama de thriller político.
· Ty, Kit, Magnus, Alec, Jace, Clary, Dru, Diana, Diego, Jaime, Cristina, Mark, Kieran, Helen, Aline, Jia, Jem y Tessa.

PUNTOS NEGATIVOS
· A veces, ciertos conflictos se resuelven demasiado rápido.
· Emma y Julian y sus maldita maldición. ¡Pesados! (Aunque el tema de cómo se rompe y demás me ha gustado mucho.)
· El ritmo no es siempre el mismo, y aproximadamente hacia el ecuador de la novela, cuesta un poco más avanzar.
· El final no es tan cliffhanger como estamos acostumbrados.

AHORA, UN POCO DE SPOILERS.

-

Por favor, ¿el tema de Kit y su súper poder de rayos y toda la pesca? Me pareció sin duda uno de los mejores giros de todos, y algo que estoy deseando explorar en la siguiente saga. ¡Y encima se va con Jem y Tessa! Voy a llorar mucho con su relación.

Hacía tiempo que no lloraba con un libro, pero obviamente el momento MAGNUS Y ALEC SE CASAN ME HIZO QUEDARME SECO. Por favor, qué bonito, qué precioso, qué cosa tan linda, qué cute, cómo los amo no puEDO MÁS.

El protagonismo de Dru haciendo lo que le sale del coñete por fin me parece amazing, ella es realmente salvadora de Idris liberando a Jia. Eso sí: ¿no es turbio lo que se traiga con cierto chavalito que ya es mayor de edad? Mmmh...

La rotura de la maldición parabatai sí me llegó a gustar. ¿Ellos dos de gigantes conectados con el fuego celestial matando sin compasión? Comprísimo. No me gustan ellos con el tema porque son bastante pesados, pero ahora que se han quitado eso de encima, espero reconciliarme con ellos en la última saga del universo.

El tema de Diana súper bien llevado, Kieran siendo rey era algo que no me esperaba, y menos la relación poliamorosa, el tema de la maldición de los brujos pensaba que iba a dar más que hablar... Hay muchas cosas que puedo debatir, pero bueno, estas son las principales.

-

Me ha parecido un increíble final para una de sus mejores sagas. Tengo que reposarla un poco más, pero no creo que pueda volver a alcanzar este punto de profundidad de personajes y tramas. Espero que me sorprenda con The Wicked Powers o The Last Hours, pero creo que lo tiene complicado, jeje.

Si aún no has comenzado a leer nada del universo Cazadores de Sombras, hazlo YA. No te arrepentirás.

[✨ Helena ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

well my entire review - including the stuff I wrote about the signing with her ... went POOF ... greatttt :(

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m sorry… but did you expect anything less that 5 Stars for my absolute Queen?!

Perhaps being parabatai was a weakness that could trap you. But so was any kind of love, and if love was weakness, it was strength, too.

Before I get into this review those illustrations were EVERYTHING! They were so beautiful and the detail! It made me so happy!

So I’m not going to lie this review will more than likely be rusty as I haven’t done one for quite a while now so I shall try none the less. Just a pre warning in the things I like and the things I don’t like there will be minor spoilers so you can just stop at that point if you haven’t ready this already.

Going to this I was a bag of nerves, I knew that it would be heart wrenching after what happened in Lord of Shadows but the way in which grief is portrayed throughout was just so raw and dealt with in different ways by all of the characters. I didn’t know where the story would take us with the final instalment and I’d be lying if I said this was what I expected, but that kind of makes me enjoy it even more.

Luckily I’d read all of the tales from Ghosts of the Shadow Market which were very useful going into this because of how much background we got in relation to a specific character so knowing what I did I was very very worried in regards to that, it was very interesting seeing it all come together though!

What I love so much about this series is the characters, there’s honestly no one (other than Zara and the Cohort) that I dislike, I love stories that have strong relationships and this has so much love between the characters you can’t help but become invested in them.

The way in which it ended, I am so surprised, it’s not what I expected what so ever and now I’m super intrigued to find out what’s to come, if there’s not another series I WILL RIOT!

“Some lights were never meant to burn for long.”

Characters

To start with Emma and Julian, honestly all the way throughout I was so worried for what was to come, their love for one another is just so strong and I just wanted them to be happy, IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK! Emma is still the strong character from the previous books, and her development from Lady Midnight to this was amazing particularly in one chapter where she realises something and that she has t overcome that and move away from it. My heart for Julian broke, he goes through such a rough patch and seeing what he does to himself DESTROYED me. His care for his siblings and Emma is just undeniable.

Then we have the trio that is of course Cristina, Mark and Kieran! I never in my life thought I would enjoy a trio again from Will, Jem and Tessa, but here we are! The balance between them all is just so pure and perfect. They all just fit together in ways that just balance each other out, Cristina is such a loving character and probable;y the purest soul in this book, she is so open and honest and her love for people, ahhh she’s so lovely! Mark is Mark, the things he does and says, they are just so lovable and you know he just tries his hardest to help, the small gestures he does throughout I was NOT coping! Then finally Kieran, I can honestly say that in this, Kieran is my favourite character, He was just so funny and he really came into his own, his love is fierce and when he feels something strongly he will try his best. There is so much I want to say and rave on about but I’m trying to keep this section spoiler free, but I love him!

Kit and Ty were the two characters I worried about the most after everything that happened in Lord of Shadows, and I don’t think I’m alone in this thought, Ty has to come to terms with a lot, and boy does it get deep! My heart is broken for him, and it was so sad to see the lengths he went to throughout. Then we have Kit another personal favourite of mine, I am very very intrigued by him. Once again I felt sorry for him, he was trying to help Ty, but at the same time trying to deal with other things going on with himself, he is just too precious!

I don’t think I really knew much about Dru, Helen and Aline, just the snippets every now and again. Drug for me was SUCH a good character, I liked her friendships with Ty and Kit and her realising her own self worth, it was just nice to see her being able to do small things to help the people she loves and cared about. Aline was so fierce anything relating to making Helen upset Aline took zero bull shit and I LIVED for it, coming into that environment she handled it so well and I just adored her love for Helen, it was just so sweet. I honestly felt for Helen, she’d been away from her family for such a long period of time and to see her bond with her family made me so happy! At times I felt frustrated for her but the way she handled things I felt so proud!

My least favourites… Zara and The Cohort I legit hate them all. They were devious and sneaky (but I love to hate characters) and you can’t not hate them. Now as much as I dislike them some of the things they did were clever but still not a fan, I just want to slap them all and I like to think of myself as quite a nice person aha!

Finally Diana, Gwyn, Alec, Magnus, Jace and Clary, I know this is a weird bunch to put together but it’s probably easier this way because it’s just little things. Diana was of course great and what she did YES GIRL! Gwyn once again enjoyed! It was nice to see Jace and Clary again, they’re not my favourite characters but it was still good! Alec and Magnus! I’d forgot how much they were in Lord of Shadows but I honestly love their defiance and how they work together the simple things make me happy!

Pre Warning there will be spoilers ahead

I love you. I love you. I love you.

What I liked?
- Some nice little references to previous books (Will Herondale of course)
- Ty tryin to get to Livvy, my god my poor little heart, but it was such a Ty thing to do and just ARGH
- Seeing the family Dynamics, it was so lovely to see Helen and Aline back
- Ty gave Kit his first Witchlight! Come onnnnnnnn
- I didn’t mention this earlier BUT the Trio relationship, I never knew I needed this but turns out I 1000000% do, I am here for it! I could go on and on, but I loved Kierans description of why they were perfect as a unit and it was everything!
- All of the tension, nothing going right, just forever hoping for some Peace!
- Perfect Diego helping Kieran along with Divya, I liked seeing a bit inside the Scholomance
- All of the feeeeeeels
- Kieran pretending to be asleep because he felt awkward… dead :’)
- Helen sitting on Kieran and him asking her to move because it’s painful (these one liners have me every time)
- Emma taking the Tapestry… absolute gold!
- The names of the Downworlders ”My name is Greg. Greg Anderson.” “It’s Elton John, said Aline grabbing a stamp”
- Another Kieran moment… calling his brother a Turnip
- Goodbye Arm, you know when you know!
- Dru and Kieran with the mugs
- That LETTER! I was like no no no no no
- Seeing the relationships with so many Parabatai is was very interesting and also heart wrenching at the same time!
- Now Julian steps up a lot but what he does in this with sending of the letters and the resistance it was so engaging to read, you could see his thought process and you could see just how smart he actually is. Not only that but the BANNER, I was ugly crying, full blown tears!
- Dru asking Kit to teach her things and becoming a True Con Woman!
- Kit and just how loving and protective he is towards Ty, he knows how to deal with him and just AHHH I CAN’T!
- That T-SHIRT! hahahahahahahahahahaha
- The cake :’)
- Magnus being able to talk to Ty, it was just such a lovely moment because he just seemed to understand, I know a lot of the other characters too, but Magnus is different in his own way and helped Ty a lot.
- Kitten calendars!

What I didn’t like?
- I wasn’t particularly fond of Thule, I get why it had to happen and I don’t know if it’s because of how I was feeling at the time, I think because it was mainly focusing on Julian and Emma and I missed the other characters at that time.
- KIT DESERVED MORE! I am low key sad at how he parted with the Blackthorns and in particular Ty, but I kind of get it if there’s more books to come because SURELY it will be about them reconnecting maybe? Although I do like that he’s with Jem and Tessa!
- My expectations going in… I kind of also thought there’d be more of Annabel and Ash. I’d guessed in Lord of Shadows that Ash was going to be important but we didn’t really see either of them that much.
- I also kind of expected more with Manuel, when we see small snippets from his point of view I thought something more was going to happen unless this is setting him up for the next books

“The sky was a road and the stars made pathways; the moon was a watchtower, a lighthouse that led you home.”

Overall I’m so happy with the way this turned out, it was my most anticipated release for the year and it didn’t disappoint! It’s bittersweet that it’s over but hopefully there will be more to come. I need answers, and you can’t leave some of the characters like this!

A-T-L-A-S-T

All Cassandra Clare Reviews:

The Infernal Devices
Clockwork Angel - 5 Stars
Clockwork Prince - 5 Stars
Clockwork Princess - 5 Stars

The Infernal Devices (Manga) Reviews:
Clockwork Angel - 5 Stars
Clockwork Prince - 5 Stars
Clockwork Princess - 5 Stars

The Last Hours
Chain of Gold - 4 Stars
Chain of Iron - 5 Stars
Chain of Thorns - 4 Stars

The Mortal Instruments
City of Bones - 5 Stars
City of Ashes - 4 Stars
City of Glass - 4 Stars
City of Fallen Angels - 2 Stars
City of Lost Souls - 3 Stars
City of Heavenly Fire - 4 Stars

The Eldest Curses
The Red Scrolls of Magic - 3 Stars

The Dark Artifices
Lady Midnight - 5 Stars
Lord of Shadows - 5 Stars
Queen of Air and Darkness - 5 Stars
-------
Pre Ramble thoughts...

WE HAVE TO WAIT TWO YEARS FOR THIS!
AFTER THAT ENDING?!
---------
25.06.2017
Helen and Aline snippets on Tumblr, already not coping.
---------
12.11.2017
WE HAVE A COVER... it’s so beautiful! Want. Need. THE RED, I CAN'T LIVINGGGGGGGG
———-
12.02.2018
TY and KIT snippets... LIVINGGGGGG ❤️
—————
28.06.2018
When you pray to the gods that you've ordered the right Limited edition... if not well I'll be on the hunt!
P.S - 6 months (ish) to go!
--------
20.10.2018
After The Land I lost, I need this now. Why may you ask? THEY HAVE DROPPED A HUGE HINT ABOUT SOMETHING AND I AM DYING INSIDE
---------

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 1.5 stars !?! Believe me, no one is more surprised (and saddened) by this than I am. This might as well be my most disappointing book of 2018. I had to put it down halfway through and finished two other novels. That much I dreaded picking this one back up.

Is it wrong to say that it didn’t feel like a Cassandra Clare TDA book? Compared to LoS, which is still my favourite in this series, this read like a much-diluted version of her TDA Shadowhunter universe, the characters were boring me to death with their endless conversations and the plot pacing was all over the place. I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of it.

Having this many shifting POVs and subplots (Emma, Julian, Cristina, Mark, Kieran, Kit, Dru, Diana, Helen, Diego, Manuel - completely unnecessary and not very convincing as a rather cowardly psychopath, I am surprised Church didn’t get a say in this) makes for a dull and highly predictable read, because, if not handled properly, it simply repeats things over and over again.

I’ll give you an example: take Kieran, Cristina & Mark and make “last night” happen; have Cristina and Mark talk about said last night; have Mark and Kieran talk about it; have Kieran, Cristina and Mark talk about it; have Emma AND Cristina talk about it; have Kieran and Adaon talk, in a roundabout way, about it; have Kieran, Cristina and Mark talk about it some more. See where I’m going with this? There’s so much Kierarktina??? talk in this book that, to me, it overshadows the other relationships and friendships. I get that Cassie wanted to do it right, but it’s just too much. It reads like a fanfic wet dream.

The entire Thule episode was ridiculously weird, recycling plot and restoring characters that should have been left where they belonged: in the fictional bin! Also, am I the only one who thought of the alternate dimension they pulled off in the TV show while reading this? Granted, here everything a lot darker, less sparkly.

There were some many emotional moments in LM and LoS that had me basically yell “How dare you?” at my own books. The grief and other intense emotions here were watered down by the constant shifting of perspective: you couldn’t spend enough time in a character’s mind to get a sense of what they’re really feeling.

This review could be waaay longer, as I took notes (with loads of exclamation marks & WTFs), but right now I can’t be bothered... I might sound like a broken record with this one, but it needn’t have been a 900+ book!

Who’s surprised by the Epilogue? Not me… Ughhh. I was over Clace like four books ago.

I feel like we went back to TMI with this one!

[Carolyn]

Your age does not define how well or not you will/would like a book.
Just because this is labeled as a YA book and you will be twenty something when it comes out doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it.
If you are a big fan of Clare's series and end up reading it how ever old you may be, that's awesome. If you don't end up reading it, no big deal. I just don't see why people need to be saying that "this is the last Clare/Shadowhunter book I'll be reading" because it hasn't even come out yet, nor have any books of this series for a matter of fact. If you're not excited for it, then you're not excited for it, but don't be thinking negitively about a book series that hasn't even come out yet. Please and thank you.

[✨ A ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually thought this series had the potential to become one of my favourites, maybe even be as great as TID (lol what was I thinking). Alas, it seems QoAaD follows in the many footsteps of final books of a trilogy - good but not as good as the first two.

⚠ If you have not read book 1 & 2 (Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows), do not go any further ⚠



“This is the nature of having a soul, Kieran, and a heart. We all stumble around in the dark and we cause each other pain and we try to make up for it the best we can. We are all confused.”


Chapter one opened up exactly where Lord of Shadows left off. And for some reason I was not expecting that.

There I am, reading the first page and I'm already crying? Cruel Cassie, just cruel.

I was an emotional wreck during the first few chapters. And had to pause every so often because of how much I was crying.


After the chaos that Annabel leaves in her wake, the Blackthorns and Emma are (understandably) grief stricken. But there are still many problems and enemies around. Julian and Emma are sent to Faerie to retrieve the Black volume from Annabel, while the rest of the family and Cristina head back to Los Angeles to find an antidote to the blight and warlock disease.

Zara Dearborn and the Cohort become more than just a little problem. They manage to use the chaos to their advantage and the Shadowhunters are now facing a civil war.

Just when Emma and Julian are close to a solution to their love predicament, Livvy's death and Annabel's crimes knock everything they had planned off course. And though Emma is also shattered, she has to be strong for Julian and the Blackthorns.


I could feel Julian's grief as if it were my own. The lengths he goes to in this book to keep himself together so that he can do what needs to be done was heartbreaking. Honestly Julian is such a great and complex character. I think Cassie really did a good job with his arc.

His whole life had been built around exerting control over himself, over the mask he showed the world, and now it was cracking.

The whole Blackthorn family (+Kit+Diana+kieran) are precious to me. But I'm not going to speak about them in this review. I'm going to just get to the reason why I lowered my rating.

The first half of this book was great and I really liked it. But then the excessive cameos and over used themes started to get to me.

But the real reason was the most anticipated parabatai curse reveal. After all that build up .... I burst out laughing when it turns out they turn into giant nephelim.. That whole scene was ridiculous I couldn't believe it. It was stupid and weird and ruined the book for me.

I get that Cassie will be continuing the Shadowhunters franchise but I'm a little tired of her ending a series with cliffhangers that ensure that people are desperate to read her next books which we have to wait a billion years for.

A well rounded off Cassie Clare series is all I ask for, honestly.
______
My reviews for:

The Infernal Devices Series
Book 1: Clockwork Angel
Book 2: Clockwork Prince
Book 3: Clockwork Princess


[Sorry no reviews for TMI, I read it too long ago and don't plan to re-read]

The Dark Artifices Series
Book 1: Lady Midnight
Book 2: Lord of Shadows


The Last Hours Series
Book 1: Chain of Gold

[chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars AHHHH

[~Calliope~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Without sorrow, there can be no joy."

“Shadowhunters are slow to love,” she said, “but once we love, we love forever.”

Finally, happily ever after!!

Julian & Emma

“I’m not the same person. I can’t say I feel things I don’t understand.”
“Well, I want the same person,” she said. “I want Julian Blackthorn. My Julian Blackthorn.”
“So who am I to you, then?” he asked, dropping his hand.
“You are the person I have to protect until my Julian comes back to live inside you again,” she said. “I don’t want this. I want the Julian I love. You might be in the cage, Jules, but as long as you are like this, I am in the cage with you .”

Mark & Christina & Kieran

Alec's & Magnus's Wedding <3

“When one day people look back on me and what my life meant, I don’t want them to say, ‘Alec Lightwood fought in the Dark War’ or even ‘Alec Lightwood was Consul once.’ I want them to think, ‘Alec Lightwood loved one man so much he changed the world for him.’ ”

Until I read this epilogue!!!

Ty & Kit (I love them)

“I can’t live without Livvy.”
“Yes, you can,” Kit whispered. “You can. You think this will make your family stronger, but it will destroy them if you bring her back. You think you can’t survive without Livvy, but you can. We will go through it together.” Kit’s face was cold; he realized he was crying. “I love you, Ty. I love you.”

[Whitney Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

usually final books in series don't have cliffhangers, but go off cassie, i guess.

i'm actually pleased that i like this as much as i did because i was expecting the size would make it really boring and i would end up skipping chapters, but the way this was written actually made every POV integral to the plot so it kept my attention he entire time, except when the resolution happened on page 750 but the book kept on going for 200 more pages.

i love that the TMI and TID characters have a lot of gravity in this series. In the moments that i wasn't totally hooked on the blackthorns' plot, magnus or jem or jace would show up and it would immediately electrocute me into caring once again, so I like that they were there a lot. Also, the whole *ahem* middle part of this book was TOTALLY unexpected but genius but also it's gonna haunt me until 2022 when the next book comes out, so thanks.

(he really said "i prefer red heads" iM V OM ITING)

[ambsreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILER REVIEW

Trigger Warnings: grief, self mutilation, death, war, murder

My review for Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare was first posted on my blog. Find it here.


Queen of Air and Darkness is the book I have been waiting for all year. I don’t think I have ever anticipated a Cassandra Clare book as much as this one. The ending of Lord of Shadows scared me to my core and if you ask me about it today you have a 110% chance of me bursting into tears at the mere mention of it. This finale to The Dark Artifices series did not disappoint. It left me reeling and having so many damn questions. You can bet I screamed WHAT at my book around about 100 times a page. I was absolutely shattered.

This finale will probably be Cassie’s best. They continue to get better the more she writes and I am so damn happy to be able to experience this journey with everyone as we dive into the Shadowhunter realms. I am also self-proclaimed Shadowhunter trash – while also seeing everything wrong with the books and Cassie, I’m not blinded, don’t worry.

As a warning, this review will contain spoilers. The spoilers will be for the previous books in this series so you have been warned. I can’t talk about this book without mentioning certain events. If you haven’t read this series, come back after you do so we can discuss. If you haven’t read this series and don’t want to, read forward and be spoiled, my friends.

Queen of Air and Darkness picks up exactly where Lord of Shadows dropped off. With Julian holding Livvy after she has been murdered. We get to experience every ounce of grief that the Blackthorn family feels throughout the book and it is honestly enough to knock you off your feet. I promise you that you will burst into tears several times at work…not that I did that. The finale of The Dark Artifices takes you on a journey. There are countless storylines and at times it is a tad difficult to keep up. Obviously, it is better to have read all the Shadowhunter Chronicles to understand how people relate to certain things but it really isn’t needed. You can jump into this series and scream – obviously don’t just jump into Queen of Air and Darkness without having read the previous books.

Throughout this book we get to follow Julian and Emma’s struggle to tamper down their feelings, Ty dealing with his grief for Livvy in the wrong way, Kit being a Herondale, Drusilla coming in to herself, Diana and Gwyn’s love story continue, Cristina, Kieran and Mark drama, Cohort business (seriously this was some Donald Trump shit), some Faerie Drama and finally find out who the mysterious Ash is (we all knew). Within 800 pages a lot has to happen and it does. We get to see all the old characters whom we loved and I even found myself liking Clary and Jace – something I thought was impossible when I read The Mortal Instruments. I can barely even begin to talk about each plot line because there is just so much going on. You will be thrown in a whirlwind and be actively engaged no matter who’s the storyline you are reading. There are plenty of changes throughout the long ass chapters Cassie writes to get a feel for everyone.

I should probably start off with the one thing I disliked about Queen of Air and Darkness. I don’t know if I ever publicly spoke about it on my blog but anti-hero Julian was all that I ever wanted in this series. To see Cassie jump outside her comfort zone and write him would fuel me. While we did get somewhat of an antihero Julian it was not what I had imagined. In fact, it was slightly disappointing and something I’m not sure added to the plot. Julian turning off his feelings simply felt weak. You’re telling me the boy who walked miles to get groceries for his siblings would turn off his feelings for them? Try again.

That’s all I didn’t like though, so Cassie really did smash it out of the park.

Throughout the series, we have had glimpses of Aline and Helen. We have never really gotten to see them which is disheartening as the only f/f couple in the series. We finally get to really meet them and I must say that I adore them. Aline was so damn relatable to me and Helen was just an angel who wanted to care for her siblings, even if they didn’t want her to. The couple themselves were so damn sweet and I adored every moment of their relationship on the page. They were truly so special to read. I am sure we’ll see more of them in future books as well which has me squealing with excitement.

There wasn’t much Jem and Tessa in this book either which was fantastic. If you know me, you’d know I hate that ship. I get it. Everyone thinks it is the best love triangle to ever exist in the sense that you can’t ‘choose’. Bitch, I chose and now I can’t like Jem. I hate him. So, having not much of them throughout this book was fantastic. Though I could have done with more Simon and Isabelle, oh well.

Interdimensional travel is typically something that turns me off a book. However, Thule was magnificent. A world completely opposite from the one our character lives in where Sebastian Morgenstern won the war. It was chilling. The fact that Cassie thought of that? Ugh, her mind. She is a genius. However, she really didn’t include as much Annabel as I thought she would considering she is on the cover. I wonder where that will come in to play?

The relationships in this book as well. Cassie diving in to a poly relationship was fantastic, Cassie’s further development of Emma and Julian was brilliant, Magnus and Alec’s already established relationship filled me with joy and I don’t even like them, and lastly, Drusilla’s future love life will probably be complicated but y’all know I love her.

Cassandra Clare carefully crafted it so every single plotline that ran through this story intersected at the end. They all came together in a big way that you know leads off into the next series. I can truly not wait to read whatever she puts out next. I honestly need it in my hands like yesterday. The ending of this particular story left me breathless. I can’t wait to see what hints that we found throughout this book to come to fruition in future books.

I would desperately love for Cassie to give us a nice happy ending for the Blackthorns but with the fact that The Wicked Powers is based around Kit and Ty (who I can’t even begin to talk about in this book) tells me this family hasn’t had the last of its dramas.

Overall, Queen of Air and Darkness will probably be my favourite book of 2018. I am still reeling from the events and want to scream about them from the rooftops. Heck, this is the first review I’ve sat down to write straight after finishing the book. Cassandra Clare gives us a bit of everything in this finale and even more. I can’t wait to hear everyone’s thoughts and theories on what will happen next.

[Isa Cantos (Crónicas de una Merodeadora) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y sí, Cassandra Clare o hizo otra vez, chicos. ¿Cómo es posible que alguien sea tan bueno manipulando sentimientos, emociones, y destrozando corazones, pero, a la vez, haciendo que estén a punto de explotar por la intensidad de todo lo que va contando?

Desde que empecé a leer la historia de Emma y Julian en Lady Midnight supe que este iba a ser un camino tremendo, lleno de altibajos y de sufrimiento. La promesa de un amor prohibido siempre me emociona muchísimo y, aunque el camino es duro y tortuoso, los finales siempre son tremendamente satisfactorios. Y en The Dark Artifices, Cassandra Clare no nos da un amor prohibido, sino varios.

Quizá lo que más me gustó de la trilogía y, particularmente, de este último libro fue cómo, poco a poco, se fueron incorporando a la trama los personajes que más amé de las otras series. Están Jem, Tessa, Alec, Magnus, Isabelle y, sobre todo, Jace y Clary. Me fascinó verlos a todos nuevamente en acción y peleando para proteger lo que son: una gran familia. Además, el final es espectacular. Hay momentos en los que pierdes toda esperanza, pero hay otros que te dejan con una gran sonrisa de satisfacción en la cara. Eso sí, siento que quedan muchos cabos abiertos, pero estoy segura de que es a propósito, pues la siguiente serie, The Wicked Powers, retomará la trama por allí.

Ahora, no quiero decirles nada más, así que empecemos oficialmente con la sección de spoilers y fangirleo.

•Cuando todos llegan a la casa de los Blackthorn después de lo que sucedió con Annabel y Livvy, Julian está en shock, pero sabe que debe bañarse porque está lleno de la sangre de su hermana. Entonces le pide a Emma que lo acompañe a la ducha y empiezan a besarse y luego van a la cama, pero cuando está a punto de suceder, Julian le dice a Emma que no pueden y se separa de ella. Y así es como empieza un hilo infinito de “quiero, pero no puedo” de la mano de estos dos. Y, ay, lo que vamos a sufrir durante todo el libro…

•Uh… y aquí llega algo horrendo. Julian está tan superado por el duelo y por sus sentimientos hacia Emma que va a donde Magnus (que sigue muriéndose por esa enfermedad rara de los hechiceros) y le pide que le quite todo lo que siente. Y LO HACE. Entonces es Julian, pero no es Julian porque no siente nada y es frío y ultra racional. Joder.

•Luego a Julian se le ocurre decirle a Emma lo que hizo. Y le pide que le permita tocarla a ver si siente algo y lo que dice es que ya solucionó el problema, que ya no pasará nada por aquello de que son parabatais porque lo que siente es que la amó. EN PASADO. ¿Escuchan eso? Es el corazón de Emma rompiéndose.

•¿Y qué tal cuando el maldito de Dearborn, el nuevo Inquisidor, les dice a Julian y a Emma que sabe del trato que iban a hacer con Robert Lightwood? Lo sabe todo y les dice que piensa que es asqueroso, pero que puede reconsiderar la propuesta si aceptan una misión a Faerie para recuperar el Black Volume of the Dead. Y ES BÁSICAMENTE UNA MISIÓN SUICIDA, pero obvio tienen que aceptar.

•¡Ahh! Amo mal los momentos de Cristina y Mark. O de Cristina y Kieran. O de Kieran y Mark. O DE LOS TRES AL TIEMPO. En serio, me matan de amor. Hay un punto en el que Mark y Cristina están hablando y la tensión es tan grande que empiezan a besarse. Y cuando las cosas están llegando más allá, Cristina le dice a Mark que nunca lo ha hecho, pero que quiere hacerlo con él. Y Mark, hermoso, le dice que si está segura, que no todas las relaciones giran alrededor del sexo (say it louder for the people in the back!), pero que si es lo que quiere él acepta. Pero justo antes se acuerdan de la runa del control de natalidad, pero a Cristina se le quedó su estela y Mark dice que no tiene la suya y alskdñlad.

•Ja, ¿y podemos hablar de los sueños que tiene Cristina en los que está con Mark y con Kieran al tiempo? SOY MUY FAN.

•Y, otra noche, Cristina va tarde al cuarto de Mark para pedirle ayuda con algo y cuando él abre la puerta ESTÁ DESNUDO. Y Cristina grita “¡híjole!”. Ay, la amo. Me reí tanto con eso. Además, la respuesta de Mark es como “pero no es nada que no hayas visto antes” y ella le responde que sí, pero no con buena iluminación. Casi me muero de la risa. Los amo.

•En otro momento, Mark y Cristina están cazando monstruos, esperando a que el sensor se active y, mientras tanto, ella le dice que ojalá pudiera verse con sus ojos, pues él es todo lo que ella quiso y nunca lo supo. Y se besan y todo es hermoso, PERO LUEGO LOS INTERRUMPE EL PINCHE SENSOR POR LOS DEMONIOS.

•En algún punto aprendemos que la runa de los parabatai no está en el libro Gris y que, de hecho, la inventaron de otra manera. Y que la runa original está en una tableta de piedra en la Silent City. La cosa es que, si la destruyen, no sólo el vínculo de Julian y Emma se rompe, sino el de todos los parabatais del mundo. Y ellos están dispuestos a hacerlo, pero luego la Seelie Queen les dice que están jodidos porque lo único que podía destruir esa runa era la Espada Mortal… y se rompió al final de Lord of Shadows. Daaamn.

•Cuando Kieran por fin vuelve está enfermo y Cristina va a cuidarlo una noche. Y terminan abrazados, hablando, diciendo que nunca quieren olvidarse y, cuando Cristina está encima de él, a punto de besarlo, recuerda a Mark y se separa. PERO AL TIEMPO ESTÁ PENSANDO EN LO MUCHO QUE TAMBIÉN QUIERE A KIERAN. Agh, me cabrea tanto que se tarde casi todo el libro en darse cuenta de que puede estar con los dos si es lo que quiere.

•En Faerie Julian engaña a Emma y se desvían del plan. Ella está cabreadísima, pero por la noche él se acerca y le dice que necesita que no esté enojada, así que se empiezan a besar y, aunque ella sabe que este no es su Julian, deja que todo avance porque, total, puede que nunca tenga al verdadero de vuelta y el cuerpo es el mismo, pero cuando abre los ojos y ve la mirada vacía de Julian se separa de él. Y OBVIO TIENE RAZÓN, PERO AGH.

•Gwyn y Diana son lo más bonito del mundo, bye.

•Ayy, esa noche en la que Kieran les dice que puede dormir en una cama normal sólo si Cristina y Mark están con él. SO BEAUTIFUL. Entonces se acuestan los tres y duermen juntos.

•Okay, esto no lo he mencionado, pero porque me parece de las partes más aburridas del libro y es Ty tratando de reunir todos los ingredientes para un hechizo de necromancia con el cual revivir a Livvy. Like… seriously?! Es que es tonto, ¿cuándo en la historia de la fantasía un hechizo de necromancia ha salido bien? Pista: NUNCA. Y lo que más me cabrea es que Kit, por miedo a perder la amistad de Ty, no tenga los pantalones (por no decir algo más) de pararle los pies y ayudarlo a que lidie con la pérdida. Son idiotas, de verdad.

•Cuando Mark, Cristina y Kieran están en Faerie buscando a Julian y a Emma se dividen las guardias. En un momento, Kieran y Cristina están hablando de lo que le hicieron a él en la piscina esa rara del Escolamántico, donde le muestran todo el sufrimiento que le ha causado a otras personas. Él está muy mal, pero Cristina le asegura que todo está bien, pero que la confunde mucho. Y VUELVEN A BESARSE Y TODO ES MUY INTENSO, pero luego aparece Mark y los ve. Y justo después aparecen los Shadowhunters rebeldes aliados con los unseelie y Cristina tiene que escapar y deja a Mark y a Kieran atrás. ¿CUÁNDO VOY A PODER TENER UN MOMENTO FANGIRL SIN QUE ALGO TRÁGICO LO INTERRUMPA?

•Okay, shocking moment cuando nos enteramos de que Sebastian Morgenstern tuvo un hijo, Ash, y que ahora a ese niño lo está cuidando Annabel Blackthorn. Y sí, wow, peor creo que el papel de Ash está súper desperdiciado en este libro.

•AMO MUCHO cuando Emma y Julian, estando en los calabozos de Faerie se encuentran con que Jace y Clary también están allí, pero en otra celda.

•¡Ah! Las conversaciones de Mark y Kieran son demasiado para mi corazón. Primero Kieran le dice que lo ama y que, por eso, no quiere que lo acompañe en las humillaciones a las que lo someterán en la corte de su padre y luego, más adelante, le dice que con el tiempo ha aprendido que lo que sentía por el en la Hunt era una pálida sombra de lo que siente por él ahora.

•LOL, ¿y podemos hablar de cómo critican la barba del pobre Jace? Amé ese momento. Emma en plan “es horrible” y Clary súper fiel diciéndole que le encanta ese nuevo look de cautiverio.

•Uf, y cuando Emma y Julian terminan en Thule, ese mundo alternativo en el que Clary murió y nunca pudo vencer a Sebastian y, por eso, el reino del terror es tremendo y los Endarkened se pasean por las calles. Lo más extraño/gracioso es que Julian y Emma reales ven a sus versiones de Thule en las filas de Sebastian y lo único que hacen es besarse. ¡Ah! Creo que lo único bueno de ese mundo es que Julian ya no tiene el hechizo de Magnus encima y vuelve a sentir una avalancha de sentimientos heavy.

•Lo más horrible de Thule es que Magnus Bane fue de los primeros que murió y Alec, desesperado por perder a su gran amor, se suicidó poco después. Encontraron sus cuerpos en las ruinas de NYC.

•Ah, otro dato que a mí me parece súper meh es que Livvy está viva en Thule y es como una de las cabezas de la resistencia. Y digo que es meh porque nunca me pareció relevante. Una niña más.

•Me encanta el momento en el que el Cameron de Thule lleva a Julian y a Emma a la habitación que les asignaron y les dice que siente que la cama no sea tan grande, que casi no reciben parejas allí, pero que hay condones en la mesita de noche, JAJAJA. Y los dos quedan rojos como tomates.

•Cuando se dan cuenta de que la magia angélica no funciona en Thule, deciden hacer un experimento y Julian besa a Emma. Son tan lindos, en serio. Y cuando se separan Emma está impresionada y le pregunta a Julian si ha estado practicando, JAJAJA.

•¿Hola? ¿A Cassandra Clare no le basta con que Will esté muerto y ahora tiene que matar a Jem en el mundo paralelo ese? ¡NO SE VALE!

•UF. Hay un momento súper profano y que me encanta. Julian y Emma están hablando de lo mucho que se aman y se están diciendo de todo. Y, de un momento a otro, ambos empiezan a recitar el juramento parabatai mientras lo hacen. ¡ES TAN ESPECTACULAR! Amo que esas frases, acompañadas de todos los gestos, besos y roces sean como una cachetada a la Clave por prohibir un amor tan puro. Amo a mis dos pequeños herejes.

•Y… luego Julian y Emma vuelven de Thule al mundo real y el hechizo de los sentimientos de él vuelve. Pinche vida.

•¡Ay! Hay un momento súper adorable y es que, cuando le están contando a todos cómo era Thule y quiénes vivían y quiénes morían, Magnus le dice a Alec que si algo así pasa en el mundo real tiene absolutamente prohibido suicidarse. Son tan adorables. Lo bueno es que Julian y Emma ya saben que la cura para la enfermedad de los hechiceros es agua del Lago Lyn.

•Joder, hay un momento en el que Julian le está diciendo a Emma que ella cree en él más de lo que él cree en sí mismo y le empieza a acariciar los brazos. Entonces ella le dice que si la va a tocar así mejor la bese. Y lo hace y todo es hermoso… hasta que Julian abre la boca y dice que esa es la solución a su problema, que son las emociones las que importan y no los actos. Y como sin sentimientos no está enamorado de ella, pues todo bien. PERO ES UN IDIOTA POR DECIR ESO.

•¿Podemos hablar del idiota del Inquisidor Dearborn que le dijo a todos los Shadowhunters que a Jace y a Clary los habían matado las hadas para crear más enemistad. Ugh. Es que es tonto. Y me cae fatal. Lo gracioso de todo es que cuando Jace se entera dice que espera que le estén haciendo un gran desfile fúnebre porque es muy importante como para no tener uno xD.

•Me morí de amor en la parte en la que Mark le dice a Kieran que toque su pecho y que le diga si lo que siente ahí es sólo gratitud. Y lo que siente es que el corazón de Mark está como loco y se empiezan a besar y sfjldsñjfdsf. Joder, ¿cómo me pueden gustar tanto? Son la pareja más espectacular de la vida. Aunque luego los interrumpe Cristina. Quiero que estén todos juntos.

•Y LUEGO LOS TRES HABLAN Y KIERAN DICE QUE LOS DESEA A LOS DOS. Y TODOS ESTÁN DE ACUERDO Y SE BESAN TODOS Y POR FIN, POR FIN, POR FIN ENTIENDEN QUE NO TIENEN QUE ELEGIR, AKSJDLS. Viva el poliamor :’).

•Uf, y cuando por fin Julian ya no tiene el hechizo encima, Magnus le advierte que debe alejarse por completo de Emma porque la maldición parabatai está muy cerca de completarse. Él va a contárselo y le pide un último beso Y TODO ES TAN INTENSO. TRES LIBROS HAN PASADO, NECESITO QUE YA PUEDAN ESTAR JUNTOS SIN MIEDO.

•Uh… heavy cuando Ty y Kit ya están en el lago haciendo el ritual de necromancia y Kit está intentando detenerlo, diciéndole que puede superar a Livvy, que lo tiene a él, que lo ama. Y TY LO IGNORA. KIT LE DICE QUE LO AMA Y A ESTE MAN LE VALE V*RGA. MALDITO TY.

•¿Podemos hablar de que Cristina mata a Oban, quien era el sucesor del Rey Unseelie y que ahora Kieran es el Rey y como monarca NO PUEDE TENER UNA CONSORTE HUMANA?

•Dude, y en esa batalla final, Zara apuñala a Emma y la deja súper malherida. Y por eso Julian pierde todo el control y la abraza y los dos empiezan a arder en llamas y, de un momento a otro, SE CONVIERTEN EN NEPHILIM GIGANTES Y UN POCO LOCOS QUE PUEDEN DESTRUIR TODO ALICANTE. Y todos nos enteramos que los primeros nephilim eran así, fuerzas de la naturaleza y que, con el tiempo, se dieron cuenta de que los parabatai que tenían una relación eran más propensos a convertirse en esos seres gigantes, por eso lo prohibieron. Pero, bueno, al final, y gracias a que todos los Blackthorn se unen, Julian y Emma versión gigantes vuelven a su estado normal y SE DAN CUENTA DE QUE SUS RUNAS DE PARABATAI SE QUEMARON Y QUE SON LIBRES. AHH.

•Momento épico en el que Julian, cuando todavía es gigante, agarra a Horace Dearborn y lo aplasta con las manos. YAAAS.

•Y cuando Julian y Emma están juntos por fin después de dejar atrás las runas y su maldición es todo tan akjdsad. *Inserten aquí a Elsa cantando libre soooy, libre soooy*.

•APLAUSOS PARA ALEC POR SER EL NUEVO CÓNSUL DE ALICANTE. ¡Ah! Y como es el cónsul puede cambiar las reglas que les impedían a los Shadowhunters casarse con Downworlders, Y ENTONCES LE PROPONE MATRIMONIO A MAGNUS, MIS AMORES HERMOSOS. Y eso pasa en una fiesta en la playa que ya tenían planeada y que, inmediatamente, convierten en un matrimonio. Todo es tan espectacular, akfjalkjds.

•El epílogo sólo grita problemaaaas: llega el Jace de Thule a donde la Reina Seelie en el mundo humano y lo único que quiere es matar al Jace real y quedarse con Clary. Holy damn! Y encima llega con Ash, el hijo de Sebastian.

[Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥]

I’m on BookTube now! =)

Okay, I’m finally doing this and I hope I’ll be able to finish this book by the end of the year!
Hey, you can always hope and dream, right? *lol*
I’ll definitely read my review of book two before I go into this, though. XD It’s been too long I read the last book. Wish me luck, I’ll need it! ;-P

Catherine, this one is for you! I promised and now I’m going to do it! Love you, girl! <333

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__________________________

OMG!!!!

WE HAVE A COVER AND IT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING!!!! <333

I want to read this NOW!!!
Gosh how am I going to survive until December 2018???!!!!

[♛ may · Rating 5 out of 5]

so i'm going to demand compensation for that ending bc what the hell cassie, what the hell

in all honestly, there were mass portions of this book that dragged so badly for me but lol @ me bc the ending made up for it and i am complete 🗑️ for the blackthorns. literally give me a book about them eating pancakes and going to the park to watch birds and i'll always 5 star

the 2 greatest moments from this 900 paged book:

1. tavvy asking to be carried and taken home in the middle of a war
2. "my emma"

goodbye y'all

--------------------------------

this is IT Y'ALL
THIS IS THE END OF IT ALL
THIS IS GOING TO BE THE END OF ME

buddy read with the squaf, jia, marami, & amy

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

1/5stars

*DISCLAIMER I DIDN'T READ THE ENTIRE BOOK
I read 200 pages fully, then skipped around to sections i cared about until about 450 pages where i finally just quit and skipped to the last 100 pages cause i was done.

Listen. I GENUINELY liked the first book in this series, and I adored TMI and ID series when I was a preteen and teenager. I was hoping the shitty ending of Lord of Shadows was a fluke and I would really enjoy this book.

hmmm

not so much.

Spoilers ahead;

- This was the most convoluted, stupid ass book i've ever read and then watched reviews of people talking about. There was 100% WAYYYYY too much happening and just threw any rules and regulations we had about Shadow hunters and their world to shit and CC just fucked everything up to make something shocking and plot-twisty.

- the plot twists suck??????????????????? like what the fuck??

- can chARACTERS PLEASE STAY DEAD?? PLEASE???????

- speaking of characters thERE ARE TOO DAMN MANY OF THEM I NEED A DAMN GUIDE TO KEEP EVERYONE STRAIGHT WHO THE FUCK????

- why does EVERYONE need to end up together??? like??? none of the couples even have chemistry can we chill??

- so. many. sex. scenes. that aRENT even sex scenes in this YA book like what the actual fuck? if you're gonna write a shower-together scene and you need to make the characters wear their underwear in the shower DONT WRITE THE SCENE? if you are gonna write a sex scene and not make it 100% graphic smut doNT WRITE THE SEX SCENE OKAY? also lets stop writing sex scenes between minors hey thanks

- the threesome/poly-amorous relationship firstly had NO chemistry also whats with poly-amorous relationships suddenly being the new big thing im so confused??

- why are there so many wars its so dumb CC cant even write fight scenes

- what the fuck was with the trANSFORMING thing?? like??? all i kept thinking about was some godzilla thing

- alec and magnus are cute uwu

- of course the parabatai thing gets sorted out so julian and emma can fuck in peace oF COURSE

- everyone surviving like classic YA - fucking stUPID. i'm TIRED of nO ONE DYING and then WHEN THEY DIE THEY DONT STAY DEAD OH MY FUCK.

yeah i'm done with cassie clare books ya'll, i'm just over them, i've grown out of them. i'M GOOD. the next time one comes out that i'm like OH MAYBE I'LL TRY READING IT everyone scream at me plz thank you.

[NickReads]

I hope this is as good as clockwork princess

[P · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixture of fun and boring stuffs.

RTC

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

2018 SIGN ME UP

[Trina (Between Chapters) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this, best of this trilogy in my opinion, but I'm exhausted. It's so long. There were several points where things felt like it was ending but then I'd notice I still had HOURS left of my audiobook. A lot of the conclusion seemed to be setting up more series set in present day, which I'm all for, but I was more looking forward to how TDA will tie in with the upcoming The Last Hours series. But anyway, I did like this. Just feel overwhelmed.

Audiobook review: Narrated by James Marsters again. I think he's great, although it's a little weird to hear a man in his 50s reading teenage sex scenes. And Julian sounds much too old. But honestly, he's a talented narrator.

tw: Several things to do with war and violence, but some things that stood out were: cutting, discrimination against entire populations, strong political parallels.

[Lia Carstairs · Rating 5 out of 5]

  "Without sorrow, there can be no joy."

I can now say that I've reread all of Cassie's main series during quarantine.

What an accomplishment.😌


Ahhhh but why is it that Cassie's endings to a series always make me cry????😭


🛑WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD🛑

Clockwork Princess, City of Heavenly Fire, and Queen of Air and Darkness....

They're always so beautifully written and especially with QoAaD's ending—the wedding, specifically Malec's wedding🥺—It was just too sweet🥰😭.

“And when one day people look back on me and what my life meant, I don’t want them to say, ‘Alec Lightwood fought in the Dark War’ or even ‘Alec Lightwood was Consul once.’ I want them to think, ‘Alec Lightwood loved one man so much he changed the world for him.’ ”

Cassie is really trying to make me an emotional wreck.🥺😭

City of Bones Alec and Queen of Air and Darkness Alec are such different people...Cassie just leaves me in awe with the amazing character development! From being a shy and self-conscious teenager, he's now grown up to be the new Consul and an inspiration to many Shadowhunters all over the world. AHHHH I can't🤧 I love Alec so much. And of course, Magnus Lightwood-Bane is no different.🥰

“Okay, let’s talk about the important part.” Magnus turned to Alec with a furious look on his face. “You killed yourself? Why would you do that?”

Alec looked startled. “That wasn’t me,” he pointed out. “It’s an alternate universe, Magnus!”

Magnus grabbed Alec by the front of his shirt. “If I die, you are not allowed to do anything like that! Who would take care of our kids? How could you do that to them?”

“We never had kids in that world!” Alec protested.

and delirious Magnus is hilarious😂:

“The Children of Lilith will indeed be in debt to the Children of the Courts after this day, Kieran Kingson,” said Magnus, staring intently in what he clearly thought was Kieran’s direction.

“That was a very nice speech, Bane,” said Jace. “Unfortunately, you’re talking to a doughnut.”

Then there's seeing the rest of the TMI crew throughout the book. Simon & Izzy and Clary & Jace were the same as always.🤣 Their trick against the Cohort was the best.

Manuel made a sputtering noise. “Kill them,” he said, turning to his companions. “Go on. Kill them.”

Jace drew the third in a line of X’s on the ground and tossed aside his stick. “Checkmate,” he said.

“Checkmate is chess,” Clary pointed out, entirely ignoring the Cohort surrounding them.

Jace grinned. It was a bright, beautiful grin, the sort of grin that made Helen understand why, all those years ago, Aline had kissed him just to see. “I wasn’t talking about our game,” he said.

Argh that reminds me of the stupid Cohort. I was SO HAPPY when Horace Dearborn was killed by Julian (his spine was snapped in half muahahahha).

I was really hoping for Zara and Manuel to die, but unfortunately Emma decides to spare her life......and what does she do? SHE STABS EMMA IN THE BACK. ISTG ZARA U BACKSTABBING (literally) COWARD👿🤬

I swear, she better get the death she deserves in The Wicked Powers or I WILL RAGE. SHE NEEDS THE MOST PAINFUL DEATH POSSIBLE.😤

But you know, I'm really curious to what their plan is seeing how they're stuck in Alicante.🤔

OH and I just LOVED ANNABEL'S DEATH. AND IT WAS BY THE HANDS OF JULIAN!!!🔥 LIVVY HAS BEEN AVENGED😭 (Altho Ty had to ruin her peace and bring her back as a ghost😢 Poor Livvy.)

I love how this art by Alice Duke was the dust jacket for QoAaD. I'm so in looooveeee😍

Omg and Jemma!!!😍 Julian and Emma have been through so much together dealing with the parabatai curse. I'm so happy everything turned out well and they got the happiness they deserved.🥺🥰

  At the edge of everything, love and faith have always brought me back.

If I had to choose the characters I'm most looking forward to in TWP, it'd definitely be Ash Morgenstern, Dru, and Kit!!! Really curious to see what's gonna happen between those three. Oh, and I wonder how Ty and Ghost Livvy are going to be dealing with their bond. Hmmmmm🤔

Ahhh but the epilogue seriously just kills me though. Cassie just leaves everything off like that and expects us to wait until 2022 (but like it'll probably be 2023)?!?! The torture😭😭

One thing is certain:

The Wicked Powers is definitely going to destroy me in a way that I could've never imagined possible.

And I am so not ready.


| Blog |

[Layla · Rating 2 out of 5]

~ 1.5 stars ~


Buddy read Foteini! She is literally the sweetest person ever and you can check out her review HERE.


What did I just read? Going into this book, having already been told that the plot is messy, I still expected for this book to sit at a solid 3 stars. I feel like 3 stars is a bare minimum expectation. I'm not asking for something spectacular or out of this world. Just something sufficiently enjoyable for the most part. I liked the first two, and I don't know what happened here, but it was not it.

This was so excruciatingly boring. There were so many subplots to the point where I cared for none. I just wanted this to be over.

The romances were too much and started to annoy me. A lot of characters became wasted potential….or started to annoy me. The resolution was so long winded….and annoyed me. And most notably, the book ends with a cliffhanger. I don't know who thought ending a series with a cliffhanger was a good idea, but it really isn't. It defeats the whole purpose of the finale if there is still something more. And that something more is something major.

Kit, Ty, and Mark are the only ones I wanted to read about. Not their stupid subplots that helped no one and did nothing, just to clarify. I hated that. But I love them as characters. They saved this book in my opinion and they deserve the world.

I feel really disappointed with this series. It had a strong start with the first book, but slowly declined in quality.


My reviews of the other Shadowhunter Chronicle book:

City of Bones: ★☆☆☆☆ +¼

City of Ashes: ★☆☆☆☆

City of Glass: ★★☆☆☆ +.¼

Clockwork Angel: ★★☆☆☆

Clockwork Prince: ★★★☆☆

Clockwork Princess: ★★☆☆☆

City of Fallen Angels: ★☆☆☆☆ +½

City of Lost Souls: ★☆☆☆☆ +¼

City of Heavenly Fire: ★★★☆☆

Lady Midnight: ★★★★☆

Lord of Shadows: ★★★☆☆

Queen of Air and Darkness: ★☆☆☆☆ +½





••••••••••

( pre-reading 5/3/21)

This book is so thick that even the librarian couldn't resist making a joke about "light reading" when I picked this up along with 4 other books.

[ℨαrα · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things I liked:
◘ Cassandra Clare’s writing continues to improve immensely and was beautiful.
◘ Lord Byron and Edgar Allan Poe have been two of my favourite poets since high school, and this book was partially inspired by poems from BOTH of them.
◘ It had an abundance of hard-hitting, emotional moments. But they were also balanced out by the funny, light-hearted, happy, tender moments.
◘ EMMA AND THE BLACKTHORNS. They were the highlight as usual. Their immense love for each other hurts me.
◘ Little moments such as Mark’s balloon animals for the kids, or Aline’s “goddamn delicious” frittata make the series what it is.
◘ Julian’s art and artistic analogies give me life.
◘ Emma’s no-nonsense attitude. Sure it gets them into trouble sometimes, but I love her for it?
◘ I don’t like picking favourites but if I HAD to pick my single favourite character it would be Church Emma.
◘ Marks character development since book 1 was fanfreakingtastic. I remember him using faerie prose and putting Tavvy in bags of sugar, but now he’s referring to Shadowhunters as “we” and not “they”. He’s come so far :”)
◘ Magnus was a blindingly glittery star.
◘ At one point it felt like things were just on repeat, but then something happens that FLIPS EVERYTHING ON ITS HEAD AND I LOVED IT.
◘ That damn strip of red cloth hurt me.
◘ The message that the Cold Peace was the opposite of peaceful and instead brought war.
◘ The disarray within the Council was captured well, and is reflective of political chaos in today’s societies.
“People are terrified. And fear isn’t logical,”
“...and we seek to control what we fear.”

◘ There were two things that took me completely off guard:
1. The whole Thule ordeal was my favourite. It was giving me serious Shrek: The Final Chapter And Gemina vibes.
2. The Cohort’s stunt at the end, Kit’s reveal and corrupt Jace, which set up Wicked Powers.
◘ My darling alternate universe Livvy possessed such bravery, such strength 😭
◘ How actual photographic evidence couldn’t convince alternate universe Livvy that Emma and her brother were real, but Julian’s drawings could. That genuinely made me tear up.
◘ Livvy’s letter to Ty was beautiful, poetic and so very heartbreaking. The “I love you. I love you. I love you.” from Livvy to her twin. A small part of me died and something in that letter just made me sit there and weep like the walking tragedy I am.
◘ The fact that they named the resistance Livia’s Watch 😭 and JULIANS BANNER.
◘ Julian being scared out of his mind and being driven to turn his emotions off.
“What hurts more,” Magnus asked, “the love or the hate?”
“I don’t know,” Julian said.” THAT SCENE.
◘ All of the Blackthorns are growing up, dispersing in their own directions and moving on with their lives, and I feel like that aspect was captured really well. The change felt scary, and very very bitter-sweet, like it does in real life.
“As long as you know home is always waiting for you,” said Julian.”
◘ Michael Wayland, Robert Lightwood’s parabatai. I wasn’t expecting an appearance, but when he showed up at Robert’s funeral it was a tragic kind of wonderful.

Things I disliked:
◘ In Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows, you’d be able to read them without having read The Mortal Instruments while still being able to get pretty much the full effect. But I feel like this book was more dependent on fully understanding the events of the past: The Battle of the Burren, the formation of the Cold Peace, Valentine’s Circle and Sebastian’s history.
◘ Not going to lie, the book made me roll my eyes more than a few times.
◘ I HATE, loathe, abhor, detest, despise the Mark-Christina-Kieran triangle thingamajig I’m sorry.
◘ This has been the case with all of Cassandra Clare’s books, but not every single character (including all of the side characters) needs to have a dramatic romantic subplot or love interest. If we replaced some of that stuff with more page time for Emma and the Blackthorns, I would’ve been a happy camper.
◘ Why do I have to share a name with the Dearborn witch?

◘ “I talked to Jem at the meeting,” Emma said. “He told me he would never do it, never.”
This is a prime example of characters withholding information from each other for the sake of plot convenience.
◘ That flipping parabatai curse and the unoriginality of how it was resolved. Two kids with a forbidden romance and heavenly fire burning within them save everybody with their vast power and are looked upon as angels from then on. Sound familiar? Yup, thought so.
◘ This is a pivotal moment that the entire trilogy has been leading up to and it fell SO so so flat for me. I was expecting something more epic and explosive with more consequences.
◘ “We lost good warriors on the battlefield, but your friends are safe.”
Sigh. Not sigh of relief. Sigh of dismay and incredulity. Cassandra Clare has never liked killing off major characters, but I thought she broke out of that mould with Livvy’s death. But again, everyone survived the battle. It makes it feel like the book lacks stakes, and it’s plain unrealistic.
◘ Yes, I know that we see many tragic deaths in Thule, but that felt like a cop out because all of those characters were alive in their actual world.

More quotes that I liked (there are a lot of them):
◘ “She told me once there is a clock in the hearts of parents. Most of the time it is silent, but you can hear it ticking when your child is not with you and you do not know where they are...”
◘ “Be careful what masks you wear, child,” Nene said, “lest you lose your true face forever.”
◘ “It requires mortality to make art. The knowledge of death, of things limited. There is fire inside us, Emma, and as it blazes, it burns us, and the burning causes pain—but without its light, I cannot see to draw.”
◘ “...but sometimes you wanted to focus on something trivial to take your mind off the apocalypse.”
◘ “Once you dissolve dye in water, you can’t take it back out.”
◘ “He’d always called it her Wall of Crazy, but in a lot of ways Emma thought of it as a wall of sanity,”
◘ “I can’t tell you it gets easier. But it does get steadier; you learn how to live with the new rocking of the new earth, the way sailors gain sea legs.”
◘ “...and I’m worth talking to without pretending I’m something I’m not. And I’m not going to bother with anyone who doesn’t see that.”
Wise words from miss Drusilla Blackthorn.
◘ “It does no one any good to look backward for too long and forget that the future lies ahead.”

◘ “Entreat me not to leave thee,” she said, reaching for the doorknob, “but you’ve left me. You’ve left me, Julian.”
◘ “But I felt it. I was living in black and white and now the color is back.”
◘ “In the club yesterday you talked about the weight on you, crushing you. In our world, your last words were ‘I’ve never felt so light.’  ”
◘ “...but I can’t have Cameron die for the safety of a world that I’m willing to run away from.”
◘ “You are in the cage.”
[…]
“I am in the cage with you.”
◘ “I thought I’d be able to think more clearly, without feelings. But the opposite is true. I can’t think at all.”
◘ “Maybe Arthur had been right. Maybe mercy was better than revenge.”

The majority of the book: Unreserved 5 stars
60-or-so pages during the climax: Dismal, heartbreaking 3.5 stars
Overall rating: ★★★★☆¾

Uhh for anyone still reading this, my condolences. Pretend that I’m handing you a medal.

—————————————
Somebody hold me while I mourn over this trilogy being over. But also nobody touch me or talk to me or glance in my direction or breathe or blink.

—————————————
I have to say that the covers for this series are THE BEST so far.
Also CAN WE JUST FAST FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR THIS TIME? Please? I need this in my life.