Lady Midnight is the first book in the new trilogy, The Dark Artifices, by Cassandra Clare.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!!
At
this point, I've read 30 of Cassandra Clare's books and novellas and all of
them are about Shadowhunters!
We’re
going to do this again because I wouldn’t want to spoil anyone albeit no one’s
really reading my blog. LOL. Cassie (Cassandra Clare) said that her series or
trilogy can be read independently of each other. Like you don’t really have to
read TMI or TID or TBC or TSA if you plan on reading Lady Midnight. BUT, I
highly suggest and recommend people to read all of it because there are
references in the books that you will appreciate more if you’ve read all of
them.
Let’s
begin with some non-spoilery
thoughts:
So
Lady Midnight takes place 5 years after the Dark War (happened in TMI) in Idris
and follows Emma Carstairs as our new protagonist along with all the Blackthorn
kids. Emma was out and about investigating the death of her parents in order
for her to find who is responsible for their death so she can revenge them.
That’s the basic plot of LM until the plot gets bigger that gives us a very
interesting and rich story Cassie has ever made.
I
don’t usually like Cassie's first book in a series not even with her series of
novellas but this one? I LOVE IT.
The
plot was carefully written and in such a way that readers will not figure it
out – which is always an amazing thing for me when authors can surprise me like
that. I appreciate the world building and how different LA Institute with other
institutes that we’ve known - and the view! By the beach! And of course, the
characters were written beautifully and when I say beautifully I don’t mean
perfect with no flaws but actually the opposite – the characters are flawed,
diverse, and each their own person and contribute uniquely in the entirety of
the story. When I met the Blackthorn kids in CoHF and knew what they’ve been
through and that they’ll have their own book series, I knew right there and
then that these kids will give me so many feels when I read LM/TDA. And yes,
they gave me too many feels. I can’t wait to get to know more about them. Their
story is really intriguing as well the tragedy or the “problematic” story of
their ancestors. The Blackthorn bloodline kind of always caught themselves in a
tragic/problematic situation maybe that’s why they have that family motto: Lex
malla, lex nulla (A bad law is no law).
But
as far as characters are concerned, it’s not just the Blackthorns that are interesting;
there are also new characters that we’ve only met here in LM. Some characters
from the previous books made an appearance as well.
Like
in all of Shadowhunters books, there will always be an element of love, blood (could mean family or death), betrayal and revenge.
I
guess that’s for the non-spoilery thoughts.
Clockwork
Princess and Lady Midnight are my favorite Shadowhunters books to date!
Now,
to the spoilery thoughts and
feels...
**WARNING**
**SPOILERS
AHEAD**
Meeting
Kit, son of Johnny Rook, in the prologue in the Shadow Market
gave me the vibe that we will have more of Kit in the story but I have no idea
how, when or what will be his role in the story - who is Johnny Rook? Why is
Kit his greatest secret? I thought that he’ll be more interested in the
shadowhunters affair or downworlders that he’ll be nosy with his father’s work
and he’ll soon find out the secrets his father were keeping that will help Emma
find the lead to the murders. But, no. That didn’t happen at all. Fast forward
to the ending, we learned that Kit’s real name is actually Christopher Jonathan
Herondale.. WHAT?! That blew my mind! He is the lost Herondale! Descendant of
Tobias Herondale. I thought Emma contacted Tessa and Jem to ask for their help
in Johnny Rook's house I didn't think that Jessa went there by themselves because
they're searching for Kit!
Kit
found new shelter in LA Institute which I means that we will see more of him in
Lord of Shadows. I never knew until I saw on tumblr that people are actually
asking about Kit and Ty’s storyline in the next books. Like, will they become
friends or more than friends? LIKE OMG. I’M SO EXCITED TO KNOW.
Extra
Reading from Cassie's Tumblr Post: Some Kit, some Ty, and some KitTy
One
thing I like about this new series is that Cassie wrote more characters that
are part of LGBT+ and I think it’s a good way to be represented like that. And
not just LGBT+ but also person-of-color like Christina and Diego.
I
side-eye Christina for a good while because she’s a new
character and I don’t know much about her although to be fair she’s not doing
anything that will make me doubt her agenda. It’s just really that I’m wary
with new characters. But it turns out, she’s a good egg and I like that Emma
has a friend she could turn to for some things that she couldn’t say to others
– you know, girly stuff that only girl friends would understand.
The
reason that made her leave Mexico Institute was awful. It’s one thing to be
betrayed and be used by other people but it’s another thing when your best
friend (Jaime) is the one who’s thinking of doing that. She’s also under the
assumption that since Jaime was talking to Diego that night she overhead Jaime,
that Diego was in on the plan. We knew in the later part of LM that Diego
disagrees with Jaime and Christina wasn’t able to hear it. I think Christina is
a great supporting character and I think Emma needs her to be there. Christina
gives some good and sound advice. Will Christina stay in the LA institute or
like how long she’s going to be there before she goes back to Mexico? While
reading some blog posts of Cassie, yes, Christina will still be in LA Institute
in the book. But, when will she sort out what she left behind in Mexico?
Can
I talk about Martina? I like Marktina the first time it’s
offered to us in the story because I feel like it’s a breath of fresh of fresh
air for both of them. It's something new with no expectations of each other and
that would be amazing for all that they’ve been through. But then, Christina
saw Kieran and Mark kiss and I just felt – I don’t know what I actually felt
just that the pull of Kierark feelings for each other is too much and knowing
that they have each other when there’s no one else to be there for them I think
is special in a way. I shift ship from Marktina to Kierark immediately!
Extra
Reading from Cassie's Tumblr Post: Marktina and Kierark Little Snippet from Lord of Shadows
We
met perfect Diego. :D
He
is with the Scholomance which is pretty cool in the sense that it’s new and
it’s implied that Ty would want to go there even though he hasn’t said anything
about it yet. Will Diego tell the whole story to the Council once he gets back
to Scholomance? Can Scholomancer get married and have a family or not? I don’t
know. Maybe since I don’t remember it being a sacred vow or something? I’m not
sure. Don’t quote me.
I
don’t pay that much attention to Diana and I’m not
invested in her character. She's shady though.
I
bet I'm not the only one who trusted Malcolm Fade at first. I
mean, why wouldn't we, right? So far all of warlocks we met are all good people
- Magnus, Catarina, Tessa. We have so much trust to warlocks that we didn't see
Malcolm betraying us. Working behind our backs ordering chosen people to commit
murder. Malcolm was eaten by his own grief that he doesn't care if other people
are getting hurt. He's even doing a dark forbidden magic to bring back the one
he loves, Annabel. He's half demon; I think Malcolm will be back in book 2. Now
that Annabel has opened her eyes. Is she back from the dead or did she just
open her eyes like when Annabel moved when the first sacrifice was successful?
You know, like a twitch?
Extra
Readings from Cassie's Tumblr Post:
This
time we’re dealing with faeries. Tricky little faeries. We’ve met the Seelie
Court before in TMI and here we met the Wild Hunt and the Unseelie Court.
I
never thought we would have Mark Blackthorn back at
the beginning of the book! The Wild Hunt made a bargain with Arthur Blackthorn
to investigate the murders that’s happening in LA because most of them are
faeries or half faeries and for the Blackthorns to agree to investigate the
murders (faeries can’t investigate it on their own because of the Cold Peace.
Supposedly, Shadowhunters should not deal with faeries as well because of Cold
Peace, too) the Blackthorns could have Mark through the duration of the
investigation and when they succeed to find the murderer, they will let Mark
choose to stay in LA Institute or go back with the Hunt. Pretty easy? I think
so. But I’m just glad Mark’s back eventhough what they did to him in the Hunt
was horrible. Mark does not remember them anymore because they aged while he
didn’t and when he got taken away they were all just children. Fortunately,
Mark came through. And stayed! YES. It’s obvious he’ll stay aside from the fact
that we still have 2 books, in his flashbacks, he made it perfectly clear that
he is a shadowhunter and while his mind and body are missing the sky/Hunt, I
still think being a shadowhunter matters to him the most, his family
especially.
Like
I said, I like Kierark. But what Kieran did to Mark and
Julian and Emma was a big thing that I couldn’t just forget although he comes
around in the end. But it’s so sad when Mark was saying goodbye to him and Mark
sees “a great wilderness of loneliness. A thousand dark nights spent riding
with no home to arrive at.” AWWWW
BUT!
We will have more of Kieran in the next book! And that’s a whole lot of
possibilities for both of them. Will Kieran be able to be freed from the Hunt
if say he would like to be with Mark? I don’t know. I hope so. They both
deserve to be happy!!
Extra
Reading from Cassie's Tumblr Post: Marktina and Kierark Little Snippet from Lord of Shadows
The
flogging was probably the hardest chapter to read in LM. It's just too much.
The emotion and the pain and cruelty of it. I'm with them in this agony because
it was taking them too long to decide who will take the whip. For a little
while when Iarlath was whipping Julian, why did Gwyn ask Iarlath to stop? Does
he somehow sympathize with Mark's family? And why didn't he let Mark go to
receive the whip instead of Emma? Hmmm?
Speaking
of Emma.. Is it Emmark or Memma? Lol. I know it's a lie but the freaking book
ended in "Why lie?" said by Mark and like... WHAT?!?!
I
don't like this. Imagine what will happen with the relationship of the Mark and
Julian and all of them. How will it affect them? But Cassie said, it's the only
option for Emma and she would do anything to save Julian and the kids.
Extra
Reading from Cassie's Tumblr Post: About the 'Why Lie?' Ending
I
love all the Blackthorn kids. After all that they've been through at such a
young age, it's admiring and heartwarming to see them quite intact and that the
love for each other is floating in their home. Thanks to Jules! My favorite
Blackthorns are Julian and Ty. I like reading about Ty and how passionate he is
with what he does. I like the confidence and the spirit of the twins. I would
love to know more about Drusilla - it feels like she has less
"airtime" in LM. Tavvy is too young for all this. I love that Tavvy
was the one who figured about the fairytale book. It was surreal but also
amazing!
Extra
Reading from Cassie's Tumblr Post: About Ty and (His) Autism
There
was a funny moment early in the book I think when the twins would play on Mark
and Mark will actually believe them. Like the suit (or no suit) he wore for the
Lottery event. LMAO
LOL
I just remember the kitchen scene with Mark and his siblings. I would love to
read the POV of anyone inside the kitchen that time. Think it's going to be
great.
Julian is the exact definition of an
iceberg. If you're above water all you can see is the small part of who he is
but deep down he's more than that. There's more to him than meets the eye. It's
what I like about him and it's also what makes me scared about him. Like he's
not scary scary but I'm just scared for him for the things he could and willing
to do to keep his family, to save the one he loves. Remember when he's telling
the story about Malcolm Fade and Faeries arrangement with them without making
any party guilty - it's a great skill. A scary one too. Julian's character is the
most interesting I guess. He's strong but he's also gentle and yet he can be
ruthless. What will become of him when he learn about Emma and Mark? Even if
it's fake. I have this guess that Julian will be in dark place in his self when
he learned that. Not really bad, but maybe cold and distant. But they're still
parabatai, so the bond will always be there. How will Emma's choice change them
both individually and as parabatai?
Since
when we (fully) meet Jemma in LM, they're already parabatai and Julian is already
in love with her. I'd like to see some snippets of when they were young and
just enjoying their friendship.
I
was laughing screaming inside the train when I read about Emma having a safe
sex rune. I laughed some more because I remember Jace bringing condom in Edom.
LMAO
It
crossed my mind the question why Emma has a safe sex rune but didn't really
spend much time thinking why really. Is she having sex with other person? Or is
it to help the menstruation cycle? Then yeah, Cassie cleared it that it's
implied Emma isn't a virgin when Jemma did it.
Bonus!!
Extra
Reading from Cassie's Tumblr Post:
I
have a problem with Emma in the early part of
the book. Her strong and badass personality is very familiar in the world of YA
with a girl protagonist not that it's bad it's just it's too mainstream. I also
hope she won't be Clary 2.0. One of the good things about Cassie's books is
that all of the characters have different sound and personality and that's what
happened when I get to know Emma. She is her own person and she loves deeply
and cares even for the people she's not related to. It’s just sometimes her
assertiveness rubs me off the wrong way.
Thank
the lord, previous characters only appeared at the end although they've been
mentioned a few times in the book. I can't when Emma really look up to Jace and
Clary, the greatest warriors of this generation. What the heck. Stop. LOL
To
be honest, I've been waiting for Jem to show up early on. Also Simon because
TSA but I know that this isn't his story anymore. But Jem!! I just want some
Carstairs bonding, give it to me....
The
question all of us have for sure is that: will there be a loop hole in the
parabatai bond? Jem's story is pretty scary that's why immediately Emma came to
Mark for help.
Extra
Reading from Cassie's Tumblr Post: About Parabatai Curse
Favorite
moments:
- When Emma healed Julian using
their amazingly powerful rune that if not for that Julian will be dead
because the arrow that shot him was poisoned. That was also when Emma
started to realize feelings for Julian and Livvy cockblocked them!
- Mark saying goodbye to Kieran
after defeating Malcolm. It breaks my heart.
- Pancake Day. I just love the
simplicity of it.
- Jemma's dance in the lottery.
I'm
so excited for Lord of Shadows! It will be out April 2017!
Extra
Reading from Cassie's Tumblr Post: LoS snippet
Extra
Reading from Cassie's Tumblr Post: Cassie's Upcoming Shadowhunters books
I'm
sorry this is too long! Did you read all of it? :D
tl; dr: I love Lady Midnight and I can't
wait for Lord of Shadows!
What are your thoughts about LM? Did you like it? Why and why not? What's your favorite
part? Let me know!
Thanks
for reading this!
Love,
Kaye
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