Review for Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare 
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release: 8th March 2016
Genre: Paranormal, YA
Source: Copy received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review



Synopsis:

"It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.

Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions…

Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?"

Review 
Lady Midnight is the highly anticipated first book in a brand new series set in the beloved Shadowhunter world. This book takes place a few years after the events in City of Heavenly Fire and follows the adventures of Emma Carstairs and the Blackthorn family in Los Angeles.

A lot has changed in the Shadowhunter world since the Dark War. One of the biggest changes is the Cold Peace – a new treaty between Shadowhunters and Faeries after the Seelie Queen sided with Sebastian Morgenstern against the Shadowhunters. The fae no longer have the Shadowhunters protection and their relationship with one another is uneasy.

Still seeking the truth behind what happened to her murdered parents in the Dark War, Emma Carstairs’ investigation leads to a series of new murders targeting faeries. Despite Shadowhunters being forbidden to get tangled up in affairs of the fae, Emma will stop at nothing to avenge her parents and find out who killed them – even if it means risking her own life and those she loves.

Lady Midnight felt like a very different read compared to Cassandra Clare’s previous books set in this world. This book had a lot less action and was more mystery driven. Because Lady Midnight is a massive book it did get slow in the middle and there was a lot of info dumping about what had happened in the other nine books set in this world, which although necessary for new readers, was quite tedious for this old fan.

My favourite thing about Cassie’s books are her extremely likeable and vibrant characters and Lady Midnight was no exception. There are so many brilliant new characters to get to know and fall in love with. My personal favourites are Julian, Ty, Cristina and beautiful precious Mark. We also get to catch up with some familiar faces from both The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices and see where their lives are at now which I absolutely loved reading about.

I’ve always had a lot of respect for Cassandra Clare’s casually diverse characters and that aspect is still present in Lady Midnight. This time Cassie takes a look at Shadowhunters living with autism and mental illness and how they’re treated in the Shadowhunter world. I thought that Cassandra Clare represented both conditions incredibly well and it was so interesting to read about how these characters are treated and how it echoes real world preconceptions.

As can be expected, Lady Midnight is packed full of great romances with something to offer everyone. There is so much ship potential to play around and have fun with as Cassandra offers up a plate full of the forbidden romances and LGBT relationships that she’s famous for.

Lady Midnight ends on a massive high note with shocking revelations and a stunning epilogue that makes you wonder at what’s in store for the rest of the series. With a strong cast of characters, and a plot that hints at so much more to come, I’m looking forward to joining Cassandra Clare on another adventure into the Shadowhunter world.

Spoiler Review/ Discussion for City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Walker
Release: 27th May 2014
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Bought





Summary:

"Darkness has descended on the Shadowhunter world. Chaos and destruction overwhelm the Nephilim as Clary, Jace, Simon, and their friends band together to fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary's own brother. Nothing in this world can defeat Sebastian - but if they journey to the realm of demons, they just might have a chance. Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world will change. Who will survive the explosive sixth and final installment of the Mortal Instruments series?"

WARNING 
This is the sixth and final book in The Mortal Instruments series and WILL contain spoilers not only from the rest of the series but for City of Heavenly Fire itself. It’s starting to become a bit of a thing where I review the last book in a favourite series with spoilers so that I can freely share all of my thoughts and feelings and find out what you guys thought too.

Review/Discussion
The Main Story/ Characters:-
I have to start off on a not so positive note here and say that plot wise I don’t think this is the strongest of Cassie Clare’s books. I honestly felt that the main story was dragged out to fit in Emma and Jem’s stories. The Middle was quite slow for me and I could have done with a couple of hundred pages being edited out.

It felt like it took a long time to get to the crux of the story with The Clave messing around making dumb decisions and twiddling their thumbs at the beginning (seriously, why are they even in charge?) And then towards the middle it felt like we spent a lot of time traipsing through hell looking for Sebastian. I personally would have liked a tighter, snappier plot. It felt like in the end when it came to these characters and their story there wasn’t really much more to tell and we were covering old ground.

Emma and the Blackthorns:-
I really enjoyed getting to know Emma and the Blackthorn family. City of Heavenly Fire basically acts as a prequel to Cassie’s new series ‘The Dark Artifices’ and I really like where this series is heading. I really liked Emma and this book certainly set up a lot of drama for her with her parent’s murder, hints at a future war against faeries, and Emma planning on becoming parabatai with Julian.

Is it just me or is anybody else under the impression that Ty is Autistic? I have two family members who have Autism and he seemed to have a few of the traits. If this is the case I think it will be fantastic to have a Shadowhunter with Autism. We need more books featuring characters with disabilities without them being “issue books”.

Jem and Tessa:-
And so we come to my favourite part of this whole book. I am a HUGE The Infernal Devices fan so basically any mention of the Carstairs and Herondale relationship and I was a blubbing mess. I loved that Jace was the one who turned Brother Zachariah back into Jem and again found that very fitting for the Carstairs/ Herondale relationship.

Tessa and Clary’s chat at the end of the book made me so happy and I thought the whole Fairchild + Gray = Fray thing was pretty cool. I wonder how long Cassie has been planning that one!?

In our UK edition we get a The Infernal Devices comic strip of Tessa and Jem’s wedding and I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed and basically re-lived my intense The Infernal Device feels over a few pages. Even though it wasn’t an actual part of the book I couldn’t *not* mention it because it was so beautiful.

I really loved how many nods Cassie Clare gave to The Infernal Devices and the characters and how she showed that no one is every really gone through them. I can’t begin to explain my joy when I read that Jem and Tessa are off to LA so there’s a very big possibility that they’ll feature in ‘The Dark Artifices’. Hurray!

My Favourite Moments:-
• Jocelyn holding Jonathan as he died.
• Simon saving Izzy and drinking Alec’s blood.
• Jem stealing Church.
• Simon naming his band ‘The Mortal Instruments’ and remembering Clary.
• Seeing the characters ‘hearts desires’ in the demon world.
• That gorgeous Epilogue. Seriously Cassandra Clare is the queen of beautiful endings.

Overall although City of Heavenly Fire was not my favourite Cassandra Clare book I was still really happy with the ending and am really looking forward to ‘The Dark Artifices’.

What did you think of City of Heavenly Fire?

Spoiler Review/ Discussion on Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare 
Publisher: Walker
Release: 19th March 2013
Genre: Steampunk, Paranormal Romance, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 5/5 stars
Source: Bought

Goodreads Summary: 

"Tessa Gray should be happy - aren't all brides happy? Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her."

WARNING 
This is the third and final book in The Infernal Devices trilogy and WILL contain spoilers not only from the first two books but Clockwork Princess itself. I usually don’t write spoiler reviews but could not review this book any other way and I found it therapeutic to get my feelings on what happened out there. In short Clockwork Princess was INCREDIBLE go read it and then come back and discuss, okay?

Review/Discussion 

"“You know that feeling,” she said, “when you are reading a book, and you know that it is going to be a tragedy; you can feel the cold and darkness coming, see the net drawing tight around the characters who live and breathe on the pages. But you are tied to the story as if being dragged behind a carriage and you cannot let go or turn the course aside.”" ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess 

A lot of people rave about The Mortal Instruments series and whilst I do enjoy those books The Infernal Devices is one of my favourite series of all time and so I was anxious and excited for Clockwork Princess and was literally counting down the days on my calendar for this final instalment. I raced through this 568 page monster in less than 48 hours and by the end my eyes actually hurt from all of the tears I had shed. Happy tears, sad tears and tears of pure grief over this series ending.

On Plot, Mortmain, and Links to The Mortal Instruments:-
Clockwork Princess is one of Cassie’s more slower paced novels plot wise. Instead of lots of action and fight scenes the book is very emotionally driven and the focus is mostly on saying a final farewell to these beloved characters. I kind of wished the take down of Mortmain was longer, all of these books were building up to this twisted villain who in the end got snuffed out like a bug. However I was really happy that Tessa was the one to kill Mortmain it was so ironic and felt so right. When Tessa changed into her Angel I literally gasped, I didn’t see that one coming at all and although I was expecting a bigger final battle it was a fitting end to Mortmain.

One of the things I love about this series is the foreshadowing Cassandra Clare does for The Mortal Instruments. In this book we find out that Henry and Magnus actually created the portals which I loved. We also find out how Church ends up in New York and Magnus’s comment on all Lightwood’s looking the same had me in stitches! One thing I did pick up on that I haven’t seen anybody else comment on was how Clary’s middle name is Adele. Clary and Adele (Tessa’s mother) were both Shadowhunters who were brought up as Mundanes and I wonder if Cassandra Clare intended to give us a clue to the Adele story-line by the use of that name. Its little details like this that I absolutely love about the books set in this world. Cassandra Clare’s world building is so rich and detailed.

On Characters, Relationships and Teams:-
It was so hard saying goodbye to the characters in this book; I love all of them so dearly! Charlotte was such a bad ass and I absolutely loved her strength. Henry was adorable and I loved his friendship with Magnus in this book – finally somebody who gets his genius! Sophie and Bridget were courageous and loyal and Cecily was a wonderful new character who reminded me so much of Isabelle! I loved Will and Cecily’s relationship and how protective Will was of his little sister. I also grew to really love the Lightwood brothers in this book as they struggle between family loyalty and doing the right thing. I was so pleased with who everyone ended up with and that everybody got a happy ending – hurray to not killing anybody off! I’m really going to miss this family of the London Institute.

Of course this series wouldn’t be what it is without our beloved trio Will, Jem and Tessa. I’ve never been purely Team Will or Team Jem. I wanted both of them to be happy and loved both boys so much. I always wished that there was a way for Tessa to be with both of them but couldn’t see how that would work so I was mighty impressed that Cassie found a way to make that happen. No matter what team you’re on I feel like both sides have their share of heartbreak and happiness in this book.

“Most people are lucky enough to have even one great love in their life. You have found two.” ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess 

What blew me away about Clockwork Princess and what made this book so phenomenal in my opinion was the complexity of our trio’s relationship. Will and Jem are like two halves of a whole – literal soul mates. Their relationship was really well explored and described to us in this book and I consider their friendship up there with the greats like Harry, Ron and Hermione and Frodo and Sam. Cassandra Clare made me feel and understand their relationship and what it means to be Parabatai. To my surprise Jem and Will’s relationship became the most important relationship to me in this series. Their heart to hearts was the source of most of my tears over Clockwork Princess.

On THAT Epilogue:-

“They say you cannot love two people equally at once,” she said. “And perhaps for others that is so. But you and Will—you are not like two ordinary people, two people who might have been jealous of each other, or who would have imagined my love for one of them diminished by my love of the other. You merged your souls when you were both children. I could not have loved Will so much if I had not loved you as well. And I could not love you as I do if I had not loved Will as I did.” ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

I know that the epilogue is causing a lot of conflict between the fandom especially for Will fans but you know what guys? No one would be happier with that epilogue than Will. It’s that simple. I personally LOVED the epilogue. I LOVED that both boys got to be happy with Tessa in their lifetimes. There is NO WAY that Will would want Tessa to live out eternity a lonely, grieving, widow and he would be so happy that Jem and Tessa had each other. And I’m sorry but if you think otherwise do you really know Will Herondale at all!? Have we even been reading about the same character!? I can seriously imagine him doing a little jig and singing a song about it up in Shadowhunter heaven. I, unlike a lot of readers, didn’t feel like either love belittled the other but instead created something special, something greater. I think that Tessa, Will and Jem’s circumstance is a unique one that required a unique ending I don’t think a lot of authors could have pulled that epilogue off but for this story it worked beautifully.

Overall Clockwork Princess was a phenomenal if bittersweet ending. I usually hate love triangles but Cassandra Clare has created the ultimate triangle in The Infernal Devices one of respect, love and loyalty that runs from angle to angle between all three characters. I’m now going through a mourning period over the end of what has become one all my all-time favourite series. Clockwork Princess was a masterpiece of a conclusion and The Infernal Devices will always hold a special place in my heart.

“Every meeting led to a parting, and so it would, as long as life was mortal. In every meeting there was some of the sorrow of parting, but in everything parting there was some of the joy of meeting as well.” ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess