Tuesday 19 April 2016

"Lady Midnight" (The Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare

Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices, #1)Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Well, that's it guys - Cassandra Clare has officially destroyed my life. I am obsessed with this series. Obsessed. I need "Lord of Shadows" immediately. How do they expect me to wait?!

I know there are a lot of anti-Shadowhunter people out there that think it's time Clare moved on, that there's nothing else to say about this world - but they are so wrong. So. Wrong. If anything, Clare's series have improved every time - I was a much bigger fan of TID than TMI. But, anyway - "Lady Midnight" is brilliant.

I will admit, I had my doubts - what if this book was just a rehashing of Clary's story? What if there was nothing new or exciting? This book took me completely by surprise, and I am sorry that I ever doubted you Cassandra Clare. "Lady Midnight" had all the components we have come to expect from a Shadowhunters series - fast action, fierce women, angsty romance, interesting characters, and actual diversity.

On that note, something I love about Clare - she has always included LGBT+ characters in her series, and TDA is no exception. This time, she also had Mexican characters, a character with autism and another with a mental illness. None of this representation felt forced, or tokenistic. All the characters were three-dimensional and were never just portrayed as That Character With A Disability™ or That Character Who Isn't White™. Actual diversity that shows minority groups as human beings is (unfortunately) hard to come by, so I adored this.

The plot was definitely a classic Clare "on the edge of your seat" one. It was hard to decide what I loved more - the fighting action or the romantic action. The main mystery in this story definitely did not resolve the way I thought it would and I love a story that takes me by surprise. Though, perhaps one thing that detracted from this novel was it's length - the action would have felt a lot more pressing if it was not disseminated by so much text. But, honestly, the length was not such a detractor that I stopped reading it, or that I felt this novel deserved less than 5 stars.

Do I love Emma and Julian together? Damn right. Do I also love Emma and Mark? You know it. What about Mark and Cristina? You better believe it. I pretty much loved any couple that was even hinted at - except Diego and Cristina. I think maybe because he was not as well fleshed out as the other characters. Either way, this book has so much angst in its romance subplots, I think I could die a happy woman.

Overall, this was another brilliant story by Clare, filled with action, intrigue and romance that was portrayed by diverse, three-dimensional characters. Even though I also recommend her previous books, don't shy away from "Lady Midnight" just because you have not read the previous Shadowhunters books - you can easily follow this book without them as a point of reference. Though, I must say, I would especially recommend this book to people who have already fallen in love with characters in TMI and TID, as some of our favourite characters have cameos in "Lady Midnight".

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1 comment:

  1. Oh man, I need to get on my Cassandra Clare reading. I feel so left out of the club having only read City of Bones.

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