Review: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

 

Goodreads Overview:

The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.

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:

I've read the first 3 books in the Mortal Instruments series and loved them. I will likely read the rest of that series, but book 3 had a nice conclusion that I was happy with and I didn't feel like taking on the next 3 books in that series yet.

Lady Midnight was an exceptional start to a spinoff series. I absolutely loved Emma and Julian and enjoyed seeing how Mark reacclimated into the Shadowhunter world after his time with the faeries. We have another star-crossed lover situation that reminded me of the Jace and Clary relationship in the Mortal Instruments. Emma and Julian are not related, but they are parabatai and are forbidden to have a romantic relationship by the Clave.  They are both struggling with their feelings for each other and why the Clave has this law in the first place.

Emma has been investigating the murder of her parents for years and comes across her first solid clue at the beginning of this book. There are a series of murders that appear similar to that of her parents and she will do anything to uncover the truth. The truth was not what she was expecting and hit much closer to home than any of the Shadowhunters could have imagined.

We are introduced to Christina and Diego, who are Shadowhunters from Mexico City. Christina came to live with the Blackthorn's for a year and becomes good friends with Emma. "Perfect Diego" is Christina's ex-boyfriend, but we aren't exactly sure why they split up and she decided to leave Mexico City  That was a mystery for the majority of this book. 

Jace and Clary make an appearance in this book, which I was excited to see. We discover what they have been up to since the end of the Mortal Instruments series. We also received updates on several of the other characters including Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabella. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this action packed adventure and gave the book 5 stars. I would recommend reading at least the first 3 books in the Mortal Instruments series before starting Lady Midnight. It probably isn't completely necessary, but there are a lot of references to what took place in the Mortal Instruments. In addition, it will provide a solid foundation of the Shadowhunter world without jumping in head first.