Sometimes the most ruthless heart speaks the most truth
It took me awhile to pick this book up, not because I didn’t want to or because I didn’t like Lady Midnight (I read that book twice) but there were no good reasons for it. But the release of Queen of Air and Darkness prompted me to finally read this book.
Book Review: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
Rating:
Title & Author: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Release date: May 23 2017
Series: The Dark Artifices
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Synopsis
Would you trade your soul mate for your soul?
A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners—sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love.
Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden—it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides?
Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and “unsuitable” Nephilim. They’ll do anything in their power to expose Julian’s secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own.
When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows—the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.
I give Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare four out of five hearts because it was an interesting story and it made me want to read Queen of Air and Darkness. Lord of Shadows was very dark and left me longing for the last book in the series.
Julian and Emma get tempted to the extreme. They finally get to show each other how they feel. Julian is tempted by the Seelie Queen who can help him break the parabatai bond between them and their sacrifice would be steep.
I loved the other kids and Kit. They had their own story and their own wishes. Diana, their tutor, finally gets more background story and it was pretty interesting. I wouldn’t mind if there was a short story to come from this.
I think the stories are much better working together than ever and Cassandra Clare is becoming a much better writer.
Let me know what you thought of this book!
If you have any requests for which book I should talk about next, please let me know in the comments down below.
For now, let books enrich your life!