Lady Midnight - Cassandra Clare

Lady Midnight – Cassandra Clare

Lady Midnight is the first book in the Dark Artifices trilogy from Cassandra Clare, following on 5 years from The Mortal Instruments City of Heavenly Fire book. I do have to say, that i highly recommend, if you haven’t already, reading the Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments series before picking up Lady Midnight. There are a lot of references in this book, and characters history that will really be better understood and the significance of them, if these previous series have been read.

It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadow hunters 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 Shadow hunters’ 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?

Lady Midnight is set 5 years after City of Heavenly fire, and after the cold peace was set in motion. The cold peace was the result of the war, where as a harsh punishment, Fairies were blamed. This resulted in them being cut off, where no help was to be given and no association with Fairies was to take place at all.

We follow our main protagonist Emma Carstairs, at the LA Institute with her parabatai Julian and the rest of the remaining Blackthorn family. Emma is a great protagonist; she is an incredibly strong, bad ass character, but also caring and funny. She has a sass about her that makes her endearing and completely likeable. Emma is a completely dynamic character that is brilliant within this story. Her relationships with the Blackthorn family and Julian, and the responsibility thrown at them to raise the younger siblings, really adds a depth to this story. It really was what helped to make this book as great as it was.

There were a lot of plot lines that were being set up within this first book, which will undoubtedly grow throughout the next books. Some complex romantic interests beginning to develop too, which you can already tell are going to be a major factor in future books.

I did find that this was a slow starting book for the first 100 pages; however this was predominantly filled with character and location building. But from there this became a completely action packed book, something was always kicking off or going down, you were sucked into conspiracies by trying to guess ahead, unravel mysteries and puzzles, the book was deep and so complex with so many sub plots that you couldn’t help but be gripped.

I honestly feel this is one of Cassandra Clare’s best works, with each series her writing develops, and in Lady Midnight this couldn’t be more prevalent. It is a great start to a new series, with even more brilliant and dynamic characters, as well as a few visits of past characters too. Lady Midnight is a great read, and full of action, sass and humour. When turning that last page you are left hungry for more, and in desperate need of book two.

So if you are a fan of The Mortal instruments and The Infernal devices, amongst other works of Cassandra’s, then this book really will not disappoint, and you should pick it up and give it a read.

I have rated this 4.5 out of 5 stars