Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare | Book Review

Title: Lord of Shadows

Author: Cassandra Clare

Series: The Dark Artifices #2

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry

Publication date: May 23rd, 2017

Pages: 701

My rating: 

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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.

“That was the worst thing: that he was right, that they still worked together as parabatai. As warrior partners. As a matched pair of soldiers who could never, ever be parted.”

Holy guacamole, what a sequel! I told myself I should wait a little bit more to read it because Queen of Air and Darkness isn’t out until December, but I just couldn’t wait. I needed to know what was going to happen in Lord of Shadows, and now I can officially say I’m so down for the last installment in the trilogy.

I would say I enjoyed Lady Midnight a bit more than Lord of Shadows, because I feel this was a bit heavier, whereas in the first book there were more innovative elements, but still I think it was an amazing sequel and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

“A dark time is coming for Shadowhunters. A terrible time. Their power will be crushed, their might thrown down into the dirt, and their blood will run like water through the riverbeds of the world.”

I think my favorite part of the novel was the relationships forming and developing throughout the story. Not only I got to know more about some characters that were pretty mysterious in Lady Midnight, but also I just adored their interactions and dynamics. I love Mark incredibly much, so it was so nice to read more about him and his back story, since this installment was a bit more focused on him and Kieran.

Also, am I the only one who thinks there would be a polyamorous relationship between Christina, Kieran and Mark? Because I’d be completely down for that. There were some snippets here and there in the story that made me believe that, and I think it’d be awesome if Cassandra Clare ended up doing so, because I feel there aren’t many polyamorous romances in the YA genre.

It was amazing as well to read more about Ty, because not only he was such an adorable character and a cutie pie, but I think he’s an incredible character that needed more attention, so I was beyond happy to see that he became more important in this installment.

“Heroes aren’t always the one who win. They’re the ones who lose, sometimes. But they keep fighting, they keep coming back. They don’t give up.”

One of the only reasons why I’m not giving it five stars is that I feel at times it was a bit too slow for my liking. I don’t usually mind slow pacing stories, but there were some parts of the book that nothing was actually happening, whereas others were very fast paced and action packed.

The book itself, despite being around 700 pages, was super easy to read, which actually surprised me. I read it in two days or so, and it took me out of the reading slump I was by that time, which was amazing. And that ending was shocking, and I cannot wait to read the last book in the trilogy and finally know if all my theories were right or not!

Overall, I would say this was an awesome sequel, and though it was not as good as Lady Midnight, it still was such an incredible book with lots of action.

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