Review – Lady Midnight by: Cassandra Clare

In a kingdom by the sea…
In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word.

A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other—but they can never fall in love.

Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries—the most powerful of supernatural creatures—teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge—and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.

Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?

The darkly magical world of Shadowhunters has captured the imaginations of millions of readers across the globe. Join the adventure in Lady Midnight, the long-awaited first volume of a new trilogy from Cassandra Clare.

Cassandra Clare never lets readers down with her amazing world building and her uncanny ability to make you fall in love with each and every character. Lady Midnight, is a fantastic installment that chugs right along with the old Mortal Instruments world that we love.

I’ll be the first reader or maybe the millionth to say how much I adore Cassandra Clare’s books. I was so captivated by the Mortal Instruments and the Infernal Devices. However, I have to admit this first installment of this new series let me down. Throughout the book, I felt it was a lot of relationship drama and information building but no big heart stopping moments or eye-opening until the last few pages. Granted, it is the first book and I understand we need to be introduced to the background information but I almost feel it was too much. I wanted more fantasy versus drama.

As far as the characters go I absolutely love our protagonist, Emma. As vain as it sounds, I love the way she looks, her fierceness, her determination, her love for everyone around her who means something to her. There was a lot of viewpoint switching, but I have to admit hers was my favorite. Staying with the ladies, I also adored Christina. Christina is one of those friends you meet that are just truly good to the bone and that’s so admirable.

With the fellas in this book, of course Julian stands out. He’s gorgeous, responsible, and has one heck of a hot name. I really like that between our duo of Julian and Emma, Julian seems to be the more vulnerable one. It’s nice to see that in a male for once. Other than Julian there are a slew of male characters, all offering something different.

With all that being said, there are tons of fantastic moments in this book. I adore the location and constant beach views. I also liked that we get to see more of the faerie harshness and world. Plus, if you wanted romance of all types… this book explodes with it. We also get to see a lot of older characters we know and love which is always a great moment when reading. Plus, the family dynamic in the book just explodes with love and I adore seeing a strong family.

Regardless of the few knocks I have given this book, I still believe it is well done. The ending of this book gives us a few “oh crap” moments right in a row and I’ll be curious to see where those lead to. I will definitely be eagerly awaiting the installment to see what Cassandra Clare has in store next.