Lady Midnight By Cassandra Clare

Synopsis:

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 Shadowhunter, one in a long line of Shadowhunters tasked with protecting the world from demons. With her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of a secret Los Angeles where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries start turning up murdered in the same way Emma's parents were murdered years ago, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma's chance for revenge—and Julian's chance to get back his half-faerie brother, Mark, who was kidnapped five years ago. All Emma, Mark and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks... before the murderer targets them.

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Cassandra Clare definitely manages to reinforce the fact that she is my favorite author every time she writes a new book.

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare is the first book of the trilogy The Dark Artifices from the Shadowhunter universe. Before you read this saga I recommend that you read her first one: The Mortal Instruments (from now on TMI). This new trilogy, brings up a story set in the Los Angeles Institute five years after the Dark War (a war happened at the end of TMI) where you will encounter forbidden love, lots of new friendships, heartwarming family moments, and obviously shadowhunting and magic.

Before I start I will tell you that everything that Cassandra writes is of inestimable value to me. Every book of hers I have read was absolute gold and this one isn’t the exception. When I first finished it, I wanted to immediately grab the second one and devour it because it is implausible, spectacular, unbelievable, and every possible positive word currently existing. In the first place, I loved getting to know the Blackthorn family. Every member of the family has a very important role and you can clearly see it throughout the book. Everyone contributes to the story with their little grain of sand and even though Helen, the eldest one, doesn’t appear, she is still somehow functional to the plot. You are able to perceive the profound love they all have towards each other and acknowledge it through their actions and the sacrifices they decide to make for the sake of their family. This novel leaves a lasting lesson: family is not only blood but also relationships and bonds; you choose your family every day by the people you choose to take care of. We see that with Cristina, Diana, and Emma, since they gently become members of the Blackthorn family. Even I want to be part of that family! Every moment permeated by this theme made my heart melt. I love them.

Now we can step it up. Let’s talk Romance. It is INCREDIBLE, totally deserving of the capital letters. It is as great as going to a library and finding out that all the books you want are in stock (sorry, bookworm simile!) There are several reasons why I am so vehement on this affirmation. Firstly, the fact that almost every character has romance as a subplot, which could have been messy and overwhelming, but the author manages to excel at executing each narrative exquisitely, profoundly and differently each time. She doesn’t incur in repetition and clichés, and develops them realistically and passionately, each relationship evolving at its own pace and not clouding the plot as a whole.

It is also awesome that we get to enjoy these love stories through everyone’s point of view. My favorite has to be the burning love shared by Julian and Emma. Every second of their unforbidden, outlaw relationship kept me at the edge of my seat, heart pumping and catching my breath. Cassandra Clare’s love scenes are poems in which you try to squeeze every detail in order to consolidate a definition of love— because you know deep down in your heart that when you fall in love you will act and feel the same as Emma and Julian. At least you hope so. Moreover, I believe that the impossibleness of their affair is what kept me reading insatiably… we don’t admit it, but angst is powerful and addictive. We love the bittersweet feeling of complaining for a slow-burn, we do! Another crucial aspect I adored is that the forbidden love trope is completely redefined on the Parabatai terms (Shadowhunter terminology: like a marriage but not supposed to be romantic, like a battle partner and best friend for life only with magic and a bunch of other awesome things) so friendship and trust become recurrent themes in the story. You see how they slowly turn that friendship into romantic love but still never leaving behind all those years of affinity and companionship.

When it comes to the storyline, it is a little bit confusing, since it expands on many topics, nonetheless astonishing. You will have a little bit of demon killing, love, mystery, potions, adolescence, friendship, family, connections to previous novels and much more in one book. Cassandra Clare managed to put that all in one and, even though you will have to make necessary pauses to breathe, you will consume it anyway and savor the process. Everything ties to everything and you will see that each topic has an influence on the others. The story is fluent and, don’t ask me how, alive (Cassandra Clare really adds magic to her books).

All in all, if you haven’t read this novel or any of Cassandra Clare’s masterpieces I really don't know what you are waiting for, you have just read a whole review of the book, so grab Lady Midnight from wherever you can find, because I can hear from my house how loud it is calling for you.