Review by Kelly Huang, Teen Reviewer
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
Lady Midnight marks the start of a new trilogy that takes place in Cassandra Clare’s highly-esteemed Shadowhunter world in which Shadowhunters, or half-angel warriors, are sworn to fight demons. Clare’s long-awaited release takes place five years after the events of City of Heavenly Fire and presents a fresh perspective by focusing on parabatai Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn of the Los Angeles Institute. With the discoveries of various bodies of Shadowhunters and faeries who were murdered in the same fashion as Emma’s parents, the Shadowhunters and the faeries enter a tentative but illegal alliance, prohibited by the Cold Peace that they signed after the Dark War. To complicate things, the faeries return Julian’s brother, Mark, as a bargaining tool. However, the faerie world works differently than the Shadowhunters world does, and Mark has barely aged and does not remember his family. To top it all off, Emma and Julian are beginning to have romantic feelings for each other. Being parabatai allows them to be everything to each other but forbids them from falling in love. Emma, Julian, and Mark are only given two weeks to solve the murders, in which Emma discovers secrets of the past and leaves her wondering what is Julian hiding? Why are parabatai not allowed to fall in love? And who really killed her parents?
As a reader who has read all of the previous books in the Shadowhunter series, I must say that this one did not disappoint and was equally brilliant, if not more. Going into this book, I was expecting a repeat of the previous two series, but Clare has truly outdone herself and created another masterpiece. Although the first couple hundred pages were somewhat slow-paced, I found that I could not put the book down as it began to pick up. I really liked how the titles of the chapters were lines of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and I enjoyed how the poem was incorporated in the solving of the mystery. In addition, the characters had complex thoughts and interesting solutions to issues. The action-packed plot combined with the building of relationships between family members, friends, and others made the book extremely intriguing.
Overall, this book was phenomenal. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to read fantasy with a touch of romance. The setting of this book is easy for readers to connect and visualize since it is set in present-day Los Angeles, a spot that many people know. Although it can be read as a stand-alone, I would recommend that potential readers first read one of the other Shadowhunter books before reading this one to get some background. Clare does a beautiful job with this book. 5 stars! -Kelly Huang, Teen Reviewer
Find this book in our catalog: Lady Midnight
Call number: YA SF CLARE,C
668 pages