Review: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
Published: May 23, 2017
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 701 (Hardcover)
Series: The Dark Artifices #2
Source: Bought
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Would you trade your soul mate for your soul?

A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners—sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love.

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.

It honestly still surprises me how invested I can be with books. While this book wasn't the best thing I ever read, it was still so good and kept me reading even though it's incredibly long and probably doesn't need to be. These books are kind of like my guilty pleasure, but I'm actually not that guilty about enjoying these.

I have always really enjoyed Cassandra Clare's writing style. There are such vivid descriptions and her world is very imaginative with so many parts, but it works so well and doesn't feel like it's too much. I also love that the emotions the characters feel are so real and believable. It's so real that it's easy to feel the happiness and sadness the characters are feeling. 

For the most part, I absolutely adore the characters. I love how strong Emma is, but how she's also vulnerable in ways that make her human. She isn't an untouchable heroine that's hard to connect to because they might be too perfect and I really enjoy that. Julian has to be my favorite character by far though. His love for his family is so sweet and I just feel so much for him. The fact that he can be sweet, but also ruthless is what really makes me love him though.

Another thing that I really enjoyed about this book was the character development for Livvy, Ty, and Kit. In the last book I had complained that the siblings, except for Mark and Julian weren't developed enough. I'm so glad that Kit's point of view was introduced because Livvy and Ty became more central to the plot and less like background characters that were there only when it was convenient. The friendship that develops there is honestly one of my favorites and seemed to work so well.

I really love Julian relationship with Emma throughout this series, but I did get frustrated by them a lot for the majority of this book. Neither one will talk to the other about their feelings because they believe the other doesn't feel the same way and it's just so frustrating. I didn't understand why Emma couldn't tell Julian what she learned from Jem at the end of Lady Midnight. Why she thought that was a good idea I'll never understand.

I wish there had been more of Cristian in this book. She played a very central role for the first half of the book, but she gradually seemed to become less important as the story progressed. I was really interested in her relationship with Mark and Kieran, so I hope there's more about them in the next book. I also thought that this book was very long and probably didn't need to be as long as it is. It wasn't really slow or boring, but there were a few parts that didn't seem entirely necessary.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I will definitely be looking forward to the next one, but apparently that one doesn't come out until 2019. Why is it so far away? That wait is going to be like City of Heavenly Fire all over again. Of course this book had to end on a cliffhanger too.