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5 stars! This review will be spoiler free! (but if you haven't read TMI or TID, maybe you shouldn't read this)
Synopsis:
Book one in the Dark Artifaces trilogy starring main characters Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorne. Five years after City of Heavenly Fire takes place, Emma is now an adolescent bent on revenge for the inexplicable death of her parents. A new clue has risen and she has all she needs to pursue a new lead except the blessing of the Clave. With the help of her parabatai, Julian, they delve into the mystery of Emma's parent's murderer, but of course nothing can ever go smoothly. Love, faeries, and even family make things very complicated, but all the more intriguing.
Thoughts:
I'm only slightly upset it took me so long to finally pick up this series because it was so good!! Am I glad I waiting until all the book were out though? Absolutely. I've never really been the biggest Cassie Clare fan, I've been hesitant to pick up her book because usually the first in her series are kinda boring to me, but usually the end pays off right. NOT THE CASE HERE.
Lady Midnight was SO FREAKING GOOD. I was completely blown away by the plot, the characters, once again being in this world, and most especially the plot twists and turns. Clare's writing still has the signature Shadowhunter world vibes that I can't quite explain (but you just know) but she took this first book to a whole new level.
From the beginning I was sucked in. I enjoyed being introduced the the California/Los Angeles institute as well as the Blackthorne family. THE CHARACTERS are the carriers of this series. I FELL IN LOVE with these characters right from the start.
Emma is fire, she's gold, she's brilliance, she's ready to get revenge, but she also discovers so much more about herself.
Julian, my tortured soul little precious baby, deserves all the happiness he can get for all he has been through and continues to go through. He would live and die for his family. He would become whatever he needs for his family even if that person is someone he can't show his family. And I love how morally grey his character can be.
Christina is someone I see myself in and I loved that. I love how relatable she can be, l love that she's Latina, I love that she's bilingual. And I love that she does not impose expectations on anyone. She accepts you for who you are.
Mark is the bit of wild faerie we needed to not only add diverse cast, but also passion and heat and fierceness. His role in this book so far add wonderful contrast to the rest of the mains.
I don't think I need to say much about the world because at this point having read TMI and TID, you know the shadowhunter world. Still, we do get to see more Faerieland and new institutes. The romance was angsty and passionate and real! I was totally behind this sense of "forbidden romance" because the reasoning behind it being forbidden was absolutely believable and everything actually made sense (versus sibling forbidden romance in TMI). The plot was a rush, a whirl, a rollercoaster. I could honestly go back and reread this story and still be surprised by the event that took place I think.
Overall:
THIS BOOK LIVES UP TO THE HYPE.
I would recommend reading this if you haven't already. I want to recommend this to even more people who haven't read TMI or TID yet because it's just that good. I'm not quite sure if you need to have read them? I mostly forgot TMI, I mostly remember TID, but I don't feel like needed to know their events to understand this trilogy. However... You wouldn't quite get all the explanation behind some of the things the "older" characters say because you would just know already from TMI or TID.
Still I think this book is so good it's basically worth it to read even without TMI or TID.
I'm officially a fan again!! I have to read more of her books again knowing that her writing has improved so much.