Lord of Shadows (Dark Artifices, #2)

by Cassandra Clare

Sunny Los Angeles can be a dark place indeed in Cassandra Clare’s Lord of Shadows, the sequel to the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Lady Midnight. Lord of Shadows is a Shadowhunters novel.

Emma Carstairs has finally avenged her parents. She thought she’d be at peace. But she is anything but calm. Torn between her desire for her parabatai Julian and her desire to protect him from the brutal consequences of parabatai relationships, she has begun dating his brother, Mark. But Mark has spent the past five years trapped in Faerie; can he ever truly be a Shadowhunter again?

And the faerie courts are not silent. The Unseelie King is tired of the Cold Peace, and will no longer concede to the Shadowhunters’ demands. Caught between the demands of faerie and the laws of the Clave, Emma, Julian, and Mark must find a way to come together to defend everything they hold dear—before it’s too late.

Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black and Sarah J. Maas.

Also by Cassandra Clare:

The Dark Artifices:
Lady Midnight
Queen of Air and Darkness

The Eldest Curses:
The Red Scrolls of Magic
The Lost Book of the White

• ISBN10: 1471116654
• ISBN13: 9781471116650
• Publish Date: 23 May 2017 (first published 11 April 2017)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 24 November 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Childrens Books
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 720
• Language: English

Reviews

"Fiction is truth, even if it is not fact. If you believe only in facts and forget stories, your brain will live, but your heart will die." (Arthur Blackthorn)

Lord of Shadows might just be the best book that Cassandra Clare has ever written. I love the protagonists, I'm on board with all the romances, the plot is gripping, the themes are so relevant and I didn't mind all the angst.

THE CHARACTERS
Here are my thoughts about some of the characters:

★ Emma Carstairs. I couldn't connect with her in Lady Midnight, but she has won me over in Lord of Shadows. She's kind and compassionate, but she's also a badass warrior who'll go through the most to protect the people she loves. She's such a legend. I can't fathom anything more legendary than killing a Rider of Mannan AND breaking the Mortal Sword.

★ Julian Blackthorn. I don't understand why the other characters see an association between Julian and gentleness. The only people that he's gentle towards is Emma, his siblings and the people that his siblings care about and everyone else is fair game. He's manipulative and ruthless and the narrative makes him seem like a good guy instead of an anti-hero. He's a multifaceted character.

★ Mark Blackthorn. I love Mark, but his character arc is quite romance heavy and he doesn't go through much character development.

★ Kieran. Kieran is going through the most in Lord of Shadows and I've warmed up to him.

★ Christina Mendoza Rosales. She's my favourite Shadowhunter in The Dark Artifices series. She's sweet, kind, compassionate, strong mature, and understanding. She's figuring out what she wants from life and I love her.

★ Livia Blackthorn. I adore her protective nature, but I never got a sense of her personality and now I never will.

★ Tiberius Blackthorn. I appreciate that a character on the autism spectrum has such an important role to play in Lord of Shadows. Ty is an amazing character.

★ Christopher Herondale. Kit is finding it extremely hard to forget about his criminal background and I adore his sarcastic Herondale humour. I also appreciate his viewpoints about Shadowhunter life.

★ Drusilla Blackthorn. I didn't get a sense of her personality either.

★ Octavian Blackthorn. The poor child has been through so much.

★ Diana Wryburn. I love her!

★ Gwyn. I love his sense of honour and his awkward romantic guestures.

★ Magnus Bane. He's still sassy and awesome and I love seeing him and Alec being parents.

★ Alec Lightwood. I'm so proud of him!

★ Annabelle Blackthorn. She's experienced pain and torture that no one should ever experience and that doesn't excuse her actions, but I feel so sad for her.

★ Zara Dearborn. If I never have to hear about her again, it will be still be too soon.

THE RELATIONSHIPS
I love the Blackthorn family dynamics and their unbreakable love and devotion. I also love the friendship that develops between Emma and Mark and the friendship that has existed between Emma and Christina from the beginning.

The forbidden romance aspect between Emma and Julian is a little repetitive, but it's so evident that they belong together. The risks of being together and the angst between them adds to the pain and heartbreak.

The love triangle between Mark, Kieran and Christina is giving me conflicting emotions because I feel like they'll all be perfect together and from what's going on in Lord of Shadows, I feel like that's what Cassandra Clare might do.

Livvy, Ty and Kit become a team and a friendship/subtle love triangle develops between them. I love how Kit tries to understand Ty and is always there for him.

I also love the relationship between Diana and Gwyn and Helen and Aline.

THE PLOT AND THEMES
Lord of Shadows deals with Faerie politics and the Cold Peace. I enjoyed reading about The Unseelie Court and The Seelie Court in all its glory. There's also questions and mystery surrounding Annabelle and Malcolm as the Blackthorns race against time to find The Black Volume of the Dead before the Unseelie King can get his hands on it. I love how everything comes together.

Lord of Shadows also deals with prejudice and hate towards people who are different and there's so many real world parallels. It's sad, terrible and frustrating to read about.

THE HIGHLIGHTS
★ Emma's sassy one-liners especially when she's in battle.
★ Julian threatening powerful people with weapons.
★ Emma calling Perfect Diego Imperfect Diego.
★ Every single sarcastic comment that Kit makes.
★ The London Institute.
★ Jessamine's ghost.
★ The letter that Ty wrote to Annabelle about Julian and the fact that it almost reduced Julian to tears.
★ That time Diana put Zara in her place.
★ That time Alec put Zara in her place.
★ Actually ALL the times someone puts Zara in her place.

THAT ENDING
The ending of Lord of Shadows is extremely intense. I could feel all the confusion, hate, anger, pain and chaos. However, I wasn't affected by the characters who were directly affected by the events that occurred. I was affected by the characters who were indirectly affected by what happened to the directly affected characters. When Robert dies, I was worried about Alec. When Livvy dies, I was devastated because of Julian and Ty's reaction and the fact that Ty is going to hurt so much. That symbolism of the clock chiming to signify that Livvy's in heaven though... So powerful!

QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS THEORIES

★ The warlock, Shade, that Kit, Ty and Livvy meet at the Shadow Market is Ragnor because of the green skin.
★ The boy that Dru meets in Faerie is Sebastian's and the Seelie Queen's love child.
★ The Cohorts are involved in the creation of the warlock sickness.
★ Annabelle is going to be a fantastic villain.


I can't wait to read Queen of Air and Darkness because if there's one thing that Cassandra Clare knows how to write, it's finales.

"Everything went. Happiness went, and so did loss and pain.
Everything but love."
(Julian Blackthorn)

[Sam@WLABB]

Is Cassandra Clare serious with that ending!!! An already tragic story took and even more tragic turn. I need the next book pronto.



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[Artemis]

I had a copy of this also from said friend and again it’s the same recycled story. Lord of Shadows lacked the sophistication that Clare managed to capture in the Infernal Devices. She had way too many plot lines and seemed to focus on developing a complexity that she couldn’t match in pace or style for this sequel. If I end up reading anything else in this drawn out series I will be surprised in myself.

[angelarenea9]

the politically correct cherry I a crappy series.

[anne]

I felt like I had read this book before for most of it. So, do not expect anything too different, but on the other hand I still read it very quickly and enjoyed it. Not much sass unfortunately. Ending very sad.

[justine_manzano]

I can't even say much about this in review because of spoilers, except my heart is broken from the ending, and I needed the sequel YESTERDAY.

[Brianna]

That ending though! I don't wanna wait till 2019 for the next book 😭😭 THIS DESERVES ALL THE STARS EVER

[thebookdisciple]

I waited a year for Lord of Shadows after Lady Midnight left me hanging! Cassandra Clare is one of the few authors I will endure cliffhangers for. And the audio versions of these books are PERFECTION! Seriously, this one is voiced by James Marsters. SPIKE!!!! (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I have always loved him.

Now, you MUST read these books in order. So, if you haven't read Lady Midnight, stop reading this review and go read the book!

Lord of Shadows picks up right where Lady Midnight left off. Emma has learned about the parabati curse and turns to Mark for help. This book has a LOT going on. We are jumping from place to place and person to person as everyone has something happening. And it turns into a rubber band ball of relationships. Its not a triangle or even a square at this point. Its a giant, tangled mess! So, I am going to break this down by groups of people and what they were up to in Lord of Shadows:

Emma and Julian: These two are killing me. Julian doesn't know about the curse. He thinks Emma just doesn't want to be with him. Awkward. Eventually her ruse with Mark comes to an end (because he is involved in his own love mess!). Both of them dance around each other and never talk about anything important. I wanted to knock their heads together because they weren't acting like Emma and Julian. But, man, Julian is super swoon worthy. I love that Emma is the more powerful shadow hunter and Jules is more the thinker and artist of the two. Their time alone in Cornwall was awesome ;)

Mark, Cristina, Kieran: Oh Mark. So, Mark goes back to Farie for a trip to save Kieran with the help of Emma, Julian and Cristina. This leads to a bit of love entanglement between Mark and Cristina. Then you add in Kieran, who doesn't remember the horrible things he did to Mark and the gang, and it gets messy! However, after making a deal with the Seely Queen, they need Kieran's help, so Mark is put in an awkward position. I so flipping love Cristina!!! So, perfect Diego is back and when the centurions arrive, so does his fiancé!! Yep, he is engaged to Zara, who is probably one of the most unlikeable people on the planet. Cristina is crushed but then....Mark. But Mark still has feelings for Kieran. See what I mean about confusing rubber band ball of love?

Ty, Livvy, and Kit: These three really grew on me. Kit was so bitter and overwhelmed with his new reality that he was difficult to warm up to. But, seeing the bond form between him and Ty (who is one of my favorite characters) was so great. The three of them really complemented each other well and were truly a 3 musketeers kind of group. They are getting older now and starting to stretch their shadowhunter wings so to speak, so they get into some trouble (which leads to a savior in the form of Magnus Bane!). But, then tragedy befalls them that even Magnus can't save them from. I didn't expect it and it was more painful than I imagined.

Dru: So, prior to this, Dru has always just kind of 'been there' like Tavvy. But, we get to know her a bit more in Lord of Shadows and I think she is my spirit animal!! This girl is ME! She is insecure about her weight, people always make her feel bad, her siblings don't value her abilities beyond taking care of Tavvy, and she is kind of invisible. As she opens up and gets more involved I feel harder for her. I wanted to swoop in and hug this girl. She forms a secret friendship with Jaime when he appears at the institute in London.

Diana and Gwyn: Gwyn is the leader of the hunt and he seeks out Mark's help, then later, Mark seeks out Gwyn's. Gwyn is taken with Diana though and a weird kind of bond is formed. Diana is hiding some things in her past and for part of the story, she is in Alicante to get support for the plan Julian made with the Seelie Queen.

Vague enough? I don't want to spoil everything, but if you want spoilers, just message me! I know some people need to know before they read so they can prepare.

I cannot stress this enough: the audio is fabulous! James Marsters does a phenomenal job. The voices are exquisite and so engaging. The audio is over 24 hours long, but I loved every minute of listening to his voice. I was so sucked into this world because Marsters provides such a rich experience. Truly, he is performing the book. I don't know how Cassandra Clare picks her narrators, but she is 2 for 2 with the Dark Artifices series! Amazing!

 

• POV: 3rd


• Tears: at the end, yes


• Series/Standalone: series (read in order)


• Cliffhanger: hell yes! 

Books by Sarah J Maas, Victoria Aveyard, Veronica Roth, Jennifer L Armentrout...then you will probably like Lord of Shadows!!

Lord of Shadows

See full review on The Book Disciple

[liz089]

It is hard to describe how amazing this book was, because this one was gorgeous beyond words.
She never seems to disappoint and gets better with every book.

I LOVE the Shadowhunter world, to get back into it and feel like I'm home again.

I LOVED this novel so much, it is just a complete package, a story full with action, intrigue, mystery, love, family and a great plot that keeps surprising me.
It is not just one or two characters you fall for, but an entire book full with great characters that you grow to love. The whole Blackthorn family, Emma, Cristina, Diana, Kieran and other, well-known characters from the previous books find a way to your heart and hold on to it.

And that ending ? Heart-breaking !!!

And now ?? WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR TWO YEARS. TWO YEARS PEOPLE !!!! Wish it was 2019 already..

If it was possible I would give this one 10 stars XD So great !!!

[Chelsea]

Actual rating - 3.5

I was a big fan of all the diversity in this series but I was a little disappointed that this seems to be one of those series where everyone gets paired up. It would have been really great if Kit and Ty for example could have just been best friends.

Plot wise, this book was a little better than the first but there was a big chunk of pages in the middle of the book that were pretty boring and it didn't really do much to the story. The beginning was really good and the ending was horribly sad but I could have skipped the entire middle and still been fine.

I really hope the next book does better because I really did love the first 3 books of the Mortal Instruments and it holds a special place in my heart. I keep hoping her other series will live up to it but so far I've mostly been disappointed.