Lord of Shadows By Cassandra Clare

Synopsis:

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.

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

From the three books in The Dark Artifices saga, Lord of Shadows has become the most beloved one to me. It is the crown in a river of gold.

As you have probably already noticed, Lord of Shadows is the second book in the saga The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare. I really recommend that you read my review on Lady Midnight before going into this one.

So… after the end of Lady Midnight (with the iconic quote “Why lie?”) I came rushing to read this book and it was 100% worth the read. This book has the right amount of everything; now that Emma knows the reason why the law that is forbidding her love with her parabatai, Julian, exists, all you desire is to see how they take the information and decide to act upon it. A warning: prepare to find lots of unencountered feelings, intense scenes, and rising tensions among everyone, especially between Downworlders and Shadowhunters.

In this book, I was delighted to encounter new perspectives from different characters, such as Ty, Livvy, Kieran, Diana, and Dru. As in the previous novel, what I loved about the characters is that each of them has their special mark that sets them apart from the others. Emma’s boldness, Julian’s infinite capacity to love, Cristina’s inherent goodness, Mark’s restlessness, and so on. You can see the burdens they carry and how in their own way they decide to cope with it. Every Cassandra Clare’s character will feel very alive as the continuity of the book goes on, since you are able to travel their past, present, and future. You will see in depth everyone’s values and flaws and witness how each interconnects with the other creating their particular personalities. I understood the choices they made because I understood them as people. I have to congratulate Cassie for creating these marvelous characters that I profoundly love.

In addition, this book, as well as every other of this author, has lots of diversity. As you read you will encounter many LGBTQ+ characters and they ARE just as important as every other. You can enjoy how some know their likes from the beginning and are trying to find their partner or some that have already found them, but you will also see how some are still discovering what they want. This book even contains love triangles that are like *chef’s kiss*.

As I have mentioned, Lord of Shadows is my number one in TMI for several reasons— but mainly because you can appreciate Jemma’s (Julian and Emma’s ship name) relationship as more than a love interest. They are also very much individual characters, each with struggles and passions besides the one they have for each other. If I didn’t like Emma so much, I would swear undying love on Julian Blackthorn. This book contains scenes where you are able to dig into Jules and Emma’s Parabatai friendship. You will see why they were best friends and then Parabatai, and understand their choice of becoming so. You learn how they complement each other and witness scenes where they are parabatai goals.

Don’t waste any more time. If you haven’t read this book yet, I am really envying you right now because you have the chance of reading and experiencing it all with a fresh mind without knowing anything from it except that it is phenomenal. And if you have read it already, I ask two things of you:

1. Please comment because I totally love discussing opinions.

2. Will you be my parabatai?