Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

Pages: 720
Publish Date: May 23rd, 2017
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471116654
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

Lord of Shadows:

This review will contain spoilers from other books in the shadowhunter world including Lady Midnight which was one of my favourite reads last year. 

If you know me well, then you would know my love for Cassandra Clare’s shadowhunter world. You would know that yes I talk about it a lot and yes I will try and get as many people reading it. You would also know that Lord of Shadows was one of my most anticipated books of the year – if not my most anticipated. And I was not disappointed.

Wow. Wow. I don’t even know what to say. It’s been over 2 weeks since I finished it and I can only breathe now. Lord of Shadows was intense. Beautiful and captivating, but holy – it kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the book.   

Lord of Shadows is set not long after Lady Midnight and continues to follow Emma, Julian and Blackthorn family.  Everyone is still reeling with the events and nearly losing more of their family. Emma and Mark are trying to find their way around each other. And Julian is trying to keep everything together. But, when Kieran needs help, Mark cannot stop himself and the Unseelie King isn’t so nice. Can everyone come together to stand against those that want to tear them apart?

It’s so easy falling back into this series, Lady Midnight is one of my favourite Cassandra Clare books and these characters really hit the spot for me. After the events of book one, I knew that my heart wasn’t going to survive this one and well it didn’t. A lot of the tension was due to the fact that we as readers knew about the consequences of parabatai’s falling in love and gosh it hurt.   

Emma is one of my favourite protagonists from Clare. She has this presence about her that I just want to keep on reading about. To me, she is a mix of Jace and Clary and it just leaves us with such a great character. I really felt for her in Lord of Shadows.  She is living with the fact that she is lying to Julian about her feelings and if they are together what would happen. We really get to see Emma’s vulnerable side and it was both heart-warming and heartbreaking.  

Julian really killed me in Lord of Shadows. We already know that he tries to hide his feelings and what he does for his family, but we really see him struggle in this one. Julian feels all this pressure and with more people at the institute, it’s getting harder to keep secrets. One of the main reasons why I love Julian is his vulnerability; it really shows that shadowhunters are still human in many ways.

I loved the connection that we see between Julian and Emma – they fit so well together and I have no idea what is going to happen in book three between them after Lord of Shadows.

Mark is a sweetheart and if anything happens to him, I will not be alright. Again my heart breaks for Mark. He has already gone through so much and can’t decide how he should feel, who he should trust and who to let in.

People have many thoughts on Kieran and although he has done some crap, I really enjoy him as a character and really want to know more of his story. I felt for him throughout Lord of Shadows.

Christian is a badass and I love her. She has been through so much crap and being with the Blackthorns hasn’t really helped. But, I loved her characterisation and arc through both Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows. We really get to see a change in her and I cannot wait to see where Clare takes her character. 

Can we pause for a moment and appreciate Ty, please. He has to be one of my favourite characters. What I love about Clare is how she is able to incorporate, such a ‘mundane’ thing into the shadowhunter world. We really get to explore more into Ty in Lord of Shadows. That one conversation when Kit mentions autisms and Julian has no idea, worked so well. I hope that Clare explores that more.

Where there is Ty there is Livvy, and man I love her. She is strong and fierce and will do anything for her family, especially Ty. I love that we really get to know Livvy in this one, we get to see what makes her tick and the love that she has for family. I feel that Livvy is the glue that sticks this family together, and more importantly, I think that she really understands Ty and what he needs.    

Can we also please talk about Kit? He is a Herondale through and through. The reader is able to see Kit fall into a world he doesn’t want to be in, but slowly fall in love. He starts acting more like a Herondale and it was so great to see. All these families have been intertwined for so long, that it’s great to see them together again.

I adore the relationship between Kit and Ty and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes. There are so many ways it could go.

We couldn’t have a Cassandra Clare novel without some special appearances. There is a few scenes with Clary and Jace and gosh, after the ending between them in the short story in Lady Midnight. There were so many things unanswered.

Magnus, Alec and their boys make an appearance in Lord of Shadows and it too damn cute to handle. I love getting to know their family so much and my heart will always break for them with everything that they have to go through.  

We also make our way make to the London Institute which I adored. I really loved being back here, seeing some familiar faces and learning some very interesting things. What I really love about going back here is that we are going to find out more soon in The Last Hours trilogy. 

They were so many twists and turns in Lord of Shadows that I didn’t know what to think. They were fantastic, but it kept me guessing all the way.  We are also introduced to many new characters and gosh there were a few that I wanted to go die. Just, please. If you’ve read it, you probably know who I am talking about here.  

Okay, now to talk about the ending. It took me over a week to process what happened. I still don’t want to believe it, but I also know there is no going back. That last chapter was so intense that when I finished the book just fell out of my hands. The ending has changed so much in the shadowhunter world and it’s gotten so much darker. I have no idea what to expect from Queen of Air and Darkness. 

 In regards to the ending, I suggest you check out Cassie’s Tumblr where she answers a lot of fan questions and does go into detail about certain events across all her books. It’s a great way to get some more insight and she may answer some burning questions.

Overall, I loved Lord of Shadows.  I got to fall back into a world that I adore so much, with characters that just make everything right. Lord of Shadows explores the notion of family, friendship, and love. It’s about standing up for what you believe in, being there for the ones that you love. It’s a heartbreaking sequel to Lady Midnight and sets up an intense ending in The Dark Artifices trilogy.  

Have you read Lord of Shadows?  What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading it? What do you think is going to happen next? How excited are you for Queen of Air and Darkness? Let’s Chat!