Review: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Hey all, Dani here.

Today’s review is a long time coming. Yes, I know, it took me forever to get around to reading this book. But I figured with BEA and BookCon coming I probably needed to try and read Lord of Shadows so I wouldn’t be spoiled, and to read that one I needed to first read this one.

Anyway, in a fun change of pace for me, I read half the book and listened to half the book on Audible. So my review will be a bit of a hybrid as I talk about both formats.

Summary

In a kingdom by the sea…

In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word.

A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other—but they can never fall in love.

Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries—the most powerful of supernatural creatures—teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge—and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.

Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?

The darkly magical world of Shadowhunters has captured the imaginations of millions of readers across the globe. Join the adventure in Lady Midnight, the long-awaited first volume of a new trilogy from Cassandra Clare.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4.5 stars

I was originally going to hold off on reading this book until I managed to complete a reread of TMI and TID, but with Lord of Shadows release as well as my upcoming trip to BEA and BookCon, I decided I couldn’t hold off anymore. And knowing that I was on a time crunch for finishing a somewhat large TBR stack, I decided to listen to this one instead of reading it. That way I could actually read another book while listening to this one. Yes, I’m a weird person who can focus on two completely different books literally at the exact same time.

For Lady Midnight‘s audiobook, the narrator is Morena Baccarin, which was one of the reasons I was so willing to give it a listen. I watched Morena in “Firefly” and “Deadpool” and a few other roles, so having her talk to me for 20+ hours sounded great. She has a very soothing voice, and while there wasn’t a wide variety in the different character voices, there was enough to differentiate between them.

About halfway through the listen, when I realized I still had 11 hours left in the audiobook, I worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to finish this one and listen to Lord of Shadows before BEA. So, knowing how quickly I read, I picked up my signed hardcover and read for a couple hours while doing the laundry. That ended up cutting about 6 hours of listening time off the book.

Now, for the characters and the story in general. This was an interesting story. It was intriguing to see how the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders act in these years after the Dark War, and especially with how faeries are now treated. The .5 reduction in my rating is simply because there were certain story elements that felt tired and repetitive to me, and not in a “I’ve seen this in so many YA tales” way, but more of a “yeah, this happened in another Cassie Clare book” way. I won’t say more about it because I’m trying to avoid spoilers for those who still haven’t gotten around to this book.

Ty is one of my favorite characters; in fact, I enjoyed the whole Blackthorn family. But I will say that the relationship between Emma and Julian seemed more one of familiarity and comfort, than one of romance and passion. Honestly–and this is just my opinion–I think there is a possibility of a stronger relationship for Emma with Mark. So, I’m curious to see what will happen in the next book with that whole situation.

Also, I’m looking forward to more with Kit, because he seemed pretty interesting to me as well.

Where to Buy

You can pick up Lady Midnight at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore. You can probably also find it at grocery stores or basically anywhere that has a book section in it.