Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare - MAJOR SPOILERS

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare - MAJOR SPOILERS

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabati is a sacred word. A parabati is your partner in battle. A parabati is your best friend. Parabati can be everything to each other - but they can never fall in love. Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter. She lives for battle. Alongside her parabati, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries - the most powerful of supernatural creatures - teeter on the edge of war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries are found 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 by the faerie Courts. All they 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 parabati to fall in love? Who really killed her parents - and can she bear to know the truth?

Review: I absolutely loved this book. This is the first book in a new series by Cassandra Clare that follows Emma Carstairs as a teenage Shadowhunter. We last saw Emma and the Blackthorn family at the end of City of Heavenly Fire and this book picks up years later when the children are older and are training to be fully fledged Shadowhunters themselves. I think this is Cassandra Clare's strongest first book for a new series - possibly because we already know these characters and the world so well, so we can jump right in to the action. All of the characters that we meet in this book are so well developed and the plot kept me gripped from beginning to end, and considering this is over 600 pages, that's a real feat. In short, I would definitely recommend reading this book. Or any of the Shadowhunter books that Cassandra Clare has written.
 That's all I really want to say in this non-spoilery section so, if you have not read Cassandra Clare's books then you should definitely go and check them out.  

WARNING. THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD...

I want to start with the characters. Emma is essentially a female version of Jace and Will. I'm pretty sure that her levels of sarcasm and snark are worthy of the Herondale name. She really could have been a descendant of the Herondales, although Jem definitely had his moments!
 The whole Blackthorn family in general was so well written. Every character was well developed and had their own distinctive voice and personalities and it was so nice to see them work together, whether it was by solving the mystery of the serial killer or just them having breakfast in the morning. They all have their part to play in the family and, after the events of Heavenly Fire, it was nice to see them having grown up a little bit and to see how they've changed. I loved how Ty challenged Julian, who's suffering from what every parent goes through at some point. He's starting to see that the kids that he's raised essentially by himself, are starting to grow up themselves. They don't need him to do things for them anymore, and he's not ready for that reality yet. I thought those moments where Ty challenged his brother, calling him out on his fears were really sweet. Julian knows that he needs to let his siblings grow, and Ty calling him out on his behaviour showed him that even is he's not ready for his brother to fight alongside him, his brother is ready, and it's not fair for Julian to hold him back.

I was so happy that we got Mark back! The last time we saw him was in City of Heavenly Fire when Jace gave him his witchlight and it was so interesting to see how he had changed in his time with the Wild Hunt, and how he reacted to being back with his family. My heart broke for Mark and the kids when he didn't want to see them, when he thought they were an illusion. It was heart breaking to read. The choice that he had to make, between the Hunt and his family was so conflicting, especially when we realised that Mark and Kieran were together. I hoped that Mark would choose his family but, up until the whipping scene I wasn't sure he would. Speaking of Mark and Kieran, I did actually like them together. They were two lonely boys who were bullied for who they were. Kieran was the prince of the Unseelie and Mark was half Shadowhunter, both were outcasts in the Hunt, though Kieran was definitely taken care of because of his status. While I liked them together, I do agree with Cristina - I think their relationship was based more on debt and loneliness rather than actual love, so I don't think they'll be endgame. Mark and Cristina however - I think they'll end up together.

So much happened in this book! I think my favourite scene was the whipping scene. It showed the family together as a whole for the first time since they got Mark back, and it changed the dynamic of Mark's loyalty to the Hunt when he realised that Kieran had turned him in. I liked how Julian took the whips for his brother, and how Emma took the rest to save Julian. I thought it showed a lot about the dynamics of the family. I also liked Emma's solo mission, when she got swept out to sea and Julian went out to save her, although the scene on the beach afterwards was a little bit weird for me. It seemed strange that two Shadowhunters slept the whole night on the beach and didn't wake up when someone came past. Though what do I know?

I loved the cameo's from all the other characters. We got to see Magnus and Alec (and they're adopted son!), Clary and Jace now run the New York Institute and we got to see Jem and Tessa - I think they were my favourite cameo of them all. I haven't read 'Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy' (although I'm dying to!) but if you have read that then there is a story in that collection called 'The Lost Herondale' and this is continued in Lady Midnight, with Jem and Tessa trying to find the lost child which I loved. I also loved that Jem took Emma in almost by saying he would be Emma's uncle and giving her Church to look after, it was so cute. Church shows up in pretty much every Shadowhunter book - it wouldn't be complete without Church showing up and annoying everyone.
 Speaking of The Lost Herondale, I can't wait to see how Kit reacts to being brought to the Los Angeles Institute. The Herondale Line is growing again and it's going to be interesting to see how many traits he's inherited from his ancestors!

Something is definitely going on with Diana. Her behaviour just screams suspicious BUT I don't think she's going to be like Hodge. I don't know what she's doing or why, but something's going on with her and it's either going to help or hinder the family in the end.

I did not see Malcom being the killer! It came as a total surprise to me. Cassandra set him up to be similar to Magnus - laid back and calm in a crisis and it lulled me into a false sense of security. We trusted Magnus and, since Malcom is Magnus' friend, we can trust him too. Boy was I wrong! I enjoyed the inclusion of the Edgar Allan Poe poem though, and that it all centred around that - it was an interesting idea to use and it really worked and fit in with the book.

As for what is going to happen with Julian and Emma's relationship and Emma's plan to keep Julian away by dating Mark? I honestly don't know how that's going to work out. Badly, probably. I think Julian will fight back against it; he's not stupid, he knew Emma was lying at the end. I think it will be Mark who will be the decider. He likes Cristina and I think that could upset Emma's plan, if his relationship with her continues to evolve. The idea of the bond creating madness in the parabati is really interesting. We don't know much about the bond itself, just that it's rare and sacred. Being a parabati means having your best friend with you in battle, using each others skill in battle. Apart from that, we don't know much else so this is an interesting development. I think Emma and Julian will end up together and that the madness with end up helping them defeat Anabel, who just from those few pages already seems a little creepy.

I think that's all I wanted to discuss about this book. What was your favourite part of Lady Midnight and do you have any predictions about what's going to happen next?

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