"Lady Midnight" - 5/5

A review of the first installment of Cassandra Clare's third and most recent series, "The Dark Artifices".

Summary

Emma Carstairs has lived in the Los Angeles Institute for as long as she can remember. She trained to become a shadowhunter, saw her parents die, and meet her best friend, Julian Blackthorn, who later became her parabatai and everlasting crush. In order to distract herself from her forbidden feelings for Julian, Emma starts investigating various Fey killings throughout Los Angeles as Julian returns from England with his younger siblings. She gets help from visiting Shadowhunter, Christina Rosales. The Fey situation gets even more complicated as the Blackthorns return sets a series of events that leave the group spinning. Emma, Christina, and the Blackthorn siblings are thrown into physical and emotional turmoil that will either make them stronger, or break them completely.

Positive Aspects

• Plot Structure, Pacing, and Development: While the story has various different points of view, the plot itself is told unilaterally. There is no plot holes and no extra information that bogs the story down. "Lady Midnight" is a large book (over 600 pages), but the pacing is very well done, and there is no drawn out moment that disengages the reader. At the same time, the story develops well through various character point of views that help give the reader different points of the story that another character might not know. For example, Julian's point of view shows the truth about who actually runs the Los Angeles Institute, which is a major point during the end of book (and answers some questions about his Uncle Arthur).

• Subplot(s): The subplots were very nicely written and interwoven into the story. There are various subplots throughout the story, but they aren't overwhelming and actually progress the main storyline. The romance subplot between Emma and Julian is present but not the overall focus of the story. Mark's fae subplot is interwoven well and progress the story overall, while also answering questions about his background from before the book. Julian has a subplot surrounding his uncle and the running of the Los Angeles Institute. There are many other subplots that all tie into the story (I won't reveal these plot lines for they are MAJOR spoilers).

• Character Dynamics: Clare's character dynamics is what really makes this book so engrossing and exciting. The most prominent character dynamic is between Emma and Julian. They start off as best friends and parabatai. However, as the story progresses, their hidden feelings for each other start to complicate their relationship, especially with the parabatai law forbidding them from acting on their feelings. Their entire dynamic moves the plot forward with Emma finding out more about the curse that befalls romantically-entwined parabatai as she tries to figure out who is behind the Fae murders. The other dynamics are more sibling dynamics and friendships. These dynamics are important because they help with plot and character development.

• Character Development: Clare's character development is very subtle, but there. As it is the first book, some characters don't develop drastically as they probably will in one of the later books ("Lady Midnight" is the first of a trilogy). The character with the most character development is Mark. Mark enters the series as a teen that has been separated from his family and has been living with the Fae for several years. He doesn't act human and has a hard time understanding how to interact with his siblings. As the story progresses, he starts to become more comfortable and regains more of his humanity, while also retaining parts of his Fae characteristics.

• Stand Alone: While "Lady Midnight" is a part of "The Mortal Instruments" universe, you do not need to read the first two series to understand the book. While Clare adds in easter eggs for her long time friends, she also sets the book up in a way that will make first-time readers of her books understand the world she has built.

Aspects that Need Improvement

Very rarely, do I not have any criticism for a book. This is one of those times. "Lady Midnight" is truly Cassandra Clare's crowing piece as it takes her experience from her first two series and delivers a wonderful story with no glaring flaws.

Overall, "Lady Midnight" is the best book of her current works, as she has taken her knowledge of what has worked for her in the past and improved upon it.