Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA Fantasy
Blurb (on back of book):
All first editions of Queen of Air and Darkness will include ten black and white interior illustrations, and a new short story!
Dark secrets and forbidden love threaten the very survival of the Shadowhunters in Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness, the final novel in the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling The Dark Artifices trilogy. Queen of Air and Darkness is a Shadowhunters novel.
What if damnation is the price of true love?
Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the disease that is destroying the race of warlocks. Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.
MY OPINION: *****
Cassandra Clare's writing has skyrocketed to PHENOMENAL!
I still remember little me from the beginning of sixth grade, reading The Mortal Instruments series for the first time and laughing at Simon's supposed interest in "rockin' hot bods" and Jace's godliness. I'm sure if I reread the series now, I would find it less enjoyable, mainly because I'm four years older and my expectations in books have risen quite considerably. Back then, everything was five stars but as of late, it's been a while to find a book that has that punch anymore.
BUT CASSANDRA CLARE DIDN'T FAIL WITH THE DARK ARTIFICES SERIES.
My favorite series used to be The Infernal Devices series, her prequels to TMI. I LOVED Will and Tessa and Jem. BUT let's be real: JULIAN AND EMMA ARE THE WAY TO GO.
TDA are even better than TID or TMI and I'm SO happy I've finally finished it. It's satisfying and its length just makes the finishing of them that much better.
EMMA! She's definitely the best protagonist Clare has created thus far. She's both vulnerable AND incredibly brave. She's strong and she's the next Jace Herondale (i.e. BEST Shadowhunter!). I loved her personality and her fiery spirit. I also loved how much she cared about the Blackthorns, her "replacement" family, and did everything she could to protect them. She's loyal and she's selfless. She's willing to do anything if it means that Julian will stay alive and be happy, even if it means exiling herself. There's a moment when she breaks and almost commits the most wicked and selfish deed she could have but Julian is there to pull her out of the haze, thus demonstrating the power of their relationship.
SPEAKING OF WHICH
JULIAN! I frickin LOVE Julian! He's the kindest character that Clare has ever created out of all the male romantic interests, other than Jem (because let's be real, nobody can surpass Jem in kindness). I loved his loyalty and his personality and just everything about him. When his emotions are "turned off" we really get to see what makes Julian so perfect when he's the normal him. His feelings for Emma are beyond powerful and I loved how willing he is to sacrifice himself to protect her and the rest of the Blackthorns.
TY and KIT! I loved Ty. He's definitely my favorite Blackthorn. His unique personality and his differences from everybody else made him stand out. I loved his undying loyalty for Livvy :'( and his determined ability to help everybody around him is remarkable. Kit wasn't my favorite character but I did love how he cared so much about Ty that he pushed away his own feelings to help him. The ending between them was AWFUL though! Also, I loved the cliffhanger that we learn about Kit that I hope will be more developed in some sequel series in the future. WE DESERVED MORE THAN THAT. PLEASE WRITE A SERIES DEVOTED TO THESE TWO. AND MAKE THEM NON-PLATONIC.
DRU! I was so happy to see that we got to see so much of her perspective in this book compared to the first two! This time she was far from pushed aside, though let's be real, I felt bad for her whenever her siblings slighted her. She's committed to helping her family and all she wants is to be recognized in her family and friends.
TAVVY! He's so cute! Also, I love how brave he was at the end, because it was something that I wasn't expecting from him of all characters.
MARK and KIERAN and CRISTINA! I did not expect to ship these three together as hard as I did. I've never previously read about polyamorous relationships but these three were perfect together. Mark definitely has grown from the confused boy from the first book and Kieran has left behind his cold, commanding personality that threw me off in the beginning. Cristina is still sweet and quirky and I would love to read a series devoted to these three as well.
The final battle at the end was the best out of all of the Shadowhunters world. I could really see the events unfolding. I could imagine so-and-so dying or getting stabbed. I really liked how realistic it was, so much so that I felt like I was a bystander off to the side.
The whole parabatai curse thing and how it was resolved felt a little less-developed. I think that Cassandra Clare wrote such a confusing spiral of events regarding Emma and Julian that I think she might never have figured out a real solution to it herself. It felt very forced and random and fortuitous and I would have liked to see more of their relationship throughout the book in general to build up to it.
The writing was perfect. The scenes that were meant to make you feel something made me cry, laugh, scream, and internally die. I also loved the really random snippets of humor from somebody interspersed throughout the book here and there.
ANYWAYS, I LOVED THIS BOOK. I WOULD RECOMMEND TO READERS LOOKING FOR AN ACTION-PACKED ROMANTIC FANTASY SERIES. Although please read TMI and TID before reading this because otherwise, it won't make any sense at all.
Main Character: Julian, Emma
Sidekick(s): The Blackthorns, Kieran, Cristina, Diego, Jaime, etc
Villains(s): The Cohort, etc
Fantasy Elements: This book was based entirely on fanatic elements.
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