Hey BookNerds!
Ok, a quick bit of housekeeping. I know I haven’t written in ages. In the beginning it was due to working 60-80hr work weeks EVERY DAMN WEEK. Then, 2 months ago, my father passed away suddenly due to a heart attack. He was an English teacher and my main inspiration for being a reader my whole life. So, as is not surprising, reading completely uninterested me for a long while. My best friend though wouldn’t let me not try though, thanks Thumper! 😉 Even if it was something as small as reading a chapter of a book to him, he kept me reading. Then life calmed down enough, who only works 40hrs a week!? My first book really back into the fray was Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare. Perf! Now that the housekeeping is over, into the review 🙂
BookStats ~
Birthday: May 23, 2017
Author: Cassandra Clare
Page Count: 699
“Emma, everyone’s afraid of something.” Julian moved slightly closer; she felt his shoulder bump hers. “We fear things because we value them. We fear losing people because we love them. We fear dying because we value being alive. Don’t wish you didn’t fear anything. All that would mean that is you don’t feel anything.”
Maybe it was the mental state I was in when I started this book, but I clung to these characters like they were my own life blood. I so appreciated that Clare wrote from varying character perspectives even more in this installment. Because of that I really felt as though my connection to the characters was more intense. Which led to being even more heartbroken or pumped up at varying points in the book.
Let’s talk about the character development. First off, I love how diverse Clare’s writing tends to be. I know the characters themselves tend to be mostly white people, but I love that so many of them are going through different things in life. We have always seen LGB characters since City of Bones. But in this book we get an amazing scene where one character reveals themselves to another about the journey being transgender. Maybe it was just me being blind, but I SO didn’t see that coming. And I loved every word of it. This was, honestly, one of my favorite scenes in the whole book. I love how Clare is inclusive with so many characters. It makes it seem so much more like real life. Although maybe growing up in the Bay Area means my concept of normal life is a bit skewed ;).
Ty’s autism, which seemed pretty obvious in the first book, is brought up even more in this one. I kind of love how another character from the mundane world was so flabbergasted that none of the Shadowhunters had even considered that was his thing. It really brought to light the whole concept of Shadowhunters rejecting mundane medicine thing. Things like mental illnesses or learning disabilities aren’t even something they can fathom. Which is bizarre to this girl from the mundane world.
Even though these are the two I chose to highlight, it doesn’t mean everyone else’s characters didn’t also grow. It was amazing to see Mark adapt to the world even more so, and watch Emma go through her own sense of closure vs non closure after the events of Lady Midnight. It’s not as cut and dry as she had hoped. Christina handles some tough hurdles beautifully and, honestly, seems to have some hot action coming her way potentially ;).
Plot Wise: Luckily this book didn’t fall into the Second Book Slump for me. Woohoo! When it comes to trilogies (books or movies) the second tends to always be my least favorite. It tends to be full of unnecessary expositions and drags. I’m happy to report that Lord of Shadows kept the excitement from Lady Midnight and jumped amp’d it up further. And I always love when Clare’s books actually take us to the Shadowhunter homeland of Idris. That place sounds so beautiful I want to jump inside a sidewalk painting of it Mary Poppins style.
Overall feelings:
Loved it. 5/5. Exactly what I needed to really pull me out of my reading slump. If you enjoyed Lady Midnight, you will not be disappointed!
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