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Warning: the following contains spoilers for previous books of Cassandra Clare including The Mortal Instruments series, The Infernal Devices trilogy, all the short stories, and Lady Midnight.

Would you trade your soul mate for your soul?

A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners—sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love.

Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden—it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides?

Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and “unsuitable” Nephilim. They’ll do anything in their power to expose Julian’s secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own.

When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows—the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.

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“The bad things can’t matter more than the good things”

I CAN’T I CAN’T HOW DO I MOVE ON I CANNOT EVEN THIS WAS FANTASTIC OH MY GOSH!! This book is all I talked about for five days with one my best friends who I was reading this with (she’s over @ Empire of Starlight. I’m mentioning her because some of the points I made in the review are because of our conversations).

*deep breath* *deep breath* How do I write reviews again?

Cassandra Clare books get better and better with each installment and I didn’t think it was possible after the wonder that was Lady Midnight but this BLEW ME AWAY. So many things happened! The plot was intricate and complex and engaging from beginning to end. And Clare once again delivers a book with eight thousand main characters all of whom I loved and cared about. Very few authors can pull of multiple main characters with such ease.

The book starts off a few days after the events of Lady Midnight. Emma and Mark are now pretending to be dating because Emma found out about the parabatai curse. Cristina is back together with perfect Diego. Julian is being a trooper with the Mark and Emma thing because he thinks they truly care about each other. Kit is trying to adjust to living at the Institute and still isn’t sure if he wants to be a Shadowhunter.  

Meanwhile, there are Centurions coming to the Los Angeles Institute because of a sea demon uprising after Malcolm Fade died. Some of the Centurions you’ll recognize if you’ve read Tales from the Shadowhunters Academy.

The plot is so interconnected, it is hard not to give away anything. It was an incredible ride. The characters all grow as people. What surprised me most was how much I came to care about Kieran. And Kit, Ty, and Livvy are a great trio and I loved their chapters the most. All the Blackthorn children are just precious and perfect little gems.

Julian, oh Julian. He is a Slytherin perfectly disguised as a Hufflepuff. He really does have a ruthless heart and you get to see that side more and more in this book. He will do anything for his family and when I say anything, I do mean anything. The world and everyone else can burn to the ground if it means his family and Emma are safe. He doesn’t understand that there are some lines you cannot cross.

There are of course mentions of other characters from the other series. Four of them make pretty big cameos and I loved every moment.

SPOILERS SPOILERS LOTS OF SPOILERS Don’t read past this if you haven’t the book!

AGAIN OH MY GOSH I CANNOT PROCESS THIS BOOK. A bunch of random thoughts coming your way.

Okay, the very first death of the book: Jon Cartwright. I know he wasn’t a big part of this one but I loved him in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy! Well, I hated him at first but then I grew to love him just like Simon did. And I felt so so bad! Poor Marisol.

The fairy land was cool. I always love it when the characters go into any of the fairy courts because they look so different and eerily beautiful. This time when going in to save Kieran, we get to see the more run down fairy places.

“I’ve always needed you so much, I never had a chance to think about whether we were good for each other or not.”

Okay, I understand Mark is trying to figure out what he actually wants out of a romantic partner, BUT I feel so bad for Kieran. Kieran loves Mark wholeheartedly. I was never mad at him in Lady Midnight for doing what he did because I knew he thought he was helping. And I still don’t understand why Mark was lying to him for half of the book. He could’ve just told him the truth and it’s not like Kieran had many other options anyway. He would’ve testified either way. Mark just needs to get himself together and him and Cristina need to stop having feelings for each other. It’s only making things more complicated.

“I would that you would meet me, formally, that I might court you,” said Gwyn.

Gwyn and Diana are the couple I didn’t think I needed until it happened. I didn’t think much of Gwyn in the first book, he just seemed like this unfeeling Fairy warrior with his own agenda. Seeing him with Diana humanized him. And the scene when Diana revealed she is transgender was a beautiful and heartbreaking moment.

Kit and Jessamine are kind of friends now and it’s great!

My poor Drusilla. I was hoping we would get more of her in this book since she was barely there in Lady Midnight and we did. She’s the Blackthorn child who gets overlooked the most. I’ve declared her my favorite Blackthorn because that girl just needs a friend. The older kids think she’s too young to be with them, and Dru is too old to always be with Tavvy and not feel lonely. Even in all the scenes with the whole family, it’s usually her sitting alone quietly.

Malec as parents is the greatest thing ever! The scene when Magnus starts singing a Spanish lullaby to Rafe? It was adorable.

“And I will be a uniquely lucky person, because there will be someone who always remembers me. Who will always love me.”

Can you imagine Alec Lightwood from City of Fallen Angels say this? Alec has come to terms with Magnus’ immortality and the fact that he will most likely die long before Magnus does. And he is okay with it. Just seeing Alec grow so much in the past five or so years is so lovely.

That last scene I did NOT see coming. So far, all the deaths in the Clare books have been people I don’t care for much so I was starting to think I was safe. And then this happens!! And Robert dying now begs the question who the new Inquisitor would be. I guess we can assume that he or she will not be as kind and lenient. I guess it was too much to ask that both the Inquisitor and the Consul be people we actually like. And now that Robert’s gone, Emma will no longer be able to be exiled and their parabatai bond will remain strong as ever. It took a lot of trust for them to go to Robert even when Magnus vouched for him, they wouldn’t want to do that again with someone they don’t trust.

LIVVY MY POOR BABY!! I loved her! She was the only person Ty understood. And when you look back to how upset Ty was when she was injured in battle, what will happen to him now?? They’re twins! They were together every step of their life. And now she’s gone. This isn’t fair.

I’m also really scared of what Julian will do now. We all know he will do anything to keep his family together. I have a feeling he might want to use the Black Book to raise Livvy. Because, like I said, he doesn’t realize there are lines he cannot cross. I mean, the boy is thinking about breaking all the parabatai bonds in the world just so he and Emma can be together. They are not that important, he needs to chill out. Even Emma admits that Julian scares her sometimes because of how far he’ll go to get what he wants. This is how villains start.

And the whole thing with Dru and how she ended up in fairy when she touched the strange fairy object thing that Jaime left behind? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to think of that.

I have so many theories about the next book. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WAIT TWO YEARS?

Have you read this? Are you going to? Who is your favorite character in this series?