Lord Of Shadows

Action, adventure, romance and more packed in one piece. Love it.

Its is mind blowing. This book is better than the first one. Unexpected incidents happen, its makes you love all the characters with so much intensity. Its a really heartfelt book. Can't wait TLH

The quality of the book was fine ig except the top looked like someone had fun scribbling with rainbow colored crayons which was unfortunate

Cassandra Clare doesn't fail to hook her readers. Lord of Shadows shows how she has grown as a writer and how her stories have since improved. The characters are extremely well developed with us being extremely worried about them every time they get into trouble. An amazing read with awesome plot points and twists and even better characters. I recommend this with an immense joy.

If you love the first book, YOU HAVE TO GET THIS!!! Definitely promises a lot of adventure! Malcolm's death causes a lot of things to stir under the blue waters and the book of death has to be retrieved, but... only by a Blackthorn! And, Clary and Jace are back!!!

The shadow world is threatened. The faeries are stirring. New enemies are rising. But Emma and Julian have problems of their own to solve too. If you have read the first book, then no doubt you just have to read this one. But be prepared because this book is torturous. Their are going to be 4 deaths in it of people we know very well. The end left me crying. Every detail in this book is important. I have so many questions. How am I going to wait for the next part?

This book is amazing.

What's that on the floor you ask!?? Oh nothing it's just my heart that got ripped out!!!!! The ending broke me!!! Loved this one so so much!!!

...tranne i deboli di cuore. Avete amato la Trilogia delle Origini? Vi piacerà. Avete amato The Mortal Instruments eccetera? Vi piacerà. Avete adottato la famiglia Blackthorn al completo? Vi piacerà. Preparatevi a soffrire un po', ma che ci volete fare, fa parte della vita. I libri di Cassie Clare sono la mia vacanza mentale. Per quanto mi riguarda, obiettivo centratissimo e non vedo l'ora di leggere il seguito.

Wow, I liked this even more than Lady Midnight! Partly because Kieran, my favorite character, has much more screen time in Lord of Shadows. The friendship developing between Ty and Kit is very interesting. :D It’s great as well that we get to know Ty as a 3D, complex person now; we didn’t get to see much beyond the surface for Ty’s character before this book, in my opinion. For Kit, my view of him fluctuated a bit, but I ultimately do like him at least a little. In my review of Lady Midnight, I mentioned my appreciation that we get to see some good guy faeries now, because prior to the Dark Artifices books, the faeries were pretty much portrayed as these devious, even demonic, creatures. Lord of Shadows continues this exploration of faerie characters on the good side, mainly Kieran and Gwyn. For Kieran especially, we get to see him as a person, not merely as “a faerie.” So instead of just some exotic, interesting being, Kieran is presented as someone who is complex, unique, understandable, and relatable. Several of the shadowhunter characters sympathized with Kieran and treated him like a person too, which I liked. Kieran also seems friendlier and more approachable than he was in Lady Midnight, which puzzled me at first; but I’m aware that we didn’t get to see much of him in Lady Midnight. (Please see my Goodreads review under Sieran Lane for more details (with spoilers).) All in all, this was a fantastic book! Complex, rich, layered, nuanced, with many intriguing plots, subplots, themes, characters, and interpersonal relationships!

I must preface this review with a confession: I am an undisputed, unabashed, unadulterated (and a few other "un" words) Fangirl of anything and everything Cassandra Clare! In my eyes she can do no wrong, that was until reading Lady Midnight. I admit that I had gone into LM expecting nothing short of attention demanding perfection. What I experienced was....well written but extremely underwhelming. Any way, back to Lord of Shadows which I LOVED...especially that ending...oh that horrific, gut wrenching, beautiful ending!! The book was a solid 4 stars, that was until the very end where it all hit the fan...you know the fan, it takes all of your hopes and expectations and sucks them into the blades of Cassandra Clare's devilishly sharp unrepentant plot twisting devices leaving you a sniffling lump laying in the dark corner of the bed trying not to sob too loud and wake the hubby beside you at 3:45 a.m. That being said I admit it...buried in that long winded, definitely not a run-on, sentence I LOVED this book. It might be due to the fact that I went into it with ZERO expectations and quite a bit of snobbish scepticism. BUT no matter the original mood, my mood at the end, at the very last period, I was scintillatingly flabbergasted. I don't want to give too much away but there is romance and romance conundrum abound. There are also revenant and downworlders galore with all the nefarious situations they find themselves the center of or more likely the ones they orchestrate. There are plots and subplots...laws broken at every turn...Laws residing in dusty old books and biblical laws such as the frowning upon murdering your own kin. There are so many breadcrumbs teasing conjecture and interconnectivity between unlikely relationships hopefully revealed in book #3. I love love LOVE this world, these characters and this author!! I HIGHLY recommend this series...drop what you are doing and pick up this gem. Unless you're the type to want everything wrapped up neatly at the end of reading, those that have the strength to resist a beautifully tempting series until the last book has been released...you know who you are and I commend you...if that's the case BEWARE... there are many things here but most notably a huge, honking CLIFFHANGER!!! You have now been sufficiently warned. To all others, ENJOY! I can't wait to read what each of you thought, felt, surmised and hypothesized. Here are some quotes that I loved: "If you believe only in facts and forget stories, your brain will live, but your heart will die.” “There’s something about a place you’ve been with someone you love. It takes on a meaning in your mind. It becomes more than a place. It becomes a distillation of what you felt for each other. The moments you spend in a place with someone . . . they become part of its bricks and mortar. Part of its soul.” "Long ago the pieces of his soul had scattered, and every piece lived in one of his brothers or sisters. Except for the piece that lived in Emma, which had been burned into its home in her by the flame of the parabatai ceremony, and the pressure of his own heart."

Lord of Shadows is everything I could want from a fantasy novel and more. Cassandra Clare’s cast of characters is phenomenal—they feel so alive and distinct that it’s impossible not to get emotionally invested in their journeys. They’re not just plot devices; they’re complex, flawed, and relatable in ways that make you care deeply about every twist and turn in their lives. Even the supporting characters shine, each bringing something meaningful to the story instead of fading into the background. The worldbuilding in this book is breathtaking. Clare doesn’t just create a setting; she breathes life into it. It’s gritty yet gorgeous, with a depth that pulls you in completely. The Shadowhunter world is beautifully detailed, but it’s not some polished, perfect paradise—it’s layered with conflict, danger, and history, which makes it all the more captivating. The pacing is spot-on, balancing heart-pounding action with quiet, emotional moments that hit hard. There’s romance, humor, heartbreak, and plenty of surprises to keep you hooked from start to finish. Clare’s ability to weave these elements together is a testament to her skill as a storyteller. If you’re a fan of fantasy, you can’t miss this series. Lord of Shadows is a standout installment that builds on everything established in Lady Midnight and leaves you desperate for the next book (that's good too). It’s an emotional rollercoaster in the best possible way, and I couldn’t recommend it more highly.

Lord of Shadows was a book that broke my heart. What a way to start a book review, right? Don’t worry (too much) though, because this book was so good, SO GOOD! It is easy to say that Lord of Shadows made me cry, laugh and drop everything for a moment because WHOA, but it goes much deeper than that. I felt it in my soul. I finished Lord of Shadows at 1:47am and cried. A lot. A very dear friend of mine consoled me as best as she could and 45 minutes later I fell asleep, emotionally drained and physically exhausted. I still feel that way this morning and I think these feelings will stay with me for a while. So in short, be prepared to cry. But, since this is a book written by Cassandra Clare, you can also look forward to a lot of romance. Oh, the romance ♥ Cassie really excels at it! Every romantic line seems to be carefully picked to make her readers feel warm and fuzzy to the max. We have already had a lot of romance in Lady Midnight, but Cassie upped the ante in Lord of Shadows with more pairings, one of them very unusual but great nonetheless. I cannot tell you who it is, but Cassie ships them and so do I! In addition to new ‘ships’, new friendships are forged. Ty, Livvy and Kit are only one example and they are amazing together – I absolutely love these three. They are kind of like Sherlock and Mary and John Watson from BBC’s Sherlock. :-) When I first read Lady Midnight, I was not prepared for how much the Blackthorns loved each other so I was completely blown away and I fell in love with them. My love for them – this totally includes Emma - has grown once again after having read Lord of Shadows. The Blackthorns are an incredible family and I am sure that Eleanor and Andrew Blackthorn are very, very proud of their children and how they have turned out (all thanks to Julian, my baby). Coming up with different characters who all have different voices is definitely one of Cassie's strongest qualities as an author. New characters are added in Lord of Shadows, some likable but also others that I completely despise and that I want to see dead in book 3 (like a certain loathsome, racist, bun-wearing bitch). Sadly, not every character survives Lord of Shadows and in my opinion one death is definitely going to be the driving force in Queen of Air and Darkness. This death changes everything and will affect a lot of people. Ave atque vale. Another death is also going to be very significant for some of the characters. These two deaths saddened me the most and I hope the characters will be given time to grieve despite of what the Clave says about death and grief. Since Cassie is always trying to include more diversity in her books, she created a transgender character for The Dark Artifices and this character revealed themselves to another character in Lord of Shadows. The whole scene was beautifully written, immensely powerful and it is in fact one of my favourite scenes. I really felt for the character and all the hardships they had to overcome. Ty’s autism was addressed once again and one scene very much showed how different the mundane and the Shadow World really are, how much Shadowhunters ignore and/or don’t know. I hope they are going to become more accepting of people who are not like themselves. Which brings me to a very important point in Lord of Shadows: the Cohort that “wants to register all Downworlders and number-ID them”. Sounds very familiar, right? The Cohort is as despicable as the Cold Peace and now I actually do have to quote from the book: “When a decision like that [the Cold Peace] is made by a government, it emboldens those who are already prejudiced to speak their deepest thoughts of hate.” I am going to be a bit political so you have been warned. Skip to the next paragraph if you want to. The situation with the Cohort and their prejudice against Downworlders reminds me of the situation in Europe right now. People in France, the Netherlands and Germany (and other countries that I will not mention because I know too little) are prejudiced against refugees, Muslims, people that are different. Right-wing parties are gaining more popularity and make others voice their racist opinions. The Cohort is like them and it needs to be stopped. Two other crucial aspects were the faeries and the parabatai curse. I could write so much about both but there would be huge spoilers so I am going to keep this part short and vague. Reading about the two different faerie courts was interesting although I still do not like faeries. They may not be able to lie but they twist the truth and delight in other people’s suffering. A new character was very briefly introduced and I have a very big hunch who they might. This scene was definitely a WHOA moment for me! There are new revelations that concern the Fey folk, especially the Lord of Shadows, which will have dire consequences. I am already very nervous to read Queen of Air and Darkness because one thing can change everything for Shadowhunters! The same unfortunately also applies to the parabatai curse. One absolutely shocking twist about parabatai was introduced and I am scared of what one particular character is going to do in book three. I liked how connected Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows are. These connections are very fluid and lead to an even better understanding of some characters (like “Lady Midnight”). Cassie’s worldbuilding and storytelling is remarkable! Another thing that Cassie is so good at is humour. There are so many great one-liners and I laughed a lot. I really appreciate funny and light-hearted scenes because they are a great distraction from very serious and/or sad scenes. The references to movies are another nice touch and are very fitting since the trilogy is set in Los Angeles. Since the characters are spending time in London, there are a lot of nods to Cassie’s The Infernal Devices and to its sequel, The Last Hours (out in 2018). I loved the mentions of characters we met in the books or short stories. Seeing these tiny snippets – the funny and the bittersweet ones - make me even more excited for Chain of Gold (The Last Hours #1)! I also enjoyed seeing the characters from The Mortal Instruments again. Jace’s first meeting with Kit is brilliant; I hope he is going to play a significant role in Kit’s life because I need more Herondales. Give me more witty and sassy one-liners! :-) The Lightwood-Banes are adorable and while The Dark Artifices is about the Blackthorns and Emma, I certainly would not mind seeing more of Max, Rafe and their parents in Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #3). Conclusion: Lord of Shadows fortunately did not suffer from “second book” syndrome: it was engaging, heart-breaking, a cleverly constructed story, it had me on the edge of my seat and left me wanting more despite the pain and the angst! Five out of five stars. Thank you for writing another marvelous book, Cassie! I loved it as much as Lady Midnight. Planned schedule for Cassie's other books: The Lost Book of the White (The Eldest Curses, adult trilogy about Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood, spring 2018) Chain of Gold (The Last Hours, prequel to The Infernal Devices, 2018) Queen of Air and Darkness (conclusion to The Dark Artifices, 2019) Chain of Iron (TLH 2, ?) Chain of Thorns (TLH 3, ?) The Black Volume of Death (TEC 2, ?) The Red Scrolls of Magic (TEC 3, ?) The Wicked Powers (final trilogy, ?) Sources: cassandraclare.tumblr.com and tmisource.com