5 Star Spoiler Review & Discussion: Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices, #1)

Author: Cassandra Clare

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Edition: Hardcover (First Edition)

Buy Links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository

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Rating: 5 Stars

I recently published my non-spoiler review for Lady Midnight, so if you have not read the book, go read that review instead!  There will be A LOT OF SPOILERS BELOW (like it will ACTUALLY RUIN THE BOOK FOR YOU IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET) since this is part review, part discussion on the book.  If you've read the book, please feel free to read my earlier review, which talks about the book in more general terms, but also feel free to comment with your own thoughts and theories on it in this post.  Thanks!

Lady Midnight takes place several years after the events in the Mortal Instrument's series.  It follows Emma Carstairs, her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, his family, and her new friend Cristina Rosales, as they illegally investigate some faerie murders that are taking place.

Real quickly- I haven't read any of the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, but feel free to talk about it in the comments and even post spoilers.  I do plan on reading them at some point, but I'm not worried about spoilers since I already know a bit, thanks to the events of Lady Midnight and the internet in general.

Where to start with this book?  Well, how about the ending.  Or, more precisely, Malcolm Fade.  I mean, did anyone see that coming?  I called it maybe a half dozen pages before the reveal itself, but I don't really call that predicting it at all.  Besides falling in love with him the minute he strolled onto the page (ask my roommate- she was taking a test but I practically shouted out I LOVE MALCOLM FADE), it surprised me because I remember Cassie saying he would play a role in The Last Hours, sort of how Magnus ties Mortal Instruments together with Infernal Devices.  I think he's still set up to play a role in that series, though, since he wasn't really evil until rather recent events.  Hoping this is the case, I'm looking forward to seeing Malcolm as a good guy, because I really do love him.  Which leads to the obvious- he's my favorite Shadowhunters villain, out of them all.  I loved Sebastian, especially in City of Heavenly Fire, since we actually get to see a little bit of the human side of him in there, but Malcolm was just a surprise!  Up there with Hodge in terms of being caught off guard (which- side note- do you think Hodge will be a bad guy in the TV show because I don't think I'll be okay emotionally with that...).  Plus, his whole existence kinda reminded me of the classic villain type a-la Scooby Doo.

And who else thought we were going to have another Max on our hands?  I mean, DAMN I was scared for Tavvy!  How that would have broken the Blackthorns completely, too!  I'm glad that's not the direction Cassie took, keeping him alive.  Though, I do think it's strange that no one really major died (except Malcolm, but does it count if we didn't see the body??).  The whole ending felt a little jarring in that it was pretty well wrapped up.  The villain was handled, the stories drew to conclusions, we even got our cameos from Jace and Clary and Jem and Tessa and Magnus, so what else can we ask for?  Yeah, Emma and Mark throws a wrench in a lot of stuff (though I'm super curious to see where this goes!) and that predictable epilogue sets up a lot of the next book, but overall it was a pretty straightforward story when I'm used to having a lot more questions after reading the first book in a new Cassandra Clare series.  That sounds a little like I'm complaining, but I don't mean to- I liked that it ended so solidly!  It was an entertaining read, and I loved that, and I love that I don't have to kill myself waiting for the next one.

The last big thing I want to talk about is Kit Rook, aka Christopher Herondale.  I was really surprised!  I think this is the one thing that really caught me off guard out of everything in the novel.  And, boy, do I feel horrible for him!  I mean, he watched his own father die right in front of him and he's been, more or less, kidnapped by the same people he's been told are nothing but trouble.  He's the wild card going into the next book, for sure.  He's also the number one thing I'm looking forward to in the next book.  I think he's really going to throw a wrench into the twins relationship and I'm curious to see if that changes the whole family. 

I'm curious to see what you guys thought about the book and whether you have any theories, so please share below!