|Book Review| Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Lady Midnight Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon and Schuster on March 8, 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 668
Format: Paperback
Source: bought
Goodreads
In a kingdom by the sea…
In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word.
A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other—but they can never fall in love.
Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries—the most powerful of supernatural creatures—teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge—and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.
Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?
The darkly magical world of Shadowhunters has captured the imaginations of millions of readers across the globe. Join the adventure in Lady Midnight, the long-awaited first volume of a new trilogy from Cassandra Clare.
I have so many emotions about this book. First things first, it was a couple of chapters into the book after I got my “hand” in reading it again. Getting used to the new characters in a “world” background I am already familiar and in love with. Then there were a couple of issues that happened all throughout the book that I wasn’t a fan of. Probably because I already had some preconceived judgments and predictions, and let’s just say I thought they were gonna happen (let’s be real, I hoped they would), and I got really excited when they did (in a way they did), only to fall on false hopes! Anyway, that was my fault. There were so many unexpected things that happened here, and characters you wouldn’t expect to be included.
The book is really more mature, a mystery/crime solving book, but in a less serious yet Shadowhunter way. (side note: Now that there’s a Shadowhunter Academy, my alter ego wants to go there LOL).
As usual, Cassandra Clare didn’t fail in entertaining me. 600+ pages of awesomegoodness. And with the typical Clare fashion, she used a very appealing but controversial theme of ‘forbidden love’ as one of the major plots of the story. But it is very much inlayed with Shadowhunter politics and language. Which made me love it because it’s made up fiction but …
Warning: Violence (check!), Romance (check!), Explicit scenes (debatable).. In summary, it’s at par with the first Shadowhunter series (Mortal Instruments), yet also bolder.
Overall, will I continue to read this series? Yes!!! Especially with the ending!!!

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