Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices, #2)
***Summary is spoiler for Lady Midnight***
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.
Author: Cassandra Clare
Rating: 4.5/5
“Everyone is afraid of something. 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 is that you didn't feel anything.”
This will be a quick review as it's a book two, and obviously I loved the first one and just can't wait to get to book three. And also I'm dying and was totally crushed by that ending and WHY JUST WHY. Thanking Past Deedi for making Future Deedi wait to read these books until Queen of Air and Darkness came out!!!
First of all, I think a better title for this book would have been "Everyone Loves Everyone and Somehow That's Okay." I'm not usually one for stories with competing love interests or love triangles, but somehow I'm rooting for everyone all at once here. Which is very confusing. I can only place my faith in Cassandra Clare and trust that it will all work out in the end. (Please, God, let it all work out in the end?)
Also, as expected, I both couldn't put this book down and wanted to throw it at the wall at the same time. It just couldn't move fast enough for me. Is that always the case with the second book of a trilogy? Does anyone know of any book twos that aren't torturous???
Finally, Julian 4ever. That is all.