Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices, #3)
***Description is spoiler for Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows***
What if damnation is the price of true love?
Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the blight that is destroying the race of warlocks.
Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.
Author: Cassandra Clare
Rating: 5/5
“Once you dissolve dye in water, you can’t take it back out. It’s like that. I can’t take you out of me. It means cutting out my heart, and I don’t like myself without my heart.”
That was...intense. There's no other word for it. I read the second half of this book alone on my couch on New Year's Eve, and I couldn't have had it any other way; if my husband had tried to talk to me during that time, I might have blown up. Literally. At one point my Apple Watch told me that my heart rate had been "over 100 bpm when you appeared to be inactive for 10 minutes." LOL.
I know that there are people out there who don't like Cassandra Clare's books very much; I know that they are very hyped and very YA. And I know that if you pull yourself out of it, some of it can seem cheesy. But here's the thing: If you don't pull yourself out of it, if you let yourself get swept into this world, then you will be a puddle. A puddle who is extremely invested in this world and these characters. And isn't that what fiction is for?
“People were made up of all sorts of different bits, Dru thought. Funny bits and romantic bits and selfish bits and brave bits. Sometimes you saw only a few of them. Maybe it was when you saw them all that you realized you knew someone really well.”
It's obvious that this trilogy is about one thing only: Love. But not just romantic love; parental love and sibling love and friendship love and nontraditional love and literally every single kind of love there is. It's so complete and touching and worthy of your time.
I must say, though, that after nine published books and more prequels promised, part of me thought this would be the end of the timeline. I don't know why I thought that, lol. But it's obvious that Cassie isn't done with our hearts yet. The question is: Can we take any more???
Well, whether we can or not ... we will. That much is for sure.