I have mixed feelings about this book. It held on to my attention, had some beautiful writing (Clare’s gotten so far since her first book, it made me smile when I realized) and it had parts that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. But there’s also things I get caught up on and the ending left me with a bad feeling.

the shadowhunter universe

I like how Clare has extended the universe and continued to explore it, “The Infernal Devices” was a great series that I wouldn’t want to be without. “Lady of Midnight” had some cringy moments (parabati curse and forbidden love among them) that was drawn out, reminding me too much of Jace and Clary’s brother-sister scare. This book had some of the same problems, but more the fact that it floated on “guest-appearances” from earlier characters which hindered getting to know these new characters better. Still, it’s amazing how many point of views this story is told from and I liked their individual voices.

I love Julian’s personality and his protectiveness, it’s a different toughness than the previous shadowhunters we’ve gotten to know. That’s one of the things of shadowhunter’s ideology I wish was explored more. There’s a whole culture which the kids off-handedly struggles with and dislikes, but it’s not really explained. I mean – what would the next series be about then, ahhh. For example, it’s mentioned how all the kids likes things that are somewhat forbidden (computers, mudane culture, etc) and Diane’s history, but somehow we ended up with Institue-drama and talk about how corrupt the Clave’s council is or something. The focus feels off. Diving into the shadowhunter warrior culture that promotes certain thinking and brute solutions, and maybe a possible shift, is more interesting than circling back to these Clave-so-corrupt plots we’ve followed before.

*ALL THE SPOILERS BELOW*

the ending, a rant & a question