Review: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare || Which left me utterly heartbroken

Title: Lord of Shadows
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Dark Artifices, book 2
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, [Young-Adult]
Heat Rating: Slightly warm
Page Count and Format: 699 pages, Paperback
Published: May 23rd, 2017 by Simon & Schuster Children’s UK
Source: Purchased
My Rating: 

Blurb (from Goodreads):

Would you trade your soul mate for your soul?

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.

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I picked up Lord of Shadows right after finishing Lady Midnight. This book lived up to my expectations in so many ways. As much as I loved this book, it also broke my heart and I am not going to recover completely until I get my fix, aka the conclusion to this trilogy!!! I sooo wish I could get it now because I am dying to know what’ll happen next!

*Spoilerish, mundanes!*

Surrounded by enemies, the only hope of breaking the cold peace and having the Seelie Queen by their side is if the Blackthorns and Emma can bring her the Black Volume of the Dead. Meanwhile, Emma relationship with Julian becomes more complicated due to their love for each other despite being parabatais. When faced with the ultimate challenge, will Julian and Emma be able to stop the Dearborns from taking their home, the Institute and from starting another war or will it result in a bloodbath?

I was sucked into this book from the very first page. The plot was seriously addicting! Emma continues with her fake relationship with Mark in hope of trying to get Julian to hate her. Despite that, the affection between them continues to grow. The fae realm always gives me kind of creeps but the adventure in those lands are equally memorable. So, when Gywn comes up with the news of Kieran’s execution for helping them, despite bitter feelings Mark goes out to help him and Emma, Julian and Christina follows. It was definitely an exciting and daring adventure, though the fae realm always leaves a mark. And Auther’s death was so sudden, I didn’t even know how to react to that!

“Sometimes the most ruthless heart speaks the most truth.”

Emma reminded me a lot of Jace, she is equally sassy and humorous as well as a kickass fighter. She continues to amaze me. And Julian. Oh, my dear Julian. Sighs. His love for Emma did make him scary sometimes but other than that nobody could be more loyal than that guy and his love for his family melted my heart but his planning of presenting Annabel in front of the Clave and getting the Black Volume anyhow showed another (a little sinister) part of him. Despite everything, the duo of Emma and Julian is everything!! Their chemistry was off the charts!

“It was terrifying to love someone who was forbidden to you. Terrifying to feel something you could never speak of, something that was horrible to almost everyone you knew, something that could destroy your life.”

The family aspect was as usual pretty awesome!! And the representation of Autism was done well once again. I simply loved Ty so much. Kit made a lot of appearance in this book and along with Livvy, these three made a great team! I especially loved the relationship between Ty and Kit, Kit was Ty’s Watson to his Sherlock!

“Fiction is truth, even if it is not fact. If you believe only in facts and forget stories, your brain will live, but your heart will die.”

Although I was wary of Mark in the first book but he totally earned my forgiveness. Although he misses the freedom of the sky, his loyalty to his family was commendable and also Cristina might have been a teeny-tiny reason too. Which brings me my next point, the trio of Mark, Cristina and Kieran was a little weird, I didn’t mind much but it sure felt like another love triangle though I am definitely team Mark and Cristina!

“I think you cannot root out love entirely. I think where there has been love, there will always be embers, as the remains of a bonfire outlast the flame.”

Annnnd Magnus was in this book! I love Magnus, so freaking much! ❤ I love how he and Alec pop up everytime somebody needs help. And I love his sense of humour! My heart broke after seeing Alec’s reaction after everything went down in the final meeting. The mess wouldn’t have happened if not for Dearborns and other downworlder haters. They are no good than Valentine and Zara, my god!! I hate her so freaking much! All of the anti-downworlders were narrow-minded as hell.I seriously hope she gets the deserved punishment for everything she did in her lifetime! Oh, but what I loved was Diana’s backstory!! I loved the diversity in this book!!

Overall, Lord of Shadows was a fantastic read! I don’t have a single complaint about this book BUT WHY IS THE NEXT BOOK SCHEDULED IN 2019!!! I won’t be sane till then! That is pure torture guys, pure torture. I am still devasted by how everything ended! This was the meanest cliffhanger ever!

Anyway, the plot was executed neatly and perfectly and I fell in love with the characters all over again. The writing was beautiful and it flowed smoothly and the pace was even throughout the book. I seriously need book 3 in my life right now!!

Recommend it?

Do I even need to say it?

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So guys, have you finished this book yet? How was your experience? Or are you still waiting to pick it up?

• 5 stars
• 5 stars out of 5
• book 2
• Cassandra Clare
• Fantasy
• favourite author
• favourite series
• forbidden love
• Lady Midnight
• Lord of Shadows
• May release
• paperback
• Purchased
• romance
• The Dark Artifices
• YA
• Young-Adult