Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare Review

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
5 out of 5 Stars
This is truly a five star book- even better than Lady Midnight I think. I may seem subdued now... but that really is only because my head is still spinning from those final scenes and I am in the progress of processing and sorting these things out in my head. It was that well written that all of the knots and developments and were so masterfully crafted that I am still working my mind around them. The feels will come out.... slowly but surely the feels will come out... and there will be cursing and crying and many other strong words: please don't be offended.

Spoilers Below

Plot:

This was probably, no it was, and even more complicated plot than the first book. So much so that I actually think that it drew away from the book in the beginning of the story. There was just too much to follow and not enough explained too well that it was like running at 100 miles per hour without an shoes on over jagged gravel and rocks. You're tripping, you're falling, and you're forcing yourself back up because you can't resist the urge to keep running and know what's ahead. So it was slightly painful at first, but then the strings got straightened out and it was fabulous. There was the Faeire Unseelie King plot line, the Annabel plot line, the parabatai plot line, the political happenings with the ignorant and narrow-minded bigots, and so many other little ones with the characters. But all of these plots were so well put together in the end. Like I said, hard to tell apart at first, but then you see them and your mind is blown.

Characters:

Julian: Holy F***ing shit this kid is seriously twisted in the head. Good intentions for the most part I think. No one could possibly argue that he does not care about his family +Emma. But that's really about it. Outsides of his family and Emma, Julian does not care a single crap about what happens. He will do nasty things to get what is best for his loved ones, and we see this personality shine through, especially in the Unseelie Court. If I were Zara, I would actually be terrified, because all of the things that happened can be traced back to her and her group of half-brained Medieval dwellers. If the Cohort wasn't so twisted and pissy at the meeting, then they wouldn't have thrown stuff at Annabel, then she wouldn't have freaked the fuck out and killed Robert, then Jules and Emma wouldn't have had to fight her, then Livvy wouldn't have been trying to help, then ANNABEL WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED LIVVY. I BLAME ZARA SOMEONE PLEASE SHUT HER DOWN. Julian's gonna be the one to do that- and chances are it will be cringe-worthy and quite unpleasant for Zara.

Emma: I really loved her development from this character that was kinda rash to this person that consults with others and leans on them for help and advice. Maybe it isn't development so much as it is we get to see her more as a friend than a warrior and strategist in this book. I am slightly worried about her though with the Riders and then with Cortana. With the Riders, there will be something about killing a person older than dirt. I'm not saying she shouldn't have, because she was defending herself, but seriously- those other Riders are going to keep coming back for her and her only option right now is to what? Kill all of them? That seems slightly unlikely. And then there's Cortana. What if it's like slowly becoming addictive or something. It has been absorbing the power of all these other items and things that it breaks, so now it contains the strength of the Mortal Sword? Will Emma never be able to tell another lie? What will the Shadowhunters use now? Will they have to *gasp* trust people? I don't know.... that may seem a little alien to them.

Livvy&Ty: LIVVY!!!!!! I grew to appreciate these two so much in this book. And Ty finally agreed to be parabatai with Livvy, but now she's dead. She's. Dead. Cassie- What. In. The. Name. Of. The. Angel. NOT OKAY! Do authors just do this for fun? What was the purpose of killing Livvy? There had better be a purpose to causing this harm to not just Liv but also adorable Ty that I just want to hug and have him be happy. Maybe this needed to happen so that Julian will flip his lid. We haven't seen him post-Livvy-mortem yet. So it is very possible that he's cracked now. That would be interesting- slightly terrifying, but definitely interesting- to see. I imagine it would be like watching a hailstorm of blades rain down on the Clave- Julian has been given many sharp, razor-like descriptions. (No joke, the word "razor" is used a lot).

Kit: Praise the Lord we have a Herondale on site. Granted, he's not like a fully trained Clave sassy Herondale, but he is undoubtedly a Herondale. There's the sass, and the hair, and the defiance, and the moodiness, and troubled past. Besides not being raised a shadowhunter, this kid is textbook. My biggest question regarding him, well two questions actually, is 1) who's he shipped with? and 2) who the F is his mother and why do all of those Riders recognize him? Point number 1: I did not appreciate him sort of bouncing back and forth between Livvy and Ty. The ONLY reason why that bothers me so much is that they're twins. Come on. Not just siblings- twins. Twins. That being said, obviously and unfortunately Livvy is no longer an option. But this brings up the question then of whether or not he would choose Ty out of principle or because he's there. That being said, that's assuming it even is a possibility. Cassie usually does such a great job with this stuff and I know there's a lot of stuff online about Ty and Kit, but I just wasn't really getting it.... I honestly thought and still think a bit that they would be great parabatai. It seemed brotherly for the most part between them, not romantic. Although there were a few times from Kit's POV where he described things almost that way? I'm not sure, they're also only 15 so they've got time. Point number 2: The Riders recognized him. This is, I think, really important and slightly alarming as well. The biggest question I believe is finding out who his mother was, because Johnny Rook was his father as far as we know. But Kit has some weird half-memory flashback things which combined with the stuff that the Riders were saying and questioning makes me really curious to know who the heck this kid's mom is.

Mark: I adore this Blackthorn child. Man. Boy? Either way, I love how he really has come out of his Faerie shell now and is still SO honorable. If everyone were like him, I would greatly appreciate it. I actually think many people would appreciate it. I'm going to need a separate ship post, so I won't go into much detail here, but I could see Mark with both Kieran and Cristina.

Cristina: I really loved having Cristina's relationships with the other characters built up. I really did. It was amazing to get to hear about her home in Mexico and have her relationships with Jamie and Diego mostly mended and get to see more of her passion of Faerie and wanting to end the Cold Peace. I really can't wait to see more of her. Again, I need a ship post, but I think I'm leaning toward Mark....?

Kieran: I never hated Kieran and I certainly do not now. Again, like Mark, there's just something honorable and good about him. Yes, he has made mistakes, but we found out in this book that that was because he was mislead so he wasn't making fully informed decisions. Ship post needed, but definitely Mark- I don't know who else, although there is a great respect and interest in Cristina.... see my ship post.

Unseelie King: My original title for this character heading was King B***h. That should explain it enough, but if not, I am really looking forward to seeing one of his sons replace him on the throne.

Zara: THIS BITCH NEEDS TO GET HER ASS HANDED TO HER, VERBALLY AND PHYSICALLY. I actually felt sick at points when she was talking. Few things bother me more than when people speak out of ignorant narrow-minded backwater opinions and it is actually terrifying that they believe it. For example, I don't think Zara sees anything wrong with what she says and wants, and that is the most terrifying and sickening thing. *screams*

Magnus: Magnus had better make it through this series or I will boycott. There will literally probably be an uprising and I do not blame anyone. The entire time that he's there, I could tell something was off about him, but it isn't until the end that we learn that there is a witch and wizard illness going around, and that Tessa is sick too. (Which, BTW I really want to see Jem and Tessa in the next book)

World:

My favorite world based part of this whole book was that we got to go explore Faerie!!! Yeah there's a blight covering almost all of the Unseelie lands, but we also got to see the Seelie Queen again, bitch though she may be, and WE GOT TO MEET MINI-SEB! THE DEMON SPAWN! I DON'T CARE WHAT PEOPLE SAY THAT CHILD WITH DRU WAS THE LOVE CHILD OF SEBASTIAN AND THE SEELIE QUEEN. More on that in a different post. Anyway, I absolutely loved seeing the revel and the descriptions of the hill and just everything about it. We also got to go back to London and see Jessamine from TID and Bridget was still there. (?) Is that the same Bridget? Am I thinking of someone else? The less pleasant thing that was expanded on in this book was the Cohort. I totally did not even realize that they existed before this book, and I kind of really wish they didn't exist at all. They can go back to hell where they came from in my honest opinion. Generally speaking for the entirety of the book, the world was massive. It already is going into it with previous knowledge from Lady Midnight and the other Shadowhunter books, but in this one it seemed like we spent a lot of time in a lot of different parts of it.
 
Lord of Shadows was definitely a whirlwind of a thousand pieces of a puzzle coming together to form an overall issue that we unfortunately won't know the answer to until 2019. It will be an agonizing wait. It will. There is no getting around it, just like how Emma and Julian can't get around the curse (Sorry, low blow). I believe the next Shadowhunter book coming out will be Chain of Iron in 2018, and I am super excited about that, because Will. Other people too, but- William Herondale.

Thanks for reading!

View all my reviews

Review: Lord of Shadows SPOILER FREE

 Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SPOILER FREE 

This is truly a five star book- even better than Lady Midnight I think. I may seem subdued now... but that really is only because my head is still spinning from those final scenes and I am in the progress of processing and sorting these things out in my head. It was that well written that all of the knots and developments and were so masterfully crafted that I am still working my mind around them. The feels will come out.... slowly but surely the feels will come out... and there will be cursing and crying and many other strong words: please don't be offended.

Plot:
This was probably, no it was, and even more complicated plot than the first book. So much so that I actually think that it drew away from the book in the beginning of the story. There was just too much to follow and not enough explained too well that it was like running at 100 miles per hour without an shoes on over jagged gravel and rocks. You're tripping, you're falling, and you're forcing yourself back up because you can't resist the urge to keep running and know what's ahead. So it was slightly painful at first, but then the strings got straightened out and it was fabulous. There was the Faeire Unseelie King plot line, the Annabel plot line, the parabatai plot line, the political happenings with the ignorant and narrow-minded bigots, and so many other little ones with the characters. But all of these plots were so well put together in the end. Like I said, hard to tell apart at first, but then you see them and your mind is blown.
Characters:
Julian: Holy F***ing shit this kid is seriously twisted in the head. Good intentions for the most part I think. No one could possibly argue that he does not care about his family +Emma. But that's really about it. Outsides of his family and Emma, Julian does not care a single crap about what happens. He will do nasty things to get what is best for his loved ones, and we see this personality shine through, especially in the Unseelie Court. If I were Zara, I would actually be terrified, because all of the things that happened can be traced back to her and her group of half-brained Medieval dwellers. If the Cohort wasn't so twisted and pissy at the meeting, then they wouldn't have thrown stuff at Annabel, then she wouldn't have freaked the fuck out and killed Robert, then Jules and Emma wouldn't have had to fight her, then Livvy wouldn't have been trying to help, then ANNABEL WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED LIVVY. I BLAME ZARA SOMEONE PLEASE SHUT HER DOWN. Julian's gonna be the one to do that- and chances are it will be cringe-worthy and quite unpleasant for Zara.
Emma: I really loved her development from this character that was kinda rash to this person that consults with others and leans on them for help and advice. Maybe it isn't development so much as it is we get to see her more as a friend than a warrior and strategist in this book. I am slightly worried about her though with the Riders and then with Cortana. With the Riders, there will be something about killing a person older than dirt. I'm not saying she shouldn't have, because she was defending herself, but seriously- those other Riders are going to keep coming back for her and her only option right now is to what? Kill all of them? That seems slightly unlikely. And then there's Cortana. What if it's like slowly becoming addictive or something. It has been absorbing the power of all these other items and things that it breaks, so now it contains the strength of the Mortal Sword? Will Emma never be able to tell another lie? What will the Shadowhunters use now? Will they have to *gasp* trust people? I don't know.... that may seem a little alien to them.
Livvy&Ty: LIVVY!!!!!! I grew to appreciate these two so much in this book. And Ty finally agreed to be parabatai with Livvy, but now she's dead. She's. Dead. Cassie- What. In. The. Name. Of. The. Angel. NOT OKAY! Do authors just do this for fun? What was the purpose of killing Livvy? There had better be a purpose to causing this harm to not just Liv but also adorable Ty that I just want to hug and have him be happy. Maybe this needed to happen so that Julian will flip his lid. We haven't seen him post-Livvy-mortem yet. So it is very possible that he's cracked now. That would be interesting- slightly terrifying, but definitely interesting- to see. I imagine it would be like watching a hailstorm of blades rain down on the Clave- Julian has been given many sharp, razor-like descriptions. (No joke, the word "razor" is used a lot).
Kit: Praise the Lord we have a Herondale on site. Granted, he's not like a fully trained Clave sassy Herondale, but he is undoubtedly a Herondale. There's the sass, and the hair, and the defiance, and the moodiness, and troubled past. Besides not being raised a shadowhunter, this kid is textbook. My biggest question regarding him, well two questions actually, is 1) who's he shipped with? and 2) who the F is his mother and why do all of those Riders recognize him? Point number 1: I did not appreciate him sort of bouncing back and forth between Livvy and Ty. The ONLY reason why that bothers me so much is that they're twins. Come on. Not just siblings- twins. Twins. That being said, obviously and unfortunately Livvy is no longer an option. But this brings up the question then of whether or not he would choose Ty out of principle or because he's there. That being said, that's assuming it even is a possibility. Cassie usually does such a great job with this stuff and I know there's a lot of stuff online about Ty and Kit, but I just wasn't really getting it.... I honestly thought and still think a bit that they would be great parabatai. It seemed brotherly for the most part between them, not romantic. Although there were a few times from Kit's POV where he described things almost that way? I'm not sure, they're also only 15 so they got time.
Mark: I adore this Blackthorn child. Man. Boy? Either way, I love how he really has come out of his Faerie shell now and is still SO honorable. If everyone were like I would greatly appreciate it. I actually think many people would appreciate it. I'm going to need a separate ship post, so I won't go into much detail here, but I could see Mark with both Kieran and Cristina.
Cristina: I really loved having Cristina's relationships with the other characters built up. I really did. It was amazing to get to hear about her home in Mexico and have her relationships with Jamie and Diego mostly mended and get to see more of her passion of Faerie and wanting to end the Cold Peace. I really can't wait to see more of her. Again, I need a ship post, but I think I'm leaning toward Mark....?
Kieran: I never hated Kieran and I certainly do not now. Again, like Mark, there's just something honorable and good about him. Yes, he has made mistakes, but we found out in this book that that was because he was mislead so he wasn't making fully informed decisions. Ship post needed, but definitely Mark- I don't know who else, although there is a great respect and interest in Cristina.... see my ship post.
Unseelie King: My original title for this character heading was King B***h. That should explain it enough, but if not, I am looking forward to seeing one of his sons replace him on the throne.
Zara: THIS BITCH NEEDS TO GET HER ASS HANDED TO HER, VERBALLY AND PHYSICALLY. I actually felt sick at points when she was talking. Few things bother me more than when people speak out of ignorant narrow-minded backwater opinions and it is actually terrifying that they believe it. For example, I don't think Zara sees anything wrong with what she says and wants, and that is the most terrifying and sickening thing. *screams*
Magnus: Magnus had better make it through this series or I will boycott. There will literally probably be an uprising and I do not blame anyone. The entire time that he's there, I could tell something was off about him, but it isn't until the end that we learn that there is a witch and wizard illness going around, and that Tessa is sick too. (Which, BTW I really want to see Jem and Tessa in the next book)
World
My favorite world based part of this whole book was that we got to go explore Faerie!!! Yeah there's a blight covering almost all of the Unseelie lands, but we also got to see the Seelie Queen again, bitch though she may be, and WE GOT TO MEET MINI-SEB! THE DEMON SPAWN! I DON'T CARE WHAT PEOPLE SAY THAT CHILD WITH DRU WAS THE LOVE CHILD OF SEBASTIAN AND THE SEELIE QUEEN. More on that in a different post. Anyway, I absolutely loved seeing the revel and the descriptions of the hill and just everything about it. We also got to go back to London and see Jessamine from TID and Bridget was still there. (?) Is that the same Bridget? Am I thinking of someone else? The less pleasant thing that was expanded on in this book was the Cohort. I totally did not even realize that they existed before this book, and I kind of really wish they didn't exist at all. They can go back to hell where they came from in my honest opinion. Generally speaking for the entirety of the book, the world was massive. It already is going into it with previous knowledge from Lady Midnight and the other Shadowhunter books, but in this one it seemed like we spent a lot of time in a lot of different parts of it.
(hide spoiler)]
Lord of Shadows was definitely a whirlwind of a thousand pieces of a puzzle coming together to form an overall issue that we unfortunately won't know the answer to until 2019. It will be an agonizing wait. It will. There is no getting around it, just like how Emma and Julian can't get around the curse (Sorry, low blow). I believe the next Shadowhunter book coming out will be Chain of Iron in 2018, and I am super excited about that, because Will. Other people too, but- William Herondale.

Thanks for reading!
View all my reviews

Best Parents in YA Lit

The Best Parents in YA Lit

Valentine's Blog Week Day 5

The concept of parents is probably one of the biggest elephants in the room when it comes to YA literature. They usually aren't even there, and when they are, they are often just mentioned or are completely awful. HOWEVER, there are also quite a few YA parents that are completely amazing!!!! Here are some of my favorite parents in YA literature.

Mr. Song

From: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster

From: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Kate Mercier's Grandparents

 From: Die for Me by Amy Plum

Almost every parent from:

Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent

Mrs. Prior

From: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Unfortunately, I had a pretty hard time putting together this list. Hopefully, that is something that can be changed in more future YA books!

Thanks for reading!

OTPs (as of February 2017)

Top 10 OTPs (as of February 2017)

Valentine's Blog Week Day 4

These OTPs are in no particular order... but these all come from books. If they have a ship name that I know of, I used that. :) I think I am most excited about this post for the entire week!!!

Rowaelin

Rowaelin

From: Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas 

Lizzy and Darcy

From: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 

MADNESS

Wessa

From: The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare 

MADNESS

From: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michele Hodkin

Daemon and Kat

From: Lux series by Jennifer L Armentrout 

Jamie and Claire

Feysand

From: A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas 

Jamie and Claire

From: Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

Feysand

Juliet and Warner

From: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Aiden and Alex

From: Covenant series by Jennifer L Armentrout 

Vincent and Kate

From: Revenants series by Amy Plum 

I'm always getting more ships and having them take precedent over each other, so that's why this one specifically says "as of February 2017". I also have a lot more ships than the ones I list here, so feel free to check out my fleet of ships (hahaha, ship humor. I'm too cheesy for my own good).

Thanks for reading!

Shadowhunters 2x07

Shadowhunters 2x07

"How Are Thou Fallen"

Thoughts and Feels

 
Jumping into the episode, one of the first things that we see is the circle rune being like activated or something? I got some serious Harry Potter vibes from that and I'm sure a lot of other people did too. Another thing that I was wondering about with that scene is whether or not Valentine knew that Jocelyn is dead? Later in the episode, Luke makes a vague comment that references that, and Valentine says that he doesn't care, but I feel like that is really out of character for him, which makes me think that he still doesn't know all the details of Jocelyn's death. How could he? A demon killed her and then the demon was killed.
I still don't like the Soul Sword Lightning thing

I think one of the best things about this episode was that they introduced Ithurial! The angel blood and communication is so important to the books, and I am so glad that that aspect is being introduced in the show now. Small comment on that though, when Clary was hearing Ithurial in her head, my mind immediately jumped to Supernatural when Cas was originally trying to communicate with Dean and couldn't find the right frequency. I am not sure if that is what they were trying to go for, but then when Cleophys (?) hears it too she says that he is crying out for help. But then we go to a shot of him screaming as he's dragged across the floor. So how exactly is all of this communication stuff working? The last scene of the episode was very confusing too. It looked like a demon/person trying to grab a blade and then poofing into dust. I think that was maybe Jonathan related....almost like Ithurial was trying to tell them that they need to defeat this guy and we don't know him yet. I don't know, but I do know that I am super happy they brought in the angelic abilities and the angels.


This episode could have easily been just an episode about all of the Simon ships. We see him go out with Maia, and there's a moment with Clary, and then Simon talks to both Maia and Jace about having feelings for Clary. There was also a moment when Izzy makes a comment about saving Simon's butt all the time, which seemed a little like Sizzy to me. So in recap, there was SimonxMaia (I don't know their ship name), Sizzy, and Climon. They're probably going to try a bit more with Climon, because that seems like the natural progression, at least to me, before Sebastian comes into the show. And then things will get rocky again.


There were a few Shadowhunter world questions that bothered me during the show. First, a rune app? Is this like a batman signal in the night sky? Can I buy this app on iTunes? It just didn't make sense to me. Second, who the heck was that one shadowhunter that kept coming up?!?!!! Seriously, all of those other shadowhunters have always just been like background people, but in this episode we had one interact with both Izzy and Clary, in separate scenes. Who knows, maybe they'll bring her in again in a later episode as like a spy for Valentine or something. Maybe she's Sebastian with a shape-shifting rune. If that is the case, I will flip a table.

MALEC!!!! I LOVED all of the Malec moments in this episode. This is good. If they don't give us an overload of Malec every episode, it makes the moments so much better when they are there. And it develops their characters at a much better, believable, pace too. I really liked all of these scenes, especially when Magnus told Alec that he didn't want to go too fast and mess up the relationship, because that seemed like such a Magnus thing to say.... grenoihreigaoerhneagi. It was so great.

What on Earth was going on with Izzy's character? All of the yin fen madness adds up, but she seemed really moody and tempermental. Is that just a side effect of being low on yin fen? And where is she right now??? They just finished the episode with her surrounded by vampires!!! My favorite line of episode was connected to this yin fen stuff:
"It nearly cost my friend Jem his life"  <---- Something like that
SO MANY FEELS IN ONE SENTENCE DAMN IT MAGNUS WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BRING UP JEM??????????? I may need to also revisit my yin fen theory because of this one sentence. Le sigh.

I have to mention Jace in this episode. The. Sass. Was. Perfect. I think this is the most book Jace we have ever seen in the show Jace, and it was freaking fantastic. There were just so many small moments too when it was really just facial expression, but it screamed attitude, and each one made me so happy to see. With Jace, I also feel like there were Clace moments, even when there were no actual "Clace" moments. For example, Luke walks in and says he needs Jace. Nothing immediate happens until he says Clary's name, and then the response is instantaneous. Jace just jumps up and practically runs out the door. It's amazing how they did this indirect characterization of their relationship and I am so excited to see where they take it!


That is all for this episode! As always, we are one more episode closer to meeting Sebastian and I cannot wait to see that happen.

Thanks for reading!

Valentine's Day Book Tag

Valentine's Day Book Tag
Valentine's Blog Week Day 3

Favorite Stand Alone Book You Love

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Dystopian Book You Love

Divergent by Veronica Roth 

A Book That You Love But No One Else Talks About

Everneath by Brodi Ashton 

Favorite Book Couple

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy

Red Book Cover

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Pink Book Cover 

Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

Favorite Male Character that You Love

Will Herondale from The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

Favorite Female Character that You Love

Aelin Galathynius

TV Show to Watch on Valentine's Day

Gilmore Girls--- there's always a reason to watch Gilmore Girls

Movie to Watch on Valentine's Day

Pride and Prejudice

Thanks for reading and Happy Valentine's Day!

Romanitc Books

Romance Books
Valentine's Blog Week Day 2

I don't actually read too many books that are just considered "romance" books. Many of the books that I read have romantic elements in them, but there's actually only 5 books shelved on my Goodreads "Romance" shelf. So this is going to be a mix of books that I've read and enjoyed, and books that I have heard are enjoyable. I'm also not going to mention books like Fifty Shades of Grey or Nicholas Sparks books because I feel like those are obvious ones that most people automatically go for.


Books I've Read:
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
The Royals Series by Erin Watt
Frigid by Jennifer L Armentrout
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West


Books I've Heard Are Good:
Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Beautiful Disaster by Jaime McGuire
 Bared to You by Sylvia Day

There's a fair mix of different levels of romance in those books listed above, but there are also a few authors that in general have a connotation of being romance writers.

E.L. James <--- Duh.
Nicholas Sparks <---- Even bigger DUH.
Colleen Hoover
Sylvia Day
J. Lynn


This is not exactly my area of expertise, but I hope that this helps if you are trying to find a romantic book to read this week! I am currently in the middle of November 9 by Colleen Hoover myself because I figured it's Valentine's Day this week....

Thanks for reading!