All my thoughts: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare (Part 2)

Analyzing book No. 2 in The Dark Artifices trilogy

Welcome back to my analysis of Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare — AKA the best and worst feels trip of my entire life.

In part one, I dissected the plot, broke down Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn’s character development and went in depth on the parabatai’s forbidden love. It was a lot, but it wasn’t everything … In part two I’ll be talking about Kit Herondale being accepted by the Blackthorn twins and his indoctrination into the Shadowhunters, whatever is going on between Cristina, Mark and Kieran, the appearances of The Mortal Instruments characters that made my heart hurt from nostalgia, and the final chapter that left me sobbing.

Part one ran super long and I genuinely want to dive into Queen of Air and Darkness ASAP, so this might not be as clean or coherent as usual to get this out as quickly as I can.

Here are the rest of my thoughts on Lord of Shadows.

The three best friends that anybody could have

Livvy and Ty just stake a claim on Kit in LoS. This newly orphaned Herondale boy quickly becomes the third wheel of the Blackthorn twins, and I’m not sure if it’s because Livvy has a crush on Kit, Kit has a crush on Ty, Ty has a crush on Kit, or Ty just genuinely wants a Dr. Watson to his Sherlock Holmes.

It doesn’t matter because it’s wonderful. Here’s some quick hits on my thoughts about our mystery-solving trio.

Kit’s POVs were always so fun to read. I loved his sense of humor, his constant analyzing of the Blackthorns and his inner-conflict on whether or not he wanted to be a Shadowhunter. Kit gives readers a very real, very raw insight on the Nephilim. Even the way he describes Ty, who he immediately trusts, is a testament to how he sees Shadowhunters.

“Beautiful like all the Shadowhunters were beautiful, like moonlight shearing off the edges of broken glass: lovely and deadly. Beautiful things, cruel things, cruel in that way that only people who absolutely believed in the rightness of their cause could be cruel.”

Kit was raised by a conman, so he knows what to look for in people who learn to lie to survive. He tells Livvy that you could separate everyone into two groups, “those you could trick and cheat and the ones you couldn’t.” You can’t trick and cheat the Blackthorns because they actually care about each other more than they care about themselves.

“What happens if I splatter myself all over the floor?” “You get a big state funeral. We put your body in a boat and shove you over a waterfall like a Viking.” Emma, Jace and Kit are three disaster blondes getting through life with their relentless sarcasm, raw battle instincts and disastrously good looks.

He does notice that Julian has a knack for getting people to do what he wants without them noticing, and he’s suspicious of Magnus Bane for getting rid of Evelyn and buying them breakfast in order to get them to spill the details of what they’ve been up to. “A straightforward con.”

It was great to see how Kit took Jace Herondale’s advice and gave the Blackthorns and Nephilim a chance before running off in a world he couldn’t survive in on his own. It ended with him discovering that he was truly meant to be a Shadowhunter as he found friends in the twins and a new place to call home. That’s some great development right there.

“He wasn’t going anywhere. Because where the Blackthorns were, was his home now.”

Kit is also learning what it means to be a Herondale, one of the most well-respected bloodlines in Nephilim history that comes with both good and bad.

Arthur takes one look at Kit and asks, “What kind of Herondale will you be? William or Tobias? Stephen or Jace? Beautiful, bitter or both?” Kit has to take a similar path as Jace and figure out what he will do with the power he has for simply being born with Herondale blood. Please, don’t be a Stephen. Be a Jace, be a Will … or be a pre-Circle Rock & Roll Stephen with a leather jacket and a Sex Pistols poster. I’m sure he was fun.

Bonus quote that made me hurt: “He had never had anyone but his father, and he was sure beyond any words that his father had never loved him like that.” Ouch. Kit sees the unconditional love Julian has for these children, and it pains him to realize that his father wasn’t as caring or loving toward him.

I appreciate how Julian goes out of his way to include Kit in the family’s actions. He takes Kit to the Shadow Market with him, he notices when he’s missing from the reunion when returning from the cottage, and he gives him the task of finding Alec when Magnus falls unconscious. Julian is like, welp, I have five kids now.

Livvy and Kit kiss. Yep, they kiss, which threw me off because I was getting the feeling that Kit had a thing for Ty. His POV is 70 percent talking about how beautiful Ty is, how his smile brightens his face, how he loved when Ty laughed because it was genuine, and how his eyelashes are so long and dark.

When Kit first told Livvy he didn’t want to kiss her because she has two terrifying older brothers, I laughed so hard. I have four older brothers … It’s rough.

Livvy telling Kit that she’s never kissed a boy before is a reminder that even though Julian did his best to raise these kids on his own, he couldn’t give them everything a normal child would have. The Blackthorn children have isolated themselves to stay out of the eye of the Clave, and it landed them without many friends outside of the Institute. We’re reminded of this again when Julian notices how much Tavvy loves playing with Magnus and Alec’s two sons. Tavvy has never had kids his own age to play with, he’s only had his siblings.

However, Livvy lets Kit down easily at the end of the book. She tells him she simply wants to be “friends always” … which hurts tremendously for obvious reasons. However, I think that Livvy could tell that Ty was beginning to really like (love?) Kit and didn’t want to be in the way of her brother’s happiness. She’s very intuitive. She felt Dru was hiding something earlier in the book and now she can tell that there’s a spark between Kit and Ty.

The friendship between Ty and Kit is so sweet! I love that Kit never bats an eye at anything Ty does, and that’s probably why Ty feels so connected to the Lost Herondale. He doesn’t look at Ty as if he’s different or anything that he does is abnormal. He’s just Ty.

Plus, Kit trusts Ty enough to give him his first runes — the first an iratze and the second the voyance. That says a lot about how Kit feels about Ty.

*“People say we’re unlucky because we don’t have parents*. *But I think they’re unlucky because they don’t have a brother like mine.”* Dude, Julian is one tough cookie to not just burst into tears from Ty’s letter.

There’s two beautiful moments between these two that warmed my heart. The first came when Livvy got hurt at the London Shadow Market, and Ty feels overwhelmed and guilty. He begins to have a breakdown and Kit does what Shadowhunters usually never do … He communicates, asks what Ty needs in that moment, and then delivers when offered the solution.

“Kit found himself holding Ty harder, until Ty relaxed under the tight grip of his hands; held him more tightly than he’d ever held anyone, held him as if they’d been lost in the sea of the sky, and only holding onto each other could keep them afloat above the wreckage of London.”

The second moment was when this duo leaves the note for Annabel at the Cornwall Institute and Ty is whispering words that comfort him.

“Just words I like. If I say them to myself, it makes my mind – quieter. Does it bother you?”

“No! I was just curious what words you liked.”

“It’s not the meaning, just the sound. Glass, twin, apple, whisper, stars, crystal, shadow, lilt.”

“Whisper would be one of mine, too. Cloud, secret, highway, hurricane, mirror, castle, thorns.”

“Blackthorns.”

Ooooooo ….

That little passage melted my heart into a puddle. Kit understands Ty, and he doesn’t make fun of him or treat him as lesser or as a burden. He connects with Ty on a different level than other characters do because he doesn’t have a preconceived notion that Ty is different and needs to hide, which is most likely super comforting to Ty. Whisper would be one of my favorite words, as well. Honorable mentions for my comfort words: slumber, sky, steam, passage and words.

Even Livvy noticed how Ty had accepted Kit.

“He uses the headphones less when you’re around.”

“Is that good?”

“Julian lies to protect all of you. If he’s not around, then *you’ll* lie to protect the younger ones.” Kit is so nonchalantly observant and it irritates Livvy. She thought she was being slick.

“It isn’t good or bad. It’s just something I’ve noticed. It’s not magic or anything. I think he just doesn’t want to miss anything you say.”

Livvy also gives Kit a good ole’ protective sibling shakedown. She’s afraid that Kit is going to leave after becoming such a close friend to Ty — maybe, possibly more? *crosses fingers*

“Ty’s learned so much about the way people say things they don’t mean, about tone not matching expression, all that. But he trusts you, he’s let you in. He might not always remember to apply that stuff to you. I’m just saying — don’t lie to him. Don’t lead him on.”

Livvy is, well, was her brother’s keeper. She didn’t want to see him get hurt.

Overall, I loved the vibe that these three gave off. They had the energy of three silly teenagers without a worry in the world, solving mysteries on the street, making fun of the Centurions, and listening in on meetings. Livvy, Ty and Kit didn’t feel like they were weighed down by the burdens of life like Emma and Julian. They were more carefree and light, despite the underlying need to prove themselves. They got in so much trouble and gave Mark endless heart attacks, and I loved every word of it.

The chemistry this trio built makes the ending that much more unbearable. Our trio became a duo. … Ty lost his twin and soon-to-be parabatai, and Kit lost one of his first friends in the Shadow World. Ty. … I’m so worried about him and how he’ll cope with Livvy’s death. At least he has Kit to help him bear the weight of the grief a bit.

“*The world isn’t the way you want it to be. It’s the way it is.*” Kit’s father didn’t sugar coat life. He taught his son that the world is cruel, that you’ll be stabbed in the back and expected to act as if you weren’t bleeding out.

Hot faerie threesome incoming

I’m pretty sure Clare is presenting an official throuple between Mark, Kieran and Cristina. I’m kind of here for it, though Jem, Will and Tessa would’ve been my ideal candidates for that title. There’s a lot of confusion and conflicted emotions between these three as they try to figure out what they are in relation to each other given their current predicament.

First, Kieran’s father stole some of his memories, leaving him clueless as to him being the cause of Emma and Julian being whipped and Mark breaking up with him. So what does our TDA gang decide is the best course of action in this situation? LIE!

It made me so upset and angry that all these people, especially Mark, lied to Kieran to get him to testify. It made me hate the Blackthorns for a little because they so willingly allowed themselves to hurt Kieran (and Mark) for their own personal gain.

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Kieran isn’t stupid either. He could tell immediately that something was up with Mark and got awfully close to the truth.

“I think you are lying to yourself. You were not born for this life, of politics and plots and lies. Your brother is. Julian thrives at it. But you do not wish to make these kinds of bargains, where you ruin your soul to serve a greater good. You are kinder than that.”

The pain Mark feels for deceiving Kieran is gut-wrenching. He doesn’t necessarily lie to K, he more so weaves a story that is not a lie, yet not fully the truth.

“I have always needed you, Kieran. I have needed you to live. I’ve always needed you so much, I never had a chance to think about whether we were good for each other or not.”

Mark covers up the information he knows but cannot tell Kieran by telling the truth about his concerns over the relationship they built in captivity when they had nobody but each other.

“I’m saying the Wild Hunt chose us. I’m saying if you are finding strangeness in me, and distance, it is because I cannot help but ask myself, over and over: In another world, in another situation, would we still have chosen each other?”

I’m not sure if this is what Clare was going for, but Kieran and Mark have a similar theme to their relationship as Emma and Julian. Tragic circumstances forced them together — while it prevented Emma and Julian from being allowed to be romantically involved, it did the opposite for Kieran and Mark. The tragedy of both of them being given to the Wild Hunt brought them together, they found solace in each other’s embraces, and they had no one but each other.

“I am saying the choices we make in captivity are not always the choices we make in freedom. And thus we question them.” I truly appreciate how straightforward Kieran and Mark are with each other. There’s no dancing around feelings, it’s honesty and goodness.

I’m actually really starting to like Kieran. I like the way he values kindness and is so willing to help these people he would have never trusted otherwise because of his love for Mark — even when Mark asks for time to figure out his feelings.

He’s extremely funny, as well. My personal favorite line is when Zara Dearborn starts criticizing Magnus and Alec’s relationship, and Kieran delivers the best response possible.

“You and Bane are a disgrace. But you can’t just be content with the Clave letting you pervert your angelic lineage. No, you have to force it on the rest of us.”

“Really? You all have to sleep with Magnus Bane? How exciting for you.”

I sympathize with Kieran. He was beloved in the Unseelie court, making him an enemy of his father, who in return threw him to the Wild Hunt. He was abused, beaten and broken, and his pain was covered by his title as a gentry prince — as if his royal blood could protect him from the cruelty bestowed upon him. It made him desperate for love and kindness.

Side note! While Mark and Julian are split up for a big portion of LoS, there is some progress being made as they repair their relationship. Julian is obviously pissed at Mark for trying to rescue Kieran alone, but quickly settles himself and slips into an easy joking conversation — almost as if he realizes that if the roles were reversed and Emma was the one in danger, Jules would do the exact same thing.

Also, Julian leaves Mark with the kids again despite the disaster that ensued the last time. Mark’s visibly worried that after all the trouble his siblings got into while he was away (Ty, Livvy and Kit sneaking off to the Shadow Market and then being confronted by the Riders and then not being able to find Dru for a while) that Julian would be upset. However, Jules just pulls his brother into a hug and says, “You loved them and you kept them alive. Sometimes that’s the best anyone can do.”

Julian even thanks Mark for fake dating Emma, which is weird and sweet all at the same time. I want these two to be thick as thieves, to raise these kids together and become the brothers they should’ve been if Mark hadn’t been kidnapped.

OK … I’m not sure even how to start explaining what’s going on with Mark, Cristina and Kieran as a throuple. It’s a bit chaotic. Cristina and Mark kiss a couple times, Kieran pledges an oath to Cristina in the Seelie Court to annoy Mark, Cristina dances with Mark and Kieran walks in claiming that he can dance better.

It’s very chaotic, which I think is the point. These three characters are unsure of what exactly is happening between them, and the readers are taken on that journey of discovering those feelings along with them.

Cristina is the epitome of goodness and kindness. In my head, I consider her the “mom friend”. She’d be the one to remind you to bring a jacket and make sure you eat, but she can also gut you with her butterfly knives if necessary. She’s good, kind, loyal and honest, which are qualities that both Mark and Kieran are drawn to.

“It is something about you. You are beautiful, and you are kind, and you are — good. I do not know why that should make a difference. But it does. Mark needs kindness. And so do I.”

It didn’t surprise me that Kieran warmed up so quickly to Cristina. While the Blackthorns and Emma were quite cold to the gentry prince, Cristina never held his past sins against him. She welcomed him. She gave him a safe place and her friendship just as she did to Mark when he arrived back from the Wild Hunt.

Perhaps Cristina feels connected to Kieran. When she follows K to the meeting with his brother, she tells Kieran that she feared he was running off.

“People often run even when they have nowhere to go. It is all about what you can bear in the place where you are.”

Cristina essentially ran from Mexico after being betrayed by Diego and Jaime. She couldn’t bear being in the place that caused her so much heartache. She can sense that Kieran is uncomfortable among the Shadowhunters and, while he doesn’t know he’s being lied to yet, can feel the uneasiness and disconnect. I think that this line in particular is Cristina reaching out her hand to Kieran to show that someone else recognizes his feelings, understands them and validates them.

“No longer the girl who stood back let her friends be wild and crazy and waited to catch them when they fell. Now she was the one falling.” I loved this little insight into Cristina. We get to see that she doesn’t necessarily want to be so responsible all the time, she just falls into that role because she has to.

When Kieran is given his memories back and discovers that they all have deceived him, it’s Cristina who first brings him comfort. She tells the story of how Diego broke her heart but for unselfish reasons and how she realized that she treasured the happiness they shared more than the heartache that followed. “The bad things can’t matter more than the good things.” She convinces Kieran that while Mark had done questionable things, it was for the pure purpose of protecting those he loves, just as he ran into faerie to save Kieran.

“I have lived in this small world of the Wild Hunt and Faerie Courts, yet you make me feel the world is bigger and full of possibility. I have never known someone so generous in their heart.”

We also get the most heartfelt apology and love confession from Mark to Kieran.

“I wish that I could not lie, so that you would believe me: All these days, I have not held back from affection with you because I was angry at you, or sickened. I wanted you just as I did in the Hunt. But I could not be with you, touch you with all of it shadowed by lies. It would not have felt true or honest. It would not have felt as if you were choosing me, because to make a true choice, we must have true knowledge. … I do not love you as I love Cristina. I love you as I love you.”

Most importantly, Cristina and Mark vow to protect Kieran from his father who will not sleep until his son is punished. Cristina does end up protecting Kieran by having Diego take him to the Scholomance when things go south in the Accords Hall.

The purity between Cristina, Mark and Kieran was refreshing among characters in which lying and scheming came as easily as breathing. They always tried to be honest and open about their feelings and communicated with each other when it mattered most. Kieran still agreed to testify because he valued the honesty and intentions of Mark and Cristina. That’s extremely beautiful.

I need all three to be together, not some TID knockoff bullshit where one dies or leaves or finds some supernatural loophole to allow the other two to be happy. No, it’s 2012 in these books, and we deserve a throuple. Give us a THROUPLE!

Our TMI babies are no longer babies

One thing I absolutely adored about Lord of Shadows is seeing glimpses of The Mortal Instruments gang and what they’re up to after the Dark War. Looking back, TMI is definitely not Clare’s best series. It’s not very well-written, and it doesn’t have that great of a storyline. However, I do hold a special place in my heart for those characters.

Jace Herondale and Clary Fairchild are being sent on a secret mission into Faerie to gather information on a weapon that Sebastian Morgenstern left behind that could destroy the Nephilim. I have a feeling they’re not just looking for a sword. It has to be something wild. But first, they visit the L.A. Institute, where we see our old babies interact with our new babies.

“We try to live up to our names, so that those who come after us will bear lighter burdens.” Jace bears the burdens of his father who he has never met. Jace is hopeful he can wipe away the treachery of Stephen so his future children do not bear the same weight he has. Kit will bear lighter burdens of the Herondale name because of Jace’s heroics.

LoS actually opens with Jace meeting Kit for the first time. I was really thrown off by Kit describing Jace as a “man”. In my head, Jace will forever be an angsty teen. I liked that Clare gave us this moment between these two Herondale boys who once thought they were from entirely different families. In fact, these boys share so much in common. Both were not raised as Herondales, both suffered abuse (you can’t tell me that Johnny Rook hiding Kit in the basement wasn’t abusive), both saw their father’s die, and both were taken in by a family they didn’t entirely trust because they were raised not to be trusting.

Kit doesn’t know what Jace has gone through, how his fierce personality and strong arrogance was built to hide unspeakable pain. Jace understands what Kit is going through, and he knows exactly what to say to his young cousin. At first, it’s the somber, “You’re fifteen years old. You might think you want to die, but trust me — you don’t.” Jace had the mentality for so long to be reckless and throw himself at danger despite the consequence of death, he doesn’t want Kit to go through that as well. Then, he convinces Kit not to run away by telling him about how the Herondales own “a lot of valuable property” that Jace would now have to share with the younger Herondale. The Herondales are a very wealthy family, Kit, so stick around and reap the rewards of belonging to one of the most famous blood lines in Shadowhunter history.

While Kit pretends not to be impressed with Jace, he clearly has respect for him. We see this in the way he takes Jace’s advice about not running off and the way he accepts the Herondale ring from Clary and immediately wears it. Of course, Kit isn’t going to entirely trust Jace or the Blackthorns. Jace didn’t trust the Lightwoods right away either. Clare made the right decision not to have Kit embrace Jace and the Shadowhunters right off the bat and to have it be a slow process of him learning to trust them through their actions.

Existence is Pain …

“Why lie?” was a fun cliffhanger to end Lady Midnight, but Clare blew that out of the water with a final moment in Lord of Shadows that crushed my heart into pieces and scattered it in the wind.

OK … the final chapter revolves around the Council meeting in which two major things will happen: the Dearborns and the Cohort will make a push for the L.A. Institute and Kieran and Annabel will testify to discredit Zara and her father along with offering a solution to end the Cold Peace.

The Blackthorns, Emma, Cristina, Kieran, even Magnus and Alec had so much hope that this would be the time things finally ended in their favor. Julian had lied and deceived and strategized and bargained until he butchered his soul for the sake of keeping his family together and being able to love Emma without fear of destruction.

Everything he wanted was so close he could touch it. If the Cold Peace ended, Helen could come home to take over caring for the children, her wife Aline could run the Institute, Robert agreed to exile Emma on their conditions and Magnus would help them break their parabatai bond.

“If there was one thing Julian’s life had taught him, it was that nothing was more dangerous than hope.”

Everything that could go wrong, does. Essentially, Julian is Icarus … flying too close to the sun.

All of the promises in good faith that Julian made to Annabel start falling apart. Magnus collapses, leaving Annabel without a protector that has enough respect from the Clave to support her. The Cohort belittles her and forces the Inquisitor to make her hold the Mortal Sword — the very instrument that was used to torture her in her first life.

“He may have been a murderer, but it sounds as if he became one for her. He killed to give her life.” “Maybe she didn’t want life. He never asked her what she wanted.” Is this foreshadowing? Are the Blackthorns gonna do some good ole’ fashioned necromancy to get their sister back? Are they going to become murderers to get bring their sister back from the dead?

What gets me is that Julian genuinely seemed surprised and upset that Robert brought out the Mortal Sword to question Annabel. He tries his best to run to the dais to her side, but is stopped by the guards. He should’ve known that this would happen, that the Council would have to use the Sword to prove her trustworthy. As the Cohort begins throwing things at Annabel for telling the truth, she calls out to Julian to help her … She was scared — terrified of what was happening. She was considered tainted in her past life for loving Malcolm, and she stands on the dais in the Hall of the Accords and is called a monster for speaking the truth.

“The Mortal Sword was not just an instrument of justice. It was a weapon. And Annabel was a Shadowhunter, with a weapon in her hand”

Out of fear, Annabel killed Robert Lightwood.

I still think that Robert Lightwood was a garbage person. I can’t forgive him for telling his parabatai that he was disgusting for falling in love with him. I can’t forgive him for cheating on Maryse and hurting his family due to his infidelity. I can’t forgive him for fostering an environment in which his own son feared to be his true self.

But I can say that Robert Lightwood at least tried to be a better person … for his children, for his grandchildren, for the Clave. I believe that it is up to the victim to decide whether or not a person deserves forgiveness. Alec and Izzy, despite the tension between them and their father, clearly had started to forgive and mend their relationship with Robert, and Robert was putting in the extra effort.

When Emma and Julian sat in the Inquisitor’s office, Emma noticed a tapestry hanging of Alec firing arrows during the battle in the Burren from City of Lost Souls. It was clear that Robert was so incredibly proud of Alec and loved his son with his entire being.. He tried to do right by Alec after wronging him for so long.

Robert also seemed like a decent Inquisitor. He wanted to help Emma and Julian when they arrived in his office, he spoke gently to Annabel as he brought forth the Mortal Sword, and it was in a moment of tenderness that Robert reached out to comfort Annabel and was killed.

I feel extremely conflicted about Robert and Clare’s choice of giving him a redemption arc. Are we supposed to forgive Robert for being a piece of shit for so long? I can’t. But, am I mad that Clare allowed Robert to redeem himself in the court of public opinion? No.

There’s not one way for a situation to play out. I am sure there are hundreds, thousands of stories in the LGBTQ+ communities of parents who were awful human beings but tried to make amends and become better for the sake of their children.

Clare did the unexpected by having Robert seek forgiveness from his son and prove with actions that he had changed. It would’ve been easy to have Robert stay a villain, to despise who Alec was, and to shun his son for turning against what the Clave expected from its warriors.

Now, if Clare decided to write a story in which Alec immediately forgave his father and acted like nothing happened, I would’ve had an issue. That’s not realistic. But, Clare showed readers the tension between Alec and Robert as they made attempts to mend their broken relationship. From City of Heavenly Fire to Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy to Lord of Shadows, Clare gives readers moments either from Alec himself or updates from Magnus about how the two are working together to fix what had been broken.

I have no love lost for Robert Lightwood. As a reader, in the wake of his death, I only care about how this will tear at Izzy, Alec and Jace. Once again, Robert’s children are the true victims.

Side note! Jace truly has the worst luck with fathers. His biological dad died (well, I guarantee that Valentine had him killed) before he was born, Valentine raised him and was technically killed twice in front of him, and now Robert.

In a way, Robert saved Jace from a life of even more abuse and destruction. I know that Robert only took in Jace because he thought the boy was his parabatai’s son, but that doesn’t change the fact that Robert and the Lightwoods gave Jace a home, a family, a parabatai, brothers and a sister to grow up with, and love that he never would have had otherwise. This is all because Robert made the decision to adopt Jace, and now Jace doesn’t get to say goodbye to the man who gave him a chance at a better life. Pain.

But Robert isn’t the only casualty at the hands of Annabel.

Emma wielding Cortana and Annabel with Maellartach fight on the blood-stained dais until Cortana shatters the Mortal Sword. Livvy pushed her way to the front to toss Julian a sword to defend himself, but Annabel didn’t want to pick a fight with him. … She wanted him to feel as hurt and as betrayed as she did, so she sinks a fragment of the Mortal Sword into Livvy’s heart.

Livvy’s death may just be the most gut-wrenching of the entire TSC library. I felt as if somebody knocked the air out of my lungs while reading. Julian worked so hard to keep his siblings cared for, loved unconditionally, and protected at all costs. He gave up his childhood to ensure they never wanted or felt the loss they endured. All he’s ever wanted was to protect and love these children, and Livvy is dead in his arms.

It killed me to read how Julian dropped his sword, forgetting about Annabel because what mattered was his little sister was crumpled to the ground spilling blood. “Livvy, Livvy, my Livvy. Livia”

“Livia. Livvy, my baby, please, sweetheart, open your eyes, it’s Jules, I’m here for you, I’m always here for you, please, please — “

I’m geeking out over the beauty of how Clare decided to punctuate the above quote. I’m usually a stickler for grammar rules and despise how Clare carelessly uses commas. However, this is perfection. By using commas to keep the sentence flowing and unending, Clare depicts the desperation in Julian’s words. He’s so panicked that he can’t even end the sentence. It’s an endless stream of begging without stopping. It’s raw emotion.

Livvy’s death was painful, and it’s a tipping point for all of the characters that we’ve grown to love.

“There’s nobody else I’d rather be like than you. I want you to be proud of me.” Not-so-friendly reminder that Livvy wanted to take care of other Shadowhunters and run an Institute. She wanted to be like Julian. Sobs.

Will Julian slip into a shell of himself after losing his little sister that he raised as a daughter and become too numb to continue his efforts of keeping his family together? Or will he let his ruthless heart and grieving soul lead him down a path to destruction and revenge? Will Emma slip back into another quest for vengeance after her life’s mission to protect the Blackthorns failed? Will Ty ever recover from losing his other half, his twin who he never lived a day without? How can he live with Livvy dead? Will Tavvy stop eating again from grief and memories of the sister who carried him to bed for so long? Will Dru have relentless nightmares of watching her older sister die in front of her? Will she no longer find solace in scary movies now that her life has become a horror attraction of its own? How will Mark and Helen mourn the little girl they barely knew, had just gotten back and was now taken from them forever?

My heart can’t take it.

I believe that if an author kills off a character, especially one of significant importance, it better be for a reason. Livvy’s death has a purpose. It was the ultimate consequence for all the lies and deception that Julian weaved to get what he wanted. It will direct the rest of the story as the Blackthorn family copes with the loss, particularly Julian, who’s main purpose in life was to protect his children. Livvy’s death will serve as a catalyst for the Blackthorns to end the Cohort, to stop Annabel and to clean up the mess that left their sister dead..

The scene after Livvy’s death is beautifully eerie.

“All around her she could hear the rising voices in the room, cries and shrieks. She could see Mark bent over Ty, who was crumpled on the floor. Mark’s shoulders were shaking. Helen was struggling through the crowd toward both of them. Dru was on the ground, sobbing into her hands. Alec had slumped back against the doors of the Hall, staring at the devastation.”

I liked that Clare chose to have this scene in Emma’s POV. While Emma may be an honorary Blackthorn, she is technically an outsider. She turns away after Annabel disappears and takes in the carnage around her. Because this moment is in Emma’s POV, we can see every single Blackthorn sibling’s reaction and Alec’s from the outside looking in. Readers see the different forms of shock and grief, how each character copes with the devastation. Though no reaction is more devastating than Julian holding Livvy in his arms.

“And there in front of her was Julian, his eyes and ears closed to anything but Livvy, her body cradled against his. She seemed a drift of fragile ash or snow, something impermanent that had blown into his arms accidentally: the petal of a faerie flower, the white feather of an angel’s wing. The dream of a little girl, the memory of a sister reaching up her arms: Julian, Julian, carry me.”

Finally, Clare hits readers with one last blow in the last sentence to end this 700-page feels trip.

“High above the Council Hall, the golden clock began to chime the hour.”

Livvy just told Kit before the meeting started that there’s a legend about how every time the clock chimes, the gates to Heaven open for just a second. I’m not sure if you know this, but, all the legends are true.

I’m not crying. I have seasonal allergies, just like Julian when he watched Titanic for the first time.

Final Thoughts

I was unfathomably worried about how Cassandra Clare was going to manage even a decent sequel after an opening book as magnificent as Lady Midnight, but she absolutely delivered with Lord of Shadows.

Cassie created a stunning sequel to continue the enthralling adventure that is The Dark Artifices. The story itself kept me on my toes and turning pages with a variety of twists and turns, while giving over a dozen intricate characters that somehow ALL were impactful and necessary pieces to solving the mystery at hand.

I became overprotective of the Blackthorn family and how they are so tight knit and cautious yet so open to accepting those who need a place to call home and a family to call their own.

LoS is a masterfully built story of what one is willing to do for the sake of protecting those they love most, of discovering oneself in a foreign world, of the endless fight against hatred and bigotry, of politics and the consequences of war, of friendship and found family, and of a battle for forbidden love.

It’s a tragedy and a comedy all at once, sending readers on a roller coaster ride of emotions that ends with your heart shattered on the floor amongst the spilled blood in the Hall of the Accords.

So much happens and there’s so much chaos, yet it never feels chaotic or overwhelming. It always flows smoothly at a thrilling pace as each puzzle piece snaps firmly into place, making it a book that simply cannot be put down.

I was worried that Clare couldn’t match the intensity or emotional pull that she laid out in Lady Midnight, but she blew me away with a sequel that was even better.

Lord of Shadows is a solid 4.5 stars out of 5.

Points were lost for the Cohort’s stupid signs. I can’t get over how absurd and cringey it was.

Life of Bry