Analyzing the final book in The Dark Artifices trilogy
And we’re back!
I’m (over)analyzing Queen of Air and Darkness, the final book in Cassandra Clare’s The Dark Artifices trilogy. Part one turned out to be solely a breakdown of Emma and Julian’s character development, so now we have everything else to dive into.
In part two, I’ll be giving my hot takes on Kit Herondale and Ty Blackthorn as a cute and angsty Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Dru’s subtle storyline of the woes of middle-child syndrome, our first official throuple that thankfully Clare didn’t coward out on, and the goods and bads of the overarching plot and themes.
Here are the rest of my thoughts on Queen of Air and Darkness.
Here KitTy, KitTy
Livvy’s death at the end of Lord of Shadows tore at the heart and soul of the Blackthorn family. As the family mourns the loss of one of their own, all eyes are on Ty to see how he copes with the death of his own twin, the other half of his soul. Ty is who I was most worried about going into QoAaD, because I didn’t know how he would respond to such a devastating loss that would change his entire life.
In Lady Midnight, Julian mentioned how Ty has never spent a single day away from his twin sister. Livvy was even born first, so he never lived in a world that didn’t have her in it. It makes her death catastrophic.
I would not have guessed Ty’s response to Livvy’s death would be necromancy, but I should’ve seen it coming. Of course, Ty wouldn’t be able to accept Livia’s death when he has the tools to bring her back. He doesn’t know how to process the grief, he doesn’t want to accept that his twin is gone forever, and Julian is not there to help him understand the emotions tearing him apart.
In the absence of Julian (both mentally and physically), Ty leans on Kit for support.
Clare chooses to have Ty’s plan unfold through the eyes of Kit, which I think was a wise decision because it builds the air of mystery around what is going on inside Ty’s head and allows the tension to build between the two boys. We don’t truly know how Ty is processing the grief or how he feels about Kit. We only know that Kit has these unfamiliar instincts to protect and care for Ty that he doesn’t quite understand himself.
It’s vital to note that while Kit’s presence provides comfort for Ty, Kit is still a 15-year-old boy mourning the death of his own father just weeks prior, coping with the upheaval of the only life he knew, and attempting to make sense of his new-found identity. He’s not in an emotional space to be anything more for Ty than a friend who can understand the deep sorrow they both share.
Ty has always been swaddled in love from Julian and his siblings. In a way, Julian and Livvy created a barrier between the world and Ty out of fear. Jules went above and beyond to give Ty tools to better understand a world that could be too loud, too bright and too confusing; while Livvy gave Ty a safe haven in her heart by being the one person who would always understand him. Together they wrapped in love and protected Ty from a world they thought would undoubtedly hurt him if they let go.
Kit’s never had that type of love. He says as much in Lord of Shadows, when he watches Julian hug Ty with such loving ferocity that it hurts the Lost Herondale to watch. Johnny Rook physically protected Kit, but he didn’t shy away from teaching his son that the world was cruel, it would hurt you and it was your responsibility to learn to adapt and survive in it. He left Kit emotionally vulnerable, untrusting of others and believing he was undeserving of love.
But Kit was finding himself a place amongst the Blackthorn family, who seemingly dish out love freely and easily to those who find themselves without a family or home of their own. He felt at ease among the Blackthorn twins that readily adopted him as their welcomed third wheel in mystery solving, snooping and roasting anyone who crossed them.
In LoS, Kit said that home was with the Blackthorns, so what changed between that moment and the end of QoAaD? Necromancy.
At the beginning of QoAaD, Kit finds himself in a role similar to what Emma put herself in — protector of the Blackthorns. Well, mostly just one Blackthorn.
“He knew it wasn’t healthy, but his father had always made it sound like to break down in grief meant you would be broken forever. Kit owed too much to the Blackthorns, especially Ty, to let himself shatter over Livvy. She wouldn’t have wanted that. She would have wanted him to be there for Ty.” (49)
First, I love Kit’s perspective of the Shadow World, because it’s just blunt honesty. He reminds me a lot of Simon Lovelace, previously Lewis, in that way. He’s not afraid to question the mechanics, traditions and thoughts of the Shadowhunters. Next, I think that Kit feels like he owes it to Livvy to protect and be there for Ty, because Ty was there for him when Johnny Rook was murdered. Ty camped out in front of Kit’s door for days and went out of his way to help the boy cope with the loss of his father.
Now, Kit thinks it’s his turn to return the favor. He just doesn’t know how.
“There was a cold tension inside him, a fear he couldn’t shake — that he had lost not just Livvy but Ty as well.” 51
I think that it’s easy to forget that Kit is mourning Livvy, too. She opened her heart and arms to Kit. She trusted him with her twin, despite the fear that he would hurt Ty as so many others have. She even kissed him! Another person that Kit was willing to trust and give a piece of his heart to was killed in front of him. However, Kit puts his grief aside and focuses on Ty. He doesn’t think that they can mourn simultaneously because Ty’s loss seems exponentially greater than his own.
When Ty starts climbing Livvy’s funeral pyre, Kit immediately starts after him. However, Diana stops him with a ‘not you’. Diana clearly just meant to protect Kit because Julian, who was much more capable of climbing after Ty and comforting him, was already following after his brother. However, these two words are a confirmation of the self doubt that Kit already holds. He feels himself useless in this world because he’s just learned his real identity — and not even all of it — so he’s undertrained and underprepared. He already thinks he shouldn’t be the one Ty looks toward for support in this situation, even though he feels that it’s his obligation. Diana’s words, no matter how innocent, were validation of those doubts.
Despite the self doubt, Kit wants to be there for Ty. It’s probably for the best, because all the other Blackthorns hold Ty at arms length. They treat him like a ticking bomb, waiting for the explosion to examine the damage. Ty’s odd behavior is determined to be grief and blown off in fear that mentioning it would set off the timer to destruction. It really bothered me, honestly. The Blackthorns essentially isolate Ty in his state of mourning. They abandon him when he needs them most because they’re scared of hurting him more.
Kit is the one to approach Ty about how he’s not acting as expected. I think Kit knows that Ty appreciates people being straightforward with him. In return, Ty tells Kit he plans on bringing Livvy back from the dead, and he wants Kit to be his official Watson on his necromantic quest.
“I can do this without you. Bring back Livvy, I mean. But I don’t want to. Sherlock doesn’t do things without Watson.” (75)
Ty unfairly and unawarely corners Kit with the request.
No matter how badly Kit doesn’t want to do necromancy, he really doesn’t want Ty to do this alone and get hurt. He also doesn’t want to be the reason Ty falls apart completely. This goes back to his unspoken oath to protect Ty in the wake of Livvy’s death as a way of thanking the Blackthorns for their hospitality. He doesn’t want to fail the people who have so graciously given him a home. It also touches on Kit’s hunger for love and approval. Ty says he wants Kit to help him with this, fulfilling Kit’s need to be wanted from a childhood of being hidden and treated as a burden.
Thus, Clare sends readers on a side quest of sorts with these two bumbling, adorable 15 year olds acting as Sherlock and Watson — with way less cocaine and a lot more necromancy.
There’s something so sweet and magical and innocent about the bond Kit and Ty form. They’re endearing. It was cute to have a front row seat to Kit’s chaotic inner-monologue about how Ty was beautiful and his smile lit up his face and he made everyone fall in love with him and his eyelashes were so long and dark and there was this odd innate need to protect this boy who probably didn’t need protecting.
Side note! Clare does a really good job at making Kit’s personality a perfect balance of “typical Herondale” and modern Gen Z. He’s sarcastic, angsty, blunt and hilarious in a very cringy, yet aware way. Top Kit moments are:
- When Irina Cartwright asked him if he thought funerals were “always so sad” like the idiot she is, Kit responded with, “I wouldn’t know. My father was eaten by demons.” Got ‘em.
- Kit refuses to give the password to the phouka at the Shadow Market, and then flips her off before leaving. Very Jace Herondale.
- After Ty, Kit and Dru successfully trick Barnabas, Kit makes a joke about Batman’s parents, which makes Ty smile and Dru laugh for the first time since Livvy died.
- During the Barnabas trick … “You are so forked.” How did Kit forget weapons? Come on!
- Kit’s casual, “I didn’t do anything wrong, especially not any necromancy.” Smooth, Kit. Tessa definitely won’t be sus.
However, Kit didn’t put together all these strange feelings, because he was too busy trying to slyly foil Ty’s plan to bring Livvy back without hurting the remaining Blackthorn twin.
Kit really doesn’t want to do necromancy. The warlock Shade (who I knew from the start was Ragnor Fell, that sneaky green bastard) that had agreed to help them with the spell is in the same boat. He doesn’t want these two 15-year-old boys playing with dark magic, but he doesn’t want them to find a warlock to help that doesn’t have their best interest at heart.
“Sometimes you need to guard people against the things they want, as well as the things they fear.” (319)
In a way, Ty is having a similar arc to Julian. While he didn’t use a spell to render himself emotionless, he’s just refusing to process them. Instead, Ty focuses on bringing his sister back no matter the cost, much like how Julian is focused on getting the Black Volume and killing Annabel. Emma is doing her part to protect Julian from what he wants, while Kit is doing his best to do the same for Ty.
“Livvy is out there. Just past where I can reach her, but I can hear her. She says my name. She wants me to bring her back. She needs me to bring her back.” (346)
Kit is the only one that Ty is honest with in his feelings. While he’s not telling Kit outright that he’s hurting, the above quote points to how much pain this boy is holding onto. Ty trusts Kit and has pulled him into the bubble that he previously only shared with Livvy.
Kit knows Ty’s trust and affection doesn’t come easily. He has blocked out Dru and Julian from his plans, so Kit doesn’t want to be next. He also doesn’t want to disappoint Livvy by abandoning her brother, which he promised not to do in LoS. Once again, Ty has unintentionally trapped Kit.
Clare did such a wonderful job at presenting Kit’s inner-turmoil over raising Livvy. He’s conflicted and confused, because he’s 15, and he knows necromancy is bad, but he can’t bear to leave Ty to do this alone. He can’t sort out his mess of feelings, and Clare takes readers on a journey as Kit attempts to figure out what all these strange emotions mean.
“When Ty leaned into him with a sigh, he felt like he’d won a race he didn’t know he was running.” (347)
I love this quote. It’s such a perfect way of describing that puppy love feeling. Ty reached out to Kit and wrapped his arms around the Herondale boy without the prompt of panic. That’s a massive moment for Ty, who rarely seeks physical touch. He reached out for Kit, not Dru or Julian or Emma. … He hugged Kit, which is another hit of that love and approval that Kit so desperately seeks. Ty keeps giving Kit more reasons to stick around. Kit also wants to be around Ty.
While Ty does kind of trap Kit in his necromantic scheme, it’s important to remember that Kit does enjoy Ty’s company. Since Clare never gives us Ty’s POV, she leaves room for doubt in Ty’s intentions. One could make the reach that Ty, who’s spent five years looking up to a master manipulator in Julian, could develop the same tendencies. He could be emotionally manipulating Kit so he doesn’t have to be alone and doesn’t have to bear the weight of the consequences himself.
While it frustrated me to never get that peak into Ty’s head, I believe Clare made the right choice. Readers struggle alongside Kit to figure out how to best be there for this boy who had lost so much. Having Ty’s perspective would eliminate the mystery of his purpose and choices.
With that said, I don’t think that Ty ever had ill intentions. He never doubted that his plan would work perfectly. He just wanted a comforting person beside him, and Kit wanted to be that comfort.
Kit just hopes something spoils Ty’s plan before he has to intervene. Not the smartest plan and definitely frustrating for readers, but he’s 15 and doesn’t have anything better.
My go-to when I find myself questioning a character’s actions is: Is this a misstep by the author or is this character being a dumb teenager? Our protaganists are teens (Tavvy is excluded, because that boy is a baby angel), and teenagers are innately kind of dumb out of no fault of their own. (I’m saying dumb to mean emotionally immature. Ty, Kit and teenagers as a whole are extremely smart in their own individual ways. They aren’t stupid.) Dumb teenagers do dumb teenager things because that’s what they’re supposed to do — and it’s what Clare hits home most in her novels.
Kit’s inaction is because he’s a dumb teenager, experiencing love for the first time along with a cluster of other feelings he simply can’t sort through due to the pressing situation at hand.
Something I believe that Clare did amazing was the presentation of grief in Ty and the lack of it. He’s not accepting Livvy as gone. He’s numbed himself to the emotion of loss and replaced it with denial and determination. However, he shows subtle signs of his distress. Dru and Emma both notice that he’s biting his hands again, just as he had after they lost their father. Dru also saw that his usual organized room was in shambles. Even emotionless Julian could tell something was off with Ty, but couldn’t figure out how to reach out to the brother he’d raise hell to protect.
Ty earnestly believed that raising Livvy would make his family whole again. He believed everything could be solved if Livvy was alive. Ty told Julian that he had a plan to fix everything, but his only plan was to raise Livvy, meaning he sees his twin’s death as the primary problem for himself and his siblings.
He doesn’t consider or have knowledge of the larger problems at play that Livia’s resurrection wouldn’t help — the Cohort, the Clave, the parabatai curse, the civil war brewing in the Seelie Court. Ty never takes into consideration the implications that raising Livvy would have on his family. They’d have to explain how the girl everyone saw die and body burned is somehow alive.
Side note! Jules has a similar viewpoint to Ty in Thule when he tries to convince Livvy in that world to come home with him. When she refuses, Emma’s there to help Julian come to terms with his sister’s choice. Kit isn’t comfortable enough with Ty to do the same for him.
Necromancy doesn’t fall under the Blackthorn family motto of “A bad law is no law.” No necromancy is a good law.
Everything about Ty hurt so incredibly much, especially his refusal to find solace in Thule Livvy’s existence as Julian had. I genuinely thought the letter from Thule Livvy would be the turning point for Ty.
“When your twin leaves the earth you live on, it never turns the same way again: the weight of their soul is gone, and everything is off balance. The world rocks under your feet like an unquiet sea. I can’t tell you it gets easier. But it does get steadier; you learn how to live with the new rocking of the earth, the way sailors gain sea legs. You learn. I promise.” (556)
This letter was perfect. It’s not just a trope to pull at the heartstrings. It’s practically Livvy screaming at Ty that you have to accept death. She would want him to find the strength to live in a world where she is nothing but ashes and memories … just as she did in her world without him. She hopes that her words will give him the same comfort she felt learning that there was a dimension where her twin was still breathing.
Ty doesn’t want to hear it. To him, this excruciatingly beautiful letter written from his sister, who in another world lost him and did what he could not by accepting the other’s death, was merely the last ingredient for his spell.
Which brings us to the moment that will make me sob for the rest of eternity.
It’s necromancy time, and Kit finally breaks. He can’t do it, and he can’t let Ty do it. He’s put Ty’s feelings above his own for the entirety of QoAaD, but it’s time for Kit to do what’s best for himself. He stops Ty in the middle of the chanting. First with the words below that made me close the book because I couldn’t see through the tears. Then, by tackling him.
“I can’t live without Livvy.”
“You can. You think this will make your family stronger, but it will destroy them if you bring her back. You think you can’t survive without Livvy, but you can. We will go through it together. I love you, Ty. I love you. … She’s gone, Ty. She’s gone forever. You have to get through this. Your family will help you. I will help you. But not if you do this. Not if you do this, Ty.”
“I have to get her back, Kit. I have to.” (679)
These words are extremely meticulous on Clare’s part. They point directly to Kit’s insecurities. Kit tells Ty that he loves him. It’s the first time he says it out loud, and the first time he even uses the word love in connection to his feelings for Ty. At this moment, Kit is underhandedly asking Ty if he reciprocates these feelings, and Ty doesn’t acknowledge it.
For Kit, who we know doesn’t feel worthy of love, this is a clear rejection by Ty. It’s a confirmation of this fear, and a setback to the progress Kit made with himself to even be able to offer love after a life without it. If Ty had responded to Kit’s confession in any way, we would have an entirely different story. Instead, we have two very hurt boys who feel betrayed by the other.
“You knew I was going to raise Livvy. You knew it all along and you told me it was fine. You went along with it until the very last minute and then you told me not to do it. I thought you cared, but you lied to me. Just like everyone else.”
“You only care about what’s best for you. You raised Livvy for you, not for her or anyone else. You knew the damage it might do. You only thought of yourself. I wish — I wish I’d never known you —“ (721)
Clare purposely and masterfully made this a situation for finger pointing. I love good finger-pointing situations. It makes you sit back and think. Was Kit being dramatic? Should Kit have been honest with Ty upfront? Is Ty selfish for raising Livvy’s ghost? Was Ty not fully understanding the weight of Kit’s confession?
Situations aren’t always black and white. There’s not always going to be a right and a wrong.
I don’t think Kit is being dramatic. Ty is the one who convinced him that he would find a home amongst the Blackthorns, and he sees that for himself. He wanted to be a part of this messy family full of love and acceptance that was foreign to him. Kit finds a place among them by being Ty’s shadow. Ty’s rejection means that Kit is once again displaced with the itty bits of love he felt torn away. It’s a massive betrayal.
Kit spends QoAaD doing his best to give Ty the support he needs after a catastrophic loss. Ty never offers the same support, because he doesn’t have the capacity to do so. He’s reeling from grief that he won’t even accept. The point is that Ty has so many outlets for love and support, but Kit has none. Kit relished in simply being a part of Ty’s little bubble, of the small doses of love and affection this beautiful Blackthorn boy gave him, in the comfort of not being physically alone.
Yes, Kit should’ve been truthful to Ty from the start. He knows Ty has been lied to and led on before in friendship and that his trust can be so easily broken. But Kit is a 15-year-old boy who wanted to hold onto the only source of love he could find in a world that left him lonely and starved for affection.
Both boys are to blame, yet neither should be. They’re 15. They’re destroyed from grief and weighed down by despair. Neither is in the right position mentally to support the other or to form a romantic relationship.
It’s just easier to point the finger solely at Kit, because we only get his POV. Kit is extremely forgiving of Ty, even after the necromancy. He’s not forgiving toward himself. As readers we have no one telling us that Kit is beautiful, that he makes their stomach flutter, that his smile lights up a room. Kit is his own worst critic, and we have a front row seat to his self-deprecation. (He pretty much considers himself a K-Mart version of Jace Herondale.) Kit blames himself, so we blame him because it’s written in black and white.
“He didn’t blame Ty for what had happened. He blamed himself: He’d been too fixated on not losing Ty to tell him what he needed to hear. Everyone needed to be stopped from making bad choices sometimes, but he hadn’t stopped Ty. And he’d gotten what he deserved.” (799)
This is where my spicy take comes into play. I’m happy that Kit and Ty didn’t end up together at the end of QoAaD. I’d even be OK if they aren’t endgame in The Wicked Powers.
Clare loves a happy ending for couples after they’ve gone through Hell — sometimes literally rather than figuratively. There’s not too many failed new relationships in Clare’s novels — maybe Simon and Maia, Maia and Jordan or Simon and Clary? Even then, Maia, Simon and Clary all wind up in other long-term relationships (well, Jordan ends up dead).
While Ty and Kit have clear chemistry, are adorable, and find solace in the other’s presence; they don’t belong together in this time or place. It’s a case of right person, wrong time. Both boys need time to heal. Ty needs to come to terms with the consequences of raising Livvy’s ghost, accept the grief that he buried so deeply and learn who he is in this world where his twin isn’t physically present. Kit needs to learn that he is worthy of love, to understand he can put himself and his feelings first, and to discover who he wants to be in this realm of magic where he is hunted royalty.
(Yinz hardcore KitTy shippers ever think that maybe part of Kit’s reasoning to leave was to protect the Blackthorns from more trouble? I believe he knows Jem and Tessa are better equipped to keep him safe, and he couldn’t bear the thought of bringing more danger to the Blackthorn family after everything they’ve been through. He’s not solely running from Ty’s rejection.)
Ty can heal at the Scholomance by throwing himself into mysteries, while Kit will be surrounded by endless love, patience and kindness in the Gray-Carstairs home. Separation is what’s best for both of them.
A relationship formed on tragedy and in a fog of grief would’ve felt awkward and forced. Instead, Clare did the right thing, which is very brave of her considering how lovable and perfect Kit and Ty are together.
It’s far from a cathartic ending for these two. It’s agonizing to see such sweet, innocent characters completely fall apart. It tore at my heart and punched the air out of me. I hope that these two find each other again once their own hearts are healed. I’m not looking for a romantic relationship between Kit and Ty. I only want them to find closure in one another and what conspired between them, and maybe come together as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to solve some more mysteries. Please, let their reunion be a slow rediscovery of why the other brings them happiness and not an immediate love-at-first-sight trope. *crosses fingers*
However, happiness doesn’t appear to be on the horizon. As ghost Livvy said:
“You cannot borrow from death. You can only pay for it.” (681)
Ty’s going to have to pay for it.
Possible plot hole: Back in Lady Midnight, readers learn that Jem considered adopting Emma after the Dark War, but didn’t ask the younger Carstairs because it would mean she would have to give up her life of Shadowhunting — which seemed a cruel fate for someone so devoted and full of potential. However … Tessa and Jem are adopting Kit, and there was no mention of him not being a Shadowhunter anymore due to this arrangement. This decision is made prior to the Clave’s exile, so this is not a matter of Laws changing. What’s the deal?
13-year-old girls are terrifying
In the grand scheme of things, Dru’s story arc is perhaps the smallest (other than Tavvy); however, I adore and appreciate what her character brings to TSC. Clare created this world where her warriors were all kind of uniform. They’re stunningly beautiful and thin and the typical societal definition of “hot”. Clary being petite in TMI was made to be this big deal, because the warriors around her were tall and flawless. People are short! It shouldn’t matter as much as Clare made it out to be, which always bothered me.
So many children, especially teen girls, experience some form of insecurity about their bodies. There’s an expectation ingrained into society that in order to be beautiful one must meet certain criteria. Dru experiencing body image issues shows a real problem that young girls (and boys … and men and women of all ages) across the world face. While I’m happy that it’s included in this series, I also love that Clare doesn’t make it a forefront of Dru’s personality and arc. Her worth and her story are not equated to the image reflected in the mirror.
What matters to Dru’s story is her massive heart, her love of all things horror, and how she’s caught in that age where she’s too young to truly fight but too old to be coddled. She’s also facing a bout of middle-child syndrome. She feels alone and abandoned by Julian and Emma, excluded by Ty and Kit, forced into watching Tavvy, unfamiliar to Mark, and betrayed by Helen.
Dru’s life has once again been upended. She lost her mom when she was 6 and her father to the Dark War at 8 when she wielded a sword to protect baby Tavvy. She turned to the horror genre for comfort against the real horrors around her since “the dead never stayed dead” in cinema. Now her sister is also dead, and Julian and Emma aren’t there to help her grieve as they did after the war.
She feels helpless and alone.
“Helen will be taking care of you, he’d said. As if he could just walk away from that and Helen could pick it up, as if they weren’t a family but were a carelessly dropped penny. Or a gerbil. You’re treating me like a gerbil, she thought, and wondered what would happen if she said that to Jules. But she couldn’t. Since Livvy had died the worried line had gone from between his eyebrows, replaced by a blank look that was a thousand times worse.”
That’s why Jaime Rosales got away with hiding in Dru’s room at the London Institute in LoS. He treated her with a respect that her siblings didn’t because he saw her as an equal and not someone to protect. Much like Kit, she was starved for attention, and Jaime gave it to her in the form of friendship.
“I didn’t tell Jaime how old I was because he was my friend. He listened to me and he watched horror movies with me and he acted like what I said was important and I didn’t want him to treat me like a little kid.” (247)
This catches everyone in an awkward situation. Of course, Mark’s first instinct is to beat the crap out of Jaime. That was also my first reaction when Jaime arrived in Dru’s bedroom. If Jaime had ill intentions, Dru could’ve gotten really hurt. While it was right for Kieran and Cristina to talk Mark down and have him trust his younger sister, there really should’ve been a longer discussion with Dru about the importance of not allowing strangers to hide in your room and about how her insecurities left her vulnerable. She needed a heart-to-heart, and we didn’t get that. The harsh reality is that very few people are as good-hearted as Jaime, and that could’ve led to disaster. I wish Clare better resolved that situation rather than having Dru go on believing what she did was OK because it ended well.
When Jaime runs off to help Diego, we do get a brief scene between Helen and Dru where they reconcile their sisterly bond. Dru admits she feels abandoned, while Helen confesses how desperately she missed her siblings while on Wrangel Island. It’s a sweet moment, but we should probably be telling her not to allow strangers into her room.
Dru saying that Jaime was her first friend is also a reminder of the isolation these kids put themselves in to stay together. Julian loved them fiercely and was devoted to them, but he also had to hide them and keep them out of the eye of the Clave to prevent questions. Ty had Livvy, Jules had Emma, and Tavvy had Julian. Dru was in a tough spot because there’s too big of an age gap between her and Tavs to really have a friendship. Dru loves Tavvy, but she can’t watch horror movies with him or confess her fears to him without scaring him. There’s not much they can bond over other than their shared trauma, which Tavvy isn’t truly old enough to express. She’s in more of a position to watch over her younger brother than be his friend.
Throughout QoAaD, Dru is struggling with being at this inbetween stage of life, which is very relatable. Everybody has points where they feel similarly to Dru. I’m in my mid-20s, I’m married and have a house and a full-time job. Some of my peers have two or three kids, while others still live at home with their parents or are still going to school. I feel ahead of some and drastically behind in other areas of life.
What I learned and what Dru learns is that life isn’t a race. We aren’t competing to grow up the quickest.
This is another area where Julian fell short in his parenting, which is OK because he was literally 12. He had to grow up tragically quick, so he went out of his way to make sure his siblings didn’t have to do the same. He coddled his children, because he didn’t want them to bear the weight of growing up too fast like he had. This mixed with early childhood trauma put the younger Blackthorn kids a figurative step behind their peers, which is an important detail Clare included to show the long-term effects war has on children. Smart.
Back to Dru.
Dru has a few key moments where she sort of steps into herself. The first comes when Kit and Ty have her help them scam Barnabas. She gets to pretend she’s older, which is exactly what she wants. However, the task also allows her to feel less helpless after Livvy’s death. Baby’s first con! Kit is VERY proud. Plus, this scene has a moment where Ty puts his arm around his sister to protect her, and I think that’s prolific for Dru. She always felt as if she was outside of Ty’s bubble, but he brings her in with this small gesture. He even tells her she did a good job.
It’s a turning point in the relationship between Ty and Dru. These two become closer in the wake of Livvy’s death, and Ty trusts her to keep the secret of his twin’s ghost. They lean on each other in a way that would otherwise not have happened if Livia was alive. Ty and Dru found a way to gain something beautiful in the aftermath of a tragic loss.
The second came when Dru picked the locks of the Gard to let the prisoners free and hid them in Diana’s shop. Julian told Dru that she was still an essential part of Livia’s Watch, so she took her own liberties on what that meant. She knew she couldn’t distract Jules by being on the battlefield, but she could help add more capable allies to his ranks. Can we sit on the fact that Dru had one lesson from Kit on lock picking and somehow became a master? That’s impressive and a little terrifying.
Finally, it was her idea to rally her siblings to proclaim their love for Emma and Julian to bring them back from their true Nephilim form. I didn’t particularly like the way this played out, but I’ll get to that later. What’s important to note now is that Dru is constantly being undermined by her siblings because of her age, but it’s in this life-or-death moment that she pulls through for her family. Plus, she doesn’t do it by trying to act like a grown up. She takes a very child-like approach to a dangerous situation.
Dru’s little coming of age story hidden within the pages of QoAaD is a gem. It’s cute and relatable with just enough detail to have sustenance but not too much to be overwhelming and dragging in an already crowded plot.
“She supposed she could go over to them and try to join the conversation, try to seem more grown-up and worth talking to. But I am thirteen. I’m thirteen and I’m worth talking to without pretending I’m something I’m not. And I’m not going to bother with anyone who doesn’t see that.” (837)
Side note! I absolutely ADORED how Dru and Kieran formed a super cute friendship. He watched horror movies with her and she gave him dating advice! It was so dang adorable.
“Everyone feels far away just now. But that’s because they’re worried. When they get worried, they pull inside themselves and sometimes they forget that you’re there. But it doesn’t mean they don’t care.”
“So what do I do, Drusilla?”
“Don’t remain silent about what you want, or you may never get it.”
“You are very wise.”
“Well, I actually say that on a mug.” (539)
Kieran is my king (and THROUPLE)
I am conflicted.
On one hand, I love that Clare gave us our first official TSC throuple; however, I just … didn’t like the journey she took us to get there. It felt rushed, confusing and a bit forced. It just made me feel defeated. I was rooting for it to happen, but every step forward in the relationship between Mark, Kieran and Cristina fell flat for me.
These are three fantastic individual characters that Clare simply didn’t do justice — except Kieran. I love Kieran’s story arc from villain to hero and from prince to hunter to king. However, it felt like Clare gave up on developing Mark and Cristina outside of her planned throuple. It seemed as if Clare decided at the end of LoS that she wanted a throuple and focused primarily on that end goal. I feel a bit cheated.
We’ll start with what I liked: Kieran.
I truly didn’t expect to fall head over heels for the young prince. (Cristina and Mark: “Same.”) He stole my heart. He’s thoughtful, loyal, kind-hearted, funny and DRAMATIC. He didn’t see himself as a hero, he just wanted to do right by his people and those he loved.
When Diego was hiding Kieran in the Scholomance, the Cohort finds him and drags him to the Hollow Place to stare into enchanted water that makes you feel the pain you inflicted on others. It’s supposed to be a spot of reflection for students, but the Cohort decides to use it as torture. Kieran is the son of an Unseelie King and rode with the Wild Hunt, his hands are far from clean. The brief moment of staring into the water is enough to give this prince an existential crisis.
However, he’s still the one to reach for Samantha Larkspear when she slipped into the pool. Kieran saved Samantha while the Cohort looked on in horror. This is a really clever and subtle way of showing how Kieran is intrinsically good. He didn’t think twice about reaching out to a girl who wouldn’t hesitate to let him die if the roles were reversed.
Side note! Samantha never recovers from her time in the Hollow Place. She goes mad from the pain and eventually committed suicide because of it. Why did the water affect Samantha so differently from Kieran? The obvious answer is that Kieran only looked into the water, while Smanatha was submerged. However, I think it’s also about perception. The Hollow Place confirmed what Kieran already felt about himself. He sees himself as a villain, causing pain and suffering from his selfishness. Samanatha, and the Cohort, believe themselves to be saviors of suffering and inherently right. The water forced Samantha to face the truth of the pain she inflicted on others, and she couldn’t handle it.
Clare uses this existential crisis as a driving force in developing Kieran’s character as he wrestles with who he was, who he thinks he is and who he wants to be. It’s through the loving and forgiving eyes of Cristina, Mark and the rest of the Blackthorn family that Kieran begins the journey.
There’s two lines in particular that Cristina says to Kieran that help him cope with his past.
“As we all have an infinite capacity to make mistakes, we all have an infinite capacity for forgiveness.” (229)
This first quote is about Emma being whipped because of Kieran. This is perhaps what Kieran feels the most guilty for, because it didn’t cause harm to just Emma, but to Julian and Mark. Cristina says the above to convince Kieran that Emma will (and does) forgive him, which the prince doesn’t believe he’s worthy of.
“We all stumble around in the dark and we cause each other pain and we try to make up for it the best we can. We are all confused.” (283)
This second quote comes as Kieran attempts to leave Mark and Cristina behind to save Julian and Emma himself. He still believes he owes his life to Emma, and he’s worn down from knowing the confusion and pain he caused Mark and Cristina. He feels risking himself for Emma and Julian will be a repentance of his sins.
Also, no wonder Kieran falls for Cristina so quickly. She fights for his safety. I imagine that very few people have been concerned for his well being throughout his life. Mark and Cristina fight for him, have faith in him and believe he is better than the person he sees himself as.
Clare did a really good job at having Kieran come to terms with his birthright. There’s several instances throughout QoAaD where characters have to remind him that he’s a prince and has the powers and privileges that come with being born to the Unseelie King. It’s such a small detail that Kieran needs to be reminded that he’s royalty, but it shows so much of his character. He doesn’t want the throne like his brothers and he believes himself not worthy of the title of prince, which makes him the best suited for the role. He’s not looking for the title or power, he’s looking out for his people.
When Mark and Kieran are brought into the Unseelie Court, the prince warns Mark that they will walk the path of punishment and be whipped and stoned by the gentry. However, the pair are met only with stunned murmurs of the good Kieran has done for the Unseelies and the sympathy they have for the fate of the King’s youngest son. A little girl presses a white daffodil into Kieran’s palm — a symbol of forgiveness, something the prince does not believe he’s deserving of.
“I think I was kind because I was a prince and arrogant and careless and it suited me to be kind, but I could just as easily have been cruel. I do not remember saving a farm or a child. I was drunk on an easy life in those days. I should not be thanked or forgiven.” …
“When mortals say that things will be all right, it is not only for comfort. In part it is because we do not, as faeries do, believe in an absolute truth. We bring our own truth to the world. Because I believe things will be all right, I will be less unhappy and afraid. And because you are angry at yourself, you believe that everything you have done, you have done out of selfishness.” (337)
The above conversation between Kieran and Mark is a turning point for the prince as he seeks forgiveness in himself. Kieran sees only good and bad, he doesn’t see or understand the middle ground between the two that envelopes the majority of society.
Mark also communicates with Kier how he understands what the other has gone through and how he used “none of it is real” as a coping method for the abuse he endured.
“When they whipped you, when you were tormented, you would whisper to yourself that none of it was real. As if to say the pain was all a dream. It was a gift you meant to give me — the gift of escaping agony, of retreating into a place in your mind where you were safe.” (338)
This is great closure from a phrase Clare introduced way back in Lady Midnight, a way to heal the relationship between Mark and Kieran and the beginning of the prince accepting who he is.
Kieran, even in shackles, subtly defies his father by giving Ash permission to kill him as the King ordered.
“I know what it is to be given no good choice by the King of the Unseelie Court.” (363)
Luckily, the Seelie Queen interrupts before Ash has to slay Kieran. The altercation between the Seelie Queen and Unseelie King was sick. The Seelie Queen is a manipulator and deceiver, but she’s also a powerful, badass lady. She cares for her son as the King never cared about his own. She wants protection for Ash, while the King is ready to execute his youngest son.
In the end, Kieran puts his elf bolt into the King’s throat to save his brother, end his father’s reign and give the young prince the right to a throne he doesn’t want.
Mark and Cristina both want Kieran to become King, because he truly wants what’s best for the Unseelie Court. He could turn the tides of a cruel reign into one of peace and prosperity with empathy Kings so rarely possess. It’s the love and faith of Cristina and Mark that allows Kieran to accept his birthright, to challenge Oban and fight to become King.
“Love wakens love. Faith wakens faith.” (676)
OK, so let’s talk about the throuple. I’m so happy that Clare didn’t coward out on giving readers a polyamorous relationship. I thought for sure when Kieran became King that Clare was making another supernatural loophole to prevent a throuple like in The Infernal Devices.
Side note! Something I appreciate about Clare’s writing is her inclusivity. We simply didn’t have that when I was a teenager getting into YA. A character like Diana would have caused an uproar back in 2012. Yes, it could be better and Clare doesn’t always get it right, but it’s definitely a start. She also seems like somebody who’s genuine in her pursuit of proper representation.
“My heart is breaking and I cannot see a way out. You are all I want, but I must do what is best for my people. I cannot weaken my Land by coming here, and I cannot hurt you by bringing you there. We would never have peace in either place.” (791)
Mark, Kieran and Cristina make an adorable couple. They need all three to complete their circle — Kieran, a full-blooded faerie, and Cristina, a full-blooded Nephilim, brought together by Mark, half of each world. They make sense together because they’re all so pure at heart and value honesty so deeply. They embody so much of what is good in the world.
We see the deep love between Mark and Kieran that they formed during the Wild Hunt, and we see the relationship develop between Mark and Cristina as she helps him transition back into the Shadowhunter life. Cristina also knew about Mark prior to meeting him. She had aspirations to fight for his freedom. However, Clare doesn’t establish the same connection between Cristina and Kieran. We get brief moments of Cristina fighting for Kieran to have self-preservation and for his safety, but we don’t get anything deeper than surface level.
There simply wasn’t time or space to properly bond these two in an already crowded plot, and the throuple suffered for it.
Side note! As Emma put it, Cristina is a beautiful badass. She’s a brilliant character on her own, outside of the throuple, and I think that gets lost within the hype of this hot faerie threesome. She’s strong, kind and brilliant. She’s confident in herself, has unwavering faith and trusts in her instincts.
Plus, her friendship with Emma is so relatable and absolutely perfect. When she and Emma were giggling about hot faerie princes while pretending to be Aadon’s captives, I was smiling so hard. It reminded me of my best friend in high school and how we would always get moved in study hall because we’d be giggling over stupid stuff. There were times where we’d get separated, lock eyes from across the cafeteria and start busting out laughing for no reason. My college roommate and I were the same way. We spent so many late nights laughing and crying about life while eating chicken tendies and doing homework.
It’s just this overwhelming giddiness that comes with being best friends. You get drunk on their presence, and it’s wonderful. Clare did a wonderful job at presenting that with Cristina and Emma.
Two incredibly badass ladies, who we were robbed of becoming parabatai. That would’ve been a deadly duo.
I did like the ending for these three and how it fit with the overall plot. Kieran is the Unseelie King, Mark and Cristina take up the position as heads of the Shadowhutners/Downworlders Alliance, and Aadon gives the throuple his cottage where they can be together for moments in time without harm coming to Kier’s Land or to his lovers. It makes sense for Mark and Cristina to take on a role with the Alliance, because Cristina has always been devoted to assisting Downworlds and Mark was torn between two worlds. This gives both of them a role and purpose in this new age of Shadowhunters that will keep them productive as Kieran rules the Unseelie Court and seeks peace with the Seelies. It’s not a perfectly happy ending for these three because they will be separated for long periods of time, but they’ll always come back to each other. That means everything.
I’m emotional. We got a throuple, guys. We got a throuple.
Let’s get down and dirty! (Plot and themes)
I mentioned in my Lady Midnight analysis that I believe that Clare gets away with shoddy, incomplete and boring plots because she creates an interesting world with complex characters that steal your heart.
Clare outdid herself and my expectations with a well-developed, page-turning plot throughout The Dark Artifices that made me borderline ravenous to finish the trilogy as quickly as possible.
Everything comes to a head in QoAaD as the Blackthorn family’s worst nightmare becomes a reality. One of their own is dead. Julian has failed the children — his children — he fought so hard to protect.
The hope Julian had for a happy ending has been crushed. His 15-year-old sister is gone all because one of his expert plans went south. His and Emma’s chance for exile to weaken their parabatai bond died along with Robert Lightwood. The Cohort is more powerful than ever, as Horace Dearborn feeds into his bigotry using the fear that Annabel Blackthorn brought to Alicante.
For starters, it was a huge relief that Clare didn’t do a time skip after LoS. That’s a huge pet peeve of mine. Even if Clare started QoAaD with Livvy’s funeral, I would’ve felt cheated. Instead, Clare does it right by giving us the raw grief of the Blackthorns in the very worst moment of their lives.
Readers get to see how these characters react to the death more closely, from Emma giving up Cortana to comfort Julian as he cradled Livvy’s body, to Diana holding onto Dru as she sobbed, to Mark taking an unconscious Ty to the Silent Brothers, to Helen pushing her way to the dais to be with her younger brother, to Julian not being able to speak and Emma being the voice he could not find.
This felt like the first time that Clare truly tackled grief as a major theme in her TSC books, and I loved it. It was brutal and raw. Up until this point, grief has always been pushed aside, mostly because her characters don’t have time to grieve and Shadowhutners don’t grieve in the same way as mundanes. Shadowhunters are used to death. It is an honor to die, to be burned and for your ashes to help build the City of Bones.
However, in TDA, Clare makes it an emotion that drives her characters forward as each character mourns the death of Livvy in a different way and the family must learn to function again after losing a vital organ.
“Is everything all right?” They were going to be asking each other that constantly for quite some time, he guessed. And it never would really be okay, but they would reassure each other anyway about the small things, the measure of tiny victories: yes, Dru slept a little; yes, Ty is eating a bit; yes, we’re all still breathing.” (35)
The Blackthorn family knows grief too well. They lost their mother seven years ago to cancer and their father in the Dark War and Uncle Arthur to Malcolm and Livia to Annabel. Julian had already seen how grief rattled their family in the past, how he had to revel in the small victories of his siblings coping with endless loss.
Now he has to go through it all over again. They grieve in different ways, just as we all do — some in denial, others with fierce intensity, others in silence. Like they had all those times before, these kids are resilient and find a way to survive through the sorrow.
“He would be as everyone was, especially Shadowhunters: a patchwork of love and grief, of gains and losses. The love helped you accept the grief. You had to feel it all.” (844)
Another major theme I really enjoyed was choice and consequences. The Blackthorns are constantly faced with terrible choices. It seems that all choices are terrible. For starters, Ty can choose to accept the loss of his twin sister or he can break the law to bring her back, and Julian and Emma can have their Marks stripped and be exiled by Horace or they can accept the suicide mission into faerie.
Clare exemplifies this in Thule, where that world’s Livvy knows that choices rarely leave you feeling positive.
“In Thule, terrible choices are all we have. This one is yours to make.” (Thule Livvy, 470)
Thule Livvy had to make the terrible choice to not send a rescue party after Dru when she went missing and she had to make the decision to shut the entrance of the Silent City with Cameron still inside. All terrible choices, but the correct ones in those situations.
Emma, when facing down Zara, chooses not to kill her; while the Clave decides only to arrest those in the Cohort who fought. In the end, Emma is stabbed nearly to death and the Cohort manages to take Idris hostage and exile the Clave. It was right to spare Zara’s life and right to not arrest everyone who agreed with the ideals of the Cohort, but it had terrible consequences.
“Every choice has a long afterlife of consequences. No one can know the eventual outcome of any decision. All you can do is make the best choice you can make in the moment.” (Julian, 863)
Everyone in life will be faced with terrible choices, but we owe it to the world and to ourselves to do the right thing even if the end result doesn’t best suit our needs. Important life lesson.
Finally, the last theme that I felt Clare hit home really well was the importance of cherishing the time we have with loved ones. Livia’s death was such a devastating shock because of how young she was, and so many of our characters regret that they didn’t have more time with their sister and friend.
“She wished she had held Livvy one more time, marveling at how tall and grown-up she was, how she had changed from the chubby toddler Emma recalled in her own earliest memories.” (28)
It makes the Blackthorns appreciative of the time they have with each other. Their lives are inherently more dangerous because they are Nephilim. They can lose one another on any given day, which means you must remind the others how much you love them so you don’t have regrets.
This comes into play as the Blackthorns, along with Cristina, profess their love and appreciation to Emma and Julian when they’re true Nephilim.
I hated that part. I’m not going to sugar coat it. It was disastrously cringey and felt too Full House-esque after such a brutal, bloody battle. I loved that all these kids are telling Jules and Emma what they mean to them, because it’s nice to see these two get recognition for literally raising four children when they were children themselves. However, it was just too cringey for my taste. I almost wish that these affirmations came after Julian and Emma were back to themselves to make them more sincere and genuine. Then again, I’m not sure how you can write how Em and Jules break free of being true Nephilim without it.
All I know is the second Dru said, “It’s Dru, Drusilla —” I knew I was in for the cringiest moment in YA history (OK, that was dramatic). I just hated it. It felt like a let down, and my first instinct was to roll my eyes.
TDA is a YA series. I’m technically no longer the intended audience for these stories, so I can recognize that my disappointment in this scene has a degree of separation. It might not be inherently bad writing on Clare’s part; it could be that it wasn’t written for me. That’s OK.
It does fit in with Clare’s theme and the plot she built up. It wasn’t out of place for the story, it just didn’t feel right to me — except for Tavvy’s, “Jules. Carry me. I’m tired. I want to go home.” That got me. That shit hurted. If that entire scene was cut down to just Tavvy asking to be carried and then having the others inspired to declare their love toward Emma and Julian at the Basillias after, it would’ve been much better.
Time for the plot.
The political theater presented throughout QoAaD was EXQUISITE. I loved Sebastian Morgenstern so much in TMI because of his dramatics. He had *flare*. TDA felt similar in the presentation of the drama. The Cohort, while bigotted and fascist, knew how to put on a show.
Horace spoke as if he was the messenger of the Angel (he definitely could’ve become a pastor of a mundane mega church). He presented Dane’s dead body in front of the Council with the claim that the Fair Folk killed him while on a peace mission to rile up the Larkspear’s and push the fear of what the fey were capable of. He does the same with Samantha Larkspear, who’s insanity from the Hollow Place is spun to be perceived as her being attacked by Kieran to generate more fear. Then, the Cohort again blames faeries for the supposed deaths of Jace and Clary. Horace wielded fear as a sword (very similar to a certain orange American president).
It was these ruthless dramatics that kept me guessing what else they were behind and how far they’d go in the pretense of their assumed justice. Arranging for a prince capable of being manipulated to take the Unseelie throne? Kind of genius. The videographed parley to fake a truce between the Nephilim and faeries? Unfortunately smart.
However, our band of heroes are much smarter and way more dramatic (especially Kieran, but that’s not related to the actual politics). Julian was so God damn clever for hosting two war councils in case of a betrayal. Clary and Jace arriving with Manuel and his team who tried to kill them made me pump my fist in the air. The Downworlders coming out of the woods during the parley were chilling. Magnus darkening the sky to make it safe for vampires was the sickest moment in Shadowhunters’ history. Also, Julian holding the Mortal Sword, using truth instead of lies to catch the Cohort in their own deceptions was pure gold.
“It’s time you spoke to your people, Dearborn. They can see you. They can hear you. You owe them an explanation. … You’ve set Shadowhunters against Shadowhunters and against innocent Downworlders, all in service of tricking the Council into adopting your bigoted reforms — all in service of fear — “ (710)
Hell yeah! I could definitely see Julian become the Inquisitor or Consul later in life.
Just as the battle seems to have been won and a new age for the Clave begins with the election of Alec as Consul, Clare pulled the rug out from under me with such a dramatic plot twist that I audibly gasped and clutched at my nonexistent pearls.
The young Cohort members willing to sacrifice their own lives for their bigotted beliefs was such a blow. It was also very clever and realistic of Clare to write this scene. People who think similarly to the Cohort rarely are willing to change and see themselves as being in the right. They’re fighting for what they believe is the greater good, just as Emma and Julian did. While Livia’s Watch set out to shed the least amount of blood possible, the Cohort is willing to spill their own to prove a point.
“Can you build your new Clave on the blood of dead children? You said you would show mercy. If you let us die, every time you step into this room from this moment onward, you will be walking on our corpses.” (Zara, 825)
This was the best plot twist that Clare has executed in the books of hers that I read so far. It genuinely caught me off guard and unsettled me. I expected these Cohort members to be sent to the Institutes to rehabilitate, but sticking to their cruelty to cause issues in TWP. However, Clare hit us with the DRAMATICS.
Horace and the Cohort allowed for the death of so many children: Jon Cartwright to Malcolm, Livia at the hands of Annabel, the Larkspear twins to their own cruelty, and Amelia Overbeck when Jaime called the Cohort’s bluff on dying for their cause. Alec, unlike Horace, could not build his Clave on the blood and bones of dead children.
This points back to the terrible choices theme. You either allow children to die to keep Idris, or you leave and rebuild the Clave from the ground up.
The concept of the Clave in exile is extremely interesting to me. Idris is the Shadowhunters’ homeland, gifted to them by the Angel who gave his blood to create their kind. But is it really all that important in the makeup of the Nephilim? Our strongest Shadowhunters we’ve seen throughout TSC have been raised outside of Idris and inside Institutes across the world — Jem and Will in London; Alec, Jace and Izzy (and Clary) in New York, Emma and Julian in L.A.. Idris is more symbolic than anything, except for it being the home of the Mortal Mirror.
Personally, I think that the Clave needed this fresh start. We’ve seen throughout TSC that the Clave is corrupt at its heart, so the exile allows Alec and his band of friends and allies to create a more understanding, welcoming and accepting government for this race of warriors bred to protect the world. It’s probably for the best.
Another great plot point was Thule.
I talked about Thule quite a bit in part 1 as this sanctuary for Emma and Julian to rekindle their trust in each other and for Julian to heal from the loss of Livvy, but it was also just a super creative and fun (and terrifying) addition to the plot. Thule is a dimension where Clary was killed by Lilith in the Battle of Burren, meaning Jace was never separated from Sebastian and their army of Endarkened won the Dark War. It felt very much like a big middle finger to readers who have called Clary useless after TMI. I’ll admit it, I wasn’t a big fan of Clary’s character. She just didn’t resonate with me as much as Emma did. However, she definitely wasn’t useless in the latter half of TMI.
It was fun (that seems like the wrong word to use, but I’m sticking to it) to see this world where one single moment created a horrendous domino effect that led to the end of the Nephilim. It’s an interesting concept and a lesson about how every action means something in the grand scheme of the world. Everybody and everything has an influence on the world around us.
Mostly, I was excited to see Sebastian back. I missed his perfection as a villain.
Our first scene in Thule is Sebastian ordering Jace to behead Maryse as she sings him the French lullaby from his childhood. Jace was Maryse’s only remaining child at that point, and she still looked into his eyes and sang to comfort him as he brought his sword down to end her life. It set the tone for what Thule was — an utter wasteland where your most horrible nightmares are the casual reality.
I wish we got to see more of his murderous antics before Emma stabbed him, but I think Clare didn’t want to focus too much on an old villain. I get it. We’ve been through the whole Sebastian thing, we don’t need to rehash it. He’s just my favorite villain.
The thing I was most disappointed with in QoAaD was the lackluster villains. Malcolm was such a captivating villain because of his similarities to Julian and the connection he built with the Blackthorns in the wake of his century-old vendetta against the family. Annabel had so much potential because she’s the Blackthorn’s ancestor. She was on their side and willing to trust them, but Julian betrayed her and she killed Livvy out of revenge. Annabel wasn’t truly a bad person, she was scarred and scared from her past life and her resurrection. She couldn’t bear being betrayed by her family once again, even if these Blackthorns didn’t mean to break her trust.
Clare setup Annabel to be a fantastic villain out of fear. That potential was wasted. Julian kills Annabel halfway through the book without a real fight. I liked Julian getting his revenge in Thule as a way of leaving that burden in this hell dimension, but I wish we did get to see Annabel on the Cohort’s side during the end battle to see what she’s capable of. She doesn’t do anything in QoAaD, and it’s such a disservice to what could’ve been a fascinating and complex character.
With the death of Malcolm, Annabel and the Unseelie King, we’re left with the Cohort as our last-remaining villain. The real villain all along was the societal and government systems that allowed for Annabel to be tortured and killed for loving a warlock, for the Seelie Courts to become scorned, and for the Nephilim to be divided against one another.
People are not going to like this, but I thought Zara was probably the best villain in QoAaD. She’s a child, molded to be this awful person by her father who hid away during the Dark War and then used the fear generated from the losses to push his own agenda. It’s easy to hate Zara, because she says and does despicable things. She calls Emma a slut, she laughs at Livia’s funeral, she steals Cortana and she takes credit for the successes of others who are far braver than she.
I kind of feel for her though. She’s clearly struggling with who she is as a person. She’s never been herself, she’s been whatever her father has forced her to be. Much like Sebastian, she never had the opportunity to be anything but evil. It’s not easy to break free from the echochamber a family can create. (It is possible though, and we see that with Cameron Ashdown.) She was safe inside that chamber her father created during a time where blood was running through the streets of Alicante.
With her father gone, Zara is probably wrestling with grief alone for the first time. The one person who was genuinely proud of her is dead and it’s a shock. She sailed through life solely on her strong charisma, while lacking any true fighting or strategy skills. She doesn’t exactly have a lot going on for herself. The only thing Zara thinks she can do is carry on her father’s legacy, which she does with her clever knife trick to exile part of the Shadowhunters —a plan that she is even surprised to see work.
After saying all of that, I still would love to see Emma throat punch her and swipe her legs. She deserves it.
Finally, I loved how Clare incorporated our TMI gang into TDA in subtle ways so they didn’t overshadow our new characters. It was refreshing to see our old friends again and how much they’ve grown up. Here’s some of my favorite moments of the TMI gang in QoAaD:
- After returning from Thule, Emma and Clary share a discussion on what feels like this never-ending war that the older girl thought she already won. It was a peek at how taxing this battle has been on our heroes. Sometimes you win and still have to keep fighting. A Shadowhunter’s fight is never over.
“Clary, you’re the one who taught me what being a hero means. You said heroes don’t always win. That sometimes they lose, but they keep fighting.”
“I thought I had kept fighting. I guess I thought I had won. … We’re never done fighting, are we?” (562)
- When Jace comforts Alec while Magnus is sick, I ugly sobbed to the point my husband asked if I was OK.
“I don’t usually have to pray. Usually when things go wrong, we come to Magnus and he fixes them.” (565)
“Should I take a turn at watch? I don’t want to let anyone down.”
“This is your watch, brother.” (565)
- Just Jace shooting finger guns at Julie Beauvale who is still pretending she’s his best friend. “Good to see you, bestie.” (641)
- Clary and Jace casually playing tic-tac-toe while the Cohort shows up to kill them. Just Jace being happy is A+ content.
- Alec asking Magnus to marry him made me close the book to properly soak in that what I’ve been waiting for for like 13 books is finally happening.
“And when one day people look back on me and what my life meant, I don’t want them to say, ‘Alec Lightwood fought in the Dark War’ or even ‘Alec Lightwood was Consul once.’ I want them to think, ‘Alec Lightwood loved one man so much he changed the world for him.’” (848)
Kill me. That’s so God damn adorable.
Closing time
In my opinion, The Dark Artifices was Clare’s most complete series yet. It was captivating from start to finish, as she wove endless plot lines that, despite having multiple POVs, kept me engaged through every twist and turn without feeling lost or confused. The characters were all wonderfully crafted to capture your heart with every turn of the page, and the story itself was an agonizingly gorgeous tale of love, grief and family in the face of terrible choices and injustice.
Unfortunately, Queen of Air and Darkness was the weakest book in the trilogy. The villains fell flat as too many cooks entered and exited the kitchen. What should have been a powerful climax to the plot, turned into a cringey episode of Full House. Julian, after spending five years devoting his life to raising his siblings, hands them over to his older sister as if his fatherly instincts could be discarded so quickly in exchange for freedom.
Compared to Lady Midnight, which stands as the best opening to a series I’ve ever read, and Lord of Shadows, which shattered my heart and became my favorite TSC book, QoAaD simply didn’t reach the bar I set for the finale of such a fantastic series.
It was still wonderful in so many ways. Emma and Julian were Clare’s most complex and fascinating couple and characters with a storyline that tore me to pieces. Thule was such a badass concept, and the Cohort’s unwavering cruelty left me gasping in disbelief. Plus, the Blackthorn family gave me waves of nostalgia for my own childhood as the baby in a family of eight.
The Dark Artifices was a stunning trilogy with a so-so finale that left me conflicted. There was so much to love, yet so much that could’ve been reworked to fill in the gaps to make it perfect.
The Wicked Powers can’t come soon enough, because that cliffhanger of Thule Jace demanding the Seelie Queen brings him Clary in exchange for Ash has my blood boiling.
4.5 necromantic spell ingredients out of 5.
Side note! I love you. I love you. I love you. Thule Livvy ends her letter to Ty with this as the most important thing she has to tell her brother, whom lost her in his world and whom she lost in hers. This is repeated a few times throughout the back half of the novel by different characters that didn’t even read the letter, but still know the power behind the three words: I love you.
Kit thinks the phrases as he watches the letter burn after Ty completes the (corrupt) spell. Cristina, Mark and Kieran mutter a trio of I love yous as they confess their feelings for each other. Dru thinks it as she picks the Gard’s lock in the name of her sister. “Livvy, this is for you, my sister. I love you. I love you. I love you.” And again, when Julian stops Emma from breaking the parabatai rune. “…wondering if anybody had thought these words before in the Silent City. If they had thought them like this: with equal hope and despair. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
I said this in part 1, but I truly love a phrase that repeats throughout a book. It makes my brain happy, and this one more than any other. It’s such a touching way for Clare to emphasize the importance of the power of love. It made me emotional every time.
Life of Bry 
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