It’s definitely impossible to keep this review spoiler-free considering Queen of Air and Darkness is the final book of the Dark Artifices trilogy, and the synopsis itself contains spoilers. Therefore, I will give only a brief few thoughts before I attach the read more tag so anyone trying to avoid spoilers can do so!
I’ve been reading Cassie Clare’s books for a long time… like 7 years or so now, and I still get wrapped up in her stories. She always writes compelling and lovable main characters, though I like some of them more than others. Without spoiling anything, I can say that this is probably the lowest rating I have given one of the Shadowhunters books so far. I felt that romance took priority in this story over plot, and I didn’t feel as connected with the story as I wished I could. If you haven’t read this book yet (which you probably have, I’m the slow one), there will be spoilers below so watch out!
Synopsis from Goodreads
What if damnation is the price of true love?
Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the blight that is destroying the race of warlocks.
Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Goodreads Rating: 4.46 stars
Pages: 880
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: December 2018
Series: The Dark Artifices
Alright, I’m going to start with things I liked in this book, which is still a lot, even though I’ve said it’s my least favorite one of the series. I really loved Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows, but this conclusion to the trilogy felt like Cassie was trying to go all over the place. She’s wrapping up some stories while setting up tons more, and this makes sense except it led to a lack of a satisfying ending. I liked the inclusion of some of our original Shadowhunter characters like Clary, Jace and Alec. Having them back brought some nostalgia into the mix, and that brought in the kind of comic relief that only Jace can exhibit. The plot line of Jace and Clary being stuck in Faerie consumed the first quarter or so of the book, and I liked that Jules and Emma had a purpose to find them and also get the real Black Volume. There was a mission going into Faerie that actually got completed, though things are still very complicated afterwards. Next, Thule was fun to read because we get to see Shadowhunters in a mundane way of life, which usually they laugh at. Julian and Emma had to carry guns (though I’m unclear on whether they really knew how to use them), and they also met Thule-Livvy. The Blackthorn sister’s death triggered a number of reactions within the family, i.e. Julian stripping his emotions and Ty attempting necromancy to bring his twin back, but she turns out to be the only Blackthorn still around in Thule who hasn’t died or gone to the dark side. The necromancy plot certainly kept the things interesting on the side because no one but Kit can stop Ty from doing it, and the rest of the family doesn’t even notice what’s going on. Speaking of Kit and Ty, there is certainly something positive to say about Cassie’s diversity and inclusive characters with having gay, transgender, poly-amorous, bi, and autistic characters involved now. I like that she tries to write a character for everyone to relate to in some way, and I think she puts more effort into that than most popular fiction writers. This diversity also works really well in the world she built because Shadowhunters come from all over the world and they are still human, they just have special angel blood that makes them a little stronger than mundanes. Humans are also known to make mistakes, and there’s plenty of those to go around in this book! After some lengthy romance and side plot stuff, the action finally picks up again about 3/4 of the way through the book when they finally deal with the Cohort. Emma and Jules turn into giant True Nephilim and whatnot, and that was a crazy, intensely graphic battle to a level I was not expecting. I liked getting to a part of the plot that was finally moving quickly and had some resolution, with Horace being defeated and the Cohort losing most of their power over the Clave. To skip ahead a bit more, I loved the ending when Alec and Magnus finally get married now that Alec is the new Consul. That was a nice bit of closure before I dive into the first book of the Red Scrolls of Magic, which I hope will be action-packed.
To kick off my paragraph of things I didn’t really care for, let me first say that this book was entirely too long. Some scenes would drag on for several pages in which very little would happen. I caught some spelling and grammar mistakes as well, which is just me being picky, but I feel as though the editor couldn’t possibly keep up with how much Cassie wrote in this book. There were some repeated descriptions and repetitive word choices that could have significantly pared down the page count. Next, and I briefly touched on this earlier, the romances in this book take the front seat. In a bad way. Most of the time, Cassie has a central romance to follow and maybe one or two in the background forming as well, and I usually love her romances. This book had at least 6 different romances, and all of them had multiple scenes focused on their interactions and romantic tension. I’m not even counting the established Jace-Clary, Alec-Magnus, Simon-Isabelle, Helen-Aline, and Tessa-Jem relationships here. I’m talking about Emma-Julian, Kit-Ty, Christina-Mark, Christina-Kieran, Christina-Mark-Kieran, Diana-Gwyn, and Dru-Jamie stuff now. TOO MANY RELATIONSHIPS! We just need to slow down here, I don’t need to be reading about a romantic relationship for literally every character in the book! Even including the old characters sometimes! With this much romance happening, there were several scenes dedicated to interactions of sexual tension, make-outs, sex, and sexual confusion (*cough* Kit *cough*). I was over the threesome before Christina even realized that she loved Kieran too. I was just thinking, “What happened to the plot?” when these scenes happened, and I felt like I wasn’t invested in a single one of the relationships because there wasn’t enough time to really appreciate any of them. I know Kit and Ty are getting their own trilogy next, and I’m sure it’ll be romance heavy too, but please, for the love of the Angel, just focus on them in their series! To go along with this point, the sex scenes between Emma and Julian have gotten a bit too racy for the intended audience, I think. When I went to Cassie’s signing in December, I was sat next to fourteen-year-olds and their mothers, who probably have no idea that their young teen is going to read about how it feels to have a guy caress their breasts and make them “feel good first.” I’m just saying, as a bookseller who frequently has mothers come into the store and ask “is this appropriate for my 13/14-year-old?” I’m going to have to start saying no about these recent Cassie Clare books. Last but not least, we have the issue of the parabatai rune disappearing from Emma and Julian’s bodies. Now, I’ll give Cassie credit, I didn’t see it coming, but it also doesn’t make much sense to me. I really thought Emma was going to die before the two of them became giants fueled by heavenly fire, but the conclusion of this forbidden parabatai romance felt too easy. They were just handed the freedom to be together at last because, by some phenomenon, the heavenly fire eradicated their parabatai bond. Talk about a deus ex machina.
Overall, I didn’t dislike this book, but I really didn’t love the way Cassie took some of the sub-plots. I could have done without some of the romance and filler scenes, but I have grown to like the Blackthorn characters. I’m interested to see where she takes Livvy’s ghost next because I know Ty will have to pay for that still, he can’t just get away scot-free right? And I also want to see how Kit reunites with Ty now that he has gone off to London with Tessa and Jem, but I’ll just have to wait until next fall!
Katie x
My other reviews for Cassandra Clare books
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