Cassandra Clare

Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight (Series #1) (Hardcover)

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(4.2) 4.2 stars out of 10 reviews 10 reviews
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Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight (Series #1) (Hardcover)

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4.2 out of 5stars
(10 reviews)
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Most helpful positive review

5.00 out of 5 stars review
Verified Purchaser
07/09/2021
Of all of the Shadowhunter stories,…
Of all of the Shadowhunter stories, this is by far the most compelling. I felt devastated and sad throughout the entire story. The story had such a grim and hopeless energy that I couldn't shake. I couldn't put the book down until I finished (although I did throw the book a few times). Every time one door opened, I felt another door shut. More than anything, I am terrified for Julian. These poor children and these terrible secrets they have to keep. They're enduring all of this alone. I can't imagine the trilogy ending well for any of the protagonists. My heart is so heavy for these children.
Unknown

Most helpful negative review

1.00 out of 5 stars review
Verified Purchaser
03/21/2016
Damaged!!
PREORDERED this book (been waiting all year for this!) was delivered to me in a box WAY TOO BIG for a book that was so roughed up it was busted open, when I took the book out the first thing I noticed was a tear in the front cover and then to my horror I discovered that the pages were water damaged! I was heartbroken.
ShadowHunterMum
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    07/09/2021
    Of all of the Shadowhunter stories,…
    Of all of the Shadowhunter stories, this is by far the most compelling. I felt devastated and sad throughout the entire story. The story had such a grim and hopeless energy that I couldn't shake. I couldn't put the book down until I finished (although I did throw the book a few times). Every time one door opened, I felt another door shut. More than anything, I am terrified for Julian. These poor children and these terrible secrets they have to keep. They're enduring all of this alone. I can't imagine the trilogy ending well for any of the protagonists. My heart is so heavy for these children.
    Unknown
  • 4.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    05/21/2021
    Why didn't I read this sooner???? …
    Why didn't I read this sooner???? There was beauty in the idea of freedom, but it was an illusion. Every human heart was chained by love. Soooo I really wanted to give this 5 stars. It is by far the best book Cassandra Clare has ever written. Unironically. TMI had mostly crap characters with a pretty cool plot; TID had great characters with a lame plot; this had stellar characters with an amazing plot. It really threw me for a loop. The big plot twists didn't come out of nowhere but also weren't super obvious. When we get the big reveal, I literally gasped and rethought the whole book, zeroing in on those little details she planted that didn't seem important at the time but actually meant everything. It was so well done! The characters in this really stole the show. Cristina starts strong and honestly, stayed there. She was an icon and I stan. Emma wasn't a cardboard cut out of a Strong Female Character either; she felt like an actual teenager and I seriously appreciated that. Julian was fantastic and really delivered on his character premise of boy forced to raise his siblings. Love him a lot. Mark sometimes felt too Holly Black-esque but I liked him a lot. The whole fam was great and actually behaved like siblings in a large family, which was honestly so wonderful. I'm the 5th of 6 kids so I know very well what big families are like, and books usually get the dynamic wrong. So kudos to Clare on that! Malcolm and Diana were also really great! The plot was freaking fantastic!!!! It did family drama, murder mystery, and cult conspiracy all so well, tying together everything so seamlessly! I loved every minute of it! I was worried as I neared the end that it would retcon like crazy just to setup a sequel, but it actually flowed quite naturally and did the framework all on its own without any convoluted additions. Now, on to why this is 4 stars and not 5, even though I basically loved everything about this book: Well, Clare couldn't help but include a love dodecahedron (between the main cast, therefore making the characters lovesick puppies for no good reason) and calling back to TMI in the most convoluted and needless ways. She's been trying to shoehorn into every single release that ~the love between Jace and Clary is the most pure, most lovely, most amazing love in the whole entire world; that no one loves as strongly or as completely as they love each other. They are perfect for each other in every single way~ yadda yadda yadda. : :| It gets a little mind numbing after 10 books. And their inclusion in this book just felt like Clare was trying to toot her own horn. The self-indulgence was ridiculous. She might as well change her pen name to Cassandra Clace at this point. And to add to that, Clare just straight up reused some plot points and plot devices. Granted, they probably worked better here than in her previous work, but it was really annoying to basically just read the mix-and-match version of her other series. It didn't negatively impact the plot but it did hamper my enjoyment. All in all, though, I loved it, and I'm extremely eager to read the next one.
    Faith_Murri
  • 3.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    05/20/2021
    I wasn't sure what to expect from…
    I wasn't sure what to expect from this--I liked the complexity of Julian's character and also Ty's. The story is interesting with an ending that isn't a cliff-hanger but promises intriguing things to come. I did like the other characters, especially Mark, and they are fairly well drawn out. I'm unsure how I feel about Emma as a character, her character feels a little flat. And why on earth would Mark do what he did at the end? I don't like the fact that so many lies are taking place in the book, and look to continue instead of people just talking to each other. That's a really overused trope and hurting people deliberately to "help" them instead of just talking to them as a way to further the plot by creating unnecessary drama and pain doesn't show development in the characters. Julian's motivations are driven by an honest desire to keep his family together. The motivations for becoming parabatai with Emma may not have been as clearly thought through. Emma deliberately hurting him through Mark (at least as it appears she is going to) is just mean; she should just share what Jem told her, but that would be reasonable. And take away a huge plot point. It frustrates me that they can't put effort into finding a real solution instead of inflicting pain on each other. And as some other reviewers have pointed out, what do they DO at the LA Institute? There's a brief mention of patrols, training, and classes, but not much else. What are the demons doing in the meantime, running rampant?The other series had adults present. That the LA Institute has essentially been run by Julian since he was 12 seems so incredibly implausible. I have rarely have such a difficult time with a review. I've come back to edit this one to say that I really did admire the fact that Clare did include a character with autism (although it wasn't named as such, since it doesn't seem to exist in the Shadowhunter world as such) in a very realistic and sensitive way, and that Julian was very good and knowing how to work with Ty. Arthur having mental differences was also interesting. But that led to the fact that the children were basically on their own, which was frustrating. I have worked with many adults and children with autism, and I thought the portrayal of Ty was realistic and well done. So, despite many of my other negative feelings about the book, that is one thing that I thought was a plus. I'm bumping my review up to a three from a two for that. I will not be buying the rest of the series, and if I do read any more of it, it will definitely be from the library.
    waclements7
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    02/03/2021
    Great Fantasy
    I love the Shadowhunter world so much. I loved this book. Emma is such a wonderful character. Her and Julian have grown so much. It was awesome to see characters from the other books. I miss them. I cannot wait to read the next book!
    Davis222014
  • 4.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    07/17/2016
    How do you write a rev...
    How do you write a review on a book that is near perfection? It is quite the challenge. This book is written so very well, A+ to the characters, the plot, the sub plots. All is fantastically done! So with this book what it comes down to is the little things but first the synopsis: In a kingdom by the sea... In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word. A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other-but they can never fall in love. Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries-the most powerful of supernatural creatures-teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma's parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma's chance for revenge-and Julian's chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks...and before the murderer targets them. Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents-and can she bear to know the truth? Synopsis via Goodreads Review: This book has been sitting on my shelf for three months. I have looked at it and looked at it. To read or not to read was my question. Well as part of my TBR for June I put this book on there because it forced me to read it. I know many of you are like "forced?" whhaaaat? Yes, forced because Cassandra Clare is an amazing writer but the storylines have elements that tend to drive me a little bonkers. I will warn you that there may be some spoilers below BUT I will try to keep them as generic as possible. Ok, I know this is a YA book and I get that but one thing that left me going hmmm was that CC has the most amazing attention to detail but when two characters entered into a sex scene I honestly had no idea. The scene was written as "her hand cupped the bare skin above his waistband of his jeans," (notice above implying jeans on) then it goes on about his need yada yada and then something is happening, not quite sure BUT there is no mention of any clothes coming off. Ummm, what? When did he take his clothes off? Is she at least partly naked? I had to go back and read and ask myself "Did someone just have sex?" Honesty I am reading the scene again and I am still wondering were they just kissing?? I know they had sex because they remarked on it later, so ½ star off for scenes like this. I get it YA and all, but if you are going to have lots of M/F action, M/M action and then discussion about the sex going on, well make the scenes a bit more detailed so that I do not miss what just happened. Why the other ½ star off? A bazillion love triangles. Everyone had one; I think they were giving them away, two for the price of one. There were even love triangles being created artificially. Not my cup of tea, just too many triangles going on. The final part of my feelings on this book is that I was not in love with anyone of the characters. Yep, let the hate mail start now. After reading this book I was thinking about it and the only emotions I felt was disgust and resentment for how the story ended...nooooooo, say it isn't soooooooo. I did not love a certain character so much that I had, just had to, read the next book in the series; there is no real drive to find out what else happens. The cliffhanger provided me with a really pretty view and it is beautiful. Unfortunately, the trip to get there was just long and I kept tripping over love triangles and missing turns because they were not marked properly. My final thoughts: An amazingly written fantasy with many well developed characters. The story will grip you and it is fast paced, hold on to your seat! This is going to be fantastic series with many die-hard fans! I recommend for anyone looking for a good fantasy series that has angels, fae, demons, and the occasional vampire.
    TheGenreMinx
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    06/30/2016
    Book
    The book arrived on schedule and undamaged
    Jon69
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    05/26/2016
    Can't wait to read it!
    Can't wait to read it! It came in great condition. All the other books by Cassandra Clare have been great so i'm sure this one is too!!
    Katie
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    05/18/2016
    Honestly if I could gi...
    Honestly if I could give this book more stars I would, this was the amazing comeback I was waiting for from Cassandra Clare. After finishing the Mortal Instruments I really wasn't sure on how she planned on toping it but she blew my expectations out of the window. Emma and Julian are very similar to Jace and Clary but so different and that's why I love them even more. The thrill this book holds is unexplainable. Honestly can't wait for the next ones, I know it will be an amazing series.
    Ariana723
  • 1.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    03/21/2016
    Damaged!!
    PREORDERED this book (been waiting all year for this!) was delivered to me in a box WAY TOO BIG for a book that was so roughed up it was busted open, when I took the book out the first thing I noticed was a tear in the front cover and then to my horror I discovered that the pages were water damaged! I was heartbroken.
    ShadowHunterMum
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    03/11/2016
    sweet!
    i have been waiting for ages for this book and it did not disappoint. I received it a week earlier then i expected as well and it was cheaper then both amazon and ebay preordered! I finally can relax and quit pacing as i am now zombified by this latest read.
    ameliasunderbug
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