Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare Book Review
“Sometimes when you start a war, you make pancakes.”
About
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Series: The Dark Artifices 3
Click here to read more book reviews
Other TDA Book Reviews
Synopsis
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 disease 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.
Review
Spoilers contained below
To the Queens (and Kings) of Air and Darkness,
MY GOSH!! I mean where do you truly start with a Cassandra Clare review? The beginning? The end? The middle?
We’ll get through them all, but MY GOSH, did all parts just have it all, some more than others!
But I guess, we have to start in true book reading fashion: from the beginning.
The book started off exactly where it ended; it’s like the heartbreak after reading Lord of Shadows took a two year vacation and all of a sudden it was back in full force! But it’s a testament to Cassandra Clare’s writing that her book can leave off in the action of it all and then come back and you still feel that sense of loss and emotional turmoil. I mean everything about the first part of the book was all about dealing with the loss of Robert Lightwood and Livvy. It was so heartbreakingly devastating đ If I could describe the color of the first part of the book, it’d be dark blue with silver gray for the tears and the clouded confusion of how utterly devastated and hurt I felt.
There was a huge part of me that was holding out hope that Livvy would survive in this book. In a way she does, but not really, but we’ll get to more on that later. But in this reality, she doesn’t and there really are no words in the dictionary to describe the despondent feelings Julian, Helen, Dru, and Alec were feeling. It was just sooo heartbreaking.
The one person who should have been the most heartbroken about it all was Ty. Ty, my sweet baby Ty, I honest to gosh love Ty’s character and I would protect him with every fiber of my being just as Julian would, but gosh, my heart went out to Ty because he lost his twin and he was acting so normal about it—-like it didn’t fully hit him that Livvy was gone. Everyone was so worried about how Ty would react, but they didn’t expect him to be as strong as he was. I was expecting full blown out sobs and retreating from the world, but that never happened. But as much as Ty was putting up a front to everyone that he was okay, Dru knew that he wasn’t because if she wasn’t okay, then Ty couldn’t truly be okay. There was a part where she snuck into Ty’s room and saw it in disarray—- blood on the sheets and scattered papers. My heart really lurched for Ty because what did all of that mean? A lot of things were left open ended at the end of this book, and one of the things I still want to understand better is what Ty’s bloodied room meant? Was he self harming himself or was he secretly in chaos and turmoil and that reflected in his room? Was it a way to say that Ty wasn’t taking care of himself anymore because Livvy was gone? I don’t know, but I would have loved to have a sit down conversation with Dru and Ty about how Ty really felt about the loss of his twin. Or maybe a sit down with Julian and Ty about this because if there’s one thing that I missed in this book was the intimate bonding moments between Julian and Ty.
But you know Julian is too busy doing dumb things to notice his siblings. And you know what he did?!
He went to Magnus during a literal dark and stormy night and BEGS, begs him to get rid of his FREAKING emotions! đŁđŁ
His emotions! *Cue Mariah Carey song here*
What an I-D-I-O-T, straight up IDIOT!
I understand why he did it though. He and Emma had a real (quite literally) steamy moment in the shower where Emma and him bathed together. It was a very heated moment because Julian was obviously hurting from the loss of Livvy and he wanted to forget about it. Heck, he still had on his bloody clothes. So you know, of course, he would be motivated to get clean if it involved Emma. And we all know what motivates him, am I right? đ
As much as the shower scene was very kinky or ‘dirty’ —-however you want to think of it— it was also very intimate. Emma helped him wash the blood off and he washed her hair. Then things escalated to kissing on the bed because they were so consumed with loss and pain that they wanted to feel anything besides the hurt in their chests, so they immersed themselves in each other. But when having their fun, Julian’s parabatai rune burned like a fire in his chest and that’s when things deescalated because the curse was as strong as ever and if more happened between them, then the curse would take over in unpredicted ways.
And it kind of just overall sucked that he felt that the only way to ease everything that was roaring in his chestâthe loss of his sister, the pain of not getting to be with Emma, the anger at Annabelâ-was to make it stop altogether. And I just knew, I knew, that erasing his emotions wasnât going to do anything for Julian; it would do more harm than good. It was just so utterly heart-wrenching to see him beg to Magnus to make all those emotions stop because he couldnât handle feeling all of it anymore. Honestly, Julian is a teenager and he had to grow up so fastâ-taking and having many burdens and responsibilitiesâ-that I truly get why he didnât want to feel anything anymore. But again, I just didnât think completely tuning himself off to his emotions was healthy. And a psychologist would probably agree with me! Heck, Shadowhunters should have a line of psychologist because gosh knows they all of psychological damage đ.
Sigh, but I digress. Julian really deserved a break.
As his parabatai, Emma knew that there was something missing and something wrong with Julian that went deeper than the loss of his sister. It’s kind of amazing how intuitive and how much she truly knows him to realize this.
But emotionless Julian was my absolute least favorite part of the book. It was so agonizing, frustrating, and infuriating to see Julian walk around like a corpse—-hollow and empty. Just the way he spoke and acted to Jace, to his friends, and his family was so heartless and dispassionate and just plain sad because that’s not the Julian we all know and love; the Julian who feels things so deeply that it hurts and the Julian who puts others feelings before himself. In a way people could see Julian getting rid of his feelings as the cowardly way out of all his emotions, but again, we have to look at his age and what he’s been through. I don’t blame him for what he did or who he acted as zombie Julian, but I do think he acted irrationally without thought when saying he didn’t want to feel anything anymore.
Which kind of goes with what Kieran said a long time ago in how Julian has a ruthless heart. The whole beginning of the book, I kept thinking to myself, Julian, you truly are indeed a ruthless heart.
But let’s talk about someone who can feel.
Ty and Kit.
If you don’t ship Ty and Kit, you are not sane in the brain! I’m joking! đ€ȘBut seriously, you have to ship Ty and Kit, no ands ifs or buts, because they are the endgame ship and you know it!
After the whole Livvy situation in the council hall, Ty, understandably fainted. And everyone worried about him, but we all know who was by his bedside through and through? Kit. Kit was there day and night for Ty because, duh, he loves Ty. And my heart just fell to beautiful pieces when Kit left Ty a Sherlock Holmes book on his bedside so that when he woke up, he would know Kit was there and thought about him!
I swear by the end of this review, I will make a Kit and Ty shipper out of you—a Kity shipper if you want to call it. I quite like that, let’s call them Kityđž
Then came the part when they had the funeral procession for Robert and Livvy and itâs such a beautiful thing how the whole town was there and how they hung banners to honor Robert and Livvy. But when Ty climbed the darn pyre, I inhaled noticeably because Ty! Then Julian went after him to talk him down from the pyre and gosh, Zara the prune was there and the AUDACITY of her to âgiggleâ at the funeral of Livvy and Robert! I couldnât stand her! Who âgigglesâ at a funeral?! I do if itâs Zaraâs funeral đ€
But no, seriously the disrespect was real and that’s how you genuinely know Zara is a low life.
Then later on she has the NERVE to talk to Diego about the Blackthorns and how they are âingratesâ and âawful âbecause Markâs a half-breed, âTy is a weird little rescue, Dru is fat and stupid, and Julian is like Sebastian Morgenstern (104).â The anger raging in my bones was unreal. It truly was an inferno for this prude! The hypocrisy, though, is that she would compare Julian to Sebby. You know what, I think that Zaraâs attitude is worse than Sebbyâs because at least Sebby had a sarcastic humor to him and wasnât a blunt priss.
Don’t worry she gets worse.
Enough about her—can’t stand her—back to Ty.
After the funeral, Ty confided to Kit about his grand plan and the reason why he isnât too broken about Livvy being gone: he was going to bring her back from the dead! *Slaps forehead* Didnât we learn anything about Tiberius about necromancy from the failure that is Malcom Fade? I swear. Kit knows itâs an overall bad idea to mess with the world of the living and the dead, but Kit feels some responsibility to watch over Ty and make sure he doesnât get into deep with his plan. Kitâs also worried if he tells Ty that itâs a dumb plan, Ty would shut him out and they wonât be close anymore. So against all his moral judgements, Kit agrees to help Ty raise Livvy from the dead. Another adventure of Sherlock and Watson going on a necromancy endeavor together; partners who raise the dead sister together, stay together, right?
At the funeral, Jem talked to Emma about Kit’s heritage about him being more than just a Lost Herondale, and I was like finally we get more information about this overarching secret about who Kit really is! All throughout Lord of Shadows, everyone kept saying they recognized Kit or that Kit had to be careful or that Kit was special and it always made me wonder, besides being the lost Herondale, what was so special about Kit? Apparently, his mom’s family was hunted by Faerie for generations and that Kit was the last of the line that the Unseelie King was bent on killing.
But during the conversation, Jem casually dropped in how Tessa was pregnant! She is with child! Child I say. And not just any child a Jessa love child. Dreams do come true đ! Ten bucks says if it’s a boy, they name it Will, or if it’s a girl they name it Will đ.
Another big thing that happens in the beginning is the changing of power. Since the Inquisitor passed, there needed to be a new one. And people are scaredâ-Annabelâs back and has an alliance with the Unseelie court. When people are scared, they turn to a higher power to give them guidance and something to believe in and Horace Dearborn, Zaraâs Hitler of a father is the man they look up to.
“Some monsters are human . . . Horace Dearborn is one of them.”
(pg. 229)
He honestly is.
He instigates fear in the Shadowhunters by showing him all these images and bodies that were harmed by the Fae or other Downworlders and he makes up all these stories to gain support for him being Inquisitor; he makes a believer out of the most moral people and uses their fear against them to give them a reason to support his cause. I honestly hate a liar and I just disliked how he twisted and manipulated so many things to get people to see what he wanted them to see without fully knowing the true story. And I think that most politicians are like thatâor publicity in generalâ- where you never really know the true story behind something because the person telling the narrative gets to pick and choose how you get to see it. If they want you to believe a certain thing, they are going to make sure to showcase that and drive it home. Thatâs why itâs always soooo important to never believe what you see on the surface, but to always dig deeper for the truth; Do not accept what anyone tells you in this world because hereâs a cold hard fact for you: people are liars and they will do whatever it takes to gain power over you. But you cannot let them do that to you. We are the people and we canât be ignorant, accepting, complacent, or indifferent to the things that go on in our worldâ-we have to question things and those in power because if we donât they win. They have power over us.
There’s so many parallels with the government today and this story. It’s something I highly appreciated about the whole book because when you read a high fantasy book, you don’t really read it to think about how messed up the real world is—-you read to escape reality. But to see reality kind of reflected in this book and how a group of people stand up for what they believe in to fight for the truth, it really empowers you and puts things in perspective about how so a lot of things are covered up and spoon fed to us. There’s a line in the book that really just made me laugh because of how close it sounded to the whole slogan of “Make America great again” when Horace was having one of his deceitful meetings and he was like “And we must make Shadowhunters strong again!” I feel like that was Cassandra Clare’s jab at our current president đ. Politics is an all around touchy subject and I kind of went on a tangent above, and I won’t go more into my political views, just the overall view that there’s so much more than what we see and we need to be aware of that and know that when there is an injustice, we fight for justice.
Since Horace is in power, he has insider information that he uses to his advantage. He knows about Julian and Emma and how they love each other and went to Robert to be exiled. To keep their secret, Horace gives them a suicide mission to go to the Faerie realm retrieve the Blackbook for him. Julian has his own ideas of what he wants to do: kill Annabel. Morbid, I know. Emma’s goal on this mission is to look for Jace and Clary who haven’t come back from their secret Faerie mission to look for the secret weapon.
Without telling anyone, Julian and Emma set off to Fae. From there, they get attacked by Dane Larkspear, all of which Julian stabs. Old Julian wouldn’t have stabbed a person as easily as zombie Julian did, going back to the idea of his ruthless heart). It just made me angry because he should know better than to stab people no matter if they want to kill you or not. Later Horace uses Dane’s body for show during a meeting to highlight to the Shadowhunters how “Fae” gruesomely murdered one of their own in cold blood. But we all know what really happened.
We all knew we had to encounter the Seelie Queen in this book because she had knowledge of how to break the parababai How she knows? I don’t know, maybe it’s because she’s older.
Julian’s whole agenda since going to the Faerie realms has been about going to the Seelie Queen, but Emma never knew that because she didn’t have the map, but it was so incongruous of Julian to keep something like that from her because he’s putting not only his life at risk, but also Emma’s because she wouldn’t know what they were getting into. It was so frustrating because, again, old Julian would have never kept a secret from his parabatai like that.
While in the court, Julian gets to talk to the Seelie Queen who notices a change in him.
“I’m better,” he said.
“Really?” The Queen sat up slowly, her silken dress resettling around her. “There is a saying among my people, about the mortals we bring here: In the Land of Faerie, as mortals feel no sorrow, neither can they feel joy.”
“And why is that?” asked Julian.
She laughed. “Have you ever wondered how we lure mortals to live amongst faeries and serve us, son of thorns? We choose those who have lost something and promise them that which humans desire most of all, a cessation to their grief and suffering. Little do they know that once they enter our Lands, they are in the cage and will never again feel happiness.” She leaned forward. “You are in that cage boy.”
(pg. 211)
The cage becomes a major theme in the book and a recurring thought for Julian because he feels like heâs in this cage where he doesnât know happiness because he doesnât feel anything at all. While in the court, he takes a knife and carves this tattoo on his wrist to remind him that heâs in the cage. When he first picked up the knife, my mind instantly went to âJulian would never self-harm,â but I second-guessed myself because Julian couldnât feel anything at this point, so who knows what he would do to himself? But the tattoo seemed so fitting for him. It was a reminder that he was trapped in this place devoid of emotion and he was viewing everything going on in the world as a spectatorâ-kind of like through a two way glass. Thereâs this part where Emma tells Julian that she doesnât love this Julianâthe emotionless one. So she says that sheâs in the cage with him because they both arenât happy and she wants the old Julian she fell in love with back. But thereâs a part of her worried that Julian wonât come back so until that day, she feels stuck as well. Her being in this âcageâ with him also meant that she felt trapped in her feelings between loving who she knows he is, but not loving who he is right now.
I can really understand and relate to Emma because by no means do I dislike Julian’s characterâI mean heâs been through a lot, and that within itself is an understatementâ- but I just didnât like this version of him. This is not to say that people who do not feel anything are not people deserving of love because they absolutely are and I have battled very numb periods of my life where I also didn’t feel anything. But I guess for me, it was just difficult to read a character who reflected that period of numbness so well that it was hard to read because I wanted the best for Julian. I understand what he felt.
Sometimes I think as people we feel all these emotions that do become too much and we tell ourselves we want the pain to stop. But would we actually want the emotions to stop in exchange for feeling nothing? Would you do what Julian did in trading in your emotions to feel nothing? After reading this, as much as pain sucks, I wouldnât want to feel anything because it sounds like a darker, isolating, and desolate place.
In the court we also get to meet the Seelie Queen’s son.
If you read my Lord of Shadows book review where Dru meets this forest green-eyed, wispy blonde hair boy, you BET I knew that that was the Sebastian-Seelie Queen love child! Was he? đ
HE WAS!!!!
I was flipping my pancakes!
It was the love child!
His name is Ash. Ash is 13 years-old because time works differently in Faerie, so he’s a teenager. His character plays a pivotal role in this book and probably future books because he is the secret weapon of the Faerie court due his blood: royal Faerie blood, Nephilim blood, and demon blood. With the Black Volume, the Unseelie King could use a spell to give Ash certain powers that would make him powerful or unite the two courts.
In the past the Seelie Queen and the Unseelie King tried to unite the two courts by having a baby that could be powerful enough to destroy the Nephilim. When the baby was born, it was a girl, and gosh forbid a girl can’t rule, so the Unseelie King was angry. Then the baby was kidnapped and rumored to be murdered. But some say the baby escaped Faeire and lived on. After reading this story, there was a part of me that had a hunch that maybe the missing heir was Cristina because she’s a strong female woman who can attract not one, but two Fae men to her and she has always had an interest in Faeries. So this whole time, I was thinking maybe the reason that Crisitina attracts so much Fae men is because she’s the missing heir đ€
Anyway, Ash was a means to finish what the Unseelie King and Seelie Queen started and why he’s a lethal weapon—- more powerful than this blight. The whole blight plot had me slightly confused because I never really paid attention to the significance of the blight, but it’s really important in this book. The blight was cast in the Unseelie court by Malcom Fade and would cancel out Shadowhunter magic. The blight creates areas of burned land that become ashy white, cold, and gloomy. One of the blighted lands that has been growing all throughout this book was Brocelind Forest.
So the Unseelie King kidnapped Ash and she wanted the Black Volume from Julian to give to the Unseelie King in exchange for her son’s return. What was beyond funny was the whole joke about how Julian made a copy of the Blackbook with the assistance of a wizard named OfficeMax đ. We love OfficeMax.
Afterwards, Julian and Emma get thrown into an underground prison where they find Jace and Clary and break free. Then they meet Kieran, Cristina, and Mark in the dungeon area because they came to look for them. Which leads to this whole Unseelie court and Seelie Queen stand off, which is highly momentous that they be in the same room đ.
Someone else in the room: Annabel.
If I’m being honest, there’s something very anticlimactic about Annabel’s whole plot. In the first book, we raised her. In the second book, we tried to find her and then we had that trial that led to utter devastation and then she disappeared. And then in this book, her appearances are very sporadic and minimal, and in the end she just gets stabbed by Julian—won and done. And it just felt like Annabel was risen, made a few cameos, and then she was gone again. Being that she was on the cover of this book and that the book was called Queen of Air and Darkness, you would think she would have a bigger role. But she never really had a big role in this series besides messing up this world and playing with dark magic, which isn’t really her fault because Malcom didn’t have to raise her. But I just think that Annabel wasn’t a big part of this series as much as I expected, which isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, just slightly underwhelming.
But she makes her appearance with Ash himself and there’s something very maternal in the way she cares for Ash. I would have liked to see more of that relationship and how that bond between them came to be—- I just felt like it was just mentioned and not flushed out as much. But I loved seeing how Clary reacted to Ash at first and the whole resemblance to her and her brother.
Then everything escalates between the Unseelie King and the Seelie Queen where the Unseelie King is getting angry and he opens up this portal world of a desert and a scorched red world, kind of like that world out of the Allegiant movie if you’ve watched that. The portal the Unseelie King created is another world and is poisonous to the Nephilim; it’s like an alternate universe with the blight. Then the portal scene changed to the image that Clary had in her dream where she envisioned herself dying.
Here’s the thing.
Clary sees this portal world with her and blood and bones, and I think given that this is Cassandra Clare and she will literally rip your heart to pieces in a good climatic twist, I think that the portal scene that the Unseelie King conjures isn’t actually Clary’s whole dream. I think maybe it’s a part of her dream, but I think there’s some HIGH KEY foreshadowing going on about what’s to come in the Wicked Powers, which is the series that comes after the Dark Artifices that’s told from Kit, Ty, and Dru’s perspective. But I think there’s something more to what Clary dreamed about and that Clary’s future might not be so bright considering the cliff hanger ending that I will discuss later on. But if you know what I mean, if you know what I mean. But I could be completely wrong and the scene she sees is her dream and there might not be more to it. . . but I don’t know, you can never knock something completely out in the Shadowhunter world.
The world Clary and all of them are seeing is called Thule, which is the land of death. And there’s this line that the King says that will play such a big role in the next book:
“In Ash’s hands it will be the greatest weapon ever known.”
(pg. 371)
Again, something greater is in the work with Thule. I’m just curious as to how Ash being in control of Thule will be the “greatest weapon?” Time will tell, I guess.
The Unseelie King wants to use Ash as a weapon and wield him, but the Queen doesn’t want that for her son and so they argue, and all the while Annabel is like a puppy in the background kind of yapping about how she will “speak the King’s name” and let me tell you, I was laughing đ! What is so good about that King’s name? I get no one knows his name, but there was just something funny about Annabel just repeating herself like that. Like honey, if you’re going to say his name, say his name!
The last straw was when Annabel and Ash were shoved through the portal into Thule.
The Queen was livid!
I was livid đĄ!
I loved the whole battle scene where Jace is fighting again! Itâs been such a long time since we got a good proper glorified Jace fighting scene! I love Jace with a passion and if Clary and him ever break up, Iâll be standing in line waiting for his hand in marriage đ.The heat of the battle when Rider is trying to kill Adaon, Keiranâs brother, Kieran uses his elf bolt arrowhead necklace and kills the Unseelie King. In my head, Iâm wondering how big exactly is this elf bolt arrow head that it would kill an old, powerful Unseelie King? An elf bolt arrowhead did that. Must have been some arrowheadđ. I loved how the Queen laughed as the King was passing. Then she was like, âYou took my son . . . Now I take yours,â and then vanished from the scene with Adaon.
Fae: known for their magician-esque vanishings.
Everything’s in disarray and everyone’s yelling how the King is dead and they’re saying his name—Arawan—because it’s official. Arawan, that’s the name that was under Marvel lock and key đ? The Riders were still trying to kill everyone in the room. Cristina, Mark, Kieran, Clary and Jace were able to escape, but Emma and Julian leaped through the portal that was left open as a way to escape the charging Riders. My question is, did the portal close after they went through? I mean it must have been because I know for a fact Clary, Jace, Mark, Kieran, and Cristina would have gone after them if they could.
So we were now in Thule.
Never expected to be in Thule in this book đ€Ș. But I never expected a lot of things with this book—in a good way.
II think of Thule as Cassandra Clare playing with the idea of a multiverse kind of like in the Flash. If you watch the Flash or donât watch the Flash, the multiverse idea is that there are other universes out there with different versions of you living life based on the idea of you living out another possibility of how your life would have gone if you chose differently (well, thatâs what I got from the show, so Iâm no expert). I liked the introduction of the Thule world and how it was alarmingly similar to the real Shadwohunter world. But the coolest thing I thought about Thule was how itâs a world based off of the idea of Sebastian winning the Dark War.
How UTTERLY cool is that!
After reading City of Heavenly Fire, I always loved the idea of getting to know more about Christopher Fairchild as a person, not so much Sebby, but I genuinely loved the whole idea that this was an alternate universe where he won and where Clary lost. In this world, Jace is Sebby’s right hand man because the bond they had in City of Lost Souls wasn’t broken. Clary was dead and Jace was surviving without her because he believed that he murdered Lilith in revenge for taking Clary’s life. He still loves Clary though—he always will, no matter the world. Because Ash popped into Thule, he aged four years, so he’s 17, which I found weird because I get that time works differently in Faerie and different worlds, but he literally got pushed into Thule two minutes before Emma and Julian did and somehow he aged a lot?! Weird. Annabel was there too. She was more like Sebby’s maid, again, another anticlimactic role for her.
The hardest part of being in this world was the fact that Livvy was alive and older as well.
When Julian sees her, my heart hurts for him because that’s like a double whammy of pain teasing him right in the face.
Older Livvy, though, was THRIVING! And I loved it! I loved the art in this book and how Livvy was depicted to look like someone straight out of a Fast and Furious movie or some type of action movie. The overall maturity and strength this Livvy seemed to have was beyond powerful. She kicked butt thatâs for sure! And she had a mans đ! In this world, Cameron Ashdown was her right hand man and I was here for it! I also found it funny because Emma used to date him in her world and thought him boring, but she thought of this Cameron as funny. We love a parallel. It was also hilarious because Julian saw Livvy with a boy, and like any brother or father figure, he was protective of her. But Julian was also accepting because he could see how Cameron worshiped the ground Livvy walked on and how he would do anything to protect him. It was just so cute.
Livvy was skeptical of Julian and Emma because her Julian and Emma are the infamous Endarkened that are known for making out too much. How freaking ironic đ€Ș. A part of this world was that you’re either Endarkened—you support Sebby’s reign and therefore he supports you—-or you’re rebellious to it like Livvy and Cameron. Emma and Julian were both Endarkened, so Livvy had to fend for herself all these years and her siblings as well. As an Endarkend, you didn’t have runes because in this world there are no Shadowhunters because, duh, Sebby eradicated them.
But Livvy knows that Julian and Emma are from a different dimension because they bear runes. Even though they were practically family, didn’t mean she trusted them, which I get considering the world Livvy lived in
The whole story of Livvy and the Blackthorns in Thule was completely heartbreaking and is Julian’s worst nightmare if there ever was one.
Everything just seemed like one tumbling domino effect starting with losing Julian to the Endarkened, then Helen gone, Mark taken by the Fair Folk. That left Ty, Dru, and Tavvy to fend for themselves. Then they were left out on the streets to starve. Then one night Tavvy was taken from them and Ty tried to save him and then the winged creature that had Tavvy cut Tyâs throat. Then Dru left for a scouting party, most likely not making it, but she could have. So it was just Livvy left (pg. 429). And it was so hard to read that part because if that was Julianâs reality, there really would have been no hope. But it was amazing how much Livvy took on at a young age and how things juxtaposed with their reality.
I kept thinking that if Livvy came with Julian and Emma through the portal home, then Ty wouldn’t need to raise Livvy. But Livvy couldn’t leave the life she had behind, especially when things were starting to look up.
In this world, their mission was to 1) kill Sebby and 2) get the Mortal Instruments to hide from Sebby. The Silent Brother locked the Mortal Instruments in the Silent City because if Sebby got his hands on it, he could cause more destruction.
So that’s when we met the whole team and rallied the focus. I loved how in this world, Livvy was in charge of everything for once—not Julian. I also loved how Raphael was alive! I missed him đ He makes a joke about how Magnus and Alec should rename their child and why would he sacrifice himself for Magnus, the glittery warlock, in the first place đ If only he knew! I also enjoyed having Maia, Bat, and Tessa in this book. When they all needed help, Emma used this ring that Jem gave her to call on him, but since Jem wasn’t in this Thule, the ring responded to Thule Tessa who sent a message that said Church. And then someone is like, “Churches aren’t really popular here.” đ
Church is a cat.
Church’s role in Thule reminded me a lot like the rat in Avengers Endgame in how the whole universe was saved because of the rat and how they wouldn’t have had the help of Tessa to get out of Thule without Church.
The reason they called on Tessa was because she was the last warlock. The blight affected the other warlocks in Thule, causing them to get sick and turn into monsters. Because Tessa was part warlock and Shadowhunter, she still had powers, so she was able to open up the Silent City for Emma and Julian to grab the sword. And while there, Julian told Emma how they needed the Mortal Sword to shatter the original drawing of the parabatai rune in the Silent City to destroy the bond. Back in their world, they couldnât destroy the rune because the mortal sword was shattered, so it was this huge contemplation if they should shatter the original rune. For one, they shouldnât, and two, they had bigger things to do. Also in this world, their bond dissolved because magic didnât work completely there. In fact, zombie Julian could feel for once and it was like a tidal wave hit his chest because heâs never felt things in a long time.
When trying to get the mortal instruments from the Silent City, Sebby and his back up crew show up (Jace, Ash, Annabel, and other Endarkened) and they try to race into the Silent City before closing it. But Tessa had to shut it last minute as Sebby gained entrance to it, locking Cameron in there. And it was so AGONIZING and hard to see how Livvy had to make that final call because she loved Cameron. But I guess time taught her to make some pretty tough choices. Then you know, Tessa casually burned to flames, which sucked! Then Julian got his revenge and stabbed Annabel like how she stabbed Livvyâwith the mortal sword and in the back. Again, highly anti-climatic for her storyline because she was alive for only some time only to be gone again. I think she could have been developed better.
But that’s okay. Annabel was gone and Julian and Emma went through the portal back to their reality.
So what was going on in real time as Julian and Emma were in Thule?
Well, Ty and Kit focused on bringing back Livvy. You can’t say that Ty wasn’t dedicated towards what he set out to do. Kit went along with everything Ty was doing by reaching out to Hypatia Vex to help them gather ingredients from the Dark Market and going to “Shade” who was going to give them an amplifier so that they could cast the spell right. Shade wasn’t really going to help them cast the spell though because he knew that Ty was just going through a hard time in his life and he just wanted to make sure that it wasn’t any other ill-intentioned warlock who helped them—that they were doing it in a safe way. Shade was also looking after Kit who was looking after Ty to make sure they stayed safe because they were just teens messing with some pretty hefty stuff.
Since Julian was gone, he couldn’t really be there to help Ty and reassure him that Livvy wouldn’t want to be raised like that. And Ty didn’t let anyone but Kit into his life after everything.
Which brings me to the highly underrated Blackthorn kid (besides Tavvy) who I just feel needs so much more recognition and love: Dru. As much as Ty lost a twin, Dru lost a sister and sheâs younger than Ty, so it might hurt more to her. Helen knows her sister is hurting, but she let Dru have her space. Dru also acts more rudely to Helen because sheâs not Julian. And I feel like Dru pushes people away because sheâs tired of letting people into her life only for them to leave or to be gone the next. So she doesnât let anyone in to save herself from the pain of losing them. All the Blackthorn kids, besides Ty, really gave Helen a hard time in the beginning and it made soooo choked up when Dru and Tavvy would take their anger out on Helen, saying things like she wasnât Julian or not liking the oatmeal she tried making for them. Helen wanted to be a part of their lives. She was trying. But Dru and Tavvy brought her to literal tears and that brought me to tears because itâs not Helenâs fault that she was away all this timeâitâs not like she never cared. But now that she was back, it just seemed to her that no one wanted her there or didnât like her anymore. This goes against how they all dreamed of the day Helen would come back. So itâs weird that they would react so badly to her. But I think part of them might have felt like it was too good to be true that Helen was back. Still, they should have treated her better and seen what she was trying to do
I thought it was funny how Aline was like “I’ll kill them” after she saw Helen crying because Aline’s protective of her wife. Helen was like “Don’t kill them.” Then there was the moment where Aline made frittatas and Dru and Tavvy were going to rampage their complaints, but Aline laid down the law to them that they had to respect Helen and if they didn’t like what she made, then tough cookies đI just loved the fierceness of it all and how Dru and the kids had respect for Aline and were put in their place.
But I also appreciated how later on, Dru started to get included in things and to let people in. Kit, bless his heart, understood what it felt like to be the person on the outside looking in and he felt bad because Dru lost her sister and no one was really there for her. Dru wanted to be a part of whatever Ty was doing—-she wanted to be Ty’s sister. But Ty didn’t really recognize that because he was so consumed in his work, so I loved how Kit got Ty to include Dru in their plans. I loved the moment when Kit takes Dru under his wing like a big brother and teaches Dru how to pick a lock. A good bonding moment because we really never have seen Dru and Kit have a moment. Then Dru posed as Vanessa Ashdown to meet Barnabas Hale who owns all the Dark Markets as a way to con him so they could get the ingredients they needed. It was nice to see how lively Dru got because she was a part of the team that used to be just Ty, Livvy, and Kit. To her it was finally being included and needed.
There was one part after talking to Jamie where she was crying and Helen saw her. I think at this point Dru is tired of feeling alone and seeing everyone leaving—-Jamie and her family—-that she finally allows herself to see that she needs to let people in and so when Helen’s there, it’s this intimate sister moment where Dru finally let’s Helen in and Helen tells her she’s not leaving Dru ever again. I just loved how the moment was described in how even though they’ve both changed a lot over the years, they still “fit like sisters” đ (pg. 265).
Helenâs problems with her siblings started to ease up, but she had other issues to deal with. Horace successfully made it a law that all Downworlders had to be registered into this system. As a way to hack the system, Aline and Helen use celebrity names for each of the Downworlders. I loved how one werewolf they met was so insistent that his name wasnât Elton John, but then Aline and Helen were like âYouâre Elton John.â Or how they looked back in the line and was like âShe looks like a Taylor Swift.â đ I think their idea was smart, but the Clave isnât uncultured enough to not know who Elton John or Taylor Swift are; they should have chosen more inconspicuous names.
When Emma and Julian come back in real time, the whole family, including Kit, Cristina, and Keiran (because they’re family too) wondered what happened to them. They returned with the mortal sword and with new knowledge of the blight and how to save the warlocks from the sickness. So they work on devising a plan to get water out of Lake Lyn to give to all the Shadowhunters everywhere. Jace and Clary were supposed to sneak into Lake Lyn and get water, but then Horace drops this bomb that Jace and Clary are dead because they never returned from their mission in the Fae realms. This causes massive havoc and despair that shakes the Shadowhunter world because Clary and Jace are their saving graces and their heroes, so with them gone, there’s even more of this fear of the Downworlders and everything in general.
“When people were afraid, they would do anything you wanted if they thought it would make them safe again. When Horace spoke of reclaiming the past glory of the Nephilim, and the crowds cheered, Manuel knew what they were truly cheering for, and it was not glory. It was a cessation of fear. The fear they had felt since the Dark War had made them understand that they were not invincible.”
(pg. 552)
So with Jace and Clary “gone,” Horace gained more power in the eyes of the Shadowhunters
Using this sentiment, the original Shadowhunter savior gang (Clary, Jace, Alec, Isabelle, Simon, and Magnus) and the Blackthorn gang (the siblings, Emma, Aline, Kieran, Kit, Diego, Jamie, Diana, Gwyn)—-all of them—- worked together to figure out a way to knock Horace off his high horse!
And the best part, they had a literal secret weapon up their sleeve: the mortal sword.
Since Julian is back in this world, the spell that made him zombie Julian is enacted again, so when theyâre trying to come up with a plan, Julian talks very emotionlessly and heartlessly to Jace who still chalks up his attitude to grieving his sister. But Julianâs plan isnât dumb. He wants to rally all the Downworlders and have a meeting to confront Horace during his great projection where he makes an âallianceââmore like a showâ-with the Unseelie King. By having this alliance, people will see Horace as a higher power because he was able to make good with such a âbig badâ as the Unseelie King. Oh, since King Arawan passed away, his malleable son, Oban, took his place, and has made it easy for Horace to manipulate him to get what he wants. On Horaceâs side is cunning and malicious to the core, Manuel, and of course is daughter Zara.
But the original Shadowhunter and Blackthorn gang have a lot more people on their side too.
First part of their big plan: cure the warlocks. In a big momentous act, Kieran volunteers himself and the Hunt to go retrieve the water and distribute it to all the warlocks. This just made my heart swell because Kieran has come so far as a person and the fact that he wanted to help the Shadowhunters and Downworlders meant a lot in terms of how the Fae arenât all evil and that they are genuinely good. If they all worked together to help each other, they could make a great team of empowerment.
Next, we need to bring Julian back from the emotionless dead. So when Magnus is better he takes off the curse from Julian. Then he warns Emma and Julian that they can’t be near each other and can’t even think about each other because the parabatai curse is fast-acting. So fast that Emma has started to get black veins on her hand, indicating she’s becoming a monster.
Now that we have rational and emotional Julian back, we finalize the plan and have this great big meeting with Clave members from all over the world. Julian tries to convince them to band with themâ-fight if necessaryâand work together. Thereâs something so powerful about the meeting with everyone and how Julian, who is only a teenager, gathered all these people to see reason and to listen to him. Usually when a teen suggests something to an adult, they tell you to sit down because youâre young and you donât know what youâre talking about, but I just loved the respect they had for Julian. It just really highlighted how beyond his years he was and the way he was a natural born leader.
I absolutely loved the part of the meeting where Julian drops down the tapestry he painted as their war banner, and I cannot tell you how much I teared up đż. I just loved that Julian could feel again and would paint something so symbolic with the sword, the wings, the four symbols for all the Downworlders, and Livvy’s locket because they were going to be called Livvy’s Watch!
MY FREAKING HEART!
Livvy’s Watch đą. I’m SOBBING.
It just meant a lot considering that he lost Livvy and saw her in Thule. Julian got closure with his sister in knowing that if she did grow up, she would have been a strong, fierce machine capable of finding love. But because Livvy wasn’t there with them, he named the revolution after her as a way to honor the Livvy he got to know in Thule and a way to say that Livvy is watching over them and she would be proud—that they’re doing this for Livvy. They are going to create a better world so things like what happened with her don’t happen again.
And I loved that.
Honestly, his tapestry should be the new flag of Shadowhunters.
The thing is, Jace didn’t like the idea of a meeting because he was scared that there would be betrayers in the midst and he was right to worry. Because somehow and in some way, Annabel was by Horace’s side and posed as a guy named Oskar to feed Horace their plan. And here I am thinking why is Annabel betraying her own blood line so badly? And wasn’t she freaking killed? HOW THE HECK DID SHE COME BACK TO LIFE AGAIN???!
I was highly confused. And also angry because Julian made this grand speech and now their plan was going to be foiled because of twice resurrected Annabel!
I thought Julian got his comeuppance.
Before the night of the battle, I really enjoyed the part where everyone sat around the campfire eating smores; it was such a mundane thing to do. I also loved the part where it talked about Isabelle not being a good cook and it just brought back all this nostalgia remembering how Isabelle is not famous for her cooking. I just missed that đ,
Through everything Ty also managed to raise his sister.
Before doing that though, Emma came back from Thule with a letter to Ty from the older Livvy and gosh, my heart just filled with tears and so much emotion after reading the letter. I thought that the letter would have brought Ty back to Earth enough to realize that his sister loves him and that he should stop with this endeavor—that the letter would bring him closure. But gosh, Ty would not give up. He didn’t even really feel the letter, but just thought about how the letter would be the last thing to help him raise his sister.
It’s actually quite incredible how Ty was able to get all the ingredients and the warlock power source during all this time because no one thought he could do it. So when he actually has everything and he’s about to raise Livvy, Kit tells him he can’t actually do it and he begs Ty to stop because it’s all wrong. And in an act of desperation to reason with Ty, Kit says the one thing I have been waiting to hear from him since the moment he laid eyes on Ty: “I love you, Ty. I love you” (pg. 685).
What does Ty say?
Nothing!!!!
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING đ! And gosh, I hurt so muchhhh for Kit because he literally poured his heart and soul into Ty and was there for him through it all even when he didn’t agree with Ty, and then he says he loved him and Ty doesn’t say anything to it, but just brushes it off like it never happened.
Then Livvy rises and Ty’s disappointed because the spell didn’t work fully, only Livvy’s ghost showing up. Now Ty is tied to Livvy’s ghost because of the spell. But Ty says this:
“I want you with me in any way you can be. You were there with me before I was born, Livvy. Without you, I just— there’s nothing if you aren’t there.”
(pg. 688)
A shot through the heart for Kit!
My heart too!
Because I get why Ty would say that to Livvy because theyâre twins and thatâs an incomparable bond, but Kit just told Ty he loved him and Kit was there for him, and here Ty was saying thereâs nothing in the world for him if Livvy wasnât there. THE WORLD IS STANDING NEXT TO YOU TIBBERUS, WAKE UP đđŒđ«!!! I mean, what a JAB! Literally blows Kit over because it makes him feel insignificant and that Ty never cared for him or would feel the same and MY HEART! Kit, he loves you, just not in the same way he could love his sister, so even if he isnât being completely sane in the brain right now, he loves you!
Speaking of love, we never talked about the great fairy threesome between Cristina, Mark, and Kieran đ€Ș.
Now if you asked me who I would have pictured Cristina being with, I would thoroughly say I had no clue because I could feel how much she loved both guys and how much Mark and Kieran loved each other. I found it kind of weird at first how Cristina wasnât put off by Kieran and Mark kissing or Cristina kissing Kieran. But itâs because there genuinely wasnât any jealousy there because they all loved each other. Running through my mind was the great fairy threesome. Itâs kind of funny considering Cassandra Clare always creates these amazing relationships with a love triangle and in any of those situations, she could have made a threesome relationship, but these were the three that actually would be a love triangle and there was no way around it. Iâll admit, Iâm not used to a person dating multiple people at one time because in society thatâs frowned upon, but I warmed up to the idea because of the love they shared.
Cristina was scared for that love because it was so “untraditional.”
“You’re afraid of what everyone is afraid of . . . having your hearts broken, being made miserable by love. But what you’re saying, that’s what the Cohort wants, They want to make people afraid, to make them stay apart because they have created an environment of fear and suspicion where you could be punished for being with someone you love.”
(pg .666)
I think thereâs so much to be said about this in the real world too. People are often scared to come out and admit that they might love a man as a man or a woman as a woman because society has for so long created this âenvironment of fear and suspicion where [a person] could be punished for being with someone you love.â And itâs so wrong of us to put people in a bubble and say that men and women are the only two species that can date and be happy because love is love no matter what. But because we have confined people to this âideal,â we make people close themselves in a closet âmiserable by loveâ because as a society we say the love they feel is âwrongâ and âinvalid.â So thatâs why people stay in the closet for so long because theyâre scared of coming out of who they are. We did that. We need to change that. At the end of the day, who are we to say that love between a man and a man and a woman and a man or in the case of the fairy threesome, a man and a man and a woman is wrong?
Anyway, there was this one moment after Julian got his feelings back where Emma goes into the Silent City with the mortal sword in an act of desperation to not be consumed by the curse. Emma was at an all time low, thinking that she had to be the one who broke the original parabatai rune drawing and the whole time she was contemplating doing it. I could literally feel the sorrow and utter regret Emma had, but also this burning need in her that she knew she had to do it to save herself and Julian. I just never thought that Emma would be the one to actually want to go through with it because the whole time she preached to Julian that he shouldn’t break the rune and therefore break all the parabatai bonds because that’s selfish, so for her to want to do it, it just emphasized how much she just wanted this pain to be over—the pain of the curse looming over her head; “Being miserable by love.” It was just so hard to read.
Thank the skies, Julian was there to stop her before she actually went through with it and I loved how he was there for her at her all time low to coax her back to peace. He reassured her that they would find another way and to give it a day and if zombie Julian was still around, I know Emma would have gone through with breaking the rune. But this was Julian and they were going to get through this together. They were always the perfect duo.
After bringing her back to reality, came the day the plan was enacted. Dru and Tavvy are portaled to Alicante with Maryse and the other kids for protection because they’re too young, while Julian and Emma and the rest of their gang separates from Magnus, Jace, Clary, Ty, and Kit who stay back at the camp.
The whole camp scene when Manuel shows up is comical đ
I love how they’re all casually just sitting around and Magnus is sitting on a log and gets up and says “Oh my,” in a bored voice. “A terrifying unexpected attack” (pg. 710).
Yea, right đ.
Magnus has good fashion and is great at magic. Acting? I wouldn’t recommend it as a future profession.
And I loved how Jace and Clary were playing tic-tac-toe casually in the tent that just got pulled from above them. Jace was like checkmate and then Manuel ordered everyone to kill them, but the trees started moving because all the Downworlders that rallied as Livvyâs Watch burst out and tied him up. An unexpected attack indeed.
Back on the home field of the battle, Horace and the Cohort are meeting with the Unseelie King in a projection for all of Alicante to see. They do the whole theatrics of Oban bowing to Horace and whatnot until Julian and the gang show up to out him and all his deceitful lies. Then out of the woods with Manuel literally tied up, is Jace and Clary and the rest of Livvy’s watch and you can just see Horace start to quake in rage and Shadowhunter’s around the world start to doubt him. Their great heroes were alive.
Then Julian pulled out the mortal sword.
That’s when the real fun begins and Horace knows he’s doomed. I don’t feel bad for him whatsoever.
Oban calls Julian on his bluff that what he is holding isn’t the real mortal sword. So Manuel holds the sword and confesses to all the malicious things Horace and the Cohort have been up to. And I was LIVING for it! The truth always has a way of coming out. And Horace broke down under the pressure of the moment and confessed to all the deeds he’s done and all heck break loose in one of the fiercest battles—bigger, literally đ —than the Dark War.
So much goes on in this battle.
Let’s start with Kerian vs. Oban.
Oban eventually battles it out with Cristina because she knows that Oban would kill his brother in an instant, so she has it out with him first as a way to protect Kieran and to protect Mark who’s battling a guy named Winter. Cristina was having a hard time matching Oban, but she does the final act as a way to end the Cold Peace—she stabs Oban in the ribs. I was always wondering when Cristina was going to fulfill the prophecy of sorts from when they went to the Seelie court in Lord of Shadows and that Fae told her that she would help end the Cold Peace. I guess this was her way of doing that because that made Kieran the next King in line because Adaon was in the Seelie court held prisoner by the Queen still.
As the new King, sometime during the battle, Kieran opens up a portal to get more people to safety as a bigger threat looms đ.
Next, Kit and Emma vs. the Riders
The Riders had it out for Emma ever since she slayed one of their own. Emma battles with them and Kit is there and Kit was supposed to stay back at the camp with Ty, but Livvy’s ghost unbound them from the spell that Magnus put to keep them there. Like a lot of people, the Riders know who Kit is because as revealed earlier, he’s part Fae. But that’s not the reason he looked so familiar.
He was the descendent from the first heir of the Unseelie and Seelie Queen. His mom was Auraline, the baby that got away and that had a lot of power!
I WAS SHOOK!
But it made so much sense! More sense than my Cristina theory!
The Riders revealed all this to Kit and how they murdered his mom and theyâre laughing like the heartless, cruel people they are. All the while, Kit is literally burning from the inside out, and as the Riders fly into the sky, Kit calls upon some Thor-like power and the horses theyâre riding on disappear out from under them and the Riders fall out of the freaking sky!
Who knew he had that in him! That’s definitely no Shadowhunter power. Maybe some Warlock power or some power the Unseelie King and Seelie Queen put on the mom that he inherited? I don’t know but I want to know more about his powers!
Thirdly, Julian vs. Annabel, again.
Well, kind of Annabel, it was a creature impersonating Annabel, which made sense given Julian already stabbed her back in Thule. But it was nice to understand everything with that now.
But lastly, and certainly not least, Zara vs. Emma.
I DETEST ZARA WITH A BURNING PASSION!
This was the showdown we’ve been waiting for. Zara has been wielding Cortana like it was hers since the Clave took it away from Emma, so when Emma gets it back, it’s so fitting, and the AUDACITY of Zara to be like “give me back my sword.” YOUR SWORD? I don’t see your name on it đ€!!! She’s a self-entitled priss.
That’s Emma’s sword and she’s gosh darn worthy like Captain America is worthy of wielding Thor’s hammer.
During their battle they talk things out and Emma doesn’t want to hurt her and Zara tells Emma, “Would you have been my friend? If I’d asked you?,” as a way to play nice and innocent, but we know she’s anything but! Even if way ddeeeeeep dowwwwwn as in WWAAAAYYYY deep down, if Zara was a remotely nice person, I still wouldn’t be friends with that condescending brat. But I loved how Zara really makes it easy for all to answer that question when she’s like “I laughed when Livvy died, we all did,” and I was like WHAT A BEACH!
Did I mention I DETEST HER!
Emma could have killed her, she was poised to do it, but Emma is always the “bigger person” đ (if you know what I mean), because she knows that
“Mercy is better than revenge.”
(pg. 754)
And itâs such a huge revelation to Emma because the start of the series started with her wanting vengeance for whoever killed her parents. She always thought that finding out who took her parents’ life and ending their life as well, would make her happy or bring her peace, but it only brought her more heartbreak and never really solved anything. So using that sentiment now with Zara, just really emphasized how much Emma has matured.
I was so proud of Emma.
UNTIL THAT BEACH TURNED AROUND AND STABBED EMMA IN THE BACK!!!!! đ€
I wanted to take Cortana and pull a Zara and do the same to her because what a PETTY LOSER!!!!! EMMA let her live and she stabbed her!!!! GOSH! SOMEONE HOLD MY EARRINGS!
But the pain was real too and Julian felt it and I felt it and I became a bubbling, sobbing mess because Emma was weak and bleeding and no iratze on Emma was working and Julian was like “it was happening again” and gosh I was like, NO, it cannot happen again, this will utterly break Julian if Emma went too! I was like Cassandra Clare is not pulling an Allegiant on me!
UGH, I Was A MesS, I TelL you a MEss!
Then for some reason, they both start burning up like a literal Jonas Brother song and everyone stops to stare at this fiery white light they’re emitting.
And
Fi
Fy
Fo
Fum
Emma and Julian were giants out to get everyone! đ€Ș
Honestly, I don’t know if this was supposed to be a very emotional scene, but I was laughing đ!
If someone asked me what I would have imagined to happen in this book or in any of Cassandra Clare books, I would have never thought that it would have giants.
I mean where did that come from?!
I mean, where did the ogre’s, pixies, and other creatures come from? We’ve never heard of those creatures in this world.
But the whole giant rampage reminded me too closely of Shrek when the Gingerbread becomes a giant and starts rampaging as well. That’s all I could envision, I kid you not. I was in hysterics đ.
Everyone was fearful of Emma and Julian because no one could get through to them, but Tavvy, bless his heart, was able to get through to Julian because Julian was in there somewhere and he would always respond to his family. And I loved the whole moment when the family just assembled and told Emma and Julian how much they both meant to all of them. It was touching, even the giants started to cry and it was beautiful to see them weep gold and it was beautiful to be grounded and supported by those they loved.
So why did they become giants?
Because thatâs the parabatai curse. The curse was that true Nephilim turned into giants and usually those who became giants didnât survive unless they were parabatai, so then they made a law making it forbidden to love your parabatai because people could use the knowledge of becoming giants as a tool and a weapon against the Clave in the wrong hands. And while Emma and Julian were giants, their parabatai rune went away, but their bond didnât. Apparently, the rune was always just a symbol for their bond, but the bond was something they had that was true so that wouldnât ever diminish. But if thatâs the case, if they just thought hard enough that the rune would go away, maybe it would have done a disappearing act and they would have been able to love each other freely? But in some ways it doesnât make sense because if the bondâs still there, isnât there some curse still there or was the curse always just in the rune and thatâs why the rune had to be destroyed?
I don’t know.
But I was happy for them because they could finally love each other freely and be happy. Still didn’t know why the curse was that they became giants? At least they didn’t turn into ants or rats or something đ.
And after all they’ve been through, they deserved to be happy. And I loved how no one thought it weird that they all of a sudden started being all mushy with each other with the hand holding and the kisses. The siblings thought it was actually normal considering how much they loved each other as parabatai.
I was just so happy for them.
I was also immensely happy for Alec and Magnus.
First, let’s talk about Alec.
My sweet, baby Jace, nominated Alec for Counsel because Jia stepped down from the position as sheâs sick. We never really go further as to how or the extent of her sickness, but Iâm curious about that and hope sheâs okay. Zaraâs in the counsel room on trial with the rest of the Cohort and they try to get this corrupted guy named Lazlo to power because he supports the Cohort, but obviously everyone except those who are d-u-m-b vote for Alec.
And Alec won and he was beaming like he won a pageant and I loved that. It was his shining moment until Zara had to steal the show just like her dad would. She makes this whole scene about how she wouldn’t accept Alec as Counsel and tells them to leave Alicante if they don’t want another war with them where more children die.
Zara can’t cut anyone a break, can she?
I surely wanted to cut her!
Alec just got his position like five seconds ago and here he was, having to make a life changing decision already. And he chose wisely and he agrees to leave and that anyone who wants to join them can. Those who stay will be locked in Idris and can’t leave and no one can go out.
“The world is bigger than Idris . . . You think you are taking our homeland, but you are making it your prison. Just as we can never return, you will never be able to leave.”
(pg. 833)
This just felt like a very Thor: Ragnarok scene at the end where they lost Asgard, but saved the people and they said that Asgard is not a place, itâs a people. This whole divide now closes off the Shadowhunterâs who leave Idris, meaning Alec and those who lose Idris in a way, but in another way, thatâs how they know who the true Shadowhunterâs areâthe real people that make up Idris. And I loved when many people started to go through Claryâs portal into the real world and how some people left the counsel hall to go get their things to leave.
Shadowhunter’s are a people not a place.
I bet your buttons Zara is going to play a part in the next book and potentially get Idris back from her. I am kind of curious as to who stayed and what Zara plans to do with Idris. I just know that it wonât be good because Zara has a dirt poor heart.
This may have seemed like a loss to Shadowhunter’s, but it was a win to me.
So they’re in the real world, celebrating by the beach and everyone is having kind of a good time, but Alec has his own agenda.
I remember after reading City of Heavenly Fire, how disheartened I was with the end because I felt like there were so many things I have yet to see with the original characters; there was so much more I wanted to read about their lives now that their lives were starting. One of the things I told myself was if I could get a Place proposal and a wedding, a Malec wedding, a Sizzy reunion and wedding, then I would be a happy person.
And it’s like Cassandra Clare heard me!
She gave us all the Malec proposals we never knew we needed! If the book was literally just the last 50 pages, I would have thought this book the best thing. Thatâs literally how much I loved the ending đ.
But Alec was so nervous to talk to Magnus and he was like, “We could get married,” and then Alec got done on a knee and says the most heart-warming speech Alec ever could, and Alec’s not one to say much, but he said a lot to Magnus because he meant a lot to him đą.
I thought it quite funny but sweet how everyone was in on Alec’s plan and they changed the celebration to their wedding and it was just so cute! I loved how all their friends and family were there and even Maia, Bat, and Lily, Catarina, Izzy, Jace, Clary, Simon, and Maryse, and the kids. I loved how Alec wore Shadowhunter gold and Magnus warlock blue. I loved loved how sure Magnus was in marrying Alec. Magnus has lived a long time and has been in so many relationships, but he loved Alec so much and he knew that.
“Then Magnus met Alec. He had felt drawn to him in a way he couldn’t have explained or anticipated: He had wanted to see Alec smile, to see him be happy. He had watched Alec turn from a shy boy with secrets to a proud man who faced the world openly and unafraid. Alec had given him the gift of faith, a faith that Magnus was strong enough to make not just Alec happy, but a whole family happy. And in their happiness, Magnus had felt himself not just free, but surrounded by an unimaginable glory.
Some might have called it the presence of God.
Magnus just thought of it as Alexander Gideon Lightwood.”
(pg. 861)
Where’s the tissue box when you need one?!đ
Then they runed each other, or in Magnus’s case he had a rune pin and it was just so cute and intimate. And then there were the rings and their words of love. Gosh, I was in pieces. Someone get me a bucket for my tears!
If the soppy love didn’t pain me in the best way, there was still Emma and Julian.
The last scene of the book ended with Emma and Julian in their safe place—-at the beach and they’re out at the water. It was just so perfect because they reflected on how far they’ve come—from kids building sandcastles and missing each other because they knew that they couldn’t be together the way they wanted to. Julian also looked back on everything and to me, his reminiscence really just tugged on all the right heart strings in the best way. I loved this Julian: the one who could feel and feel freely. I loved how light he seemed; “I never felt so light” because he didn’t have all this burden and responsibility on him to be the father figure brother and to worry about the kids or that he could never be with Emma. And I think that because he always had that idea that he could never be with Emma the way he wanted, part of him never would always never be happy because he couldn’t have his source of happiness freely, but now he could and I just felt that.
I also felt the mountain on Julian’s back, crumble down because he didn’t have to do it all anymore. He I also felt the mountain on Julianâs back crumble down because he didnât have to do it all anymore. He had Helen who would take care of the kids at the Institute and take care of the institute itself. He had Mark who was going to go join the Shadowhunter Downworlder Alliance as a way to have purpose. Mark has come so far as well. He was in the Hunt for so many years, dreaming about the day he would see his family. Now he has. And heâs home. But now that heâs found his footing and everything is soothing out, he doesnât know what to do next, but Alec gives him the proposition to join the alliance because of his mix of Shadowhunter and Fae blood. I think itâll be so rewarding and good for Mark to have a leadership role and to represent someone of both bloods. I also liked how Ty was going to go to the Scholomance. Not a messed up Scholomance like the one Zara went to, but a better one where Catarina Loss, Ragnor Fell will be to watch over him. Magnus planted the idea in Tyâs head after discussing to him about how he knows he tried to raise Livvy and how Ty has to live with the dark consequence of being tied to her. But Magnus also understood that Ty was just a kid who lost his twin and wanted to give him an outlet to solve things and to put his energy towards. I just think Magnus knew that was so special. I liked how Ty told Julian he wanted to go to the Scholomance and at first Julian questioned his decision, but then Julian asked him if that was what he wanted, and Ty says:
“You’ve made me strong enough that I can do this, Julian.”
(pg. 868)
I’m not crying, you are!!! đ
I mean, Ty and Julian have such a special brotherly bond. For Ty to say that Julian helped make him “strong enough” was like gold to Julian ears because all he’s ever done since their parents passed away was raise his siblings and put them before himself; He always looked after them, teaching them things that would help them in life, so that when they were ready to face the world, they would be.
And Julian did that.
He did that.
I am proud.
There were also cute moments that were shared between Ty and Dru. I loved when he opened up to her about Livvy’s ghost being tied to him and how he told her he could teach her to see her and that they could learn together. I enjoyed the whole idea that this was their shared secret to bond them closer together. I also liked the scene at the beach when Ty and Dru are looking at the bioluminescent fish, when really Ty was with Livvy who was floating above the water.
Kitâs actually there at the beach too, but heâs watching from a distance. After he fainted from doing his magical act, Tessa told Kit about his heritage and that he wouldnât be in much danger anymore. She said she would like it if Kit came to live with her and Jem if he wanted to. I kind of thought Kit would return back to be with the Blackthorns because they surely have become like family to him, right? But when Kit thought of the Blackthorns, all he saw was Ty and how he told him he loved him, but Ty didnât reciprocate that back to him; he felt embarrassment. So Kit chose to live with Tessa and Jem and their baby. Part of me is happy that Kit is going to live with the other power couple of the Shadowhunter world, but I was also HIGHLY FRUSTRATED because Kit didnât say goodbye to any of the Blackthorns and just left!
The Kitty!!!! I kept thinking, Kit’s going to have to talk to Ty again before this book is over, they just have to!
But THEY DON’T!
Kit watches Ty from a distance, talking to Livvy and how he wants to remember Ty as happy and smiling and I’m like, I’m not happy and smiling! đ©
I got cheated out of the Kit and Ty relationship I deserved from this book!
Speaking of getting cheated out of love, let’s get back to our great fairy three-some.
Kieran is miserable because he doesn’t want to be King. He wants Cristina and Mark, but he has this sense of hopelessness that they will never be together because as King, he’s tied to his land and if he’s not in the Unseelie land, then the land and the people weaken, and he doesn’t want to ask Mark and Cristina to give up their whole life to be with him there. In fact, if both of them are there, they might be in danger from people who don’t approve of their relationship. So they had to let each other go.
This saddened all of them and made them âmiserable by love.â But Cristina wasnât going to accept that this was the end of all three of them. So Kieran tried to offer Adaon the throne instead, but he doesnât want it and thinks Kieran would make a better King. But he does offer him his cabin, which would be a safe haven for all three of them to meet sometime during the year. Kieranâs hopes lift and he tells Mark and Cristina where they vow to see each other again even though they are all off on different journeys.
But back to Emma and Julian. Always back to them.
But Emma tells him she loves him more now because of how he feels everything intensely and how he was there at her weakest, dark point. He was always there to âbring her homeâ (pg. 875) đ. Then have a sappy romantic moment kissing on the beach. The last words of the book were so powerful and just right in how they too reflected on their whole journey and honoring those that they have lost.
“Without sorrow, there can be no joy.”
(pg. 875)
If they hadn’t lost all the people they had, struggled to beat the curse, fight for justice in the government, and deal with all the hardships they did, they wouldn’t have known the truth joy all of them felt there at the beach—-the wedding, the threesome, Ty and Livvy and Dru, Tavvy with Malec’s kids, Kit moving forward, Diana and Gwyn, Simon and Izzy, Jace and Clary, and Emma and Julian. With sorrow, you feel pain and hurt and loss and it sucks to feel all of those hard emotions, but they make the good moments worth it because you’ve endured the worst, and now you can feel the best.
They’re feeling the best.
I’m feeling the best too.
Because not only did we get a Malec proposal and a wedding, but we got a Clace proposal!
There was this moment before Alec proposed where he joked to Jace:
“Izzy and Simon engaged, me and Magnus married—-who’d have thought you’d be last?”
I was LAUGHING! đ
I mean, it’s not like Jace didn’t try! But it’s just ironic or whatever the word is because Clace was always endgame and will forever be together and I’d expected them to get married first too. But that didn’t happen.
But after the wedding, Jace and Clary sneak out and she portals them to the greenhouse! The GREENHOUSE, where they had their first intimate moment together and where the magic happened! My heart was bursting because I knew what was going to happen!!!!!!
UGGGGH! đ
Then Clary gives him a present of a blade because we know Jace loves his weapons and engraved on it is “Will you be married to me?” which was supposed to be Clary’s way of asking him “Will you marry me?” because he asked her first and turned him down at the time, so she asked him now and I LOOOOOVEDDD an empowering woman proposal scene.
“It’s fitting for you to give me a sword,” he said.
“Something that would protect you,” she said. “something you could carry always—
“Like I carry my love for you” He said quietly.
Then Jace brings out the rings because he was going to propose to her tonight too—great minds think alike and I just missed Jace’s smooth way of talking!!! I mean, how can you not?!
“I could always fight my own demons but my own. Since I met you, Clary you have been the blade in my hand, even when I carried no weapons. You were my sword and shield against every moment I felt worthless, against every moment I hated myself, against every time I thought I wasn’t good enough.”
The self-deprecation is real!
But I LOVE!
And then they have their makeout scene like they did all those years ago when they were in the greenhouse and were exploring these feelings they had for each other. And my heart was fulfilled đ I just loved that scene so much—a little too much because I would have been fine just reading these pages and the book could have been over.
But it wasn’t over.
The Seelie Queen had to make her grand appearance where things get dark and twisted. She had a visitor.
Knock knock?
Who’s there?
Your worst nightmare.
Your worst nightmare, who?
Ash and Thule Jace!
I was wondering if we were ever going to see Ash again! I mean his charter seemed too important and highly powerful for us to have just left him in Thule without ever seeing him again. But he came with other world Jace who has these grand swords. And other world Jace wants Clary in exchange for Ash and bringing him back to her.
What could he possibly want with Clary?!
Gosh, I tell you, it’s her dream that she had! It’s foreshadowing for sure!
Overall, I really enjoyed this end of the trilogy. I never really expected for there to be a great battle, but I guess in hindsight I should have seen it coming because a great trilogy has to end with a great battle, right? Go big or go home đ. I just never really knew what to expect from this trilogy besides it being about the Blackthorns and Emma and Julian finding a way around the curse. I think the way they were able to do that was kind of simple considering everythingâ-the rune just disappearing, but I think turning them into giants was supposed to be part of it and a pivotal moment and it was. I just thought it was also funny, not in a bad way. I also just enjoyed the other relationships in this book between the friends and the family and having the original Shadowhunterâs helping out or being there in this trilogy because I will always want to see themâtheyâre like family to me too. I loved the diversity and inclusivity in this series especially with Ty who lives with Autism, the great fairy threesome, and Dianaâs storyline. I think Cassandra Clare did a wonderful job in trying to be inclusive and showcase stories that were honest and raw and I know everybody is different, but I think the way Cassandra Clare discussed it in a fantasy series was well done.
I’m also left with sooooo much unresolved things. But I guess that’s what the Wicked Powers is for.
First, Ty and Kit. I need them together please. No ands, ifs, or buts.
Next, what really happened to the Black Volume. I think the Black Volume plot kind of got pushed to the back burner for me with everything else going on that I’m not sure what really happened to it? If you know, can you please remind me? I think it was left in the Seelie lands and someone has a copy of it or maybe it was burned, I don’t know?
Well, this review has been lengthy!!!!
I will do a whole other post about my Wicked Power Crackpost theories that I will link below!
If you read this book, what was your favorite part? Your least favorite part? Any moments that were unexpected or brought about a lot of nostalgia? Did you like how things were resolved or what would you change? Did you agree with any of my thoughts? And if you could compare yourself to another Blackthorn, which Blackthorn would you be? Let me know below in the comments đ
I hope you have a beautiful day,
And as always, with love,
Rating
4.87 Full Bloom Flowers
Characters: I really liked getting to know more about the background of our characters and to see some of them open up. I liked the new bonds and relationships that they form with each other, as well as seeing some old bonds from the previous books in this entire world strengthen with love and hope.
Plot: Never a dull moment for sure.
Writing: I think the organization of this book was done well because it helped build up the plot and it sets things up nice for the Wicked Powers.
Action: Marvel movie level action. Maybe not Endgame, but more like Age of Civil War kind of action. Shadowhutner’s Assemble!
Romance: Cassandra Clare makes you love love and I love the love that I read about. Lots of relationships grow, strengthen, and form as they deal with all the hardships that have been thrown at them time and time again. Everyone gets a pretty happy ending in the relationship aspect expect Kit and Ty—-my Kity! I’m still holding out for them!