Hi bookish friends! It's been a minute since I've done a review, but the holidays are always so busy. Regardless, I finished Queen of Air and Darkness, and this is going to be an interesting one to review.
First, here's the synopsis:
What if damnation is the price of true love?
Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the blight that is destroying the race of warlocks.
Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.
I'm going to do this in a spoiler-free part, and a spoiler part since the book is still practically brand new and I don't want to spoil it for everyone else.
Spoiler-free:
Overall, I did love this book. However, this is the only book by Cassandra Clare that I have ever given a 4-star rating to. Everything else has always been a solid 5-star, but I just couldn't do it for this one. Honestly I didn't really even care for it too much until around the middle of the book. My biggest issue with this one, and really this entire series, is how similar it is to current events going on in the real world. Every time she threw the word "bigot" in the book, I cringed. I read to get away from this stuff, not be more immersed in it. I hope I'm not spoiling anything by pointing out that Horace Dearborn was Donald Trump in a fictional world. And it wasn't just me looking too far into it, he's described exactly like him in appearance. My other issue, is that the Shadowhunter world exists separate from our world. So when she quite literally described "right-leaning Shadowhunters" I just about lost my shit. There is no right or left leaning in this world! It's a completely different government system! I'm not throwing a fit about this because I'm offended because I'm a right-leaning American. I have heard countless other people on the other side of the aisle complain about all of the similarities to our current world as well. We read to get away. It's as simple as that.
Now, about halfway into the book, Julian and Emma go on a mission and only then does it start to feel like an honest-to-goodness Shadowhunter book. I started to enjoy it from that point on. Everything got put to the side and it was all about killing demons for a while. Then it started swinging back to the political stuff, but it wasn't quite so bad because the end was very action-packed. There are lots of references to Will Herondale that make my heart break every time I come across it, but it was wonderful. I have no idea how I'm going to survive The Last Hours series, where Will is still around. My two favorite things: cameos and references. There are both in this book and it makes my fangirl heart so happy.
***Spoilers from here on out!
To be completely honest, I only really cared about what was going on with Julian and Emma. This story is told from several different POVs and it's a little confusing, but more than that, I just really didn't care about what everyone else was doing. I just wanted to see what happened with the two parabati. Kit and Ty get closer now that Livvy is dead, and I know tons of people are obsessed with them but.. I just don't care about them. Same with the whole Mark, Cristina, and Kieran triangle. I did not care about it at all. It may have been because of the constant changing between POVs that I just didn't want to focus on anymore than one character arc at a time, but either way. I will make one exception: Drusilla Blackthorn is freaking awesome. I love Dru.
Here's a little more ranting: I'm all for diversity and a nice mix of people but I think Cassie really went overboard here. It's not so much how diverse everyone is, but the fact that she has to mention it every. other. page. Every time the POV would switch to Cristina, we were reminded again that she's from Mexico. Now that Diana has her secret out, we were reminded that she was trans every single time. It was just way too much. By the Angel, we don't need to be reminded every two seconds. Also, it may have just been me but it seemed like there was an unnecessary amount of fooling around in this one. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for smut. I love smut. But cool it just a liiiiiittle bit guys! You're trying to save the world, screwing around isn't going to get you there.
I realize this post is very long, and I've complained during 90% of it, so I'm going to try to wrap it up and keep it all positive from here on out.
The relationship between Julian and his siblings always speaks to me because I'm the oldest of 5, and my sisters and I are really close and we've gone through some stuff too. Not as bad as what the Blackthorn children have gone through, but still. Julian and Emma.. I love them. They are so perfect for each other, and I thought the resolution of the parabati issue was very creative. The Nephilim thing was pretty ingenious. There are a few plot holes there, but it was a good way for them to get what they wanted without breaking the bonds of every parabati.
And finally, the wedding. Alec and Magnus finally get married and it's such a beautiful ceremony! I can't wait to see more of them. Oh, another thing I really loved was how involved Jace and Clary and the whole gang from TMI was. I love seeing a grown up Jace and Clary and how their relationship has blossomed since the end of TMI.
I keep thinking of things I want to say! Ugh! Tessa is pregnant! I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I love Jem and Tessa. But like.. she was already a mom.. like decades ago! She was Will's! But I'm happy at the same time?? I don't understand my feelings on this but I cannot wait to see what happens with this!
Last thing: whaaaat is going to happen with the new Shadowhunter government?! What are they even going to do without Idris? Without Alicante? And what are the people left behind going to do to the place? I've always loved Idris and I don't want to see it destroyed.
Arrgggghhh I'm listening to another review of this book as I type this and I keep thinking of other things to talk about but I've already written out such a loooong review already! I still have so many thoughts and feelings omg. I'm going to leave it here. I'm going to just wrap this up and hopefully you don't all hate me for being so harsh with this book!
Please feel free to share your thoughts with me!!
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