"Lady Midnight" by Cassandra Clare (The Dark Artifices No. 1)

Lady Midnight is the first book of a new trilogy set in the Shadowhunters world by Cassandra Clare called The Dark Artifices. It follows Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn of the Los Angeles Institute who were first introduced at the end of the Mortal Instruments series. Five years have passed since we saw them in Idris during the Dark War. Emma and Julian are now 17 and have become parabatai, or warrior partners bonded through rune magic.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and will definitely continue reading this and other upcoming series set in the same world. However, the more I read paranormal YA series, the more critical I become of plots, characters and writing. Since the market is now saturated with novels in this genre, the most popular and better-written ones definitely need to set a certain standard of writing. This is not to say that this book had major flaws. It did not. However, there were some things that to me did not quite live up to the standard I have come to associate with Cassandra Clare's work.

First of all, it was hard to get into the book in the first few chapters. This was partly because some things were repeated too many times (e.g. the fact that Julian took care of his siblings was rehashed from multiple angles). In addition, a lot of information was provided about the events of the Mortal Instruments books, the magic, magical beings and the world itself. I understand that this might be useful for refreshing the readers' memory, but it could have been done in a more subtle way.

The overall mystery/plot line for this first installment was excellent. I had no idea who the killer was and really enjoyed all the twists and action. The only weak point for me was the blackout at the Institute. So they could not use the phones to contact the Clave, what about a fire message? I thought Shadowhunters were not supposed to rely on mundane devices anyway. It would have been nice if this was factored in. In addition, the whole parabatai romantic love prohibition was emphasized way too much especially since this was never emphasized in the previous books. I realize this is the whole point of this trilogy and needed to be believable, but it was a bit forced since other books never focused on it. Or if it was mentioned, it was in passing.

I am also not sure how I feel about the ending. I am not a fan of lying and breaking someone's heart for the sake of their own good. This seems like such an overused trope. In addition, Julian, I believe, is being set up to somehow turn evil, or borderline evil. Clare refers to him as "ruthless" way too many times". He already is "an expert liar" and now the girl he loves decides to hurt him "out of love".  I do prefer complex characters. Life is not black and white. And I hope Julian will continue being an interesting character instead of going all evil.

I rated this book at 3.5 stars. Cannot wait to read book 2.