REVIEW Lady Midnight.

TITLE. Lady Midnight
AUTHOR. Cassandra Clare
PUBLISHER. Margaret K. McElderry Books
RELEASE DATE. March 8 2016
PAGES. 668
FORMAT. Hardcover
GENRE. Young Adult, Fantasy

SUMMARY.
The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.

It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.

Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions…

Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?

Glitz, glamours, and Shadowhunters abound in this heartrending opening to Cassandra Clare’s Dark Artifices series.
REVIEW.
Only one thing though before I start, if you’re new to Cassandra Clare ! I have to emphasize this. Don’t, and I really mean DON’T read this book if you haven’t read the other series. You’ll miss out so much. So don’t be stubborn, and take the time to do this the right way. It deserves to be read the right way. So go and read The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices first. Don’t read this one before you know what happened before this all came to be.

How exciting !! The first part in a new Cassandra Clare series: The Dark Artifices, once again featuring the Shadowhunters. It will consist of three books in total, with a companion book series The Last Hours also consisting of three books that will be released in the next couple of (unfortunately) years.

I mean, how could I not pre-order this one and read it as soon as I got it ? It feels like it has been AGES since I held City of Heavenly Fire in my hands. But looking back, it has been almost two years since this one came out.. Which is very long in book years !! But not the end of the world of course. These books are very thorough and well-researched, it is completely understandable that she needs a bit longer to write them. But well..

I have no other way to describe this book as AMAZING and BRILJANT. It is just PERFECT. I have NOTHING I would want to change, it had just the right amount of everything that I search in a book. The moment I started on this book I fell right back into the world Cassandra Clare had created years back, I felt right at home. It made me realize how much I missed this world and the writing of Cassandra Clare. She has such a beautiful way of writing that pulls me in. When I picked this book up I was in her world and no longer had any concerns about the outside world. I was just gone.

It had just the right amount of love and romance, it held me completely captive throw-out the entire book. And not just between the main characters, but between others as well. I’m very curious how things will develop further on !

Because I already knew most of the characters from the previous books, it felt really great to read about them again a couple of years later. To see how they dealt with the aftermath of the Dark War and how it shaped them.
Emma is just as fierce as she was before and I really loved her. She was very selfless (sometimes a bit too much), but I loved her bravery and sarcasm. Julian compensated her amazingly in that way, being the Yin to her Yang. He’s very responsible, and I felt sad for him from the beginning. He had to give up so much to take care of the rest of his family, without any outside help…
Oh and how I loved Ty, he is such a character ! I love his personality, and how he lives in his own world. Really hope things will go great for him in the future !!
And well, I really liked that Mark came back. I was so sad he had to go with the Hunt in the other series, and I loved that he came back and we got to find out what had happened to him while he was there. Would not mind to take a ride on his mount ^^   

I could go on and on about the others.. But everybody was just great and I really liked all of them. Which, I think, is in part because she choose to use multiple narrators. It was not just Emma and Julian, but we saw the whole story from different points of view. It made the story more complete and we got to know more about the background of many characters.

And one of the most wonderful things ? It was not predictive ! Lately everything seems obvious after the first couple of characters, hell, sometimes even the first pages.. But this story had me completely mystified ! I did not know what would happen next, and it was a wonderful feeling to keep guessing but not knowing. I even had no idea who The Guardian was until the end !
And even though that is settled now, I still have many questions ! Like what is Diana’s deal ? And how will things go for Kit ? Can’t wait for the next instalment next year !

FAVORITE QUOTES.
“Laws are meaningless, child,” Malcolm said in a low voice that somehow still carried. “There is nothing more important than love. And no law higher.”
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“Emma sprang up the steps and peered in through one of the windows; she could see nothing but dark, smudged shapes. “No one home – oh!”
She jumped back a step as something flung itself against the window: a lumpy, hair-covered ball. Slime slicked the glass. Emma was already crouching, about to pull a stiletto from her boot. “What is it?” She straightened. “A Raum demon? A -?”
“I think it’s a mini poodle,” said Julian, the corner of his mouth twitching. “And I don’t think it is armed,” he added as she glanced down to stare accusingly at what was, yes, definitely a small dog, its face pressed to the glass. “I’m almost positive, in fact.”
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“When you love someone, they become a part of who you are. They’re in everything you do. They’re in the air you breathe and the water you drink and the blood in your veins. Their touch stays on your skin and their voice stays in your ears and their thoughts stay in your mind. You know their dreams because their nightmares pierce your heart and their good dreams are your dreams too. And you don’t think they’re perfect, but you know their flaws, the deep-down truth of them, and the shadows of all their secrets, and they don’t frighten you away; in fact you love them more for it, because you don’t want perfect. You want them.”
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FINAL THOUGHTS.
So, I can’t find 5 Freyja’s enough to express how good this book is. This book is just of the scale.. So I would like to reward this book with 6 Freyja’s, because it just deserves nothing less. It is a perfect book, within a great world. I can find no flaws, and I can’t wait until the next book comes out ! Really dislike it that I have to wait for more than a year for the next book. But maybe I will re-read The Infernal Devices.. I don’t remember everything, and well.. it’s just an amazing series and I would totally recommend this to everyone !