Los Angeles is glittering, seductive, and free. Or so we thought. Because LA is also the setting of a Shadow Market, full of devious Downworlders. It is the home of revenge-seeking and curious Shadowhunters, a race of half-angel, half-humans who are sworn to protect the world from demons. LA is not the city we think it is, and is home to people (and things) we would never expect. This is the world we are thrust into, the LA reinvented by Cassandra Clare for her engaging trilogy opener, Lady Midnight.Cassandra Clare is an American author with an adventurous childhood, advantageously applied to her fantasy collection The Shadowhunter Chronicles. She began her writing career in 2004, with City of Bones, the first book in the six-book series The Mortal Instruments. Since then, the Shadowhunter world has exploded, with spinoff trilogies The Infernal Devices, The Dark Artifices, and The Last Hours. With such a vast world of fantasy, it's easy to get lost. Here, I will be reviewing Lady Midnight, the first book in The Dark Artifices trilogy. If you find yourself interested in learning more about the Shadow World, click here for more information on where to begin. If you're interested in more of my reviews of Cassandra Clare's work, you can find them all here.
It is true, that LA is reinvented for us. We open in the LA Shadow Market, are are immediately faced with warlocks, vampires and werewolves, who are all immensely curious about the serial murders happening in their city. Well, none so curious as Shadowhunter Emma Carstairs, whose parents had died five years prior and whose death profiles match those of the new victims. Emma, resident of the Los Angeles Institute, along with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, his younger siblings, and visiting resident Cristina are all pulled into this mystery, as Emma is now more determined than ever to find her parents' murderer. The faeries, whom the Shadowhunters are forbidden from interacting with, even want their own piece of the pie, and prove so by returning an old friend to them. This journey takes this crew to cave sites, ocean fronts, diners, abandoned theaters, exploring an LA that is magical and dangerous, and certainly not the LA we know.
Of course, this novel would not be what it is without the famed main characters, Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn. Emma is the best Shadowhunter of her age, and Julian is her parabatai, and practically father to his 4 younger siblings. Parabatai is a sacred bond among the Shadowhunters -- two warriors who are partners for life, with love like philia or agape but never eros. Emma and Julian have been parabatai for five years but are conflicted about that decision. It is soon revealed that they wish they'd made different choices, because they are deeply in love with one another. Forbidden from being together, these two characters are as much wrapped up in their love story as in the mystery of solving the murders. These characters are complicated because humans are complicated -- nothing about Emma or Julian is as quite straightforward as it may seem. Their feelings are intense, and not just their feelings for each other. Emma is hell-bent on revenge so she can avenge her parents, quite possibly one of the only reasons they get caught up in these murders in the first place. Julian has a love so deep for his siblings, he would lay down his life for any of them, at any given moment, if it would guarantee their happiness for life. At first, it seems impossible to have two characters that seem so perfect because it can feel unrealistic -- Emma is a fantastic warrior and friend whose loyalty is bone-deep, Julian is handsome, loving and a great warrior in his own right. Only once readers get deeper into the novel do they understand the rich complexities behind their characters, and the reasons they made the choices they did. Each page brings more information so we get to know Emma and Julian better, and only the readers dedicated enough to keep flipping the page will get the honor.
YA fiction, on the surface, can be dominated by rather similar characters. Whether that be similar through appearance, personality traits, or stories themselves, it's easy to distinguish characters and stories from one another without a little diversity. Luckily, Clare infused plenty of diversity among her characters, in a way that opens readers' eyes to the people of the world around them. The most obvious would be Mark's heritage as half-faerie, half-Shadowhunter, and his battle of having to "choose" between the two. This battle is pronounced as his family has to re-welcome him, but only knowing how to welcome Shadowhunters (seeing as how faeries are forbidden). Mark is a glimpse into how people with mixed or multiple heritages might experience the world around them. Another example would be Ty, who processes the world differently. While not exclusively defined as autism in the Shadow World, it seems that based on Ty's personality and traits, he is somewhere on the spectrum. Ty thinks differently and creatively, which is seen as odd or strange to the Shadowhunters, but as special and important to his family. Ty's genius makes him an easy choice for help in this investigation, and his insight in most valuable as the crew unravels this mystery. Readers who don't relate to Ty's or Mark's situations might not have the specific language to explain what exactly these characters go through. But Clare gives those readers an insight to these kinds of situations, a hint at how we can use our broader language to at least try to empathize with people who are different.
LA might be described as "a kingdom by the sea" -- famous words from a favorite American poet, Edgar Allan Poe. Something stylistically interesting Clare does with Lady Midnight is naming each of the 27 chapters with a different phrase from the poem "Annabel Lee." The poem itself is lyrical, has a lulling musicality, and yet ends violently and tragically. The theme of the poem itself reflects the situation between Emma and Julian quite perfectly, as well as acting as a narrative for the murderer the crew hunts for throughout the novel. Centering the book around this poem is haunting and adds a layer of complexity: how can we view each event as lines from a poem written hundreds of years ago? The answers to this question are not crystal clear, but can create larger discussions between readers who love Poe's poetry and Clare's fantasy. By adding this layer, Clare challenges readers to connect her fantasy world to the worlds of other famous authors across time, bringing her novel into a larger literary conversation.
The ending of Lady Midnight might not be as tragic as the ending of "Annabel Lee," but did leave fans with an ache for more. It was a close call for the members of the Blackthorn family and the LA Institute residents, and it might not be a close call as the plot thickens in the upcoming books of the trilogy. For now, fans of the Lady Midnight can rest easy knowing their favorite characters are safe, or they might be more anxious -- if they're all safe now, it's bound someone will get hurt later on. Either way, the Blackthorn family and crew will be feeling the sting of betrayal for years to come, and it's not entirely certain if Emma is completely satisfied by getting revenge, specifically in the face of the betrayal she's going to have to make to protect the one she loves the most. LA has now shown the world what kind of city it is, and the people that live within it. If you're still curious about their journey, the story continues in Lord of Shadows. It's not a story you want to miss.
If you're interested in more of my reviews on the books from the Shadowhunter Chronicles, you can find them all here.
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