Dura lex, sed lex. The law is hard but it is the law. This is one of the mottos the Shadowhunters live by, the code that guides their justice system and the reasoning behind their mandates. But a different motto guides those of the Los Angeles Institute: Lex malla, lex nulla. A bad law is no law. This is the code that the Blackthorns return to, desperately, as Shadowhunter law continues to take and take from them. Both mottos have their flaws, and the justice system of the Shadowhunters themselves is flawed as well. But the greatest political threat is The Cohort, a faction of Shadowhunters who believe the rights of Downworlders should be restricted. Can they be stopped? Will the Blackthorns prevail over injustice? Dive into Cassandra Clare's Lord of Shadows, arguably her most politically charged book yet.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 Lord of Shadows, the second 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.
When we last left Julian, Emma, Cristina, and the Blackthorn family, they were physically whole but emotionally ripped apart. The family had suffered a crushing betrayal from someone they considered family. Emma, whose feelings for Julia were stronger than ever, learned about the parabatai curse. To protect him, she turned to Julian's brother Mark, crushing Julian in the process. Now, the Blackthorns have to face intruders: the Centurions. They are on the hunt for Malcom Fade's body, and some of them are part of the power-hungry Cohort, determined to pluck the LA Institute right out of Blackthorn hands. Better yet, Julian, Emma, Cristina and Mark are away in Faerie, trying to save Kieran Hunter, so the responsibility to keep the family together falls in the hands of Livvy, Ty, and Kit Herondale, the son of deceased Johnny Rook and descendant of the famed Shadowhunter family. This time, the adventures the crew go on are separate, but leads them to despair, longing, mystery, desire, and great loss.
Emma made the hard yet necessary choice to try and make Julian hate her by dating his brother, Mark, recently returned from the Wild Hunt. Emma learned from Jem Carstairs, former Silent Brother and ancestor, that the price of falling in love with your parabatai meant destruction of themselves and everything they loved. Without much of a choice, Julian watched on in agony as Mark and Emma dated. In Lord of Shadows, it is so difficult for readers to decide what side they're on: do they support Emma because she's trying to save herself and Julian? Do they hate the Law, for not leaving some sort of way to exit the parabatai bond? This novel is full of their conflicting feelings and actions, and truly both Emma and Julian try to do what they think is best. It isn't until the end, where a life-line is offered, that it seems like everything might be okay for the two of these characters. Everything, for them, is now made in the face of this forbidden love. There is nothing else for them, save the family they love so much. While this series centers so much around these two characters, they are not, in fact, the only ones with conflicting feelings.
Cristina Rosales, who took her travel year to the LA Institute to escape her past heartbreaks in Mexico, has become Emma's best friend through these trying times. She's also an integral part of the mission to Faerie, due to her special ties with the Fair Folk. Cristina's tragic backstory was glanced at in Lady Midnight, and it is in Lord of Shadows where she truly blossoms into a character to be loved. We learn about how Diego and Jaime broke her heart, and the reasons she decided to go to LA. We get more scenes in her voice, and see her budding conflict over Mark and Kieran. Cristina is an interesting character in that she is polished and mature, yet still confused and agonized about her future. She seems like the perfect friend to everyone, but has to bear her troubles on her own, without anyone to talk with. Her scenes are the most complex by far, because she doesn't talk too much to anyone else about her feelings, making readers dig into her internal dialogue to try and understand Cristina's pain and longing. I personally love Cristina because I find her inherently relatable, and quite possibly the most relatable character in the series.
Other characters who deserve more appreciation are Arthur Blackthorn and Diana Wrayburn. Arthur, who would be described as a lunatic in mundane terms, adventured to Faerie long ago and has his mind broken there. Since he moved to the LA Institute, Julian has been covering up his inability to run an Institute by doing it for him. However, Arthur has some brief moments of clarity that make him one of the heroes he's always investigating. In Lord of Shadows, he comes out of the dark to fight for the family he never really got to know, but loves regardless. His sacrifice was great, and puzzling to the rest of the Blackthorn children, but nonetheless what saved their lives. Reading about Arthur always make me hope that Clare might write a short story about his and Andrew's time in Faerie, because it's a story readers still haven't had the chance to explore. Diana Wrayburn is the Blackthorn tutor, and the woman whom Julian has begged to take over the Institute many times previous. She has now become the sole affection of Gwyn Ap Nudd, faerie leader of the Wild Hunt. It is because of this relationship that readers learn of Diana's past, which she has so carefully hid from the inhabitants of the LA Institute and the rest of the Shaowhunter world. Diana's story is heart-wrenching and complicated, but beautiful and full of resilience like she is. I will not add more for those who haven't yet read the series, because Diana's story deserves to be narrated by Diana herself. Like Ty and Mark in Lady Midnight, Clare gives readers language to understand experiences like Arthur's and Diana's, even if they've never had explicit interaction with people like them. That is the beauty of having so many diverse and relatable characters and experiences.
Another expressly unique thing about Lord of Shadows was the decision to separate the novel into parts. There are only 2, titled Dreamland and Thule, respectively, but they accurately reflect the events. Dreamland is the first half, focused on Emma, Julian, Cristina, and Mark's journey in Faerie, and other adventures the crew takes that, in the face of the novel itself, seem more on the harmless side of things. Thule, on the other hand, is when the novel gets dark, and the mission gets dirtier. The crew faces enemies who plan on killing them, and face a betrayal so great it costs them one of their own. While a dreamland has the connotation of something sweet, with something hidden underneath, Thule stands in contrast, representing the a place beyond the borders of the known world. These are the places the crew becomes acquainted with in their journeys, whether they want to or not. It's definitely an interesting stylistic choice, and stands in contrast to how Lady Midnight wasn't separated in parts. By separating Lord of Shadows into these parts, Clare creates a clear dichotomy. The world before: a place that can be controlled; the world after: where destruction, heartbreak and confusion abound. Now, in Queen of Air and Darkness, it will be interesting to see how Clare continues to explore this new world, this devastating Thule the characters now live in.
Something to associate with this "other-world" is the politics of this book. I mentioned earlier that this might be one of Clare's most politically charged books, and would like to examine why that is so. In Lady Midnight, the only political position talked about in depth was the seat as head of the LA Institute. Now, though, with the opening of Lord of Shadows, we see a greater threat: the Cohort, a faction of the Council that seeks to limit the rights of Downworlders by registering them for use by the Shadowhunters. There have always been Shadowhunters fighting against the injustices their government places on Downworlders, and it had seemed after the Dark War that they made some headway. After all, there was the new Downworlder-Shadowhunter Alliance, and the Blackthorn family (among many, many others) stands against The Cold Peace, which forbids and restricts the rights of faeries. But the Cohort is the biggest political threat that the Shadowhunters have ever faced: they are full of hate, and now face a moment where they can seize a seat of power. In a way, the Cohort is now an enemy, waiting on the sidelines before they can come out and truly ruin the Shadow World. It is in Lord of Shadows where they are introduced, and all the possible outcomes of their coming to power are explored, but it is my prediction that they will take a greater lead in Queen of Air and Darkness, and one of the most important enemies ever faced by the Shadowhunters. By including such a politically charged atmosphere in the face of all the other obstacles the Blackthorns face, the Shadowhunter world is made more real to fans. Governmental politics help create a grounding feel for this world, even if there are politics that are horrible and against civil rights. This grounding feel, however, helps readers feel as if they're in this world, and give them something to fight for, too. After all, a fantasy world would mean nothing without the readers that support it and fight for it. Hopefully, readers and characters alike will fight against the Cohort's politics and bring about a better world by the series's end.
"High above the Council Hall, the golden clock began to chime" is the phrase that ends it all with this volume, leaving readers and the characters absolutely heartbroken. Reading the end of this novel is something you can only experience once. It was an ending where readers ached for the characters, and yet yearned for more. No matter how many times you read it, though, there's always a sense of heartache and loss that leaves you mourning with the characters you just left behind. Luckily, there's still one more volume left, where maybe everything can be fixed and the characters can find a new sense of normal -- if it can be found.
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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