Lady Midnight
Lady Midnight is a young adult urban fantasy novel by Cassandra Clare. It is the first book in The Dark Artifices, which is chronologically fourth in The Shadowhunter Chronicles. The book follows the events that occur in the Los Angeles area in 2012, focusing on the residents of the Los Angeles Institute. The title was based upon Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe and all of the chapter titles are lines from the poem.[1]
 | |
| Author | Cassandra Clare |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Cliff Nielsen |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Dark Artifices |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | March 8, 2016 |
| Media type | Hardcover, Paperback, Ebook |
| Pages | 668 |
| ISBN | 1442468351 |
| Followed by | Lord of Shadows |
Plot
The novel begins in the Shadow Market at a stall run by Johnny Rook and his son, Kit. Johnny Rook is well known for knowing everyone's secrets, so Emma Carstairs and her boyfriend Cameron Ashdown come to his stall to get information. He informs them about murders where the bodies have similar markings to the markings on Emma's parent's dead bodies as he knows that Emma is constantly looking for more information about the death of her parents. He also knows of a tip about the next murder that might occur so Emma decides to investigate along with her friend Cristina.
Whilst investigating the murder, Emma breaks up with Cameron over the phone. When Emma and Cristina reach back to the Institute and inform the Clave of what they have learned, the Clave discourage Emma from investigating further as some of the victims are faeries and as part of the Cold Peace they may render no aid. Shadowhunters and Faeries do not have a good relationship due to the events of The Mortal Instruments series so the Silent Brothers are the only ones who can lead the investigation. However, Emma is determined to keep looking as it connects somehow to the death of her parents.
Meanwhile, the Blackthorn family arrive back from their time in England visiting their family. Julian avoids Emma due to a development in his feelings for her. As they are parabatai, they are forbidden to fall in love so Julian decides to avoid her. He immediately goes to check on Arthur Blackthorn, who is the head of the institute. However, we quickly discover that Arthur was driven mad when he was kidnapped by the fae years ago along with Julian's dad (who fell in love with a faerie). It is clear that Julian is the one who is truly running the institute. Malcolm Fade, the High Warlock of Los Angeles, then appears to give Arthur his medication which he has been taking for years to think more clearly.
When Julian finally talks to Emma, he agrees to help her with her investigation, along with the rest of the Blackthorn family. Ty manages to discover through research that the murders have occurred once a month for a year and that all of the bodies have been left on ley lines, which are known to amplify magic. They realise that all of the evidence points to the murderer using the bodies as part of a summoning spell.
Later in the day, Emma and Julian have a conversation about Mark Blackthorn, Julian's half brother. Julian admits that whilst he misses Mark, he resents him for being kidnapped. Julian killed his father (his mother died of cancer) in the events of City of Heavenly Fire and his two older siblings, Mark and Helen, both had to leave so Julian had to take the responsibilities of looking after his 4 younger siblings. Julian also tells Emma that he regrets becoming Emma's parabatai which angers Emma and leads her to storm off.
Unexpectedly, the Wild Hunt faeries (the ones who kidnapped Mark) turn up at the Los Angeles Institute. They demand that the Shadowhunters find out who is behind the murders as some of the Fae have been victims. In order to encourage the Shadowhunters, they decide to return Mark Blackthorn to the family, who is Julian's half-Fae brother. However, there is a catch. If they don't discover who is behind the murders in 3 weeks, the Wild Hunt will return to take Mark back with them.
The Blackthorns are happy to have Mark back among them, however he has changed a lot. He looks younger than he should do as time moves differently in Faerie. He has become more like a faerie due to living around them constantly. He is wary and skeptical of the Shadowhunters and he freaks out when they try to put runes on him. The only one he trusts is Cristina as she didn't know him before so he doesn't have to pretend to be someone he is not.
As Mark begins to get settled in the Institute, he receives a message from Faerie that tells him that nothing is real. This leads Mark to believe that he is hallucinating and Julian is the only one who manages to calm him down.
Mark decides that the best thing to do is to help out with the investigation. Mark reveals to Emma that he can sense the ley lines so they go alone to find them. They find the ley lines convergence point, where the magic is the strongest, which turns out to be a cave, with carvings in the wall, which Emma takes a photo of for further investigation. They are then attacked by demons resembling praying mantises in the cave and they have to fight them off.
When they get back to the institute, Ty has done more research and found some information on the victims. Emma and Julian decide to go off together to investigate the house of one of the victims. There they find a body in the pool alongside a ticket to something called the Lottery. Whilst at the house, they are attacked and Julian gets shot by an arrow dipped in poison. Emma uses a healing rune on Julian back in the car which shouldn't have healed him of all of the poison but it does because of their romantic feelings for each other.
Meanwhile, Ty and Livvy manage to decipher the carvings from the cave and realise that they are actually lines from Edgar Allan Poe's poem, Annabel Lee but none of them know what the significance of this poem is.
In order to investigate further, Mark, Cristina, Emma and Julian all go to the Lottery to see what it is about. Kieran, one of the fae in the Wild Hunt is also at the Lottery. After sharing a kiss, Kieran asks Mark to choose the Hunt when the three weeks are over. This leads to a conversation between Cristina and Mark where Mark reveals that he was and still may be in love with Kieran as Kieran is the only reason he survived in the Hunt.
Whilst they are there, a half-werewolf named Sterling is pulled from the Lottery but none of them can figure out what this means. Emma and Julian decide to question Johnny Rook further about this and discover that the Lottery is run by a mysterious figure known as the Guardian and it is made up of his cult called the Followers. He also tells them where Sterling lives.
After getting back to the institute, Emma goes to the cave by herself to try and see if she can find anymore clues. Whilst in the cave, she finds a glass portal with a lever. When she pulls the lever, ocean water rushes in and she nearly drowns fighting against sea demons. Meanwhile, at the Institute, Julian begins to cough up seawater and realises that Emma is in danger so he goes to save her.
After Julian saves her, they end up admitting their love to each other and consummating their feelings on the beach outside of the Institute. Julian also tells Emma about Arthur's mental state and admits that he has been running the Institute himself. They wake up in the morning to discover footprints around them and realise that someone saw them. They begin to worry as it is forbidden for parabatai to fall in love.
Once they get back to the Institute, Ty tells everyone that he's figured out that the runes mean that they need blood from a member of the Blackthorn family to complete the ritual. This makes everyone panic and they decide to hunt down Sterling to find out more answers.
When they find Sterling, they see him attack and kill a witch and claim that she is the thirteenth and final murder. He admits that he doesn't know why he had to murder her but that he has been promised riches and immortality. However, the Followers then attack him, murder him and cut off his hands.
Diego Rosales, Cristina's ex-boyfriend, then appears at this point, who Cristina says previously betrayed her. He admits that he was the one who shot Julian with the arrow because he thought Julian had murdered the girl in the pool. He tells everyone that he is a member of the Scholomance and he has been sent to investigate the murder and informs them all of what he has discovered, that the spell is actually a resurrection spell.
They all then make the connection to the children's story ‘Lady Midnight’ which tells the tale of a Shadowhunter who had a forbidden love. When her parents discovered this, they imprisoned her leading to her dying of sadness. The lover then went to the Faerie King to bring her back who tells the lover of the resurrection spell which requires Blackthorn blood and the Black Volume of the Dead, an ancient tome containing the darkest of dark magic.
Meanwhile, Kieran becomes envious of Mark's growing love for Cristina. He decides to tell Iarlath, one of the other faeries, that Mark has told Cristina their leader's secret about how to defeat him as he believes that this will lead the Faeries to bring Mark back to the Wild Hunt. However, Iarlath decide to give Mark 20 lashes instead. Julian can't bear to see it so he volunteers to take them instead. However, after 2 lashes, Emma volunteers and takes the remaining 18, causing her to pass out. After seeing her in pain, Julian decides to admit his love to Emma again and shows her his secret room which is full of all of the paintings that he has done of Emma.
Meanwhile, the remaining Blackthorns make the connection between ‘Lady Midnight’ and the story of one of their ancestors, Annabel Blackthorn, who fell in love with a warlock and was sent to become an Iron Sister. They then all realise that the Guardian is in fact Malcolm Fade but by the time they figure it out, he has already kidnapped Tavvy to use as a sacrifice for Blackthorn blood.
Kieran then shows up to help them as he has made two big discoveries. One of them was that Iarlath has been working with Malcolm and the other discovery was that Malcolm killed Emma's parents years ago as an experiment to see whether the spell would work.
A bunch of them then go to the cave and find Tavvy all tied up on the altar. Diana, their tutor, arrives and forces everyone to hide as she confronts Malcolm. He threatens to reveal her big secret but as she goes to attack him, he uses a spell to paralyse her and reveals his army of Followers.
Whilst in the cave, Emma notices a candelabra full of dead hands called the Hand of Glory. Malcolm reveals that the Carstairs didn't work to bring Annabel back as he needed a Hand of Glory which is made up of severed hands from murderers such as Sterling which explains the Lottery.
Malcolm then goes to stab Tavvy, but the Shadowhunters then all reveal themselves and get into a fight. Kieran flies in on his horse which kicks Malcolm away from the altar. Malcolm then grabs Dru in an attempt to use her as the sacrifice. Seeing this, Emma decides to run away with the Hand of Glory, causing Malcolm to run after her. Her and Malcolm then engage in a fight and she stabs him. He begs her to save him as he can explain what the parabatai curse is to her but she decides to kill him to get revenge for her parents. She pulls the lever for the glass portal and watches as he gets eaten by sea demons.
When they get back to the institute, Julian manages to convince the Clave to allow Mark to stay. Kieran then confesses his love to Mark but Mark breaks up with him as Kieran is the reason that Julian and Emma got whipped.
Due to Malcolm's death, the protection spells on Johnny Rook's house fade and his house is attacked by demons. Kit decides to contact Emma who goes to save him alongside Jem and Tessa. They cannot save Johnny but they manage to save Kit. Jem and Tessa then reveal that Kit is actually Christopher Herondale, a Shadowhunter part of the lost Herondale line so Kit ends up going with the Shadowhunters back to the institute.
Emma and Jem then have a conversation where Emma asks Jem why parabatai cannot fall in love. Jem admits that he does not fully know why, but he knows that when parabatai fall in love, they tend to go insane and kill everyone around them. Upon learning this, Emma decides that she needs to get Julian to fall out of love with her so she asks Mark to be in a fake relationship with her.
In the epilogue, we see Annabel's eyes open in the coffin.[2][3]
Characters
- Emma Carstairs - a 17 year old Shadowhunter that has lived most of her life in the Los Angeles Institute with the Blackthorn family. She has brown eyes, long, pale blond hair, and pale skin. As an effect of working extraordinarily hard at her training, her body is strong, tough, and scarred. She has a deep scar up her right arm, which she got when she was young for hugging her sword Cortana.
- Julian "Jules" Blackthorn - another 17 year old Shadowhunter who has lived his entire life at the Los Angeles Institute. He lives there alongside his siblings and Emma Carstairs, his best friend and parabatai. Julian has dark brown messy hair and the startling Blackthorn blue-green eyes, the color of the sea. He is described as tall and slender, lanky, with high cheekbones. As an artist, he is usually seen untidy or splattered with paint, and his nails are bitten. His hair is the color of dark chocolate and wildly wavy and he is said to be the kind of person to wear all black and pull his sleeves over his hands.
- Mark Blackthorn - a Shadowhunter residing at the Los Angeles Institute and is one of the many Blackthorn children. He was a former Hunter who rode with the Wild Hunt. He and his older sister, Helen, have the same faerie mother known as Nerissa and are part-faerie. He is 21 years old as of 2012 and is described as being tall, thin, has broad shoulders, and bore the signature blue-green eyes of the Blackthorns. However, since Mark became part of the Wild Hunt; his right eye has since turned gold. Like Helen, he also has pointed ears and pale white-gold hair that curls in ringlets. As they both share their mother's faerie blood, both have a rather delicate bone structure.
- Tiberius "Ty" Blackthorn - a Shadowhunter from the Los Angeles Institute and is very likely on the autistic spectrum. He is 15 years old as of 2012. Tiberius, unlike most of his siblings, has black hair and gray eyes, as opposed to the family's trademark brown hair and blue-green eyes. He and his twin sister Livvy were born with gray eyes, though hers had changed to blue-green since, though they both still have long lashes and Cupid's bow lips. Julian puts down Ty's ability to be different to sheer stubbornness. Ty is apparently also quite skinny. He is often considered by his family members as "fragile".
- Livia "Livvy" Blackthorn - the twin sister of Tiberius Blackthorn, as well as the sister of Jules, Dru, and Tavvy, and the half-sister of Helen and Mark. She lives at the Los Angeles Institute with her siblings, under the guardianship of their uncle, Arthur. She is 15 years old as of 2012. Livia, like her other siblings, has the Blackthorn brown hair and blue-green eyes. Livvy was born with gray eyes like her twin, Tiberius, though hers had changed to blue-green since. Both also have long lashes and Cupid's bow lips.
- Drusilla "Dru" Blackthorn - a 13-year-old Shadowhunter from the Blackthorn family who lives at the Los Angeles Institute. She has the Blackthorns' signature dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. She is quite tall for her age. As a child, she was already compact, expected to grow to be curvy unlike her mostly lanky siblings. Her body has since already gone through puberty early, showing off her curves to the point where Dru, at thirteen, has been mistaken for seventeen or eighteen years old by mundane boys. This has made her very self-conscious about her body because unlike most Shadowhunters who are wiry or muscular, she is round-bodied and doesn't fit into the gear designed for girls in her age group. She often wears her hair in two braids. Drusilla is quite shy and often feels self-conscious about her body.
- Octavian "Tavvy" Blackthorn - a Shadowhunter of the Blackthorn family and is the youngest in their family. He resides in the Los Angeles Institute. He is 7 years old as of 2012. Tavvy shares the Blackthorn family's dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. According to Jules, he is quite small and thin for his age.
- Cristina Mendoza-Rosales - a Shadowhunter from Mexico who came to the Los Angeles Institute and became fast friends with the Institute ward Emma Carstairs. She is 18 years old as of 2012. She has dark brown eyes and long, black hair. Cristina is a generally wise, composed, and gentle person. She is principled and thoughtful, strong and unwavering in her loyalty and morals.
- Diego Rocío Rosales - one of the youngest Centurions to ever graduate from the Scholomance. He is 19 years old as of 2012. Diego has thick, dark hair. He is often referred to by the other characters as "Perfect Diego". He was sent to Los Angeles to investigate the recent mystery.
- Diana Wrayburn - a Shadowhunter who used to run a weapons shop called Diana's Arrow in Alicante. After the Dark War, Diana volunteered to be stationed at Los Angeles to become the tutor of the Blackthorn children. Diana has black hair and dark skin. On her cheek is a tattoo of a silver koi fish.
- Arthur Blackthorn - the current head of the Los Angeles Institute and the uncle of the Blackthorn children Mark, Helen, Julian, Livia, Tiberius, Drusilla, and Octavian. Arthur resembles his brother, Andrew Blackthorn, albeit smaller and paler. He has a slight figure, a round face, brown hair, and the trademark Blackthorn blue-green eyes. He also wears spectacles. He is often plagued by a curious madness and does not like to be disturbed.
- Malcolm Fade - a very powerful warlock and the High Warlock of Los Angeles. Malcolm is a tall man with an angular face, white hair, and purple eyes. He is strangely attractive. He has the appearance of a twenty-seven-year-old man.
- Kieran - a faerie and a member of the Wild Hunt. He is one of the Unseelie King's many children and is thus considered a prince of the Unseelie Court. Kieran is said to be beautiful — inhumanly so — and fierce. He has high cheekbones and wide spaced eyes, the left black and the right a deep silver. He is pale and his body is lithe and graceful. As a prince of Faerie, Kieran wears battered white gauntlets. His thick hair changes color —specifically colors of the sea, due in part to his nixie heritage— depending on his mood, from dark black when he was in a bad mood to a pale blue when he happy, though he could also change them at will.
- Johnny Rook - a mysterious figure who ran a booth at the Los Angeles Shadow Market. He is described as having blond graying hair and blue eyes. Johnny rarely showed affection, but when he did, it was only for his son, Kit.
- Christopher "Kit" Rook - a Shadowhunter who was raised as a mundane, previously unaware of his heritage. He was born Christopher Jonathan Herondale and is the son of the man who called himself Johnny Rook. He and his late mother, Rosemary are descendants of the notorious Tobias Herondale and his lost line as well a long line of royal-blooded faeries. He is described as having waves of gold hair and sky blue eyes.
- Magnus Bane - The High Warlock of Brooklyn. Being over four centuries old, his life has since intertwined with several Shadowhunters and Downworlders over the centuries. Magnus stopped ageing at around 19 and thus looks quite young. Magnus has brown skin, is very tall, with a long and lean body. His warlock marks are his yellow-green "cat-like eyes" with vertical pupils and his lack of a belly button. He is also noted to have a somewhat Asian appearance, due to the curve of his eyes. He has dark black hair; his hairstyles has changed over the years, ranging from short and spiked to straight and shoulder length. He wears all kinds of make-up, such as glitter around his eyes, lipstick, and nail polish. He likes to flaunt his beauty by often dressing in flamboyant and glitzy ensembles, which is seen by some as strange, or unique.
- Theresa "Tessa" Gray - an American warlock, particularly a new kind of warlock—the rare half-Shadowhunter, half-Eidolon demon. She moved to London in 1878 and her life has since been entangled in the lives of the Nephilim. Tessa has smooth, thick, wavy brown hair, steely gray-blue eyes, an oval face, and a slender body. She is around 5'9. While she used to think herself average, several of her friends have noted that Tessa is pretty and beautiful; not conventionally beautiful, but kindly attractive. Being immortal, Tessa stopped aging young and appears like a young woman in her early twenties.
- James "Jem" Carstairs - an inactive Shadowhunter and a former Silent Brother. Once an orphan living in the London Institute in the 1870s, along with his parabatai, Will Herondale, he is now a mortal who is over a hundred years old, cured of his illness. Jem's hair is dark brown, almost black, with only a single silver streak remaining, and his eyes are dark brown with gold flecks. Due to his stagnancy as a Silent Brother, Jem maintained his youthful appearance, looking like someone in his early twenties, though his wisdom and experiences in his long life as a Silent Brother reflects in his eyes.
Reception
The book has received mixed response since its publishing. Some reviews like the on thenational.ae suggests good things about the book, it says, "Clares imagination once again fills the pages with a thrilling world that promises political deviance, never-ending drama and unwavering love".[4] The Palatinate.org.uk reviewed the book as, "Lady Midnight might not be Cassandra Clares best work, but fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices will still likely find it an interesting read."[5] Common Sense Media said that fans of the Shadowhunter Chronicles will love this book but anyone who is expecting something new will likely be disappointed.[6]
However, The Guardian also agreed that the book was overhyped and not the best work, calling it predictable.[7] Another review appreciate the books, quoting, "The world in which Cassandra Clare has created in her Shadowhunter series is slightly chilling"[8] Kirkus also praised the book saying that fans of her books will enjoy the new characters, who are full of 'secret ardor and murderous zeal.' [9]
References
- "Cassandra Clare". Cassandra Clare. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
- Clare, Cassandra. Lady midnight. London. ISBN 9781471116636. OCLC 971507897.
- "Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare". Recaptains. 2018-01-07.
- "Book review: Cassandra Clare's imagination runs wild again in Lady Midnight". The National. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
- "Review: 'Lady Midnight' by Cassandra Clare | Palatinate Online". Palatinate Online. 2016-04-07. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
- "Lady Midnight: The Dark Artifices, Book 1 - Book Review". www.commonsensemedia.org. 2016-03-13. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
- Pansybee (2016-06-21). "Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare – review". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
- "The class book review: Lady Midnight, by Cassandra Clare | Tes News". www.tes.com. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
- LADY MIDNIGHT by Cassandra Clare | Kirkus Reviews.