Reading Log

Date: 27/06/2017
Text Type: Novel

Title: The Dark Artifices, Lord of Shadows
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Year of Publication: 2017


What is it about? This is part of The Dark Artifices series. It's set in a fantasy world, and is about a group of shadowhunters trying to restore the rights of faeries, while trying to preserve the rights of all downworlders. The two main characters are also trying to ignore all feelings for each other because if they love each other they will turn insane. 

Where/when is it set? This story is set at the Los Angeles institute, in 2012.

Who are the characters? Emma Carstairs, Julian Blackthorn, Malcolm Fade, Annabel Blackthorn, Arthur Blackthorn, Helen Blackthorn, Mark Blackthorn, Livia "Livvy" Blackthorn, Tiberius "Ty" Blackthorn, Drusilla "Dru" Blackthorn, Octavian "Tavvy" Blackthorn, Christina Mendoza-Rosales.

Did I like this text? Yes, it was really interesting, and well written. This book has a very blatant political sub-text, which I wasn't really expecting. Cassandra Clare left the last page of this book on a huge cliff hanger, which just makes it harder for me to wait for the next book. Although I'm still very annoyed about that ending.


Describe an important relationship in the text? Why is this important to the text?
Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn grew up down the road from each other, while their parents were also great friends. Emma and Julian are best friends, but after the dark war, where their parents were all killed, they became parabati (which basically means they are connected through runes). There are a lot of rules with being parabati one being you can't fall in love. At first they thought it was just a stupid rule, but later found out that if parabati fall in love they will both go insane. But one cheezy plot twist later, they fall in love. I think this is important to the story, because Julian is basically raising his siblings, and without Emma he probably wouldn't have been able to do it, and they support each other which is important to the story because they are the main characters. There relationship is what the story is built on, and if they weren't avoiding each other, or way to close each other then a lot of things wouldn't have been discovered.