Book Review :: Lord of Shadows, by Cassandra Clare

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
Series: The Dark Artifices #2, The Shadowhunter Chronicles
Also in this series: Lady Midnight, Queen of Air and Darkness, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, The Red Scrolls of Magic, Ghosts of the Shadow Market, Chain of Gold, The Lost Book of the White, Chain of Iron, Better in Black, A Sea Change
Published by Simon & Schuster
on May 23rd 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 720
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Emma Carstairs has finally avenged her parents. She thought she’d be at peace. But she is anything but calm.

Torn between her desire for her parabatai Julian and her desire to protect him from the brutal consequences of parabatai relationships, she has begun dating his brother, Mark. But Mark has spent the past five years trapped in Faerie; can he ever truly be a Shadowhunter again?

And the faerie courts are not silent. The Unseelie King is tired of the Cold Peace, and will no longer concede to the Shadowhunters’ demands. Caught between the demands of faerie and the laws of the Clave, Emma, Julian, and Mark must find a way to come together to defend everything they hold dear—before it’s too late.

Last updated on 23 January 2026

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What is Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare about?

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare continues the story we started in Lady Midnights and is the second in The Dark Artifices series. In a world of Shadowhunters, duty and honour are paramount. And Parabatai are forbidden to fall in love.

Emma Carstairs, our main protagonist for this series, discovers that her love for her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, is not only forbidden but could prove destructive…for more than just them. Emma should run from Julian, yet the Black Volume of the Dead, a dangerously powerful spell book, offers their only hope. Everyone desires it, but only the Blackthorns can find it.

A dark deal with the Seelie Queen leads Emma, her friend Cristina, and the Blackthorn siblings into the Faerie courts. As Downworlders rebel, a new threat arises—the Unseelie King’s warriors hunt those with Blackthorn blood for the Black Volume. Julian’s risky plan depends on an unpredictable ally, with a cost they can’t fathom.

What is the plot of Lord of Shadows?

The plot line of Lord of Shadows was excellent. I loved the twists and turns throughout the story and the interweaving of multiple Institutes from The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices. The fact that there were so many surprises hidden away, and mentions of other events throughout the Shadowhunter world…it was just done really well.

The parabati curse element is truly an intriguing one. If you cast your minds back to Lady Midnight, then the gist of it is: parabati can’t fall in love with each other because they’ll go mad and start becoming evil and killing people they love. Pretty serious stuff. So, of course, Emma and Julian, best friends and parabati, are very much in love, no matter how much they try and persuade themselves, each other and those around them that they’re not. It’s not going to end well.

This will without a doubt be key in the next book; will Emma and Julian head their separate ways to dull the curse for a while, as Magnus and others try to figure out how to fix it, or will they break the curse and consequently all.parabati.bonds.ever? This would be huge. This would mean Jace and Alec: broken. Clary and Simon: broken. Stress central.

“Fiction is truth, even if it is not a fact. If you believe only in facts and forget stories, your brain will live, but your heart will die.”

Can I just say … that ending. Amiright?! While I want this to be spoiler-free, this next sentence is a semi-spoiler: someone dies. Not really a spoiler because I feel like someone dies in every Shadowhunter book. But I wasn’t really ready for it. I thought it was highly likely that someone wouldn’t make it through to the next book, and there was one point I thought it would be this person, but by the time it got to that scene the thought had left me so it was a shock. Well done, Cassie. You ripped my heart out.

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Who are the main characters in Lord of Shadows?

The characters in The Dark Artifices have always captured my heart. I love Emma as the main character, and her spunk and humour are quite refreshing for a protagonist when we’ve had thought-she-was-a-Mundane Clary and Victorian-London-Warlock Tess. Her love for Julian does make her do stupid things, but it’s very real life for her.

The Blackthorns are an odd bunch. In my review of Lady Midnight, I mentioned that I thought there were too many of them. I liked Mark for being their half-faerie brother, I was fine with Helen (Mark’s full sister) because she wasn’t in it, Julian was all good because he’s like the other main character, Livvy and Ty for being twins in a series where we haven’t had twins, and I can understand why they needed Tavvy, so there was the youngest child to get kidnapped and be the one they’re always looking after.

But Drusilla, the 6^th Blackthorn, was always a little pointless to be. Don’t hate me, but I sort of wondered what the point of her was.

Dru is in Lord of Shadows a lot more than Lady Midnight, and while she does have a bigger role in the sub-plots of this book, I still don’t really know if I like her. I do feel, however, that she’ll be way more key to the next book, so I’m hoping she’ll grow on me then.

Moving quickly on before a mob of Dru supporters come after me, let’s talk about Kit. I.Love.Kit. He’s an excellent character who is on the outsides of this Blackthorn family business, and who is new to the Shadowhunter life. He has so much growth in this book and it’s fantastic to see Clare excelling in this.

Also, I love Kit and Ty. Their friendship from the get-go was spot on. Kit’s understanding of Ty and his Autism is so much more accepting, encouraging and supportive than any of the others. Kit’s connections with the Mundane world make it easier for him to understand the things that Ty is going through, and I love that. Their friendship is so beautiful. Can’t wait to read their adventures in Clare’s next series, The Wicked Powers.

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Additional characters

“There were valuable first editions of books in the enormous library, most of them had been scribbled in by some idiot named Will H.”

It was fun learning more about Mark’s love, Kieran, as well as Christina and her past. Diana, the Blackthorn’s (sort of) guardian, had some interesting character development, and I wonder if Clare had that particular aspect in mind (of which I won’t mention coz it’s big) when she first began writing Diana.

I also enjoyed the fact that characters we know and love from other Shadowhunter books were in it. Clary and Jace are in it for a while, with mentions of the wonderful Jem, Tess and Will, and a haunting from a certain character from The Infernal Devices. Even little mentions to others that we’ve known throughout the course of the chronicles.

Can I get a ‘hell yeah’ for Malec? So good to see that Alec and Magnus still happily rocking life together with their two adopted kids. Long live Malec.

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Overall

If you’ve read the other books in The Shadowhunter Chronicles, then The Dark Artifices is a must-read. Make sure you start with Lady Midnight though. The final instalment of this series is Queen of Air and Darkness.

Have you read Lord of Shadows? What did you think?