Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices Series, book 3)
By Cassandra Clare
Blurb:
Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the disease that is destroying the race of warlocks. Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.
I’m no stranger to Cassandra Clare books, I’ve read all the main series and plan to read more of them. Even met her once at a book signing for this book with Sammie, that was unreal. This book is the third of The Dark Artifices Series. This isn’t my favourite of the series but it’s still a good read and keeps the universe going.
The main plot of this book is hard to explain because it feels to me like there 2 books in one. To begin with it’s about the Cohort trying to take over the shadowhunters with a very nazi-styled attitude. The ending is also about trying to stop the Cohort. The middle however is about Thule, an alternative dimension where Sebastian had won and Emma and Julian get trapped in there for a bit. I really loved the Thule storyline probably the most in the book but I feel like for the size of the book it should have been in a separate book. Queen of Air and Darkness should have been two books, the Thule story and then the Cohort story.
Cassandra Clare is known for having LGBTQ+ relationships in her series and normalising these relationships but in this book she takes it that one step further by including a polyamorous relationship in this book between Kieran, Mark and Christina. It’s an interesting relationship and I’m totally for it.
Something to note in this series is the use of swearing that I don’t think were in Cassandra Clare’s previous series or at least not as prominent. I have mixed feelings when it comes to swearing. I don’t like it to be excessive and it has to suit the character and style of the book. For example with the Song of Ice and Fire series, it suits swearing and uses it a lot so I don’t mind. In the case of Cassandra Clare’s book I feel it depends on the word and who said it. Overall, I think she wasn’t excessive with it and the characters suited what was said. For example Magnus Bane calling someone a Bastard, suits him as he’s an ancient warlock and very fiesty. Horace Dearborn saying ‘fucked’ was well done because it was meant to be shocking, as even the characters in the scene were shocked to hear it.
Another thing to mention is how sexual these books are from how they use to be. I personally don’t mind it because I’m reading much more sexual books like A Feast For Crows. There’s quite a few scenes in this book and they go in a fair amount of detail. These books feel like they’re now for an older teen and I like that, since I’ve aged with the universe.
Overall, I did like the book just not as much as her other books. The spoiler sections shows more of my reasoning for this.
*SPOILERS*
In this book, Julian gets Magnus to put a spell on him to get rid of his feelings because his grief for Livy was too much and he was worried about the Parabatai curse. Throughout this book he is emotionless till he ends up in Thule and the spell no longer works. Julian realises he needs his feelings and didn’t like the way he hurt Emma by getting rid of them. So when he returns from Thule he gets the spell removed. I liked this storyline because you can see his thought process to put the spell on and it just all makes sense.
Before ending up in Thule, the main characters gradually end up in Fairie. Julian and Emma were made to kill Annabell from Horace. Clary and Jace also have a strong role in this book and are also in Fairie on a mission. It’s interesting to see how the characters end up together as the different perspective plots develop.
In Fairie it was discovered that Sebastian and the Seelie Queen had a child together called Ash. I didn’t like this because it seems like Clare was trying to hard to link the books together and this information seemed force. However, it does seem to be redeemed in the epilogue where it begins to build up the next storyline with Jace from Thule and Ash. I’m excited to see where that goes.
I also think there is a potential minor plot hole in the book. Fairies can’t lie that is known, yet Adaon likes to the King saying that the shadowhunters were his prisoners, but they aren’t.
A huge thing that happened in Queen of Air and Darkness is the name reveal of the Unseelie King and his death. This led to Kieran becoming the new King as well. This was a big event for the Shadowhunter universe so it’s good to see a big effect that way.
Another side plot in this book is the dying of the Warlocks. They all got ill (except Tessa) and needed the water of the lake in Idris to heal them. Since the water was angelic and they have demon blood, the water had a funny high effect to the warlocks when they drank it. One of the funniest scenes was when Magnus drank it and was acting very strange by talking to lamps and doughnuts.
I enjoyed Dru’s perspective in this book as even though she is young, she tried to make herself as helpful as possible rather than just watching Tavvy. Dru managed to rescue the prisoners since she wasn’t allowed at the battle and it references her lock picking skills she learned at the beginning of the book from Kit. I love it when Clare writes details that you think are minor but actually a big part to the plot.
At the end of the book there is a civil war between the Cohort and the rest of the Shadowhunters, I did enjoy this. The twist to it was though, when the Cohort were arrested they threatened to slit their own throats if the Shadowhunters didn’t leave Idris forever. Alec was made the new Consul and he decided they couldn’t make new shadowhunters on the blood of children so did leave and started setting things up around the world. I didn’t expect this at all, that’s why I liked it.
The part of the ending that I really didn’t enjoy that seemed very random and far fetched was when Julian and Emma’s parabatai curse was activated and they turned into giants made of heavenly fire and killed all the non shadowhunter enemies. This just didn’t fit the ending for me and was out of nowhere. They should have just made really strong not giants. Although I did like the gruesomeness of Horace death by Julian snapping him.
I also didn’t appreciate Kit deciding to leave, I’m glad he’s living with Tessa and Jem but I wish it was still in Los Angeles so he could fix his friendship with Ty. I know Cassandra Clare is planning a series for Ty and Kit though, so I think I’ll forgive this decision.
Overall, I did enjoy this book especially the Thule part. Just think it should have been two books and the giants ending was just wrong so I can only give it 4 stars.
Before ending up in Thule, the main characters gradually end up in Fairie. Julian and Emma were made to kill Annabell from Horace. Clary and Jace also have a strong role in this book and are also in Fairie on a mission. It’s interesting to see how the characters end up together as the different perspective plots develop.
In Fairie it was discovered that Sebastian and the Seelie Queen had a child together called Ash. I didn’t like this because it seems like Clare was trying to hard to link the books together and this information seemed force. However, it does seem to be redeemed in the epilogue where it begins to build up the next storyline with Jace from Thule and Ash. I’m excited to see where that goes.
I also think there is a potential minor plot hole in the book. Fairies can’t lie that is known, yet Adaon likes to the King saying that the shadowhunters were his prisoners, but they aren’t.
A huge thing that happened in Queen of Air and Darkness is the name reveal of the Unseelie King and his death. This led to Kieran becoming the new King as well. This was a big event for the Shadowhunter universe so it’s good to see a big effect that way.
Another side plot in this book is the dying of the Warlocks. They all got ill (except Tessa) and needed the water of the lake in Idris to heal them. Since the water was angelic and they have demon blood, the water had a funny high effect to the warlocks when they drank it. One of the funniest scenes was when Magnus drank it and was acting very strange by talking to lamps and doughnuts.
I enjoyed Dru’s perspective in this book as even though she is young, she tried to make herself as helpful as possible rather than just watching Tavvy. Dru managed to rescue the prisoners since she wasn’t allowed at the battle and it references her lock picking skills she learned at the beginning of the book from Kit. I love it when Clare writes details that you think are minor but actually a big part to the plot.
At the end of the book there is a civil war between the Cohort and the rest of the Shadowhunters, I did enjoy this. The twist to it was though, when the Cohort were arrested they threatened to slit their own throats if the Shadowhunters didn’t leave Idris forever. Alec was made the new Consul and he decided they couldn’t make new shadowhunters on the blood of children so did leave and started setting things up around the world. I didn’t expect this at all, that’s why I liked it.
The part of the ending that I really didn’t enjoy that seemed very random and far fetched was when Julian and Emma’s parabatai curse was activated and they turned into giants made of heavenly fire and killed all the non shadowhunter enemies. This just didn’t fit the ending for me and was out of nowhere. They should have just made really strong not giants. Although I did like the gruesomeness of Horace death by Julian snapping him.
I also didn’t appreciate Kit deciding to leave, I’m glad he’s living with Tessa and Jem but I wish it was still in Los Angeles so he could fix his friendship with Ty. I know Cassandra Clare is planning a series for Ty and Kit though, so I think I’ll forgive this decision.
Overall, I did enjoy this book especially the Thule part. Just think it should have been two books and the giants ending was just wrong so I can only give it 4 stars.
Quote:
"He is a drunkard and a turnip." "But an ambitious turnip."
- Kieran Kingson, Queen of Air and Darkness
Rating: 4 runes out of 5
written by Lauren
Check out my review of Cassandra Clare's next main series The Last Hours, book 1: Chain of Gold.
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