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Lord of Shadows
The Dark Artifices Book 2
768 pages
A sprawling, heart-wrenching descent into forbidden romance and political betrayal that leaves you gasping for breath.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like standing on the edge of a cliff while a storm rolls in—you know the drop is coming, but the view is too intoxicating to look away. It is a sprawling, propulsive experience defined by its agonizing romantic tension and the fierce, protective bonds of found family. The narrative balances the breathless swoon of forbidden love with the creeping dread of political extremism, wrapping the reader in a world where every choice carries a devastating cost. The prose is fast-paced and dialogue-heavy, punctuated by sharp banter that provides brief, necessary relief from the escalating stakes. It will absolutely devour readers who live for complex ensemble casts, high-octane magical battles, and endings that shatter your heart.
- Mood
- tense
- swoony
- perilous
- heart-wrenching
- dark
- Tone
- earnest
- dramatic
- angsty
- urgent
- witty
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- forbidden romance · found family · political extremism · the burden of duty · sacrifice
- The writing
- Accessible and emotionally charged, balancing sharp, witty banter with sweeping, breathless romantic declarations.
- The arc
- Moves from simmering romantic tension and political unease into a desperate, high-stakes struggle that culminates in devastating tragedy.
- Who it's for
- Readers who devour sprawling urban fantasies filled with complex relationship webs, intense romantic angst, and high-stakes magical politics.
Content notes
- character death
- violence
- grief
- prejudice and bigotry
- torture
About the book
Would you trade your soul mate for your soul?
A Shadowhunter's life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. the word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners--sworn to fight together, die together, but to never fall in love.
Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julia Blackthorn, isn't just forbidden--it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides?
Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and "unsuitable" Nephilim. They'll do anything in their power to expose Julian's secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own.
When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat arises in the form of the Lord of Shadows--the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.
Join millions of readers around the world who have fallen under the spell of Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters in the second volume of the Dark Artifices trilogy.
This description comes from the publisher. This is the second book of the Dark Artifices trilogy, the first of which is Lady Midnight; this takes place within the Shadowhunter Chronicles, the first of which is City of Bones.
Description from Open Library.
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