No Spoilers! (only light spoilers at end where warning says)
When to Read: Although you can TECHNICALLY start the shadowhunter books here, I don’t recommend it at all. I think you should have read at least both The Mortal Instruments series (TMI) and The Infernal Devices series (TID) before starting Lady Midnight (I also recommend reading some of the other books like Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy first). If you are reading TSC for the first time, check out my Shadowhunters Guide & Reading Order under the “more” tab.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
At first it took me a little to get into this book – not because it wasn’t good but because I was coming straight from finishing TMI and books with those same set of characters. It was hard for me to take this Emma that is now five years older than the Emma that we met in Heavenly Fire, and to see them as the same person but changed from the years since the end of the Dark War. She was also so headstrong and seemed selfish to me – she didn’t seem to think about how her words and actions effected the people around her, especially Julian. But either she changes over the book or it just wasn’t clear in the beginning, but she is different than I initially thought. I still don’t like her as much as I do Tessa, but I think she is a more well-formed character than Clary (at least Clary from the beginning of TMI, she got better over the books).
Julian I immediately liked – he’s just so likable and you feel bad for all the burdens he has to carry. Also loved Christina from the beginning. Honestly this book is just filled of likable characters that are all unique.
The characters make this book, but that doesn’t mean the plot isn’t solid. I wasn’t really sold on the “revenge” plot at first but it becomes so much more than that… and that’s all I’ll say.
Some LIGHT SPOILERS from here———
I love Mark so much – although he has one of the saddest stories, he’s somehow the one who brought the most light to this book and much of his dialogue made me laugh out loud. Actually, pretty much all his scenes had me either laughing or wanting to cry. His relationships tho- poor Mark is shipped with half the characters in this book and I never knew which I wanted the most!
Lastly, I have to say how much I loved the tie of this story with the poem “Annabel Lee” and using it for the chapter titles. I highly recommend you look up the whole poem and read it as I did.
If you are a Shadowhunters fan, also check out my Shadowhunters Stories Chronological Timeline!
Life Is Just A Blur 