The Dark Artifices Review

No Spoilers!

When to read: You can start TSC here, but I do not recommend it. I recommend reading at least both TMI and TID first. If you are reading TSC for the first time, check out my Shadowhunters Guide & Reading Order under the “more” tab.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

So I’m gonna do a review on The Dark Artifices series as a whole.

I will start off saying that I loved this series. The plot was amazing and the characters were compelling. However, I would say TDA has the most going on in TSC so far. It does a great job at balancing characters and plot, but still having so many elements there’s no way to avoid some confusion. 

Lady Midnight was the simplest of the three, which is good for starting out, with a more straight line story. I didn’t like Emma at first (I think I’m going to make a whole post about comparing the main characters in TSC soon), but as I saw more of caring side, I liked her. 

Lord of Shadows was easily my favorite of the bunch. It didn’t follow conventional storytelling but it kept me on my toes and it was done amazingly. Also, all of the characters have so many good moments and lines in this one. 

Queen of Air and Darkness is definitely the most confusing. It’s also very sad, making it hard to read. I’m not saying that it’s bad; for the most part I think it was really good and there are things I really like (and really don’t) about the ending – see full review. 

The cameos from TMI were all amazing, making me like those characters even more.  Jace’s dialogue was laugh out loud funny and only got better. I wish we got more scenes with Emma and Clary; I know Emma’s older now and has been friends with Clary for years, but we don’t really get to see Clary mentor Emma. But it was amazing how much Malec we got, which I wasn’t expecting. 

I would definitely say TDA is the most dynamic of TSC and has the some of the best villains. It might even have the best plot of TSC. I think in a lot of ways it’s better than TID, but I’m more attached to TID characters than the main characters of TDA. However, I can’t wait to see Kit, Ty, and Ash in The Wicked Powers.

Check out my individual reviews for each book!

If you are a Shadowhunters fan, also check out my Shadowhunters Stories Chronological Timeline!