January 7, 2018
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
The basics
Title: Lady Midnight
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Dark Artifices #1
- Lady Midnight (2016) - Lord of Shadows (2017) - Queen of Air and Darkness (2018)
Add it: Goodreads
Goodreads Summary:
Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries—the most powerful of supernatural creatures—teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge—and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them. Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?
Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare to help refresh your memory before you read the sequel.
what happened in Lady Midnight
- Emma is investigating some murders in Los Angeles. There have been twelve so far and it looks like the investigation isn’t going too well. Emma is to leave this investigation up to the Silent Brothers because they don’t want the Shadowhunters to get involved. Emma ignores this because the Silent Brothers never know what they’re on about.
- Emma recruits Julian for the investigation.
- Ty reveals that the murder victims’ bodies were all left on ley lines and there were weird runes around the bodies. It looks like someone is summoning something.
- Some Fae show up and tell the gang that if they solve the mystery of the murders within three weeks then they can have Mark back.
- Emma and Julian ask Malcolm about ley lines and about the fire/water thing.
- Mark starts acting weird and Emma tells him off. Mark offers to help Emma look for ley lines. They find a cave with a weird room with necromancy spells on the floor. They get attacked by demons. Cristina and Julian arrive just in time to help out.
- Julian and Emma go to the address of one of the victims. There’s a body in the pool. Jules gets shot with an arrow covered in a poison that runes shouldn’t be able to heal.
- Emma heals Julian in the back of the car. No, that’s not an innuendo.
- Julian reads a book about forbidden parabatai love.
- The writing on the cave is an Edgar Allen Poe poem – Annabel Lee.
- They find a ticket to The Lottery in the dead woman’s stuff. They attend the event. There’s dancing. Kieran asks Mark to choose the Hunt. Cristina and Mark talk, and Mark says he feels a lot of loyalty towards Kieran.
- Emma and Julian go to see Johnny Rook. They need to know who The Guardian is. Johnny Rook doesn’t know but he fives them Mr Sterling’s address.
- Cristina tails Sterling, who spots her and runs away.
- Emma goes back to the cave and opens a portal, which she gets sucked into. She is thrown into the ocean. Julian pulls her out. There’s sex on the beach, which seems silly because sand gets everywhere. Is there no logic?
- Diana hears that the translation talks about the Blackthorns and freaks out a bit. She won’t tell anyone why.
- They tail Sterling again. Diego shows up and shoots at them. Sterling gets away again.
- They find Sterling as he’s attacking a witch. Emma catches him. Sterling says that The Guardian has promised him immortality if he kills thirteen people.
- The Followers surround the Institute. Julian draws an angel blade. Sterling dies.
- Diego, working for the Scholomance, says that they heard about the necromancy going on and is there to investigate.
- Diego and Cristina make up.
- Dru thinks the bad guys want to bring Annabel Lee back from the dead.
- Lady Midnight was a Blackthorn Shadowhunter who fell in love with someone forbidden and died of sadness. In the story, her lover tries to bring her back. Ty thinks her name was Annabel.
- Diego suspects Diana.
- Mark tells Cristina that Gwyn is vulnerable and gets in shit for it. Kieran told Iarlath so that Mark would return to the Fae world. The punishment is actually twenty lashes. Oops. Julian accepts the punishment on Mark’s behalf. Emma knocks Julian out and starts taking the lashing instead.
- Julian shows Emma the paintings he has done of her.
- It turns out that Malcolm is the one who is trying to raise Annabel/Lady Midnight and Iarlath is in on it. The crew finds out but shit starts to go down when they need to tell the Clave.
- Emma’s parents were killed when the Fae were experimenting with the spell to raise the dead.
- Diana distracts Malcolm while the rest of them rescue Tavvy. Kieran fights Malcolm. Malcolm uses The Followers to attack the Shadowhunters. Emma follows Malcolm to the portal room that she was in before. They fight. Malcolm tries to kill her with magic but luckily Julian protected Emma with a rune. Emma stabs Malcolm and throws him through the portal and into the ocean.
- Robert Lightwood demands to know what happened. They fill him in. Jace offers up the help of the New York Institute.
- Mark refuses to forgive Kieran for his betrayal.
- Julian wants to run away with Emma. Emma doesn’t want to go because they shouldn’t leave the children.
- Johnny Rook dies. Kit messages Emma.
- Julian and Emma want to be in a relationship but keep it hidden from everyone else.
- Mark sees Cristina kiss Diego and wonders if he should go back to the Hunt with Kieran.
- Emma and co. save Kit. Turns out that Tessa has been looking for Kit – Christopher Herondale. Turns out that Kit is a Shadowhunter.
- Jem and Tessa go to find Malcolm’s body. I don’t know how they’re gonna do that when he was launched into the ocean but whatever.
- Jem tells Emma that when parabatai fall in love, their magic becomes like that of warlocks and they’re driven mad.
- Emma ditches Julian. She decides they can’t be together because of this new information. Emma asks Mark to fake a relationship with her. #drama
- Right at the end, Annabel/Lady Midnight rises.
That’s what happened in Lady Midnight! Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!
