Queen of Air and Darkness

Queen of Air and Darkness is the third book in The Dark Artifices trilogy and officially ends the story of Julian and Emma. The first two books in the series are Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows. I started this series with high hopes. I loved Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series and expected to love The Dark Artifices as well.

Lady Midnight only enforced that notion. I absolutely loved it. Lord of Shadows was a little flat, but I put it down to middle book syndrome and looked forward to reading how Clare would end the entire story.

Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out as I expected.

Queen of Air and Darkness is dire. It’s a hodgepodge of plots going nowhere and a bunch of teens hyper-ventilating about their romantic lives, in between saving the world, of course 😂.

Book Synopsis

In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the disease 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. They find in the Courts 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.

~ Synopsis from goodreads

Thoughts

This is going to be a pretty rant-y kind of review. I liked very little in the book, and I blame it for the awful reading slump I had afterward.

The problem with it is, the series is wonderfully set up in the first two books. I really cared about all the characters and their issues. This book takes all those wonderful 3-dimensional characters and turns them into caricatures. Part of the issue is the fact that there are so many f***ing characters. And Clare really struggles in juggling them all. The book really sags under the weight of all these people – most of whom could have been consolidated or just removed. What this book needed was a powerful editor.

The third book or the ending of a series should focus on taking the plot forward. Instead, a huge part of the book deals with the romantic relationships between all the characters. And with so many people involved, it means that nothing was given adequate development. I couldn’t care two hoots about most of the love stories.

Characters such as Mark, Christina, and Kieran suddenly become defined by their polyamorous relationship – and nothing else. Pages and pages are devoted to them waffling about their love for each other (in turns!). It felt like I was reading the same shit over and over.

I also don’t get the relationship between Kit and Ty. Way too much teenage angst!

Finally, let’s talk about the ending. The books promise a tragic ending to Emma and Julian’s love from the beginning of the series. So, it was pretty surprising to get a happy ever after ending for them, after an underwhelming battle in the end.

So, overall this book was just about meh. It feels like the heart, enthusiasm, and genuine love that she poured into the earlier books in this series were missing.

Sad because this series seemed so promising, and I loved the characters and the plotting so much. Too bad she couldn’t end things neatly! I ended up giving this book 4 stars on goodreads, primarily because the earlier books made me fall in love with the story.

Have you read this series? What do you think of it?