on
3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 3.5/5
Pages: 699
Started: 1 April 2023
Finished: 8 April 2023
Summary:
Emma Carstairs thought the warlock Malcolm was dead, and that her biggest problem was being hopelessly, dangerously, in love with her parabatai Julian. But then Emma, Julian, and several of their friends are pulled into an illegal rescue attempt in the kingdom of Fae which ends in their making a deal with the Seelie Queen. Meanwhile, back at the LA institute, Julian's younger siblings discover something awful: not only is Malcolm not really dead, but a bigoted group of privileged Shadowhunters are determined to take control of the institute.
Thoughts:
This was a refreshingly immersive book. It wasn't anything too special, but I genuinely enjoyed reading it. The world-building was fun, the cast of characters entertaining, the plot sufficiently suspenseful. One of the things I found most interesting was the way Emma and Julian fit together. Emma is outwardly fierce but unceasingly good and kind, whereas Julian seems diplomatic and gentle but he will cleverly and mercilessly machinate as much as needed to protect those he loves. This division of capability somehow did not trigger my loyalty issues, which I enjoyed immensely. The diversity in the book wasn't great, though I did see arguments for Ty being good autistic representation (compassionate representation accurate to some people's experience, not described as a burden) and being bad autistic representation (Clare didn't necessarily talk to a lot of actually autistic people, and Ty does fit into a lot of stereotypes that perhaps shouldn't be reinforced). But other than that this was a pretty enjoyably bland read. I liked the writing, the interplay of characters, and I will definitely be getting the next book in the series when I have the time.