The Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Simon and Schuster, 2016. ISBN 9781471116612
(Age: 14+) Recommended. Emma Carstairs is a shadowhunter, a half angel warrior sworn to fight demons. She has a parabatai Jullian Blackthorn. They are best friends and can be everything to each other as long as they never fall in love. When Julian returns from England he is distant towards Emma and just when she needs him to be himself more than ever Emma uncovers bodies that have been murdered the same way her parents were when she was a child and an uneasy alliance is formed with the faeries.
After reading the first two books of Cassandara Clare's Mortal Instruments I thought this book was going to be the same style but surprisingly it wasn't. It took a while to get used to the new characters in a new world but knowing many of the older characters made it easier.
Once I started the book I couldn't put it down. It was fast paced and never left you feeling you wanted more and since finishing this book I have gone back and read The Infernal Devices series. I loved how she made you feel the characters and they weren't stereotypical. It has been a long time since a book has made me laugh out loud and cry from the same story.
I would recommend this book for readers 14 years and above and have loved her other series Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices. I look forward to reading Lord of Shadows due to be released in April 2017 and followed by The Queen of Air and Darkness.
Jody Holmes