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A review by anythinggoes
Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare
2.0
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE FIRST TWO BOOKS. But this one, UGH it started out fine but then everything got messy. It wasn't the type of messy that I like, the messy that got me emotional and hysterical. This was the type of messy that confused and irritated me.
Let's start with the things I liked.
At the very beginning of this book, around 3-4 pages in, I was already sobbing so hard, which made me believe that this was going to be an intense ride. It turns out, it WAS intense, but not in the ways I would have chosen. I loved Ty and Kit, of course my children. All their little moments together made me swell with love and fondness, and also when Dru played a big part for them. I loved Ty so dearly that I was so scared for him when he started to show signs of panic or stress. My heart broke for him in so many ways and I'm thankful that Kit was there for him all the time. Anyway, besides Ty and Kit, I also loved Diana and Gwyn, and the Markiertina Triad. I also appreciated that we were able to properly envision what it was like in Faerie and different dimensions. But I feel like that was it? I'm not even happy about the ending but I'll just rant about that later.
So moving forward, about the things that did not satisfy me in this book, I'll be starting from what I liked least, to what I absolutely hated.
First of all, I've always been able to keep up with books that had a lot of characters in them without forgetting what was happening to who, but in this book, I found myself a bit disconnected because of the number of stories within stories within stories. And while those stories were happening, there were also too many thoughts and feelings thrown in there, so it felt like I was reading a word vomit piece instead of an actual solid plot.
Then we have Julian. I used to love Julian but I just wanted to throw the book out the window sometimes because of how much he pissed me off. I do not like the Julian in this book, that's all. He was absolutely infuriating in this book, and when he wasn't an ass, he and Emma were just all up in each other when they weren't in danger, and that made me dislike their story the most, among all the other stories going on in the book.
In the end, I was SO unsatisfied because I expected so much more, what with all the parabatai curse and other stuff going on. Actually, the thing with the parabatai curse really disappointed me because I expected Julian and Emma to really go batshit insane or at least something more exciting or terrifying.
I felt like the entire direction of this book was so forced in order to include the characters from the past Shadowhunter series, so much so that it lost its real purpose of focusing on the problem the Blackthorns had. The main reason why I decided to read this book was because I thought it would focus on the Blackthorns and those closest to them only, not the entire Shadowhunter world. BUT I was slapped in the face so hard when the book started focusing more and more on the unfinished stuff that TMI left hanging. It was like the supposedly main characters in this series are going to be force to clean up the left-over problems that the TMI characters had. And boy, do I have a rant coming up for you.
I started this series knowing full well that skipping all the other Shadowhunter books except TID would leave me confused and/or left out. I dove into Lady Midnight well aware that there were references and histories I would not understand because I chose not to read the other books. But the reason I loved Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows so much was because it didn't even matter that I haven't read anything else because those books were so solid on their own that they could have stood without the others. But this third book, UGH DEAR GOD. There was a reason why I did not read TMI!!!! There was a reason why I avoided everything that concerned the characters from that series. I tried to read City of Bones like three times, but with every trial, I just ended up completely unconcerned about the characters. BUT WHAT DO YOU KNOW? They also show up A LOT in this book! *audience laughter* The TMI characters showing up for a few pages in Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows were fine, but they were practically replacing the main characters here. Toward the end it was like I was reading TMI instead of TDA. AND THE ENDING. OH GOD THE ENDING. I WANTED TDA TO BE FOR TDA ONLY, BUT THAT ENDING FELT LIKE AN EXTENDED VERSION OF TMI. I know that other readers love the TMI characters dearly and they want to know more about what happened to them after the Cold War, BUT CAN'T YOU JUST RELEASE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BOOK FOR ALL THAT? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT THE BLACKTHORNS AND THEIR LOVED ONES, NOT ONCE AGAIN A PLACE FOR CLARY AND FRIENDS TO BE DROOLED OVER. This felt more like an ending for TMI than it was for TDA, and even with that said, the epilogue was built solely for TMI! Like, "Ah, okay, now that we've settled with the Blackthorns, we can get on with more important stuff." You mean Jace and Clary once again? I was so pissed because of how it ended for the others, like they were all just side characters when in fact, Clary and Jace and Magnus and Alec were supposed to be the side ones.
Because of this, I think I will be more hesitant about reading anything else that has a possibility of having the TMI characters in them. I would have been so excited for The Wicked Powers because it was said to be centered around Kit and Ty, but now I'm having second thoughts about reading that because of the epilogue on this book, which means that we will be seeing so much more of the TMI characters in TWP. I just really don't want anything to do with them.
This book made me laugh, cry, scream in terror, giggle like crazy, it broke my heart and fixed it again, but the emotions that stand out the most are disappointment and frustration. SIGH.
Let's start with the things I liked.
At the very beginning of this book, around 3-4 pages in, I was already sobbing so hard, which made me believe that this was going to be an intense ride. It turns out, it WAS intense, but not in the ways I would have chosen. I loved Ty and Kit, of course my children. All their little moments together made me swell with love and fondness, and also when Dru played a big part for them. I loved Ty so dearly that I was so scared for him when he started to show signs of panic or stress. My heart broke for him in so many ways and I'm thankful that Kit was there for him all the time. Anyway, besides Ty and Kit, I also loved Diana and Gwyn, and the Markiertina Triad. I also appreciated that we were able to properly envision what it was like in Faerie and different dimensions. But I feel like that was it? I'm not even happy about the ending but I'll just rant about that later.
So moving forward, about the things that did not satisfy me in this book, I'll be starting from what I liked least, to what I absolutely hated.
First of all, I've always been able to keep up with books that had a lot of characters in them without forgetting what was happening to who, but in this book, I found myself a bit disconnected because of the number of stories within stories within stories. And while those stories were happening, there were also too many thoughts and feelings thrown in there, so it felt like I was reading a word vomit piece instead of an actual solid plot.
Then we have Julian. I used to love Julian but I just wanted to throw the book out the window sometimes because of how much he pissed me off. I do not like the Julian in this book, that's all. He was absolutely infuriating in this book, and when he wasn't an ass, he and Emma were just all up in each other when they weren't in danger, and that made me dislike their story the most, among all the other stories going on in the book.
In the end, I was SO unsatisfied because I expected so much more, what with all the parabatai curse and other stuff going on. Actually, the thing with the parabatai curse really disappointed me because I expected Julian and Emma to really go batshit insane or at least something more exciting or terrifying.
I felt like the entire direction of this book was so forced in order to include the characters from the past Shadowhunter series, so much so that it lost its real purpose of focusing on the problem the Blackthorns had. The main reason why I decided to read this book was because I thought it would focus on the Blackthorns and those closest to them only, not the entire Shadowhunter world. BUT I was slapped in the face so hard when the book started focusing more and more on the unfinished stuff that TMI left hanging. It was like the supposedly main characters in this series are going to be force to clean up the left-over problems that the TMI characters had. And boy, do I have a rant coming up for you.
I started this series knowing full well that skipping all the other Shadowhunter books except TID would leave me confused and/or left out. I dove into Lady Midnight well aware that there were references and histories I would not understand because I chose not to read the other books. But the reason I loved Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows so much was because it didn't even matter that I haven't read anything else because those books were so solid on their own that they could have stood without the others. But this third book, UGH DEAR GOD. There was a reason why I did not read TMI!!!! There was a reason why I avoided everything that concerned the characters from that series. I tried to read City of Bones like three times, but with every trial, I just ended up completely unconcerned about the characters. BUT WHAT DO YOU KNOW? They also show up A LOT in this book! *audience laughter* The TMI characters showing up for a few pages in Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows were fine, but they were practically replacing the main characters here. Toward the end it was like I was reading TMI instead of TDA. AND THE ENDING. OH GOD THE ENDING. I WANTED TDA TO BE FOR TDA ONLY, BUT THAT ENDING FELT LIKE AN EXTENDED VERSION OF TMI. I know that other readers love the TMI characters dearly and they want to know more about what happened to them after the Cold War, BUT CAN'T YOU JUST RELEASE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BOOK FOR ALL THAT? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT THE BLACKTHORNS AND THEIR LOVED ONES, NOT ONCE AGAIN A PLACE FOR CLARY AND FRIENDS TO BE DROOLED OVER. This felt more like an ending for TMI than it was for TDA, and even with that said, the epilogue was built solely for TMI! Like, "Ah, okay, now that we've settled with the Blackthorns, we can get on with more important stuff." You mean Jace and Clary once again? I was so pissed because of how it ended for the others, like they were all just side characters when in fact, Clary and Jace and Magnus and Alec were supposed to be the side ones.
Because of this, I think I will be more hesitant about reading anything else that has a possibility of having the TMI characters in them. I would have been so excited for The Wicked Powers because it was said to be centered around Kit and Ty, but now I'm having second thoughts about reading that because of the epilogue on this book, which means that we will be seeing so much more of the TMI characters in TWP. I just really don't want anything to do with them.
This book made me laugh, cry, scream in terror, giggle like crazy, it broke my heart and fixed it again, but the emotions that stand out the most are disappointment and frustration. SIGH.