Review: Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

There is a valid reason why you never see me writing reviews for Cassandra Clare's books. They are like a bible to me, they saw me at the edge of my teenage years and kept me company whilst becoming an adult. They are my favourite books.

When I talked about my January TBR last month, I also talked about how excited I was to read Queen of Air and Darkness and how these books are always my most anticipated ones.

Cassandra Clare just keeps delivering the best, most intricate stories of all times and I'm so glad I get to see it happening. I get to laugh with her characters and cry. I get to root for my favourites and also hate the bad guys so much that I end up loving them (yes, Sebastian, I'm looking at you.)

I particularly love the fact that no matter your stage in life, no matter your choices, no matter who you are and who you chose to be, you will always find a character that you will find relatable. That's the power of her books. Cassandra Clare is very careful to make every character interesting and relatable, she writes about a large variety of human beings, the complexity of their heart and their struggles. She makes sure everyone has a character who represents them.

In this trilogy, we find Ty and Diana and Kieran and Dru, all different, all so incredibly human. I have to say that, even though The Infernal Devices is and will always be my favourite trilogy, The Dark Artifices was actually so good it deserved a mention.

I loved this book. It probably was my favourite out of the trilogy; there was some heartbreak (in pure Cassie Clare style) some fun bits (as we meet Jace Herondale again!) and some angry moments, too. I loved seeing some old favourites of mine like Jace (obviously) and Clary, Simon, Alec, basically the OG squad and I really loved every minute of it. I was a teen when I started reading The Mortal Instruments and I feel like I grew up with them, in some way. Also, Jem and Tessa! Look, I won't talk about them because I'm a Wessa shipper to the bone so what is happening between them really pisses me off but that's okay. I mean, it's not really but I get why Cassandra Clare decided for a happy ending for them. I mean, I loved Will from the moment he stepped inside Tessa's room and my heart is still mourning his loss. But you know, Jessa shippers exist and we have to feed them some flowers and rainbows every once in a while, right?

But speaking of love triangles, can we talk about Christina for a sec? Her fantasies really intrigued me and the fact that Cassandra Clare really went there surprised me but also, more sexy times, please! I feel like this book delivered some of the best sex scenes in book history, without being too much but also, I constantly wanted more. This book was so. bloody. sexy! I still think about the fact that Jace and Clare made me wait for six books - SIX! - to read about them having sex while Julian and Emma keep on banging each other like there's no tomorrow. Also, excuse my french. 

I think the most beautiful, heartbreaking, best part was every time Ty made an appearance. He lost his twin sister and he's doing everything to have a chance to get her back. This book was focused on grief. Julian as he doesn't want to feel anything anymore, Ty that's not grieving because he's sure he can bring Livvy back, Dru so used to go to her sister and never leaves the room. Everyone is grieving in different ways which makes everything so heartbreaking.

Grief can be so bad you can't breathe, but that's what it means to be human. We lose, we suffer, but we have to keep breathing.

 There's no way the book could have ended without unanswered questions and a major WTF cliffhanger. I have a feeling we're going to read about our New York Institute very soon, especially now that Alicante is no longer a safe zone and that the new council resides in NY. We also have a wedding to attend (!!!) so I guess it's only a matter of time...

Have you read QoAaD? What did you think?