Lady Midnight

The Dark Artifices, Book 1

By: Cassandra Clare

Narrated by: Morena Baccarin

Length: 19 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare's newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally best-selling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.

It's been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.

Together with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn't lead her in treacherous directions....

Making things even more complicated, Julian's brother, Mark - who was captured by the faeries five years ago - has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind - and they need the Shadowhunters' help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn't recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?

Glitz, glamours, and Shadowhunters abound in this heartrending opening to Cassandra Clare's Dark Artifices series.

©2016 Cassandra Clare (P)2016 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

New Players and New Plots

First I have to say that Morena Baccarin, as much as I love her as an actor, I did not love her narration of this book. It was to mono-toned and she didn't grasp or create different characters for me. She was just the same voice for everyone. That takes away from a book.
So, this book could have been more awesome, with a really good narrator...even two.

With that, this is still a great book, Cassandra still delivers us great Nephalem story lines and new characters. The book introduces several so you know your not going to be stuck on just one plot line here.

What I hate... that I am going to have to wait probably a whole year for the next book. Booo!

An okay beginning

Something has changed in the writing style of these books. There's a repetition in the wording that becomes distracting.

Story is okay. Doesn't have the depth of development you see in the City books, but a good read.

Sigh

So when you're Cassandra Clare and have such amazing original books like the Mortal Instruments series- everything is going to be compared to that. It's inevitable. I'm not going to act like this book is bad- it's not. I really like the characters. I like the kids and Mark... Not a big Emma fan. She's alright but her character is boring. There isn't a whole lot to her. The romance happened very quickly, I don't find Jules attractive. While his parenting and sacrifice is completely admirable there really isn't anything else about him I find enticing.

I honesty liked the book best when they talked about Ty and Liv and when people like Magnus, Jace, Clary, Tessa and Jen came into the picture.

It was just alright. I don't like comparing it to the other books but what else am I supposed to do? It's well written and has its funny moments but it didn't suck me in like the other shadow hunter books.... & I've read them all multiple times. I don't think I'd ever want to read this one again.

I can't stand how this person reads

The book is likely excellent. I'd tell you more if it was possible to stand listening to this person read. It is so bad that I intend to purchase the book on kindle so I can read it myself. Definitely not a book to listen to in the car or while doing chores/errands. Especially if it is an errand you do not particularly enjoy, leave this audiobook alone! The way she reads will make you hate anything you are doing that you dislike even more. It's like washing dirty dishes while listening to people run their nails over a chalkboard as a baby cries in the background. Avoid, avoid, avoid. You are welcome.

Extremely monotone.

I struggled to decipher which character was speaking. The reader did not change her inflection enough to tell when one character stopped speaking and another began. I love Cassandra Claire's storytelling but I will not be investing in the audio version again. Very repetitive also. Every line ends with he said/she said. Not her best book. definitely not Jace and Clary. And I feel like she tends to be a bit pushy with the same sex couples. I get it, Love Wins and all that but it felt very forced. Like she felt the need to balance a straight couple with a gay couple. She trys very hard to include everyone all the time which ends up taking away from the main couple and /or storyline.

Can't wait for the next book.

Loved it! I would recommend reading The Bane Chronicles and the Shadowhunter Academy series first as they have clues that give context to some parts. However it is still a great story.

If you liked 'The Mortal Instruments'...

...then you'll love this story extension. Very well read by Morena Baccarin. A fun addictive book that had me up late at night unable to turn it off.

Soooo upset!

If you loved the heroic, charming, witty characters like the ones in Mortal Instruments, you won't find them here. This book was several hours of silly teenagers mooning over each other with little storyline. It lacked everything I dearly loved about all her other books. The narrator was extremely monotone, she made the story difficult to listen to.

FREAKING AWESOME

This is the my favorite beginning to a series of all of Cassandra Clare's books. It is well developed and opens up so many story lines for it to continue. I can't wait for the next one!

Over-explained

I kept feeling as though the author was determined to leave nothing to the readers' imagination.