Lord of Shadows

Plot

A month after the events of Lady Midnight, Clary Fairchild and Jace Herondale show up at the Los Angeles Institute. They need Mark Blackthorn to tell them how to get into Faerie because Clary thinks her brother Sebastian Morgenstern left a weapon with the Seelie Queen. Clary admits to Emma Carstairs that she has been having dreams about her own death. The Shadowhunters check out Malcolm Fade's home and find proof he was working with the Unseelie King. When they get back, the Institute has been taken over by Centurions from the Scholomanche, led by Zara Dearborn. She announces she is engaged to Diego Rosales, which upsets Cristina, who had just made up with him. Kit, who has learned he is a Shadowhunter named Christopher Herondale, keeps trying to leave the Institute. Jace and Ty talk him out of it, but he is not allowed to visit the Shadow Market anymore. Clary and Jace then head off to Faerie.

Gwyn of the Wild Hunt visits Emma, Julian, and Mark. He begs Mark to rescue Kieran, who killed Iarlath, the Unseelie King's second-in-command, and is about to be executed. The three of them plus Cristina go into Faerie. They have to deal with the tricky landscape and face what they want most: Emma and Julian struggle with their forbidden love, while Cristina and Mark fall for each other, which puts a curse on them. At the Unseelie Court, they demand a trial by combat to free Kieran, and Emma becomes the champion. She almost stops when her enemy takes on her father's appearance, but she still kills him. They escape with Kieran, who has lost his memory, chased by Unseelie faeries until a Seelie faerie named Nene appears and brings them to the Seelie Queen. Nene turns out to be Mark's aunt, his mother Nerissa's sister.

Back in Los Angeles, Kit, Ty, and Livvy eavesdrop on Zara, who wants to take over the Institute and wipe out all Downworlders. They find Arthur, the Blackthorns' uncle, talking nonsense, and Diana Wrayburn explains his condition. Then Malcolm Fade, brought back from the dead, attacks the Institute. He still wants a Blackthorn sacrificed. Arthur gives himself up, and Diana sends everyone else through a portal to the London Institute. Malcolm kills Arthur to bring back his lover Annabel Blackthorn. Annabel immediately kills Malcolm and walks off with the Black Volume.

Characters

Emma Carstairs is a 17-year-old Shadowhunter who has lived most of her life at the Los Angeles Institute with the Blackthorn family after her parents were killed in the Dark War. She has brown eyes, long pale blond hair, pale skin, and many scars, including a deep scar up her right arm. Emma is passionate and hardworking, sometimes considered the best of her generation, and owns the sword Cortana. Julian Blackthorn, also 17, has lived his entire life at the Institute with his siblings and Emma, his best friend and parabatai. He has dark brown messy hair, startling blue-green eyes, and is tall, slender, and lanky with high cheekbones. As an artist, he is often untidy or splattered with paint, and his main concern is for his younger siblings. Mark Blackthorn, 21, is a Shadowhunter at the Institute and a former Hunter with the Wild Hunt. He and his older sister Helen share a faerie mother and are part-faerie. Mark is tall, thin, with broad shoulders and blue-green eyes, though his right eye has turned gold since joining the Wild Hunt; he also has pointed ears and curly white-gold hair. Ty is autistic and thinks and acts differently, though Shadowhunters do not understand autism. She has brown hair and blue-green eyes, having been born with gray eyes like Ty that later changed.

Reception

RT Book Reviews gave the book four and a half stars, marking it as a top pick and noting that The Infernal Devices devotees would find it a bittersweet return. A reviewer for the Deseret News wrote that aside from the traumatic ending, readers can expect a quick read despite the book's length. Booklist claimed that not all characters are developed and the book drags on for 700 pages but has enough to satisfy series fans. Common Sense Media said it was melodramatic but had enough intrigue to keep reader interest. Lord of Shadows was a Publishers Weekly 2017 bestseller.