Genre: YA Paranormal Fantasy
The Dark Artifices, Book 1
Description (taken from Cassandra Clare's website):
In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word.
A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other — but they can never fall in love.
Emma Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, one in a long line of Shadowhunters tasked with protecting the world from demons. With her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of a secret Los Angeles where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries start turning up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were murdered years ago, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge — and Julian’s chance to get back his half-faerie brother, Mark, who was kidnapped five years ago. All Emma, Mark and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks . . . before the murderer targets them.
Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. As she uncovers the past, she begins to peel away the secrets of the present: What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents — and can she bear to know the truth?
Emma is a wreckless shadowhunter who always protects her loved ones. She lives in the Los Angeles Institute with the Blackthorn family. The Balckthorn family consists of seven siblings: one stolen by the Fae to join the Wild Hunt, one in exile for being part Fae, and one left to raise the remaining four. Emma would move the world for her parabatai Julian who is raising his siblings. However there's only one passion of hers that is solely hers, and it is figuring out who killed her parents.
After discovering a random mundane killing that was caused by something supernatural, Emma has to investigate. There are too many similarities between this one and her parents' deaths. When confronting Julian about it, something else is thrown into the mix that suddenly makes everything very personal. And while they've been cautioned by multiple downworlders on how to handle this case, they focus solely on it and dive head-first into the investigation.
I tried very hard to write a convoluted review that gave away nothing. I really enjoyed this book. But honestly? It's Cassandra Clare. You already know if you love her books or not. I definitely fall under the first category. And while it took me a while to like a few of the characters, I still loved the book. Until the next one.
Great review...and that is one of the most epic covers I have ever seen!
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