GUYS. GUYS. GUYS.
First off, happy Lady Midnight day! I'm so excited to finally be getting it and will have it in my hands very soon.
But, before you jump into Lady Midnight, you HAVE TO read Shadowhunter Academy. Don't wait for the bind up, there's some big stuff that happens here that you need to know.
It's definitely not a chore to read, I had SO much fun reading this, it's much better than the Bane Chronicles. If you have not yet finished the Mortal Instruments series, I advise you leave now and go finish those and DO NOT read the synopsis for this, as it contains major CoHF spoilers. Come back when you've read City of Heavenly Fire.
Okay, so Shadowhunter Academy follows Simon becoming a shadowhunter at the newly reopened Shadowhunter Academy. He's trying to get his memory back, rekindle relationships and choose whether or not he wants to join this world. It's not just about Simon though, we see a lot of old characters and different points of view.
The novellas get better as you go on, with the first two good but the rest are just much better. I binge-read these, taking a short break to read the 5th Wave, which I promise I will review soon.
If you have not read Shadowhunter Academy, go do so before picking up Lady Midnight. I've you've started reading it and have only read some of the novellas, you can read the individual reviews for the novellas or you can wait and read them all at once. BYE PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED!!!
Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy
Okay so Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy was not boring but not something super interesting that I would just sit down and keep reading. It had the necessary backstory that we needed and we met some new characters.
I already loved Simon's roommate George and HE'S A LOVELACE (well, sorta)! I wish that he could know about Jessamine and all that she did for everyone, but it's all okay.
Okay, what is even going on with the food? It becomes a running joke throughout the series, but I feel so bad for them. How are they supposed to body build if they can't eat the food. Isn't Simon a vegetarian? I'm pretty sure some of the food they served was NOT vegetarian.
I had a lot of Sizzy feels at the end, it's breaking my heart to see Simon reject her. YOU DON'T JUST REJECT IZZY LIGHTWOOD, SIMON! At the same time, I do understand that he needs to figure out himself by himself before he figures out himself with someone else. There were a lot of conflicting feelings, but I just WANTED THEM TO BE OKAY WITH EACH OTHER. Simon had no tact at all.
The Lost Herondale
So the Lost Herondale was also an okay novella, but it definitely set up some things that I think we will explore in either The Dark Artifices or in The Last Hour. Basically, there's another Herondale. Somewhere. Anywhere.
The story of how Tobias Herondale left to go save his wife from punishment for his leaving, was such a heartbreaking paradox. Did anyone else have a Rumpelstiltskin moment from Once Upon A Time? Let me know in the comments if you thought that too.
I really hope that Jace can find this other Herondale line and bring them back to the shadowhunting world.
The Whitechapel Fiend
This was for sure one of my favorite novellas because we got to see my OTP Wessa as a couple living the family life. They're so cute together and such great parents. They were chasing down Jack the Ripper, who I actually don't know anything about, so I'll be looking into that shortly.
We got to see Jace and his interactions with Simon and he finally had the conversation with Tessa that I've been wanting to see since City of Heavenly Fire. They're all going to Idris together and I think Tessa will tell him about what it means to be a shadowhunter. Also, is it from Tessa that Jace has gold eyes from, or is it from the extra angel blood that Valentine gave him?
James was such a cute child, I loved him and his spoon. All the children made me so happy and I'm so excited to see the Herondale family dynamic in TLH, especially since parents usually take the backseat in these books, but Will and Tessa will surely be more involved.
It made me so happy to see that Jem was still a big part in their lives, despite his Silent Brotherhood. The kids know him as Uncle Jem and Will uses any excuse to call the Silent Brothers, which I find so cute and warming.
So much love for the "Wiggles" exchange, I've forgotten so much of Jace's sass because of the Shadowhunters TV show.
Nothing but Shadows
Nothing but Shadows is yet another amazing novella, where we get to learn more about the character of James Herondale. If you don't know, James is actually the main character of the other new Cassandra Clare series: The Last Hour.
We get to see how James was raised and I love that he was so close with his parents and how much love there is in their house. I can very strongly relate to James and how he's very shy around people, despite the fact that Will is such a charmer. It makes him a lot more real, especially since we haven't had a very shy main character.
James meets Matthew Fairchild, who everyone can't help but love. I was so sad to see James not like a Fairchild, especially because of the bond between the families, but Cassie resolved that nicely. They're going to become parabatai and be trained by Will, which I'm so happy for.
I really hope that The Last Hour picks up right from where we left off, especially because James in The Midnight Heir (The Bane Chronicles) is much different from this novella. I want to see the journey of how that happened to him.
We get the development that James can turn into a shadow, which is probably a result of having demon blood from Tessa. This will surely come into play during TLH, I think it's a very cool ability and handy for him to have. It's also something we do see in The Midnight Heir.
They mention the character Grace a few times, who we also saw in The Midnight Heir. I think she is some kind of demon/child/thing that is the "daughter" of Tatiana Lightwood. She's the reason for James' heartbreak in that novella, so I wonder what happened between then.
We also hear that Henry really isn't doing well and that he has a hard time working on new inventions. Charlotte is only able to do so much, especially since she's the Consul and has a full time job. It makes me so sad that Henry, who is so full of life, has to be like that.
I love getting to see the relationship between Jem and James, knowing that he was named for him. James really thinks of Jem as a part of the family and I love that they're so close.
It made me so happy to see how James was protective of Tessa and willing to go through insults from racist shadowhunters just to spare his mother's feelings.
When Simon thought about wanting to become parabatai with Clary, I got so excited because this thought had occured to me a few months ago. I was just waiting for it to happen and hoping that Cassie would include that. I'm sad we never actually get to see the ceremony, maybe we'll get it in Lady Midnight.
The Evil We Love
The Evil We Love was an interesting story for me to read because we got to see insight on the exact relationship between Robert Lightwood and Michael Wayland. Robert really didn't have any strong feelings about anything except for Michael and I honestly think that Robert did like Michael back.
I hated the way Robert immediately rejected him, like he had some kind of disease. I pretty much hated Robert throughout the story, but that was the part I disliked the most. We learned that Robert Lightwood could not bear marks and almost died. This is probably a reason why Izzy and Alec know so little about their family, just because they don't have a good relation. His parents said they would rather he died than be a mundane, which is horrible.
We got to see how the Circle worked, with Valentine having such a complex mind that he made sure everyone thought they were the most important member there. It really showed how cunning he was in manipulation.
There were also some Sizzy developments, which made me proud of Simon and happy for Izzy.
Pale Kings and Princes
Pale Kings and Princes made me so angry because it shed even more light on just how racist the Clave is. Despite the fact that Helen Blackthorn was raised a shadowhunter and has done so much for them, the Clave would rather take mundanes in over her. I just- URGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I feel so bad for her, but I'm excited that she's getting married to Aline. I wish she could be with Julian so he didn't feel like the responsibility of his whole family on him.
It was very interesting to hear how Helen was even conceived in the first place and the plot twist at the end killed me. I want her to know that her mom really did love her father and maybe even try to contact her. It kills me to see what a rough spot she's in.
Also, I HAVE SO MANY SIZZY FEELS! They're finally back together and I can be happy that my ship has not sunk.
Bitter of Tongue
Now I took a break during Bitter of Tongue, mainly because it was such a heavy story and made me really sad to read. Mark Blackthorn is doing his best to stay a shadowhunter and fight off the urge to act more like a faery.
Every night, he names off all of his siblings names, which made me so happy and sad, especially that he chose to include Emma. I think a big part of Lady Midnight will be trying to get Mark and Helen back.
We got to go to Helen's wedding and see what kind of stress Julian and Emma are under. They have such a family dynamic but are forced to age so fast because of everything. I just want to give them a hug.
It was also a really funny moment to hear Simon list off every time he's gotten kidnapped. Poor Simon :(
The Fiery Trial
I really did not like The Fiery Trial, it was a very weird novella to read. The premise was kind of strange and it felt like the friendship of Simon and Clary was still just forced onto Simon.
The main chunk felt very unneccessary, but I do understand why Cassie put it in. Simon had to remember that he wanted to tell Clary about his feelings for her in City of Bones, since Julian feels the same way. One of the main conflicts in Lady Midnight is going to be that Julian and Emma probably both like each other but are parabatai, meaning they cannot be in a relationship.
It made me sad to see that, instead of rejoicing in the ceremony, Julian and Emma were just aged by the situation. They had the whole withered parents feeling that made me pity them.
I love that Clary and Emma talk, I think it's good for Emma to have some kind of role model that she can look up to. Another role model I want her to have is Jem, so I hope to see him in Lady Midnight.
Born to Endless Night
Born to Endless Night was my favorite novella not only because we got to see Malec but because we saw a return of our old gang. Magnus and Alec now have a warlock child who they found and they named him MAX LIGHTWOOD! A question that will be raised in the future is going to be who the parents are, but we all know the answer to the question of exactly how stylish this baby is going to be. It also makes me happy that Magnus won't be alone because he'll always have his son with him, even after Alec dies.
We got to see everyone fawn over the little baby and even got to see Mayrse and Robert work hard to accept Magnus as a part of the family. I enjoyed the heartfelt conversations between everyone.
SIMON FINALLY TELLS IZZY THAT HE LOVES HER SO MANY FEELS YAYAYAYAY
Alec, Maia and this new vampire named Lily have started this small council to deal with Downworlder issues. I love that Alec is finally coming out of his shell and becoming more confident in the shadowhunter he is. He's been through so much, especially in that conversation with Magnus where he talks about how he's afraid of letting their son down.
Alec and Magnus are going to get married, which I'm so ready for! I got my gold on and I'm ready to go!!
Angels Twice Descending
Now, when I heard that someone was going to die in this story, I instantly knew that it would be George. We all love him too much to live. When he died, I could not cry because I had just seen it coming from miles away. While I'm angry that he couldn't be in the city of bones, it makes me happy that he's with Jessamine instead, protecting the London institute.
Simon is finally a shadowhunter and he picked the name Lovelace in honor of George. I think he'll probably change it to Lightwood when he marries Izzy, but it still makes me happy. He finally got his memories back and he feels complete again.
Him and Clary are going to become parabatai soon, which will be very fun to see. Just a nice conclusion overall and it provides a lot of closure on Simon.
I had so much fun reading the Shadowhunter Chronicles, I'm so glad that I didn't choose to skip it. Let me know what your favorite novella was or if there was anything that I missed so we can talk about it in the comments! I'm super excited for Lady Midnight!
Follow me on Instagram @once.upon.some.fangirls
Follow me on Twitter @ous_fangirls
Friend me on Goodreads www.goodreads.com/CaramelOUSF
I'll talk to you guys soon!
First off, happy Lady Midnight day! I'm so excited to finally be getting it and will have it in my hands very soon.
But, before you jump into Lady Midnight, you HAVE TO read Shadowhunter Academy. Don't wait for the bind up, there's some big stuff that happens here that you need to know.
It's definitely not a chore to read, I had SO much fun reading this, it's much better than the Bane Chronicles. If you have not yet finished the Mortal Instruments series, I advise you leave now and go finish those and DO NOT read the synopsis for this, as it contains major CoHF spoilers. Come back when you've read City of Heavenly Fire.
Okay, so Shadowhunter Academy follows Simon becoming a shadowhunter at the newly reopened Shadowhunter Academy. He's trying to get his memory back, rekindle relationships and choose whether or not he wants to join this world. It's not just about Simon though, we see a lot of old characters and different points of view.
The novellas get better as you go on, with the first two good but the rest are just much better. I binge-read these, taking a short break to read the 5th Wave, which I promise I will review soon.
If you have not read Shadowhunter Academy, go do so before picking up Lady Midnight. I've you've started reading it and have only read some of the novellas, you can read the individual reviews for the novellas or you can wait and read them all at once. BYE PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED!!!
Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy
Okay so Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy was not boring but not something super interesting that I would just sit down and keep reading. It had the necessary backstory that we needed and we met some new characters.
I already loved Simon's roommate George and HE'S A LOVELACE (well, sorta)! I wish that he could know about Jessamine and all that she did for everyone, but it's all okay.
Okay, what is even going on with the food? It becomes a running joke throughout the series, but I feel so bad for them. How are they supposed to body build if they can't eat the food. Isn't Simon a vegetarian? I'm pretty sure some of the food they served was NOT vegetarian.
I had a lot of Sizzy feels at the end, it's breaking my heart to see Simon reject her. YOU DON'T JUST REJECT IZZY LIGHTWOOD, SIMON! At the same time, I do understand that he needs to figure out himself by himself before he figures out himself with someone else. There were a lot of conflicting feelings, but I just WANTED THEM TO BE OKAY WITH EACH OTHER. Simon had no tact at all.
The Lost Herondale
So the Lost Herondale was also an okay novella, but it definitely set up some things that I think we will explore in either The Dark Artifices or in The Last Hour. Basically, there's another Herondale. Somewhere. Anywhere.
The story of how Tobias Herondale left to go save his wife from punishment for his leaving, was such a heartbreaking paradox. Did anyone else have a Rumpelstiltskin moment from Once Upon A Time? Let me know in the comments if you thought that too.
I really hope that Jace can find this other Herondale line and bring them back to the shadowhunting world.
The Whitechapel Fiend
This was for sure one of my favorite novellas because we got to see my OTP Wessa as a couple living the family life. They're so cute together and such great parents. They were chasing down Jack the Ripper, who I actually don't know anything about, so I'll be looking into that shortly.
We got to see Jace and his interactions with Simon and he finally had the conversation with Tessa that I've been wanting to see since City of Heavenly Fire. They're all going to Idris together and I think Tessa will tell him about what it means to be a shadowhunter. Also, is it from Tessa that Jace has gold eyes from, or is it from the extra angel blood that Valentine gave him?
James was such a cute child, I loved him and his spoon. All the children made me so happy and I'm so excited to see the Herondale family dynamic in TLH, especially since parents usually take the backseat in these books, but Will and Tessa will surely be more involved.
It made me so happy to see that Jem was still a big part in their lives, despite his Silent Brotherhood. The kids know him as Uncle Jem and Will uses any excuse to call the Silent Brothers, which I find so cute and warming.
So much love for the "Wiggles" exchange, I've forgotten so much of Jace's sass because of the Shadowhunters TV show.
Nothing but Shadows
Nothing but Shadows is yet another amazing novella, where we get to learn more about the character of James Herondale. If you don't know, James is actually the main character of the other new Cassandra Clare series: The Last Hour.
We get to see how James was raised and I love that he was so close with his parents and how much love there is in their house. I can very strongly relate to James and how he's very shy around people, despite the fact that Will is such a charmer. It makes him a lot more real, especially since we haven't had a very shy main character.
James meets Matthew Fairchild, who everyone can't help but love. I was so sad to see James not like a Fairchild, especially because of the bond between the families, but Cassie resolved that nicely. They're going to become parabatai and be trained by Will, which I'm so happy for.
I really hope that The Last Hour picks up right from where we left off, especially because James in The Midnight Heir (The Bane Chronicles) is much different from this novella. I want to see the journey of how that happened to him.
We get the development that James can turn into a shadow, which is probably a result of having demon blood from Tessa. This will surely come into play during TLH, I think it's a very cool ability and handy for him to have. It's also something we do see in The Midnight Heir.
They mention the character Grace a few times, who we also saw in The Midnight Heir. I think she is some kind of demon/child/thing that is the "daughter" of Tatiana Lightwood. She's the reason for James' heartbreak in that novella, so I wonder what happened between then.
We also hear that Henry really isn't doing well and that he has a hard time working on new inventions. Charlotte is only able to do so much, especially since she's the Consul and has a full time job. It makes me so sad that Henry, who is so full of life, has to be like that.
I love getting to see the relationship between Jem and James, knowing that he was named for him. James really thinks of Jem as a part of the family and I love that they're so close.
It made me so happy to see how James was protective of Tessa and willing to go through insults from racist shadowhunters just to spare his mother's feelings.
When Simon thought about wanting to become parabatai with Clary, I got so excited because this thought had occured to me a few months ago. I was just waiting for it to happen and hoping that Cassie would include that. I'm sad we never actually get to see the ceremony, maybe we'll get it in Lady Midnight.
The Evil We Love
The Evil We Love was an interesting story for me to read because we got to see insight on the exact relationship between Robert Lightwood and Michael Wayland. Robert really didn't have any strong feelings about anything except for Michael and I honestly think that Robert did like Michael back.
I hated the way Robert immediately rejected him, like he had some kind of disease. I pretty much hated Robert throughout the story, but that was the part I disliked the most. We learned that Robert Lightwood could not bear marks and almost died. This is probably a reason why Izzy and Alec know so little about their family, just because they don't have a good relation. His parents said they would rather he died than be a mundane, which is horrible.
We got to see how the Circle worked, with Valentine having such a complex mind that he made sure everyone thought they were the most important member there. It really showed how cunning he was in manipulation.
There were also some Sizzy developments, which made me proud of Simon and happy for Izzy.
Pale Kings and Princes
Pale Kings and Princes made me so angry because it shed even more light on just how racist the Clave is. Despite the fact that Helen Blackthorn was raised a shadowhunter and has done so much for them, the Clave would rather take mundanes in over her. I just- URGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I feel so bad for her, but I'm excited that she's getting married to Aline. I wish she could be with Julian so he didn't feel like the responsibility of his whole family on him.
It was very interesting to hear how Helen was even conceived in the first place and the plot twist at the end killed me. I want her to know that her mom really did love her father and maybe even try to contact her. It kills me to see what a rough spot she's in.
Also, I HAVE SO MANY SIZZY FEELS! They're finally back together and I can be happy that my ship has not sunk.
Bitter of Tongue
Now I took a break during Bitter of Tongue, mainly because it was such a heavy story and made me really sad to read. Mark Blackthorn is doing his best to stay a shadowhunter and fight off the urge to act more like a faery.
Every night, he names off all of his siblings names, which made me so happy and sad, especially that he chose to include Emma. I think a big part of Lady Midnight will be trying to get Mark and Helen back.
We got to go to Helen's wedding and see what kind of stress Julian and Emma are under. They have such a family dynamic but are forced to age so fast because of everything. I just want to give them a hug.
It was also a really funny moment to hear Simon list off every time he's gotten kidnapped. Poor Simon :(
The Fiery Trial
I really did not like The Fiery Trial, it was a very weird novella to read. The premise was kind of strange and it felt like the friendship of Simon and Clary was still just forced onto Simon.
The main chunk felt very unneccessary, but I do understand why Cassie put it in. Simon had to remember that he wanted to tell Clary about his feelings for her in City of Bones, since Julian feels the same way. One of the main conflicts in Lady Midnight is going to be that Julian and Emma probably both like each other but are parabatai, meaning they cannot be in a relationship.
It made me sad to see that, instead of rejoicing in the ceremony, Julian and Emma were just aged by the situation. They had the whole withered parents feeling that made me pity them.
I love that Clary and Emma talk, I think it's good for Emma to have some kind of role model that she can look up to. Another role model I want her to have is Jem, so I hope to see him in Lady Midnight.
Born to Endless Night
Born to Endless Night was my favorite novella not only because we got to see Malec but because we saw a return of our old gang. Magnus and Alec now have a warlock child who they found and they named him MAX LIGHTWOOD! A question that will be raised in the future is going to be who the parents are, but we all know the answer to the question of exactly how stylish this baby is going to be. It also makes me happy that Magnus won't be alone because he'll always have his son with him, even after Alec dies.
We got to see everyone fawn over the little baby and even got to see Mayrse and Robert work hard to accept Magnus as a part of the family. I enjoyed the heartfelt conversations between everyone.
SIMON FINALLY TELLS IZZY THAT HE LOVES HER SO MANY FEELS YAYAYAYAY
Alec, Maia and this new vampire named Lily have started this small council to deal with Downworlder issues. I love that Alec is finally coming out of his shell and becoming more confident in the shadowhunter he is. He's been through so much, especially in that conversation with Magnus where he talks about how he's afraid of letting their son down.
Alec and Magnus are going to get married, which I'm so ready for! I got my gold on and I'm ready to go!!
Angels Twice Descending
Now, when I heard that someone was going to die in this story, I instantly knew that it would be George. We all love him too much to live. When he died, I could not cry because I had just seen it coming from miles away. While I'm angry that he couldn't be in the city of bones, it makes me happy that he's with Jessamine instead, protecting the London institute.
Simon is finally a shadowhunter and he picked the name Lovelace in honor of George. I think he'll probably change it to Lightwood when he marries Izzy, but it still makes me happy. He finally got his memories back and he feels complete again.
Him and Clary are going to become parabatai soon, which will be very fun to see. Just a nice conclusion overall and it provides a lot of closure on Simon.
I had so much fun reading the Shadowhunter Chronicles, I'm so glad that I didn't choose to skip it. Let me know what your favorite novella was or if there was anything that I missed so we can talk about it in the comments! I'm super excited for Lady Midnight!
Follow me on Instagram @once.upon.some.fangirls
Follow me on Twitter @ous_fangirls
Friend me on Goodreads www.goodreads.com/CaramelOUSF
I'll talk to you guys soon!