‘Ghosts of the Shadow Market’ by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, Kelly Link and Robin Wasserman is another great installment in the Shadowhunter Chronicles. While technically a companion piece, this collection of stories is as developed and interesting as any book from the main series. Furthermore, unlike other companion books I have read, ‘GOTSM’feels essential to understanding crucial plot points and characters actions from Clare’s main series. Like with ‘Tales from Shadowhunter Academy’, the book contains multiple stories with different characters that are all connected by one character and setting: Jem and Shadow Markets. The stories stem from the era of ‘The Last Hours’ until that of ‘The Wicked Powers’. Therefore, since Jem is one of the only characters that has lived through and known all the main characters of each series, he is the perfect character to connect all the stories.
Most of the stories in the book develop and foreshadow the series of books: ‘The Last Hours’ and ‘The Wicked Powers’. These are the most interesting in my opinion since they give us a peek at what we should expect in future books. However, all of them do a great job of further developing the characters and the plot of previous and/or future series. They all feel connected to the overarching world of the Shadowhunters Chronicles. Like always, the writing of the stories is beautiful. It’s evident that Clare and company spent the same effort creating these stories as they would for any full-length book. The book manages to be funny, heartfelt, mysterious and suspenseful perfectly. I was never distracted by the shifts in tone between stories. The authors managed to make the changes delicately and unnoticeable. Also, I really appreciated that the stories were in chronological order since it was delightful to see the changes in not only the world, but also Jem as time went on.
Obviously, I enjoyed some stories more than others. However, I liked all of them. There wasn’t one that I found boring or disliked. In my opinion, the best one is ‘The Land I Lost’, while the weakest one was‘A Deeper Love’.
My Ratings for each story are:
Cast Long Shadows – 4.5/5
Every Exquisite Thing – 4/5
Learn About Loss – 3.5/5
A Deeper Love – 3/5
The Wicked Ones – 4/5
Son of the Dawn – 4/5
The Land I Lost’ – 5/5
Through Blood, Through Fire – 4/5
The Lost World – 4.5/5
Forever Fallen – 4/5
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read and loved other books from the Shadowhunter Chronicles. However, the reader must have read ‘The Mortal Instruments’, ‘The Infernal Devices’ and ‘The Dark Artifices’ prior to reading this book. Otherwise, he or she will be spoiled terribly and not even fully appreciate it. Furthermore, I would also recommend reading ‘The Bane Chronicles’, ‘Tales from Shadowhunter Academy’ and ‘The Red Scrolls of Magic’ before reading this, since it will ensure you understand perfectly each point brought up by the authors.
A More In Depth Review
***SPOILER ALERT***
‘Cast Long Shadows’ by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan reintroduces us to the next generation of Shadowhunters after ‘The Infernal Devices’, especially Matthew Fairchild, and as in ‘Tales of Shadowhunter Academy’, I loved them and can't wait to see more of them in ‘The Last Hours’.
The story starts with Brother Zachariah, aka Jem, entering the London Shadow Market in search of Ragnor Fell. The first few pages as he searches and wonders around the market are a little slow, but once Jem finds Matthew at the Shadow Market (He called him Uncle Jem!), I couldn't put the book down. Matthew Fairchild is a sweet innocent gullible cinnamon roll that must be protected at all cost. At the beginning of the story, Matthew appears to be completely carefree and innocent. However, as the story progresses, the reader starts to realize that Matthew has been carrying burdens far too heavy for his young age. He has always been the protector and caregiver of those around him and this has affected his sense of self worth. Matthew takes care of the absent minded Henry and Christopher, small and quiet Tom and strong but heavily burdened Charlotte. Without complain or even request, he has been taking care of people his whole life and forgotten to take care of himself. His weak psyche only gets worse by Alistair's lies. Believing already that he doesn't belong in his family, it's almost too easy for Matthew to believe that he is not the son of Henry. By the end of the book, his poor opinion of himself is completely shattered.
"Some would say only a shallow river could flash so bright."
"Matthew was not about to soothe his feelings at the expense of Jamie's or Tom's."
His low self esteem caused him to easily believe lies, while his need to protect others didn't allowed him to search for guidance and comfort. His rash decision hurt those he loves the most and as a protector he can't forgive himself or blame others for what he has done. He's especially heartbroken when he compares his actions to those of James, who without doubt defended his mother by throwing Pounceby into the Thames.
"He was the one who had chosen to distrust his mother."
"He had not believed….He knew he could not be forgiven."
Matthew's strength as one who aims to protect those he loves, is also his fatal flaw. For it is this need to protect that stopped him from confronting his parents or seeking the advice of his friends. And instead of learning from his lesson, at the end of the story, Matthew once again decides to keep his pain to himself instead of trusting those he loves.
Besides Matthew's inner conflicts, we also got to see his relationship with the Herondale and Lightwood children. These interactions make us quickly realize that Matthew has a strong sense of loyalty and friendship.
"Friends who were easy to get might be easy to lose, and Matthew wanted to keep people."
He has a great relationship with all the other kids: James, Lucy, Thomas and Christopher, but I especially loved the little bit of his relationship with the Herondale children that we saw. Unlike his parents and the Lightwoods, James and Lucy are completely independent.
"James never looked relieved to see Matthew, or expectant. He only looked pleased."
Therefore, in them, Matthew finds much needed peace and freedom. The Herondale children don't need Matthew to be their guardian and caretaker. To them, Matthew is an equal and therefore he loves them dearly. I also love that Matthew greatly resembles Will, while James is very much like Tessa and Jem, making them two parts of a whole. It can also be said that James and Matthew represent the two facets of Will's personality: the goofy self-sacrificing protector and the quiet intellectual.
In terms of foreshadowing, I noticed some plot points that we'll probably explore in ‘The Last Hours’ series. First of all, I noticed that Cassie is paving the way for Alistair's possible redemption and I couldn't care less. I will NOT forgive the man who tried to make me think Charlotte and Gideon would cheat on Henry and Sophie, respectively, even though I didn't believe it for a second. I don’t care if he was jealous, has bad parents or is young, as Matthew perfectly said:
"People would let you get away with being the worst sort of scoundrel if you simply had a secret sorrow or did not rub along terribly well with your father."
And I won't let him get away with it!
On the other hand, in terms of future relationships, the groundwork for a Matthew/Lucy relationship was set and I already ship them! Matthew needs a strong independent partner that takes care of him for once. A much more subtle pair that I believe is also being developed is Thomas and Alistair. Thomas adoration and loyalty for Alistair has got to be part of a crush. But will Alistair reciprocate his feelings? Or will he continue to treat him like a pet? Hopefully, in either case, Thomas learns to think for himself and not do whatever Alistair and/or Matthew tell him to do. Because right now, his complete loyalty on Alistair reminds me of Percy's blind faith in the Ministry of Magic in the Harry Potter series. It's definitively going to cause some troubles between our four main guys in the future.
Finally, we saw how the kids are trying to combat the sexism and racism still very much present in the Shadowhunter World. Both, Matthew and James, have powerful mothers who the Clave want to repress due to their gender and in case of Tessa also her blood. Having male characters that respect women strength instead of fear, envy or resent it is extremely refreshing so I can't wait to see how they help the Shadowhunter world move forward.
‘Every Exquisite Thing’ by Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson properly introduces us to Anna Lightwood and she is an amazingly unique fresh character in the Shadowhunter world. Diverse characters are a big part of this saga. From people of color to almost every sexuality in the spectrum, Cassie has created characters anyone can relate to and now she has gifted us with a non-binary kickass character in Anna Lightwood.
"You have taken their power for your own. You have stolen fire from the gods."
The whole purpose of this story is to get us familiarized with Anna and to foreshadow the hurdles she'll have to confront due to her gender identity. Instead of simply telling us that Anna does not identify as a woman or man, Clare slowly lets us put the pieces together by showing us how more confident she is when she's not pretending to be someone she's not. Interestingly enough, unlike past queer characters like Alec and Aline, when we meet Anna, she is already sure of her identity and does not plan to live her whole life hiding who she truly is. She's always thinking about how in the future, she will walk around wearing what she wants and being who she is. She even acknowledges that her cousins know and her mother suspects and that does not seem to scare her. Therefore, early on, we can see that even if she hasn't properly revealed her true self to others yet, she has accepted who she is and does not plan to live her whole life hiding it.
As soon as I saw Ariadne, I knew trouble had come to Anna's life. You can never be certain of anything when it comes to Cassie's writing, but if there's one thing you can be sure about is that the main characters love life will always be full of adversity. Therefore, when I saw how fast and drama free Anna and Ariadne got together, I knew something bad was going to happen. I was expecting for Ariadne to die or actually be evil the whole story, so as soon as I saw Charles, I knew what was going on. At first, I groaned because whenever she thought of her, Anna had been so infatuated with Ariadne that I expected for her to become inconsolable and agree to be the mistress. However, Clare surprised me by once again showing us that Anna Lightwood is a strong independent woman that does not need a man or woman to live her life. Anna is a character that is true to herself and refuses to live her whole life as a lie, so there was no way she would have agreed to Ariadne's proposal. I only hope that we don't see Anna go back to Ariadne during ‘The Last Hours’. She deserves to find someone who would choose to fight for her and their love. Sadly, I don't think it's going to be easy to find that person and I predict a lot of suffering in Anna's future.
Ariadne and Anna are complete opposites despite living through essentially the same conflicts. Even though Ariadne claims:
"I am modern and possessed of all sorts of advanced notions."
She later proves that she conforms to society's standards on who she should be. She accepts to marry a man even though she could never be happy in such marriage only because she fears her parents rejection and wants to have children. Here we see the contrast between Anna and her. Anna has been raised in a loving home and can't understand how parents who love their children could ever reject them for being who they are. Furthermore, like Cecily said, there are options for her to have children if she wants them and she rather take these than live a life of lies. Ariadne also proves that she is not as modern forward thinking as she claims when she portrays herself as being "weak" in order to get lessons from Anna when she is obviously an experienced Shadowhunter. She decides to lie and portray herself as how a woman should be based on society's standards to gain Anna's favor instead of being her strong self.
We also got to see a little bit of Anna's relationship with her family and I loved it! Even though Christopher and Anna are so different from the usual norm, it's obvious that their parents love them dearly. I was especially happy to note how much Gabriel has grown since ‘The Infernal Devices’and now I can see why most of the kids prefer him to Gideon. But the star of the show was Cecily, who showed how unconditional a mother's love can be by not only accepting her daughter as who she is, but showing her she is not ashamed of her and only wants her to be true to herself and happy. Furthermore, Anna's relationship with her brothers, especially Christopher, show how caring and protective she is of those she loves. Instead of resenting her brother for being free of doing what he wants, she loves and protects him.
We also got to see a little of Anna's relationship with her cousins and Matthew. I love how they all seem to accept and respect her for who she is and don't expect her to act as society wants her to. I especially loved her partnership with Matthew and how he didn't even blink an eye when she dressed in Christopher clothes. I love how Matthew showed his support by exclaiming how repugnant society's treatment of Oscar Wild was, but still doesn't push her and gives her the space to share she is not cis whenever she's ready.
"I do not think love can be wrong." said Matthew.
Besides Anna, another plot point that was expanded on this story was Jem's search for who we now know is Tessa's demonic parent. I predict that this greater demon will probably play a big part in ‘The Last Hours’ since Clare has used the first two stories to emphasize how worried Jem and Tessa are of how he will affect the children's lives. But, as we have seen in previous books and this story, having contact with your demon parent tends to only bring pain. Let's just hope that Tessa, James and Lucy have better luck with their demonic parenting than Magnus and Leopolda!
ps. Another theme that Cassie has been developing in her recent works are healthy female friendships and as a feminist I loved this line Anna said on Lucy and Cordelia's friendship:
"Women should value other women, even if society often did not."
‘Learn About Loss’ by Cassandra Clare and Kelly Link is less exciting and fun than the previous two stories. In this story, Cassie concentrates on further developing plot points of ‘The Dark Artifices’, ‘The Last Hours’and ‘The Wicked Powers’. The story officially introduces us to Tessa's demonic parent, Belial, and gives us a glimpse of what we should expect on ‘The Last Hours’. It was interesting to see how different Belial is from other demons we've already met. On the surface, Belial seems to be like any other demon: bloodthirsty and apathetic. His goal seems to be torturing and killing innocents only for his own enjoyment. However, we soon realize that he's also intelligent and astute. When he says to Jem,
"You build and you struggle and you fight, but the darkness and the abyss will come one day in a great tide and sweep away everything you love."
we realize that Belial could actually be a bigger threat than he seems and that his carefree idiotic attitude should not fool us into forgetting he is a Greater Demon and therefore very powerful. Belial also references the great danger coming Kit's way…hopefully he's referring to what Kit has already fought in ‘The Infernal Devices’ and not foreshadowing more danger in ‘The Wicked Powers’.
"There is power in their blood (Lost Herondales), and there is great danger, too. They are in hiding from an enemy who is neither mortal nor demon. These pursuers are resourceful, and close on their heels, and they will kill them if they find them."
As a big Kit fan I am terrified to see what's to come!
However, even though the story mostly focuses on providing necessary information for future series, it still had heartwarming moments. The story also re-introduces us to the soon to be Iron Sister, Emilia, who is a relatively new strong female character that I already love. I will love her forever for gifting Jem and Will one final day as themselves. Jem's relationship with Will and the latter's imminent death is highly present in the story as it seems to constantly be in his mind. Therefore, I am extremely thankful of how terrifying Emilia is and that she used that strength to make a deal with Belial not for herself, but for Jem and Will.
‘A Deeper Love’ by Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson is the weakest of the stories in ‘Ghosts of the Shadow Market’. The story revolves around the lives of Tessa and Jem after Will's death. The devastating loss of Will is reflected in the chaos the world is enduring during World War II. Like England, Tessa and Jem's lives have succumbed to darkness and suffering. Both of them are overwhelmed due to Will's death and trying to manage it in their own way. Tessa is doing so by nursing people back to health, while Jem has further surrendered into the nothingness of the Silent Brotherhood. In this story, it's more evident that Jem has been slowly but surely losing pieces of himself and becoming more like the other Silent Brothers. The caring, compassionate and lovable Jem is slowly disappearing to be replaced with someone cold and unfeeling. Will's death has greatly aggravated Jem's decline, since like Tessa says,
"There was nothing worse than being left alone, the one you loved ripped from you."
However, just like St. Peter's Church stands strong after the attacks, Tessa and Jem will persevere Will's loss because they have each other.
"As long as you live, we keep Will alive."
"Where you are, I am. Where we are, Will is."
Cassie also uses the story to reflect on how cruel human nature can be. Driven by greed, envy and hate, humans do terrible things without being influenced by demons or evil. When she writes,
"Mundanes had their own demonic ways"
"Sometimes I think mundanes will do more harm to each other than any demon could ever do to them."
Cassie breaks the fourth wall to tell the reader how in our not fictitious world things as horrible as World Wars happen all the time due to humans and not demonic forces. Humans are responsible for most of society's afflictions and as much as some may like to blame others, our own actions and decisions are the cause. Humans are the main root of evil in the world and only we have the power to start and stop it.
ps. I NEED to see Kit and Catarina meet!
‘The Wicked Ones’ by Cassandra Clare and Robin Wasserman is a great story. The story's mostly told in Celine Montclaire's point of view who is an extremely interesting character. In the first half of ‘The Mortal Instruments’, Cassie created an extremely complex and intriguing villain in Valentine Morgestern. We got to learn his motives and how he used his charisma to gain so many followers. Most members of The Circle loved and admired him. Instead of following him due to fear or coersion, like Sebastian/Jonathan's followers did, they believed in him and his cause. Therefore, it's always extremely interesting to see the perspective of those who followed Valentin for other reasons than loving him. Like Robert Lightwood, who followed Valentine in order to free himself of the responsibility of making his own decisions, Celine had ulterior motives for joining The Circle. Celine, though bright, strong and beautiful, has dedicated her youth to follow a man who obviously does not care or respect her, Stephen Herondale. Celine does not have the confidence and autoesteem to see how trully special and strong she is. Therefore, when Valentine recruits her for The Circle, he does not preach of his cause or promises power and wealth. Instead he gives her what she wants the most: validation.
"No one had ever called her (Celine) exceptional before."
Valentine made her feel strong and special for the first time and because of this she decided to join him, even though she obviously has no hate towards downworlders. Little did she know that she didn't need him to be special and strong, she already was. She survived years of parental abuse and became a strong shadowhunter, however the abuse made her vulnerable to Valentine. She is unable to realize she deserves better than Stephen and that she is strong enough to make her own path. Therefore, when Valentine offers her confidence and the love of her life, she is unable to resist joining him.
"She wanted the certainity that settled over her in Valentine's presence, the power he had to make her believe. Not just in him but in herself."
Furthermore, even though she knows it's wrong, Celine accepts Valentine's offer of Stephen because she does not know that love should be selfless. When her parents abused her, they always claimed to do it because they loved her.
"We are only doing this because we love you."
Therefore, she does not know how to love or be loved. Furthermore, through their abuse, her parents shaped her to become what they wanted her to be. Instead of being herself, Celine only knew to be what those around her needed and wanted. Therefore, she saw Amatis, who was strong and independent, as the wrong woman for Stephen.
"I can be whatever you want me to be."
Unlike Amatis, Celine was willing to become whaterver Stephen wanted her to be and she trully thought that's what people had to do in order to gain the love of someone.
Furthermore, due to her parents actions, Celine has become a person that thrives of pain and needs it to survive. Therefore, even though she knows Stephen will never love her, she accepts to live through the constant pain marrying him will bring.
"You covet pain because you know it makes you strong."
Valentine's conversation and deal with Celine further demonstrates how much of an expert manipulator he is. Unlike other villains that need fear to achieve their goals, Valentine only has to share a conversation with someone in order to turn them to his side. Even after seeing his true motives and how he manipulated his "trusted" followers, Celine still decides to alliance herself to him. Valentine manages to gain her devotion by exploting her weaknesses. He makes her belief that for once she is trusted before all others. That she is unique and special amongst his men and therefore it's an honor for Him to have her in his Circle, instead of the other way around. Hearing the words she has hoped to hear her whole life, Celine decides to stay with Valentine and keep his secrets. A decision that will later on cause her death.
Furthermore, by killing her parents, Valentine instills a sense of debt in Celine. She now owes him for eliminating those that caused her so much pain. While the Clave never did anything to help her, Valentine did and thus he is more worthy of her loyalty and service.
The other point of view character is Jem, who has continued succumbing to the Silent Brotherhood. When we see him, we realize he has become a former shadow of himself.
"But Brother Zachariah's heart was encased in stone."
However, there's still one thing that ties him to his former self: his search for the Lost Herondale. Saddly, it seems like the mission is coming to a close. In the Paris' Shadow Market, Jem finds who he believes to be the last descendant of the Lost Herondale and the thought terrifies him. He says,
"The fear stemmed from the realization that he (Jem) had achieved his goal. This search was the one thing that still bound him to Tessa, to Will, to his former self."
After a misunderstanding, Jem does find the Lost Herondale and completes his mission. However, instead of taking her for protection, Jem lets her go with only a way to seek help if she ever needs it. It's hard to say if Jem would have made the same decision had he not been a Silent Brother, but the reality is that he did made it and with it, his mission has been completed and he is free of all he ever loved. Furthermore, Tessa believes that giving the Lost Herondale the chance to choose her own future is what Will would have wanted. And since it is for him that they had been searching, she gives Jem peace with his decision. She says:
"The past happens to us. But we choose our future."
‘Son of the Dawn’ by by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan is one of the best stories of this book. The story relates how Jem joined the NY vampires and Lightwood's to stop a shipment of yin fen from arriving to the city. However, the true main event of the story is Jace's arrival to the NY institute. The story starts when Raphael seeks Jem's help to stop yin fen from getting on his streets, since he does not trust the Lightwoods who are now running the NY Institute. However, Jem agrees to help only if Raphael lets him consult with the Institute first. Once the Lightwood's agree to help, Robert, Raphael, Lily and Jem embark on a mission to stop the horrible drug from leaving the ship and protect those aboard, especially Jace then Wayland.
At the beginning of the story, it seems that Jem has fully succumbed to the Silent Brotherhood and it's only the mention of yin fen that brings a little of his old self back. His lack of feelings is apparent when he sees the warlock that hurt Matthew and his family and does not seem to care. Furthermore, he also says he does not care for the vampires nor himself and even entertains the thought of letting himself be killed by the werewolves aboard the ship. However, all of this changes with the appearance of Jace. Like Will once did, Jace saves Jem by helping him remember who he used to be and those he used to love. He also managed to give him hope for a better future.
"If life is a wheel, it will bring you (Will) back to me. All I must do is keep faith."
And though he may not know it yet, with this help, the Carstairs are even more in the Herondales' debt.
The story also gives us a little peak at how damaged Jace was when he arrived at New York. Although he is so young, Jace is already a strong fighter that is not affected by killing other living beings. Jem even notes that he moves with military discipline and that his father most have been a harsh man. Furthermore, it's obvious that even though Jace loved his father, he was a cruel man that greatly affected his emotional and social growth. Evidence of this can be seen once he arrives at the institute. Jace flinches when Max hugs him and hides his injuries in fear of being deemed an inadequate soldier and sent back. Isabelle also notes that he shuts his emotions behind a mask. Furthermore, Jace seems to be extremely curious of Maryse. He has ever had a mother and thus wants to please her so much that he even tells her she can change his name if she so prefers. Jace is also curious on parabatai and the thought of belonging to another.
"I don't know. I'm not really anyone's anything."
All of these prove he was mistreated as a child and has not been shown true love. He is evidently love deprived and is afraid to seek it. For instance, even though he seems to want a parabatai bond, he is also afraid it will make him weak as his father taught him. However, his desire is so strong that it only takes Jem simple words to make him reconsider if being weak is worth the closeness it would bring.
"If you pretend to feel nothing, the pretense may become true."
The story also gives us some insight on Raphael and Izzy. Through the story, Raphael tries to maintain a façade of not caring about those around him. However, this is clearly false since he's trying to stop drugs from getting to NY. Also, he shows he cares about Lily, Ragnor and Magnus, even though he tries to hide it under the pretense of them being his "colleagues". The story also foreshadows his death in ‘The Mortal Instruments’,
"The Morgenstern legacy will claim more victims. I do not intend to be one of them."
which will ironically be due to him trying to protect Magnus' who he claims is not his friend.
Besides Jem, the story is also told from Isabelle's point of view. Through her eyes, the reader can see how much of a taboo Valentine has become. Even though she's a Shadowhunter and her parents used to be in the Circle, Izzy does not know much of the war that transpired.
"Anyone sensible would know you could count on her dad."
By thinking this, Izzy demonstrates her lack of knowledge on the cruel actions of her parents just a few years prior. Furthermore, it also shows that her parents have changed. Izzy and Alec have been raised to follow the Clave and its mandates. They believe in protecting the mundanes and downworlders. However, the beliefs the older Lightwoods once had is still evident when Maryse tries to protect her children against Raphael only because he was talking to them. Clearly, changing is harder said than done.
Is it really a surprise that this is my favorite story in this book? Magnus and Alec are such amazing characters that everytime Clare writes about them, the story becomes even greater and magical. ‘The Land I Lost’ by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan is the story of how Alec helps the Buenos Aires downworlders overcome the tyrany and corruption the Institute has become after the Dark War. However, while the conflict between the downworlders and the shadowhunters of Buenos Aires is interesting, the best part of the story is Rafael’s introduction and Lily’s struggle to overcome Raphael’s death.
The book starts in the Lightwood-Bane home where Magnus is seen teaching Max to resist demonic temptation. As always, the trio’s interaction was adorable and I couldn’t get enough of it. Unike Chairman Meow who has been tormented by Max, this reader’s heart almost exploded from how cute the young warlock is and her only complain was that she needed more. Clare wrote the dynamic between their little family perfectly. While extremely unique and different, Magnus, Alec and Max’s relationship is also completely normal. Unlike other shadowhunters, Alec has a child that needs a blueberry board to learn resisting demonic wiles. However, even though they are so different from other parents and children, they are still the same in the way that matters the most: they love each other. Other snippets that show how completely normal they are is the sailor suit of shame and Max constant requests for a sibling. By showing us how normal they are, Clare is stressing that just because their family is different, it doesn’t make it wrong.
Sadly, their little bubble of hapiness is interrupted by a letter from Tessa and Jem requesting Alec’s help in Buenos Aires. Apperantly, Tessa and Jem have retaken their search for the Lost Herondale, but their mission has been twarted by the Queen of the Shadowmarket who has banned anyone associated with Shadowhunters, except Alec, from entering. So Alec decides to embark to Buenos Aires with Lily as his translator. Once they arrive to Buenos Aires, Alec and Lily quickly realize that something is very wrong in the Institute. Upon investigating, they discover that the Institute is in war with the Shadowmarket. The head of the Institute, Clive Breakspeare has been trafficking downworlders from the Shadowmarket who now seek Alec’s help in overthrowing them.
While they are attempting to dethrone the Buenos Aires’ Institute, Alec finds Rafael, a shadowhunter boy that has been abandoned at the Shadowmarket. I immediately fell in love with Rafael’s character and his interactions with Alec. I love that he is fierce, commanding and strong, but still just a child that needs love. In one second, Rafael is cursing in spanish and ignoring Alec and in the next he is commanding to be carried, perplexed by photos of Magnus and shyly hugging Max. I also love how the relationship between them develops. Unlike with Max, Alec does not immediately realize that he wants to keep Rafael as his son and only does so when it’s almost too late. Likewise, Rafael harsh upbringing made him unable to show Alec that he cared for him until the latter almost dies. This was extrmely relatable. Often in life, people don’t realize how much they love others and don’t apreciate them until it’s too late. Thankfully, it’s not too late for Alec and Rafael and they have the chance to demonstrate their love for each other.
I also loved the instant connection between Magnus and Rafael. Like Rafael, Magnus was an orphan abandoned in the cruel world of Shadowhunter, demonds and downworlders as a child. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that they would instantly connect and love each other. Rafael had already learn to love Alec and being fascinated by Magnus, thus it didn’t come as a surprise that they immidiatly fell in love with each other. I was destroyed when Rafael burst into tears and begged to stay. Through this story, Rafael had demonstrated being strong and independent. Therefore, seeing him crying and begging for love was heartbreaking. I also loved that Max immediately fell in love with Rafael and can’t wait to see more of their brother relationship. I especially liked the fact that Rafael, a shadowhunter, is fascinated by magic, while Max, a warlock, believes himself to be a shadowhunter. Maybe, this will be the beginning of chain in the shadow world. Maybe, their relationship will be one of many that will erase the barriers between what a person can or can’t do based on their species.
Besides Rafael, we also got to learn more about another character: Lily. Lily’s story arc in this story is extremely powerful and sad. The vampire coping with Raphael’s death is used as a device to address once again immortality and what it means to the future of the Lightwood-Bane clan. Unlike previous books, the topic does not involve only Alec and Magnus’ anymore. With the incorporation of Max in their lives, some worries have been appeased, while others have manifested. Alec feels a little reassured that Magnus will have Max and wont be left completely alone when he dies. However, this also means that not only will he be leaving Magnus without his spouse but Max without a father. Furthermore, Magnus has found a little comfort in knowing he will have someone with him when Alec dies. Nevertheless, he now worries about teaching Max how to cope with being immortal and always losing those you love.
Besides coping with Raphael’s death, Lily’s past is explored in this story. The terrible things she went through gives us insight in why she’s so independent and strong. Furthermore, it connects her to the conflict of this story and the characters of ‘The Lost Hours’. By creating a link between the kidnapped werewolves and a character the reader has grown to love, Clare raises the stakes and urgency of the mission. Her past also helps the reader understand why has Raphael’s death affected her so much. Lily was raised in a toxic environment where she never felt safe or capable of trusting anyone. Raphael was the first person she trusted to protect and keep her safe. Thus, losing him did not only meant losing the person she loved, but also losing the sense of safety. Also, Lily sharing her past with Alec is crucial to establish their frienship. From learning her past, it’s evident that Lily does not trust or love easily. However, when Alec says:
“Sleep, Lily…I’ll watch the doors”
Lily sleeps.
Lily is also the gateway for another important topic discussed briefly in this book. When Breakspear attempts to interrogate Lily, Alec steps in front of her because he recognizes the power he posseses as the Inquisitor’s son and Jace’s parabatai.
“He (Alec) was protected in a way many others were not. That meant he had to use whatever he had, for those who had no protection.”
This quote is extremely powerful, especially due to current events in the USA. There are many powerful people in the world who choose to use their power as a weapon against those that are “weaker” than them. However, it should be their duty to use that power to protect those who are “weaker” and fight for them to have a better life. The recent resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement is the perfect example for how important it’s to use your power to help those that don’t have it. While some White people use their power to abuse of those different than them, others use it to act as a shield that protects them. As a Puerto Rican, I have the unique experience of being both White and a minority. I have been discriminated against, but I also have power over other minorities because of the color of my skin. And it’s our duty to use that power to help and protect those who don’t have it. For we don’t know when the tides will turn and it will be us who needs the protection of those more powerful.
Jem is also a gateway for a different important topic lightly referenced in this story. By explaining why he didn’t call Celine Jace’s mother, Jem highlights the difference between a mother who births and one who raises. It’s unfanthomable to me how much people use family as an excuse to treat others poorly. In my opinion, it’s okay to love someone and not like them. I have plenty of family members whom I love that I would probably not care for at all if they weren’t family. However, it’s also okay to dislike and not love a family member. Being family is not a reason to love someone. You should not be expected to love someone who mistreats you or is simply a bad person just because they are “family”. Family is supposed to be the people we want in our lives unconditionally. Therefore, we should be able to chose who those people are. After all, like Jem says:
“Blood was not love.”
Jem and Tessa are also used to connect this story to the events of ‘The Dark Artifices’. From this story forward, Clare offers further insight on how Jem and Tessa found and saved Kit. Furthermore, the war between the Faerie and Shadowhunters is forshadowed making us think that we haven’t seen the end of it yet.
Juliette’s character is also extremely important for this saga. Instead of creating a new character as the queen of the Buenos Aires’ Shadow Market, Clare uses one from ‘The Red Scrolls of Magic’ that most readers had probably forgotten. By using her, Clare establishes the importance of being kind and a good person. If it wasn’t for Alec’s kindness in ‘TRSOM’, the shadowhunters may had never been able to peacefuly enter the Shadow Market and discover the sinister actions of the Institute. Furthermore, Alec and Magnus wouldn’t have found Rafael.
Furthermore, Clare gives us further insight on Alec and Robert’s relationship after the latter rejected the former for his sexuality. From their interaction, it’s evident that while somewhat repaired, their relationship is still tense. Alec has managed to forgive his father, but he has not been able to forget. In real life, people encounter many circumstances in which they decide to forgive those who have wronged them. However, like Alec, they find it impossible to completely forget. This conversation demonstrates that even though they are Nephilim, Alec and Robert are also human beings capable of making mistakes, having regrets and feeling resentment. Furthermore, in their conversation, Robert also shows his approval of Alec as the next Inquisitor and gives the reader a final conversation between father and son before the former dies in ‘Lord of Shadows’.
In this story, Clare also continues to highlight women’s strength and how important it’s for men to value and recognize it.
“Mr. Breakspear says that women aren’t suited to the rigor of a tightly run Institute” - Joaquin
“Clary Fairchild is one of the heads of my Institute…Jia Penhallow is the leader of all Shadowhunters. Anyone who says women are weak is afraid they’re too strong” – Alec
By introducing this topic, Clare does not only remind the reader of female strength, but also establishes how in different cultures the view of women may be drastically different. While in the USA, women are still thought to be below men by many, there are also plenty of people who recognize that women are no different than men. However, as a Puerto Rican who now lives in Mexico, I can confirm that women’s value is diminished even more in Latin American countries. Sexism is present in all countries and civilizations of the world. However, there are some countries where it’s more abundant and graver. Even educated professional can be ignorant in the topic. For example, my professor at med school (a Doctor!) told my class “A man saying that a female doctor tried to rape him would be ridiculous”. By saying this, my professor underestimated a woman’s strengths, while also overestimating that of men. Statements like these show how sexism does not affect only women, but also men. Therefore, literature like Clare’s that highlights the importance of recognizing women’s strength is extremely important in our society.
In this book, Clare also forshadows some events that we may see unfold in the ‘Last Hours’ and ‘The Wicked Powers’. Firstly, she forshadows that Thomas will walk a fine line between darkness and light in the ‘Last Hours’ series when Magnus says:
“There was a bit of monster in him (Thomas)”
Based on ‘Cast Long Shadows’ and ‘Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy’, Thomas is a very shy boy that seeks and admires those that are bright and powerful. He likes to sorround himself with people like Matthew and Alistair because he believes that, unlike him, they are worthy of adoration and loyalty. However, this adoration could also be interpretated as a thirst for power. Like I said previously on my ‘Cast Long Shadows’ spoiler review, Thomas adoration and loyalty for Alistair reminds me of Percy from the Harry Potter series. Hopefully, unlike Percy, Thomas learns to think for himself and not do whatever Alistair and/or Matthew tell him to do before it’s too late. Especially since, unlike Matthew, Alistair and others could explode this weakness.
The story also foreshadows how different the Shadowhunter world will be in ‘The Wicked Powers’ now that Alec is in charge. When he finds Rafael, Alec’s ideal of the Shadowhunter world is further tarnished. As children, our world is black and white. However, as we grow, we realize there are many shades of grey in the world. Alec once thought of the Shadowhunters as protectors against the darkness. However, nowadays, he has come to realize that many Shadowhunters are part of that darkness. Therefore, he fantasizes about how different things would be if he were in charge. And the reader knows, he soon will be and thus will have the power to change things.
Finally, by incorporating how Lily’s coping with Raphael’s death, Clare could be forshadowing Alec’s death and Magnus’ coping during ‘The Wicked Powers’. Hopefuly, I am reading too much into this and Alec and Magnus have a happy ending, bacause I don’t think I can handle otherwise.
‘Through Blood, Through Fire’ by by Cassandra Clare and and Robin Wasserman is the final story of the ‘Ghosts of the Shadow Market’ that takes place during past series: ‘The Infernal Devices’, ‘The Last Hours’, ‘The Mortal Instruments’ and ‘The Dark Artifices’. In this story, Jem and Tessa’s search for the Lost Herondale comes to its end when Rosemary messages Jem asking for help. However, they are too late and Rosemary is already dead when they arrive. But, they discover that Rosemary had a child who is now in grave danger and thus start the search to find him. Their search immediately turns sour when Tessa finds herself trapped in Rosemary’s body while recovering from a stab wound inflicted by Fal of Mannan. While she fights for her life, Jem reflects on the difficulty and hopelessness of standing by while those you love slowly die. He especially reflects on how difficult it most have been for Will to watch him suffer under the sickness caused by the yin fen and as a silent brother. This reflection is Clare’s way of underlining the importance of putting ourselves in the shoes of those who love us while taking risks with our own lives.
Furthermore, Tessa’s struggle to retain her own identity is a clever way for Clare to explore Rosemary’s past now that she’s dead. Rosemary is the perfect example for how ingenuity and rebelion can have catastrophic consequences. As a teenager, Rosemary’s recklessness ended with her parents death. However, later on, she put Rook at risk by running with him and, as an adult, decided to travel to Los Angeles to be near her family and thus caused her and Rook’s death and put Kit at risk. Again and again, Rosemary made decision that put her interests above the safety of others. And again and again, they had catastrophic consequences. As Rook said:
“Growing up unafraid of the world is a good way to get destroyed by it.”
The story also addresses immortality and what it means to be human. Once again Tessa and Jem realize that loss is what makes them human. Wether they are warlocks, faeries, vampires or shadowhunters, the fact that they can feel loss connects them as equals.
Finally, this story reveals to us that Tessa and Jem are expecting a child. Words can’t begin to describe how happy I was to read this. I imagine it most be incredible hard for Tessa to go through this process again. However, as Tessa says, humans are strong and
“The only truly unbearable burden is living without love.”
And of course Clare then proceded to break my heart by ending the story with an apparition of a happy and accepting Will.
‘The Lost World’ by Cassandra Clare and Kelly Link is the first story of the book that takes place after the events of the last book of the The Shadowhunter Chronicles, ‘Queen of Air and Darkness’. The main theme of the story is the unfairness of life and how sometimes we must endure things we wouldn’t have chosen for ourselves.
“I did not choose this life”
“It isn’t fair. But life isn’t fair.”
Furthermore, the story explores the meaning of death for not only those left behind, but also the victim themselves.
“Everyone always thinks they’ll have more time.”
“I belong here. Do you?”
Lastly, the story provides context and clues as to what we should expect in ‘The Wicked Powers’.
I would like to prelude this review by saying that I am an avid TV and movie watcher and thus, as soon as I saw Ty succeed in partially resuscitating Livvy, I knew it was probably going to be disastrous. I have watched enough TV to know that people that die violent deaths and come back as ghosts always go mad with vengeance and resentment. And by the way Livvy was acting in this story, I think it is safe to assume that Livvy is slowly but surely going down the path of madness. Even Magnus seems to think so. When asked by Jem if demons caused the destruction of the conservatory, he answers
“Not a demon, I think”
while fully knowing it was Livvy. And hence implying that he’s unsure whether she is or isn’t a demonic force. He also tells Livvy that she can become:
“More powerful. Less human. More a hungry ghost. Something dangerous to the living.”
If that isn’t ominous and foreboding, then I don’t know what is.
At the beginning of the story, we learn that Livvy has been slowly remembering who she was in life and at first glance the reader may think that she has been completely restored to her old self. She seems to be the same sarcastic, loving and funny teenager we met in ‘The Dark Artifices’. However, soon enough, the reader realizes that something is amiss with Livvy and that she may not have returned as complete as we would’ve hoped. As the story progresses, we can see how empty and not like herself Livvy feels, especially when she spends large amounts of time far away from Ty. While away from Ty, Livvy regains some of the senses she had in life. However, she also begins to forget who she is, lose all sense of right and wrong and is instead filled with resentment and rage.
“Now, stretched so far away from him (Ty), she felt both more and less solid than she had been.”
“The longer I stayed away, the more I forgot things. Like who I was. Like you. Why should I come back.”
In other words, been far from Ty makes her more solid physically, but less so mentally. This will probably become a huge problem during ‘The Wicked Powers’. Already, Livvy has demonstrated that she feels trapped and tied to Ty and that she wants to be able to be away from him. And even though she says that she will always be there for Ty, because she loves him and is grateful to him for bringing her back, she seems resentful of the fact that she has no choice in the matter.
“She had promised him that she would always be there. He had saved her from death, and she loved him. Anyway, she didn’t have anywhere else to be.”
In life, Livvy wanted to be Ty’s parabatai and tie herself to him forever. But now that she finds herself truly tied to him, she can’t help but resent the fact that she has no choice but to be so. Furthermore, even though she says that she promised always to be there for him, she proceeds to say this about the tree on the library:
“To the library, where the great silvery tree grew through the broken ceiling like a promise that no wall or hardship (or promise) endured forever.”
In this quote, Clare foreshadows that there will probably come a time when Livvy breaks her promise or is at least is tempted to do so. Hopefully, she does so in order to free Ty from her and help him move on and not as a way to regain her life while sacrificing his.
Besides Livvy, we also get insight on Ty’s life after his actions on ‘Queen of Air and Darkness’. Even though he seemed so sure of himself the last time we saw him, in this story, Ty seems to regret bringing Livvy back. He has put himself in penance for his actions by isolating himself at the Scholomance and refusing to take pleasure in seeing photos of his family. He needs to forgive himself before his self-shame causes him to make even graver mistakes. Also, this penance does not only affect him, but also Livvy. It can’t be good for your newly resurrected ghost sister, who is already very unhappy and resentful, to see how much you regret bringing her back. Furthermore, in life, Livvy was always proud to be the only one that Ty trusted completely with everything. Thus, the fact that he is hiding what is wrong with him and she can’t find a way to fix it must be driving her mad with frustration.
The roles between the twin’s dynamic has also changed drastically since ‘The Dark Artifices’. When we met them, Ty needed Livvy to protect him and to manage the world around him. However, after her death, Ty has learned to be more independent and surer of himself. He has learned how to live on his own without the help of others. He is even beginning to grow a beard! The other Blackthorn siblings as well as Diana and Emma have also grown and move on with their lives. On the other hand, Livvy now needs Ty’s help to adjust to the world, has lost most of her senses, can’t interact with the majority of her love ones and can no longer grow up.
“It wasn’t that she was growing smaller. It was just that he (Ty) was growing, would continue to grow, and she was dead. That was all.”
“Everyone else got to come home.”
Thus, unsurprisingly, she’s a little envious of the fact that everyone she loves is growing, while she herself can’t. Especially, since so many people she knows have been “allowed” to return and take up their lives again. She also feels resentful her family has moved on and seem to have forgotten her. It’s this resentment and envy that causes her to actually interact with the living world for the first time. Afterwards, at Jem and Tessa’s home, Livvy’s resentment almost drives her to hurt them and their unborn child. These actions are pretty ominous and foreboding. As you would expect from the product of a spell from The Book of the Damned, bringing back Livvy will have grave repercussions. Hopefully, Livvy and Ty reach their remarkable potential and do the great things Magnus’ expects of them. Because, like Magnus’ said
“If you (Livvy) do not do great things, then I fear you may do terrible things.”
One thing’s for sure, things will get a lot worse before they get better.
Another important foreboding plot point on this story is the Dimmet Tarn. Supposedly, the water reflects part of the viewer’s future and Livvy only sees black nothingness when looking within. This could mean a couple of things. First of all, since Livvy is dead and a ghost, she doesn’t actually have a future and thus she sees nothing on the water. But it may also mean that Livvy’s future is full of darkness. When talking with Ty, Livvy says
“You don’t need to worry about me, Ty. I’m dead. Nothing bad can happen to me now.”
This line could be Clare foreshadowing that there’s even more darkness coming in Livvy’s future. As we have learned from this series, there are worse things than death. Hopefully, I am being paranoid, and the dark water only symbolizes that Livvy has no future because she’s dead. Besides, Magnus’ said that the future isn’t fixed, so I’m hoping that Livvy can either find peace and move on or find happiness as a ghost. After all, she does have the best anchor in Ty.
Besides Livvy, Ty and the Carstairs’ new addition, this story also briefly introduces a conflict that will probably be explored in ‘The Wicked Powers’. By trying to enter Idris, Livvy hears from Zara and Manuel that the Cohort has a way to spy on the Shadowhunters at the outside world. I can think of three ways in which they’re doing this: with a magical object, with the help of a warlock, faerie or demon or, lastly, there’s a traitor/spy in our heroes’ mist. The last one would be the more interesting plot device, but the first two open the possibility for the Alec and company to spy back on them. So either way, it will be interesting to see how Clare develops this plot point. We also learn that, unsurprisingly, the Cohort has a surprise attack planned, making them officially one of the villains our heroes will have to overcome in ‘The Wicked Powers’. Hopefully, they don’t unite with Thule Jace, the Seelie Queen and Ash or they could become a bigger threat than we would like.
ps. Poor Wilhelmina Yiqiang Ke Carstairs…. that’s an awful name to be stuck with in the 21st century. At least they’re calling her Mina.
‘Forever Fallen’ by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan is, sadly, the final story of this book. Thankfully, it was a great final installment. Like ‘The Lost World’, this story focuses in exploring the main plot and characters that we’ll see on ‘The Wicked Powers’. However, instead of following the Blackthorn siblings, this story follows the Carstairs family and Janus, aka Jace from Thule.
The Carstairs and Kit are all settling in on their new home and life. While Tessa and Jem seem to have adjusted perfectly to their new lifestyle, Kit is battling with the fact that he does not feel like he belongs with them or anyone for that matter. When asked by a faerie at the NY Shadow Market,
“Whose are you now?”
Kit replies:
“Nobody’s”
Evidently, the events that transpired during ‘The Dark Artifices’ have affected Kit’s sense of self-worth and identity. Furthermore, he has developed abandonment issues. Which is no surprise for someone who never knew his mother, was lied to all his life by his recently deceased father and was casted aside by his best friend. He says
“I’ve never been enough, not for anyone, and I’m trying, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be.”
However, to the reader, it’s fairly obvious that Kit does belong and is wanted with the Carstairs. Jem is interested in what he has to say and they both often enjoy easy repertoire. He and Tessa have similar interests and already share a love for teasing Jem. And it’s obvious that Mina adores him. Both Tessa and James say so themselves multiple times in this story,
“We’re (Tessa, Jem and Mina) all lucky you’re here.” - Tessa
“We (Tessa and Jem) want you (Kit) to know there is nothing in this house more precious to us than you.” – Jem
“Where there is love, Kit, there is no need for gratitude. And I love you.” - Jem
And as it’s said on ‘The Land I Lost’: Blood is not love. Blood is not family. We chose our own families. And without realizing it, Kit has found his in Jem, Tessa and Mina. Throughout this story, Kit seems to get a little less uncertain of his place in this family. However, the road to defeating our insecurities can be long and arduous. Hopefully, he soon realizes that there are people to whom he is important. He does have family and people who love him. And he does have a place where he belongs.
Besides expanding on his family relationship, this story also briefly further foreshadows that Kit’s role as a descendant of the first heir will be an important plot point in ‘The Wicked Powers’. The authors stressed how Jem was going to train him to be able to protect himself and then when Tessa says Mina thought Kit had gone on an adventure without her, Kit answers
“Not today.”
Implying that in the near future we will see him go into a new dangerous adventure. Furthermore, the last line of the book ominously states
“This evening the whole sky was bronze, as thought to summon wicked powers.”
The other POV character we follow in this story is Janus, aka Jace from Thule. His portion of the story is the most essential for the plot in ‘The Wicked Powers’ as it reintroduces us to one of the main conflicts we’ll explore. Janus and Ash are very complicated characters which I enjoyed immensely. In my opinion, besides Valentine and Sebastian, all of Cassandra Clare villains are a little flat and disposable. Clare does a great job developing amazing heroes, but her villains are often underdeveloped, nonthreatening and simply opportunistic plot devices to see our MC grow. Therefore, I am extremely grateful that she seems to be taking the time to develop new threatening and fully fledge antagonists in Janus and Ash.
Firstly, let’s discussed Janus. Like the Roman god Janus, the Jace from Thule has two faces: Sebastian and Jace. He has some of Jace’s qualities like being capable of loving Clary, his family and Ash. He also seems to be charismatic and charming enough to make unknown downworlders trust him. He even manages to get Lily, who realizes he isn’t the real Jace, to trust him. However, he also has Sebastian’s unhealthy obsession with Clary and will to do whatever it takes to accomplish his selfish goals. His obsession is so like Sebastian’s that he paid for an illusion of Clary only to stab and kill her. If that’s not the sign of a twisted and traumatized mind, then I don’t know what is. It’s clear that Janus has a lot of mental issues. Besides PTSD, he also probably has trouble distinguishing what is real and what is not. This is evidenced by the fact that he can’t comprehend that the Lightwoods, Magnus and Simon have “not noticed or cared or missed him while he had been tortured” when he knows that he is from another world and these are not the same people he once knew.
Like the roman god, Janus also represents the beginning and ending of The Shadowhunter Chronicles. He is a version of Jace born out of the conflicts of the first series, ‘The Mortal Instruments’, who has become a villain in the last series, ‘The Wicked Powers’. He represents the past/beginning and future/end of Cassie Clare’s world. Lastly, like the god Janus, Jace from Thule is a passage between strange doorways. In the literal sense, he is the pathway that connects our world with Thule. Furthermore, symbolically, he connects ‘The Wicked Powers’ with ‘TMI’ and ‘TDA’and the main characters from ‘TMI’ and ‘TDA’ with those of ‘The Wicked Powers’.
Janus complicated nature rises from the fact that the reader can’t pinpoint what he’s actions will be. Even Janus himself does not seem to know what he’ll do before he’s already done it. By being under Sebastian’s control for so many years, Janus has grown accustomed to being unfeeling and without will. Therefore, we now see him struggling with his newfound emotions and how much they oppose his past and present actions. Furthermore, his contrasting personalities have caused the creation of a terrible philosophy in which he commits terrible acts and finds a way to justify them. For example, when he kills the faerie and werewolf couple, he gives them a proper burial and the “death he would have wanted for himself” in order to make his actions less horrible than they are. Also, when he almost kills Max, he justifies it by thinking it would be better for Alec in the end. His contrasting personalities are battling each other throughout the whole story. And, most of the time, the result is a villainous and cruel act.
As Janus watches the Lightwoods and Clary, we realize that, like Jace, he loves them and longs to be with them. However, all of these feelings are overshadowed by his hatred and envy for their Jace. Janus will not settle for being part of their life, he wants to take the place of their Jace and he wants to be with Clary. As he says
“Janus understood the wretched, murderous jealousy in Sebastian’s voice now, the jealousy of all you could never be.”
At first, Janus plan seems simple enough: kill Jace and take his place. Upon reading this I almost groaned, because I believe it was cliche and completely unrealistic for Janus to be able to replace Jace without anyone noticing. However, I was thankfully surprised when the authors had Janus immediately realize his plan was foolish. When Lily quickly recognizes him and Clary grows suspicious from a brief interaction, Janus realizes his plan won’t work. However, he will not surrender. And, filled with resentment over the fact that the Lightwoods, Magnus and Simon lives are happy and full, Janus decides that if he doesn’t belong in this world then he will create one where he and Ash could both belong. In other words, he fully succumbs to his worst instincts and like Sebastian decides to destroy the world for his own selfish desires.
Besides Janus, we get some insight on Ash. This character is even more complicated than Janus. As soon as we see him on the story, it’s evident that despite all the power he supposedly has, Ash is just a curious child that wants to be loved and wanted. Does this sound familiar? It should, because I also just described Kit. Evidently, Ash and Kit are been groomed to be opposites of the same coin. Both characters have been abandoned, orphaned and displaced. Both long for family, friendship and love. And they were both born with enemies due to their powerful destiny. They both feel like they belong to no one. However, by the end of this story, they seem to have found their place. Kit goes from saying that he belongs to no one to accepting that he’s wanted and loved by Tessa and Jem. Likewise, Ash has accepted that he belongs with Janus. As of now, they are both on opposites paths. It will be interesting to see if their paths will change when they eventually face against each other.
Unlike Janus, Ash does not seem to share many of Sebastian’s qualities. He seems to truly care for Janus, and he has the normal worries any teenager would have on his position. He worries that anyone around him simply cares because of The Dark Artifices and he worries that Janus will leave him. Furthermore, unlike Sebastian, Ash’s eyes are not empty, but Clary’s green. Therefore, he is not as demonic as his father. However, besides all of these “good” qualities, Ash does have a dark side. He has the wings of a fallen angel and he feels resentment and hate towards Sebastian and the fact that he can manipulate anyone perfectly. Even Janus says that his eyes turn a green ice that looked nothing like Clary’s. Also, when Janus offers him the world, he says that this about Ash’s eyes:
“Behind his green eyes, a predator lurked, like a tiger half-obscured by leaves.”
So, obviously, Ash does have some very dark desires and instincts. But everyone has a dark side. Even our heroes (Remember Julian?)! Therefore, there’s hope that Ash will resist his dark impulses and walk the path of light. As Jem said to Kit,
“You can be descended from gods and monsters. You can take the light they left you and be a lamp shinning out all their light made new. You can battle the darkness. You can choose always to fight and hope.”
We have seen Ash do so in the case of Janus! Even though he has “the power to command perfect love and perfect loyalty”, Janus says that
“If Ash had power over him, he didn’t use it. He never ordered Janus to do anything he didn’t want to do.”
Now, let’s discussed my thoughts on Janus and Ash’s future. At the beginning of this story, based on the Janus POV, I believed that there was a great possibility for Janus to eventually come to the “good side”. After all, he does have some of Jace’s best qualities: loving and protective of those he loves. However, once I saw how great his hatred and envy are, I changed my mind. Maybe, he will regret his actions in his deathbed like Sebastian. But I don’t see him changing sides in the middle of ‘The Wicked Powers’ and actually help our heroes. On the other hand, I do belief that Ash will eventually become a part of our crew. It would fall perfectly with the theme Clare has been trying to tell of how every person can make their own choice no matter from whom or how they came into this world. Warlocks can be good even though they’re half demon, thus I must believe that a child of Sebastian and the Seelie Queen can also make the right choices. It would also be a perfect ending to The Shadowhunters Chronicles. If Clary and company manage to save Ash like they couldn’t with Sebastian, the vicious and violent cycle that Valentine started will come to an end and everything will come full circle. However, another way the story may go is that Janus dies at the hands of our heroes, and Ash fully becomes a villain in order to get revenge.
Lastly, while the Carstairs, Kit, Janus and Ash are the main focus of this story, another character was briefly brought up: Lily. I was so terrified for Lily on this story! In the last collection of Shadowhunters stories, ‘Tales from Shadowhunter Academy’, Clare did the unthinkable and killed a character from the world. Thus making the book essential to understand further stories. Therefore, I was terrified that she was going to do the same here and kill Lily. Afterall, the vampire’s development during the ‘Son of Dawn’ and ‘The Land I Lost’ was the perfect setup for her demise. Thankfully, she survived. However, that does not mean I am less terrified for her. I understand why Lily wants so desperately to get Raphael back. Besides loving and admiring him, he was the first person who ever made her feel safe. After the hellish life she led before meeting him, it makes sense that she would worship the ground he walked on. And, like Janus said
“Hope made everybody a fool.”
However, I also know that Lily is smart enough to realize that, like Janus, the Raphael from that world is not her Raphael. Also, that Janus is not to be trusted. Hopefully, she’s able to do so before she does something she regrets…. like breaking Alec’s trust, the second person with whom she has felt safe.
ps. I love the little Simon and Jace interaction we got to see in the story! Defending the kitchen from the Lightwoods is the perfect way to become friends. ;)
Comments