I want to start this off but saying that I love the mortal instruments sextology sooooo much. I loved the characters and their stories and I was really nervous to move on from that and was worried I wouldn’t like the new characters as much as I like the New York gang and they would just be repeats of characters we have already seen. Boy was I wrong! I absolutely adore this new cast of characters possibly even more than I like the OG crew.

Emma is so tough and so likable its hard not to fall in love with her. She’s a really nice balance of “I’m the toughest and best fighter in this Institute but I also love wearing vintage dresses and gossiping with my bestie” and it really made her feel like a real person. I feel like I know girls like Emma in my everyday life. She cares so deeply for her found family and would do anything for them. She’s very tenacious and doesn’t lose sight of whats important to her.

Julien and the Blackthorn family. The family dynamic was really well done in my opinion. Each of the siblings has their own set of skills but all come together so perfectly for one another. Cassandra Clare really took the time in this book to show how much Julien had taken on by becoming the head of the family and the secret head of the Institute. He carries the burden of what he did in the Dark War by killing his Endarkened father and then the fallout of trying to keep his family together and happy while also running an Institute. He doesn’t get many things for himself and it felt like a real portrayal of parenthood.

Mark Blackthorn was a really interesting character to throw in the mix and I was so happy that he showed up. He came with his own baggage and his own trauma into a foreign space that he doesn’t quite remember anymore. He acts so much like a fae and he seems so alien in comparison to the rest of the family but they still love him anyway and would do anything for him. By the end he is a character who is called by the wind and the storm of the Wild Hunt but chooses his true family who bring love without cruelty.

The romance wasn’t overwhelming in these books and to be honest I was really grateful for that. Of course “all stories are love stories” and this is no exception,but I didn’t feel like it took away rom the plot or the characters drive to do what needs to be done. It was a nice companion along the way. You felt like the slow burn was real and they weren’t just falling in love at first sight which was a nice change from the first series. By the end my heart was so sad for Emma and Julien when they separated. Emma found out a secret about parabatai that means that their love could mean the destruction of themselves and their family and she had to try to break his heart to set them free.

The plot was really interesting and it followed a series of serial killings starting with Emma’s parents five years ago. The cult called “The Following” held a lottery in an opulent theater and then made killers out of its members for a dark necromancy ritual. The final reveal was that one of their close friends, a high warlock named Malcom Fade was behind the murders to bring back her dead love Annabel with a Hand of Glory (13 hands that have freshly committed a murder) and the death of a Blackthorn. The plot twist actually threw me and I didn’t know who it was gong to be. I was on my toes for all 600+ pages.

Overall, this book had better written characters and romance in it and I have high hopes for the next two books. I cant wait to binge read until 5am!