The Shadowhunters' Wiki
Register
Advertisement
The Shadowhunters' Wiki


Lady Midnight is the first novel in the The Dark Artifices trilogy written by Cassandra Clare.

Description[]

Glitz, glamours, and Shadowhunters abound in this heartrending opening to Cassandra Clare's Dark Artifices series, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

It's been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.

Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across LA, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn't lead her in treacherous directions...

Making things even more complicated, Julian's brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind and they need the Shadowhunters' help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn't recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?


In a kingdom by the sea...

In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word.

A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other—but they can never fall in love.

Emma Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, one in a long line of Shadowhunters tasked with protecting the world from demons. With her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of a secret Los Angeles where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries start turning up murdered in the same way Emma's parents were murdered years ago, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma's chance for revenge—and Julian's chance to get back his half-faerie brother, Mark, who was kidnapped five years ago. All Emma, Mark and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks... before the murderer targets them.

Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. As she uncovers the past, she begins to peel away the secrets of the present: What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?

The magic and adventure of the Shadowhunter Chronicles have captured the imaginations of millions of readers across the globe. Fall in love with Emma and her friends in this pulse-pounding, heart-rending new volume sure to delight new readers and longtime fans.

Chapters[]

There are 27 chapters; the titles are derived from lines (in no particular order) in the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe.[1]

Prologue

  1. A Sepulchre in This Kingdom
  2. Neither the Angels in Heaven
  3. The Moon Never Beams Without Bringing Me Dreams
  4. And This Was the Reason
Idris, 2007, The Dark War
  1. Highborn Kinsmen
  2. Many Far Wiser
  3. The Sounding Sea
  4. Out of the Cloud by Night
  5. Kingdom by the Sea
  6. And She Was a Child
  7. A Maiden There Lived
  8. Stronger by Far
The Wild Hunt, Some Years Ago
  1. With No Other Thought
  1. Bright Eyes
  2. The Angels Not Half So Happy
  3. By the Side
  4. The Demons Down Under the Sea
Idris, 2009
  1. All the Night-Tide
  2. Chilling and Killing
Los Angeles, 2008
  1. Long Ago
  2. A Wind Blew
  3. Those Who Were Older
  4. To Love and Be Loved
  5. By the Name of Annabel Lee
  6. Tomb by the Sounding Sea
  7. The Winged Seraphs of Heaven
  8. Sever My Soul

Epilogue: Annabel

Characters[]

Shadowhunters[]

  • Emma Carstairs — Seventeen-year-old Emma is a Shadowhunter who is bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.
  • Julian Blackthorn — Emma's parabatai, Jules has been responsible for his younger siblings, and indirectly the Los Angeles Institute, from a young age.
  • Mark Blackthorn — Half-faerie, half-Shadowhunter, Mark is returned to his family in Los Angeles as a bargaining chip after years with the Wild Hunt.
  • Cristina Rosales — Emma's eighteen-year-old best friend who currently resides at the Institute to learn about how their Shadowhunter culture differs from Mexico's.
  • Diana Wrayburn — The tutor of the young Shadowhunters of the Institute.
  • Arthur Blackthorn — The head of the Institute whose shock and trauma over the events of the Dark War, in addition to his past experience in Faerie, has driven his mind over the edge.
  • Diego Rosales — A Shadowhunter from Cristina's past who is also a Centurion.
  • Other Blackthorn children, namely Dru, Livvy, Tavvy, and Ty

Downworlders[]

more...

Gallery[]

Art[]

Editions[]

International covers[]

Trailers[]

Special content[]

  • First edition: All first editions include a hand-stamped rune (Cassandra Clare's stamp signature with a Cortana and Blackthorn thorns symbol) on the first page and the short story A Long Conversation, which shows a party mentioned in Lady Midnight that is attended by The Mortal Instruments characters.[2]
    • Target edition: Books bought at Target additionally include a map of Shadowhunter Los Angeles by Drew Willis.
    • Barnes & Noble edition: Banes & Noble copies additionally include Cassandra Clare's guide to Emma's Los Angeles, a written piece similar to the one in The Infernal Devices about Tessa's London.
    • Costco edition: Editions bought at Costco additionally include artwork on the inside of the dust jacket by Cassandra Jean featuring the characters of The Dark Artifices and The Mortal Instruments.[3]
  • Waterstones Exclusive Edition: This edition sold by Waterstones includes a map of Shadowhunter Los Angeles, the short story included in first editions, and Cassandra Clare's guide to Emma's Los Angeles. All 1,000 copies are signed by Cassandra Clare herself and the cover features a design of Enkeli runes.[4]
  • Fifth anniversary edition: A special edition by Simon & Schuster UK released on September 2, 2021 to commemorate the book's 5-year anniversary since its first release. It includes an introductory letter from Cassandra Clare and a bonus story called Stars to Burn (a version of which was previously released online).[5][6]
See all freely released additional content here

Trivia[]

  • The title refers to Annabel Blackthorn, who is famously known in Shadowhunter folklore as Lady Midnight.
  • Aside from beginning the pattern of nobility titles for The Dark Artifices book titles, Lady Midnight is also named after the Leonard Cohen song of the same name.[7]
  • The cover features Emma Carstairs drowning in the ocean; specifically, it depicts a scene in the book.
  • The book is set in August 2012. While the original plan was always to have it set in 2012,[8] it was changed to 2013 for some time before being moved back to 2012.[9]
  • The book is told from different points of view, namely: Emma, Julian, Cristina, Kit, Mark, and, briefly, Annabel.
  • The book was originally going to be divided into parts like The Mortal Instruments. The first was supposed to be called "Steel and Temper", after Cortana's inscription.[10]
  • The cover model for Emma Carstairs is Brookelynn Elizabeth.[11]

References[]

Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter Chronicles
The Mortal Instruments
City of Bones City of Ashes City of Glass
City of Fallen Angels City of Lost Souls City of Heavenly Fire
The Infernal Devices The Dark Artifices
Clockwork Angel Lady Midnight
Clockwork Prince Lord of Shadows
Clockwork Princess Queen of Air and Darkness
The Last Hours The Wicked Powers
Chain of Gold The Last King of Faerie
Chain of Iron The Last Prince of Hell
Chain of Thorns The Last Shadowhunter
The Eldest Curses
The Red Scrolls of Magic The Lost Book of the White The Black Volume of the Dead
The Bane Chronicles
What Really Happened in Peru Saving Raphael Santiago
The Runaway Queen The Fall of the Hotel Dumort
Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything
The Midnight Heir The Last Stand of the New York Institute
The Rise of the Hotel Dumort The Course of True Love (And First Dates)
The Voicemail of Magnus Bane
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy
Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy Pale Kings and Princes
The Lost Herondale Bitter of Tongue
The Whitechapel Fiend The Fiery Trial
Nothing but Shadows Born to Endless Night
The Evil We Love Angels Twice Descending
Ghosts of the Shadow Market
Cast Long Shadows Son of the Dawn
Every Exquisite Thing The Land I Lost
Learn About Loss Through Blood, Through Fire
A Deeper Love The Lost World
The Wicked Ones Forever Fallen
Companion books
Secrets of Blackthorn Hall
Better in Black: Tales of Romance
The Shadowhunter's Codex
A Long Conversation
An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters & Denizens of Downworld
All the Stories are True: Classics Reimagined in the World of the Shadowhunters
Adaptations
The Mortal Instruments: The Graphic Novels
The Official Mortal Instruments Coloring Book
The Infernal Devices: Manga Series
City of Bones: The Graphic Novel
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments
Advertisement