SuitabookQueen of air and darkness
Cassandra Clare
- Reading
- Check in before and after sections involving bereavement, suicide or graphic violence, without revealing more plot than the reader wants. If the wider series is unfamiliar, recap key relationships and factions together.
- Themes
- Mercy versus revenge: Characters face political and personal conflict, including pressure to harm enemies and decisions about whether compassion should restrain retaliation. The reported positive messages favour mercy and empathy over revenge, although violent conflict remains central to the plot.
- Love and responsibility: Emma and Julian try to set aside their forbidden love while undertaking a dangerous mission, while several other relationships develop around them. Romantic attachment and varied relationships are presented as emotionally important and often loving, while also creating difficult responsibilities.
- Power, prejudice and political control: A political faction seeks control and a registry for Downworlders, while conflict spreads through Shadowhunter institutions and supernatural communities. The faction's persecution and authoritarian aims are presented as threats, while resistance and protection of marginalised groups drive parts of the plot.
- Worth knowing
- Consider whether the reader is comfortable with graphic fantasy violence, suicide, funeral grief, sexual scenes and disturbing bodily imagery. They may also need context from earlier books before the political and relationship threads become clear.