Queen of Air and Darkness

I have realized the issue that I have with all of Clare's books and that is the fact that there are SO MANY. I am horrible at remembering details of books, especially if it has been years since I've read them, and there are too many overlapping characters in her novels - characters in which I don't really remember anything about their background. Part of this is my fault because I have not read any of the novellas, so I know there are a lot of character story details I am just missing in general. I love the Shadow Hunters world, but there is simply way too much to try to keep up with.

As far as this specific book goes..... the thing that bothered me the most was Emma and Julian's relationship. I found it very irritating when Julian asked Magnus to turn off his feelings, and the whole time Emma was like “my Julian” this and “my Julian” that. Her whining over and over again about him being different just really got on my nerves. Not just with Emma and Julian, but with the majority of the characters, I feel like romance was too much of a focal point. Not every character in a book has to have a romantic partner.

Relatedly, Emma and Julian just turned into giants out of nowhere????? And just started destroying everyone?? That whole scene was bizarre and cringy to me, especially when their family thought that just talking to these giant beings that could crush them with one flick was going to make everything okay. And later, when their parabatai marks just got stripped out of nowhere - like they didn't even suffer any consequences of their feelings and decisions - everything just worked out so nicely for them. Part of me wanted something bad to happen in the end, but instead everyone stayed alive and everyone got what they wanted. I understand happy endings, but sometimes I want there to be a little bit of suffering.

Also, the battle scene lasted way too long in my opinion, and it didn't feel like a battle. My vision of Dru and Tavvy had them chilling on the outside of a fence or something while there's danger happening right in front of them and somehow basically no one noticed they were there.

Also, Ty and Kit trying to raise Livvy from the dead was a build up to a bunch of nothing. (I'm assuming this will show up again in a later book?) Sometimes, it's just best to let dead characters be dead.

Also, WAY TOO MANY points of view. I like a little multiple POV, but not changing every paragraph. There were so many different storylines that it was hard to keep up with.

I know this is a lot of negative - the reason it got 2 stars was because I enjoy the ShadowHunters world, although it just didn't feel the same as TMI or TID. TDA is my least favorite out of the 3. Hopefully by the time I read The Last Hours (not anytime soon though since the whole thing isn't out and I KNOW I'll forget every single thing that happened by the time the third one comes out), I'll at least read a little bit of background information about the indefinite endless amount of characters.