Tuesday 18 December 2018

Teaser Tuesday: Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia of The Purple Booker.
To play along just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare.

Queen of Air and Darkness –
Margaret K. McElderry Books


Sympathy is common. Knowing the exact shape of the hole someone’s loss leaves in your heart is rare.
— Chapter 3

Faith isn’t never having any doubts; it’s having what you need to overcome them.
— Chapter 33





I won’t bore you with the end of year and deadlines reasoning. There was a time crunch, now it’s hopefully over. On to more important things like how this book utterly slew me. And resurrected me. And then slew me again. Be very gentle, I’m an emotional book basket case in the very best sense.
With the conclusion of a beloved series, there is an exciting mixture of anticipation and dread. Will character X survive? Will my ship YZ sail? Will character Q get their just deserts? Will the brilliant, lovely, wicked, wonderful, clever, amazing author deliver on promises, exceed expectations, and smash and then piece back together this fragile reader heart of mine? I am very happy to report that Cassandra Clare answered and did all that – and more. So much more.
It’s hard to truly express how much I adore Cassie and what her books have done for me and, in turn, mean to me. In that regard, you could say that I’m very biased and more likely to forgive anything. And you would be right. At the same time, I still think that I’m impartial enough to recognise a brilliantly told story by a very talented and hard-working author when I see one and also call out sloppy writing where it occurs. There is, in my opinion, a lot going on in the former departments and none in the latter. This book is a more than worthy conclusion to an epic narration while at the same time opening up so many possibilities in various directions.
I’d be willing to enter two (connected) wagers: Most readers of this series will also have read at least one other Shadowhunter series, possibly more. And most readers of this series are going to read at least one or more of the series that are going to be published over the course of the next few years. Readers of this story universe are an incredibly loyal bunch as far as I can tell and this loyalty is in part of course inspired by the quality of the books themselves but also by the quality of the woman who created this universe.
So yes, I’m immensely biased but I’m so immeasurably in love with this universe and the enormous cast of characters (not in love in love with some of them, because of reasons, obviously, but in love with how utterly well-realised they are). There were tears of joy and sorrow, incredible and hysterical laughter, nail-biting, hair-tearing, hand-wringing, surprise-giggling, content-sighing, terrified-gasping, and a binge-read late night/early morning sleep deprivation finish. This book was all I could have ever asked for as a final part of this leg of the journey … and then it was so much more. I hugged the book after I closed it because Cassie wasn’t there to be hugged but hopefully I’ll get the chance to make up for that at some point. I’m easily getting a little (okay, a lot) emotional so I’ll finish up with saying that I cannot wait to read whatever comes next in this world. And from Cassie in general, of course.

Do you have a favourite author to whom you feel a special connection, be it “just” through their book or also through other circumstances? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments.