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Queen of Air and Darkness is the third and final book of the The Dark Artifices trilogy.

Description[]

What if damnation is the price of true love?

Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livvy Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the "blight" that is destroying the race of warlocks. Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.[1]

Chapters[]

The chapter titles are taken from Edgar Allan Poe's The City in the Sea.[2][3]

Part One: Feel No Sorrow

  1. Death Looks Down
  2. Melancholy Waters
  3. Eternal Rest
  4. Nothing That Is Ours
  5. Wilderness of Glass
  6. From a Proud Tower
  7. Stone Flowers
  8. Long-Forgotten Bowers
  9. Up Kingly Halls
  10. Many a Marvellous Shrine
  11. Some Far-Off Happier Sea
  12. Beneath the Sky
  13. Babylon
  14. The Viol, The Violet and the Vine
  15. Turrets and Shadows
  16. A Thousand Thrones

Part Two: Thule

  1. In A Strange City
  1. Hell Rising
  2. The Jewelled Dead
  3. The Hours are Breathing
  4. No Rays from Heaven
  5. The Worst and the Best
  6. That Winds May Be
  7. The Long Night-Time
  8. By Lifting Winds
  9. A Stir in the Air
  10. Far and Free

Part Three: Lady Vengeance

  1. And Shadows There
  2. Tempt The Waters
  3. The Riches There That Lie
  4. A Redder Glow
  5. Heaven Come Down
  6. Reverence
  7. The City In The Sea

Epilogue

Characters[]

Shadowhunters[]

Downworlders[]

  • Kieran — the son of then Unseelie King, Kieran goes from outcast Hunter to the Unseelie Prince forced to take action for the preservation of his kind with the Shadowhunters on the brink of a war.
  • Gwyn ap Nudd — the leader of the Wild Hunt, who is in a relationship with Diana Wrayburn and sets aside his differences with Shadowhunters to help fight against the Cohort.
  • Magnus BaneHigh Warlock of Brooklyn, Alec's fiancé, and one of the most powerful warlocks, Magnus is running out of time as he becomes afflicted by the mysterious warlock illness.
  • Unseelie King — the King of the Unseelie Court.
  • Seelie Queen — Queen of the Seelie Court, always dealing with and tricking Shadowhunters to get what she wants. Her ultimate goal is to retrieve the one the King had stolen from her.
  • Oban — an Unseelie Prince and Kieran's brother who has allied himself with the Cohort.
  • Ash — a boy kept under lock and key in the Unseelie Court.
more...

Gallery[]

Art[]

Editions[]

International covers[]

Trailer[]

QoAaD_trailer_01

QoAaD trailer 01

Special content[]

  • First edition: The limited first printing of the book contains ten black and white illustrations and a full color poster printed on the back of the book jacket by Alice Duke, as well as a short story, A Love That Never Tires, that functions as a sequel to A Long Conversation.[4]
  • Fifth anniversary edition: A special edition by Simon & Schuster UK to be released on September 14, 2023 to commemorate the book's 5-year anniversary since its first release. It includes an introductory letter from Cassandra Clare and a bonus letter from Kit to Jace Herondale.[5]
See all freely released additional content here

Trivia[]

  • The book picks up right where Lord of Shadows left off, though there was originally supposed to be a time jump of about a week.[6] The main events of the book spanned about a week,[7] with one part taking place around three weeks after the main story,[8] and the epilogue taking place about two weeks after.[9]
  • The title is a reference to the poem Her Strong Enchantments Failing by A.E. Houseman.[10] It can also refer to Mab, Queen of the Faeries in Romeo and Juliet, amongst other folklore.[11][12]
  • As with Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows and its eponymous characters, there is a character called "Queen of Air and Darkness": Annabel Blackthorn.
  • Annabel is also featured on the cover. She is wearing a red dress, which in Shadowhunter tradition is "to call enchantment down," and has no runes, a reference to a certain section in the book. Like the previous Dark Artifices installments,[13] the character on the cover is also underwater. The backdrop features a distorted image of ruined skyscrapers, and a ruined highway.
    • Cristina Rosales is featured on the spine of the book, marking the first instance where the cover and spine characters differ.[12] Mark Blackthorn was originally intended to be on the spine,[14] but this was later changed, in part because the publisher was unwilling to feature a male character on a book with the word "Queen" in the title.[12]
  • This book is told from several points of view, namely: Emma, Diana, Helen, Mark, Cristina, Kit, Julian, Diego, Dru, Ash, Jace, Alec, Manuel, Kieran, Clary, Magnus, and the Seelie Queen.
  • The book was initially slated for release in 2019, after Chain of Gold,[15] but in September 2017, it was announced that the release order of the two novels was switched, partly because of writer's block on Chain of Gold but also because the publishers "wanted to keep the momentum from Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows going."[16]
  • As a pre-order incentive, US citizens could get a promotional copy of the Classics Reimagined booklet if they submitted proof of having preordered the book.[17]

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
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