Lady Midnight: The Dark Artifices, Book 1

Parents need to know that Lady Midnight is Book 1 of the Dark Artifices series and part of a much larger Shadowhunters franchise. It includes six books in the Mortal Instruments series that takes place a few years before this series starts, three books in the Infernal Devices series that take place in the Victorian era, a movie (City of Bones), and a TV show (Shadowhunters). So most teens will already know quite a bit about this fantasy world full of Shadowhunters -- those with some angel blood who fight demons and sometimes faeries, warlocks, werewolves, and vampires. It helps to read the Mortal Instruments series before starting the Dark Artifices, but it isn't completely necessary. This series has always been for mature teen readers, because of both the level of violence and the sexual content. With intense battles against demons and strange cult activity involving murders and spells, Lady Midnight gets gory. People are killed with hands chopped off, zombie-like creatures get their heads chopped off with swords, dead bodies show up covered in bloody graffiti, and a boy watches his father ripped apart by demons. One detail in an intense demon battle describes slashing open their "bulging white eyes." A poisoned arrow nearly kills a main character, and another main character nearly drowns while being attacked by demons underwater. Characters are whipped until they pass out. These Shadowhunters also come with lots of baggage they must constantly sort through -- parents killed, horrors of battle witnessed at too young an age. Main characters have sex, not described beyond passionate kissing, and there's lots of that. As in the rest of the series, author Cassandra Clare offers all kinds of romance: Couples -- straight, gay, and bisexual -- kiss passionately. She also brings in a character on the autism spectrum who's well drawn, showing his sensitivities as well as his many strengths.