New ‘Queen of Air and Darkness’ snippet and a Q&A

Happy Friday, Shadowhunters! If you follow Cassandra Clare on tumblr and TMI Source on Twitter, you might have noticed a lot of Q&A posts in the past couple of weeks. Cassie’s tumblr ask box was open for a while which gave fans the opportunity to ask her questions. We’ve shared the posts below as well as a very short Queen of Air and Darkness snippet.

“You have changed, son of thorns,” said the Queen. (x)

And now the Q&A part!

I wanted you to talk a little more about Ash and if Dru is going to get more involved with him in the future (preferably please talk about their relationship, like … Friends, enemies …)

C: Ash is actually one of the big secrets of the series. Who he is, what he can do, what his relationships will be, are all on total lockdown. 🙂 I can say you will see him again in QoAAD, and that he does some rather surprising things and may have some rather surprising powers. (x)

Hi can I ask you something about the dark artificies series? It is possible that in queen of air and darkness the Clave will see the Cohort as a sect similar to the Circle?

C: The Cohort and the Circle do hold some common viewpoints—mainly mistrust of Downworlders, and the desire to control them. But there’s a major difference between the two groups: The Circle was a group of upstart kids just out of the Shadowhunter Academy, whereas the Cohort is made up of seasoned warriors who are already well respected in the Clave as well as younger Shadowhunters.

As such, the Cohort has influence that the Circle could never have dreamed of, and they are much better positioned to push their agenda forward.

Valentine was a renegade, a zealot who rebelled against what he perceived as the injustice of the Clave. Horace Dearborn is a bureaucrat. He is far more accustomed to working within the establishment of the Clave—and far better skilled at manipulating the Clave to work towards his own ends. The Cohort is unfortunately seen as having political legitimacy in a way the Circle never did. (x)

Are we going to see more of Tessa and Jem in qoaad?

C: Yes, but considerably more of them in Ghosts of the Shadow Market, since it is about Jem — and Tessa as well! We do learn a significant thing about Jem and Tessa in QuaaD, though.

I have a question about qoaad: if all parabatai bonds are destroyed, would there be any way to recreate them (like clary making a rune?) thx so much 😊

C: Nope. 🙂

I’ve wondering since finishing LoS about succession in the Unseelie Court. It is implied that Kieran might have been King after his father, but he is neither the eldest nor the favorite so why did his father view him as a threat? Was it because his people loved him and might have dethroned the King somehow in favor of Kieran?

C: You are correct! It’s implied, and more clear in QUAAD, that the people of Unseelie aren’t too pleased with the King, and that Kieran was immensely popular. The King’s cruelty to him hasn’t gone unnoticed either. It’s pretty common in history for kings to regard princes and nobles who enjoy massive popular support as a threat even if they’re not “next in line” — and Faerie has a very messy succession anyway. (x)

My expectations for qoaad are super high and I’d like to know if we’re going to see more of the effects of the parabatai curse that we haven’t seen before yet?

C: You’re definitely going to see some unexpected effects. (x)

How will QoAAD connect to TLH? I recall reading that parts of it were intended to overlap, however, with the release date for TLH pushed back, has that changed?

C: The schedule change doesn’t affect the books so much as it will affect the reading experience. While I do like to interweave two series at a time, I always have to write books with the idea that most people won’t read them in publication order, so I do have to keep the major plots of the two series separate. No book is an island; mine tend to be more like archipelagos. The TDA books need to be able to be read without any knowledge of the TLH, and vice versa. There are a few scenes in TLH 1 that I’m sad people won’t get to read before Queen of Air and Darkness comes out, but they won’t be anything vitally important to the plot.

All that said, rest assured that the two series will still share some thematic elements, fun easter eggs, facts about Blackthorns, Cortana, etc. (x)

I was wondering what Eleanor Blackthorn physical description is and which blackthorn child looks more like her( love your books can’t wait for queen of air and darkness and the Ghosts of the Shadow Market )

C: It’s mentioned in QuAAD that she had a body shape a lot like Dru and Dru can wear her old clothes. Helen also talks about Eleanor in TEC. (x)

And last but not least:

will you be doing a book tour for qoaad?

C: I will! The first two weeks of December. I’ll be keeping you posted. (x)

There you have it. We try to tweet whenever Cassie’s tumblr ask box is open so keep your eyes on our Twitter (@TMI_Source).

We love all the new information – thank you, Cassie 😀

Queen of Air and Darkness is published on December 4!