Today, Saturday 16 April, I boarded a very early morning train to London, traversed the Tube that was pretty much shut so had to go the long way round, and ended up in Leicester Square for a Super Fan Event. I wasn’t sure quite where the Leicester Square Theatre was, so I followed a trail of girls in all-black leather jackets and found it easily enough (the invite said Shadowhunter wear appreciated).
When I got there (around 45 minutes early) there was already a bit of a queue, yet the live feed had already been running for 30 mins. As the queue got longer and longer (and it was VERY long), Maximum Pop! Books filmed us, which was a little awkward. Everyone in the queue was Shadowhunter-ed up – so my leather boots, jacket and little lace dress combo fit right in! (The other jacket that seemed to be popular is the khaki parker!)
Before 11am, we were let in to the Leicester Square Theatre and those of us who had purchased the book received a copy (with the blue pages!). This event had designated seating but (and I think this is my fault), I’d booked a seat right at the back, thinking that it would be the front! Despite this, I had a really good view and didn’t struggle to hear anything. I was also sat to a girl who had come on her own, so we got to chat about the books and not just sit there on our phones!
After a brief wait, Anna James came on stage to read some ‘thank you’s and to confirm the plan of the event. Then she introduced Cassandra to the stage for a Q&A session and the crowd went a bit wild. The Q&A was interesting but touching on spoiler-y. There was an expectation that the crowd would have already read the book, when many fans buy the book at the event and don’t read it beforehand. I think it’s difficult to have a Q&A that doesn’t have a spoiler element, but talking about the book at a book launch is risky – and I, as well as many other fans, don’t like being spoiled when we’re there to appreciate the books.
Halfway through the Q&A, Special Guest Dominic Sherwood (Jace in the Shadowhunters TV Series) came on stage to join – I think he may have meant to be a secret guest but advertising gave him equal billing with Cassandra. Together, they made a good team and there was definitely interest in both the book and the TV show. I have also luckily finished the TV series and there weren’t many spoilers for the next season – but there will be more of Clace (Clary & Jace), Malec (Magnus and Alec) and the Seelie Queen will make an appearance – so the second season should be loosely based on City of Ashes. Dom also doesn’t try to read ahead – even though he really wants to.
The Q&A was about 35-45 minutes long, and questions weren’t opened out to the floor, which was a little surprising although understandable at an event in a theatre – at the last Cassie event two years ago for City of Heavenly Fire, there was a Q&A session but it was difficult to get to those in the middle rows. After the Q&A, Cassie signed copies of Lady Midnight, which took a long time as I was sat at the back. During the signing, make-up artists came round drawing runes and doing glittery lips and eyes (although I didn’t want either!).
At the signing, I spoke to Cassie quickly and had my picture taken with Dom!
Leaving the venue, goody-bags were handed out to everyone (regardless of which ticket they’d purchased) – the bag says ‘Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters on it, and contained a Lady Midnight poster and postcard, and a Hashtag Reads bookmark and badge.
Overall, a fun day although a tiny bit disappointing. I can’t wait to start reading Lady Midnight, though!
Annalise x
AnnaliseBooks 