Hey ForeverBookers,
How are you all doing? I hope you’re well.
I’ve just finished “Clockwork Angel” by Cassandra Clare and I VERY surprisingly enjoyed it. I’ve put ‘very’ in capitals because I’m surprised how much I enjoyed it. I always note this series as negative on my social medias because I hate the overall outcome in “Clockwork Princess”, and I remember the second book, “Clockwork Prince” as being really boring but in this book everything happened as I’d have liked it to, this time reading it.
4 Stars!
Readathons...
* “Cardcaptor-a-thon” on Facebook (my own readathon) -https://www.facebook.com/cardcaptorathon/?modal=admin_todo_tour - The Wood Card - A DNF book that has the potential to grow on you. I don’t DNF books but “Clockwork Angel” has definitely grown on me since the last time I read it. I’ve read it twice before and haven’t liked it either time that I recall, anyway - #1
* Reading Rivalry - an author that has the same first and last initial - Cassandra Clare, the author of “Clockwork Angel” has that.
* POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2019 - A book that makes me feel nostalgic - I didn’t really like “Clockwork Angel” when I previously read it but now I do. I can remember feeling let down by it.
* Fiction Feud Society on Facebook - PAST - Pretty basic - I read “Clockwork Angel” for this because it’s set in the past - it’s set in 1878.
* “Sims-a-thon” - Create A Sim - read the first book in a series - “Clockwork Angel” is the first book in “The Infernal Devices” trilogy.
* “Ghibli-a-thon” - JadeyRaeReads is one of my favourite booktubers so when I heard she was one of the hosts for the “Ghibli-a-thon”, I wanted to take part. Plus, I love Japanese animation (even though I’ve never watched a Ghibli movie. “Cardcaptor Sakura” is a Japanese anime, though) so for this book, I’ll use the Princess Mononoke prompt, A Fierce Female Main Character because Tessa learns to become fierce throughout the novel and that counts enough for me.
Review...
Our main character, Tessa, an American teenage girl, who is unsure of who she is. We get that answer at the end of “Clockwork Angel” but I won’t spoil it in this review. She’s come to London to visit her brother, Nathaniel, after her aunt Harriet’s death. Her aunt was who was looking after her, as her parents had died long before the start of the novel. She’s met by two strange women, who she doesn’t know but they say they know her. The two women are Mrs Dark and Mrs Black but they’re collectively known as the Dark sisters. They take Tessa with them...why? You’ll have to read to find out...
Spoilers Below...
The Dark Sisters know that Tessa is someone special or with special abilities, I should say. She can change into whoever she wants, as long as she holds a part of said person, a necklace for example. They train her at the beginning of the book to morph or change into other people. Tessa feels pain at first when she’s doing this. The sisters don’t care, though.
“It had taken weeks and the first time she had changed, it had been so blindingly painful, she’d vomited and nearly passed out.”
They have a purpose, and they won’t be stopped, that is until someone saves Tessa from the sisters.
Will and Jem are our lead male characters and heroes in ”Clockwork Angel” and indeed the rest of the trilogy. Will is very to the point, whereas Jem is more calm and easy to be around. I’d say that Jem was the more boring of the two though, but that’s just my view. Will is the one who saves Tessa from the Dark sisters. He brings her to the Institute. At first Tessa isn’t sure where she is.
“Are you going to pretend you’ve let me into your precious institute simply out of charity?”
is what Tessa says to Charlotte, the matriarch of the Shadowhunter Institute, when she discovers where she is, without knowing why. She doesn’t believe she’s at all important or significant when in fact she’s more significant that any of the characters can imagine. We learn why later on in the novel but I don’t want to spoil it here. Let’s just say that Tessa is special, as the Dark sisters believed her to be.
“You are a Downworlder,” Charlotte said. “Brother Enoch confirmed it. We simply do not know what sort.”
Tessa is told this by Charlotte. At this early point in the novel, Tessa has no idea what Downworlders are, anymore than she knows what Shadowhunters are. She’s a bit overwhelmed and scared, to say the least. Brother Enoch is a silent brother who isn’t really in “Clockwork Angel.” The Silent Brothers are people that try to keep the Shadowhunter community safe.
Tessa thinks it should be a man’s job to run the Shadowhunter Institute, not a woman’s, as Charlotte has been doing. “Clockwork Angel” is set in 1878, so in real life history men did rule over women as a rule. The author takes a different, refreshing slant on this, although not all the characters like the way Charlotte runs the institute or agree that women deserve their place.
Henry, Charlotte’s husband is a funny character. “You know what this means...That the flame retardant mixture I developed last week works.” He’s always tinkering away in his workshop, working on inventions, most of which never see the light of day. However, when one of his inventions, the witchlight, almost wrecks all hope for the Shadowhunters what happens? You’ll have to read to find out...
Jessamine, another character is a spoilt little brat! She’s ungrateful in Sophie, the maid’s eyes. She thinks she is better than everyone else in the academy, when that just isn’t true. She doesn’t want to be a Shadowhunter. She just wants a simple life as a woman in her time period. She’s very opinionated about everything from what women should do to what women should wear.
“I suspect you may actually look pretty in that last outfit...It’s amazing what fashion can do.” This is Jessamine being opinionated about Tessa’s fashion sense. She thinks that it’s the dress that might make Tessa look pretty, not the girl in the dress.
She doesn’t seem to care about the men. She’s very against Tessa at first, but learns to get on with her, I believe in the end, although, I think it’s more about Tessa learning what Jessamine is like and fitting in with her, rather than the other way around.
Tessa’s brother Nathaniel is a mystery at first in “Clockwork Angel.” I enjoyed reading about him as I didn’t know who he was, other than Tessa’s brother or what his intentions were. I don’t want to spoil it so I’ll just say that he’s not all that he makes out he is. Tessa hasn’t seen her brother in years and he has gambling problems. He’s brought to the institute as a way to help him. Is he good, is he evil, though? You’ll have to read to find out for yourself, but I promise it’s worth it.
There are of course evil characters in “Clockwork Angel.” What sort of urban fantasy book doesn’t have evil characters, right? Tessa and her comrades are lead to believe one thing, that one specific person is the Magister, the person that wants to marry Tessa and the one that controls the Downworlders. Is that the case? Or is it somebody else. And why do they want control? You’ll need to read to find out the answers.
“The Infernal Devices” trilogy is set in London. I believe that apart from a few scenes, though that “Clockwork Angel” could be taking place anywhere. There’s nothing about it that makes it quintessentially English in setting apart from those few scenes that name a few London landmarks. I believe there are two scenes that do this. I live in England, and have been to London many times.
I don’t want to write the events of the book because unlike other books I’ve reviewed and written what happens there’s more to the plot in them, whereas in “Clockwork Angel” I don’t believe there is much more than the plot. There aren’t any underlying meanings. It’s all pretty much surface level for the reader to read. What I’ve already written above should be enough to get you interested in the events. Having said that, I will say that the final battle is very good and that’s where things get exciting. I don’t remember being excited in “Clockwork Prince,” book 2, but I could be wrong...I won’t get to it for a while anyway. I’m going to leave gaps between reading this trilogy, as I want to see if I enjoy it more that way or not.
I’ve enjoyed rereading “Clockwork Angel” this time. I don’t know if it’s because I’m reading it for specific readathons, such as the Cardcaptor-a-thon (my own readathon) - https://www.facebook.com/cardcaptorathon/?modal=admin_todo_tour, as well as a few of other readathons. The last time I read it I didn’t read it for anything in particular. It was just for the story.
Overall, all those reasons above are why I’m giving “Clockwork Angel” 4 Stars! I enjoyed it for what it was but things like the setting and the fact that I think it‘s the readathons that helped me get through it speedily, are why I’m not giving it the full 5 stars! I’ve enjoyed it, though, which is more than I thought I’d get out of it.
Stand by for my next review, coming soon...
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