Hey ForeverBookers,
Happy New Year! Hope you’re all doing well!
I’ve just finished rereading “Clockwork Prince” by Cassandra Clare and I’m VERY surprised to say that I highly enjoyed it!
I read “Clockwork Prince” for a few readathons. They were:
Reading Rivalry - Features a character with a disability - one of the main male characters (I won’t spoil who here, read the spoiler section below to see, has a condition where their guaranteed death soon. They need to take Yin Fen, a drug to stop their ultimate demise.
Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge 2025 - The second book in a series - “Clockwork Prince” is #2 in the Infernal Devices series.
Always Fully Booked Reading Rainbow Challenge - Grey - most of the cover is grey!
Genre Reading Challenge - Historical Fiction
Read Through The Ages Challenge - “Clockwork Prince” is set in the 1870’s.
Around The World Reading Challenge - Europe - “Clockwork Prince” is set in London, England to be exact.
Always Fully Booked 25 Books To Read In 2025 - This is the first year I’ve done this sort of challenge and I thought it would be good to start with a book I didn’t think I liked that much, but now do enjoy a lot more.
“Clockwork Prince” is the second book in the Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. The Infernal Devices tells of a few of an early generation of Shadowhunters and the adventures they have. Tessa Grey is our main protagonist, who’s lost her family, all but her brother, Nate. In the first book Clockwork Angel, Tessa is introduced to the London Institute of Shadowhunters. Here, she meets Will and Jem, two trainee Shadowhunters that she’s, well, infatuated by. Jessamine is another character that’s pretentious. The main plot of this series is Tessa and the rest of the Shadowhunters trying to find the evil Mortmain, a man that’s building these clockwork models — why? We don’t know yet, but he needs Tessa for some unknown reason. I’m excited to get to “Clockwork Princess,” the last book in the trilogy to get answers.
In “Clockwork Prince” we get a lot of character development and not too much plot. I enjoyed this because I prefer a heavily character based story, rather than a story filled with lots of action and nothing more. I see those as pointless. If you don’t have good characters you can’t have a good plot, I believe.
“Clockwork Prince” is set near Whitechapel in London. I’m from the UK, so it was nice to see some places I recognise in the story.
Spoilers below…
As I wrote above, Yin Fen is the drug that Jem needs to survive. We don’t know what is wrong with him, just that he’s dying…Tessa is very upset by this. Jem has come to accept it as fact—that he’ll die before he’s 18. Will he? Does he die in “Clockwork Prince?” You’ll need to read to find out!
“He wanted to feel her against him the way he had in the attic. He wanted to know the taste of her skin and the smell of her hair. He wanted to make her laugh. He wanted to sit and listen to her talk about books until his ear fell off. I saw these things were things he should not have, and wanting what you could not have led to misery and madness.”
Will wants to be romantically involved with Tessa. He can’t though, because of a curse he believes was placed on him by a demon when he was much younger. He lost his sister, he believes because of this curse, through loving her familiarly. Did he? Or is the curse a lie? You’ll need to read for yourself.
Tessa goes on an adventure herself to finding her brother, Nate. Is he all he seems to be? She has to attend a ball to find him. I really enjoyed reading the ball scenes because Tessa was with the suitor I wanted her with. I won’t spoil it here, but the atmosphere is very tense.
“I love him. I love him. I love him.” Tessa is proposed to by one of her suitors at the end of “Clockwork Prince.” Here, she’s trying to convince herself that she indeed loves the one that she agreed to marry. Does she? And if she does, does she love him enough?
Will realises he’s in love with Tessa at about the half way point of this novel if not before that, I believe. As I said above because of the curse he believes was put on him, he couldn’t love or else those he did confess to loving would die. That’s why he doesn’t let on. Also, he doesn’t want to break his best friend’s/parabatai’s heart. A parabatai in this version of the world is a special person. Every Shadowhunter has one or is meant to have one. “He owed Jem his life. He could not take from him the one thing he wanted more than anything else. Even if it meant Will’s own happiness, for Jem was not only someone to whom he owed a debt that could never be repaid, but, as the covenant says, someone he loved as he loved his own soul.”
“Clockwork Prince” wraps up with Charlotte and Henry, the adults of this story, maybe having to give away the London Institute to the Lightwoods, the more qualified leaders, or so the head of the Lightwoods believes. Is he a better leader? Or is he just a bag of hot air? You’ll have to read for yourself. I enjoyed reading the Lightwoods realising their father wasn’t everything or anything good!
I was very surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did. I always say The Infernal Devices is my least favourite series that I’ve read, but I honestly don’t think that’s true anymore. It’s still nowhere near my favourite, don’t get me wrong but it’s not that bad.
Stand by for my next review, coming soon!
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