/ Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices) by Cassandra Clare

Coming March 2013
The Infernal Devices Series
By Cassandra Clare
overall series (so far) 



Clockwork Angel
476 pages


First off I just have to say this series is my new favorite guilty pleasure. It is basically the awesome, exciting storytelling of Harry Potter with the romance of Twilight, (meaning there's a love story. It's NOT Twilight for those who didn't like it) and every other book I love all slammed into one. I love it. That being said...

Summary
16 year old orphan Tessa Gray is from 1878 New York City. Her brother Nate has been working in London, England for the past little while when their Aunt Harriet, the care giver to these two, passes away leaving Tessa alone. Nate sends for her to come to live with him in London so she does. She is intercepted upon docking in England by two old, ugly ladies claiming to be friends of her brother. Well they are anything but friends and trap Tessa in their house where she learns of her mysterious gift: she can transform, at will, into another person. The sisters train Tessa to use her gift in preparation for the mysterious Magister.
Just when Tessa feels that all is lost she is rescued by Will, a shadowhunter. (basically the police of all bad things that shouldn't exist outside of books but do) She takes refuge in the institute where the other shadowhunters live and uses her new found ability to help them uncover who the Magister is in promise that they will help her find her brother.

My review
Ok, so we all know that I loved this book. Here's why:
Writing
The writing was amazing! Probably one of the most well written books I have read in...a long time. I never once doubted the world that Cassandra Clare created or anything in it. It flowed nicely and I saw the whole thing unfold before my mind like a movie. The plot was, to me, original and so interesting. There was a definite plot to this book while leaving little strings for the next books. It seems like lately a lot book series are just a reeeeally long book where each book leads to the next in an overall story, which makes for not so interesting books until the last one. (does that makes sense? hum,) Well this is not the case for this book! There were twists and turns and what I thought for sure was going to happen sure didn't. It is darker (think the last half of the Harry Potter series) with an obvious Good vs Evil premise.
Characterization 
This is the first book I have read by Cassandra Clare, and from what I can tell of her writing is that she is amazing at writing wonderful believable characters. There was not one pancake in this book, that including characters who were introduced and talked about for five seconds.  Everyone was a living, breathing person (so to speak) and I fell in love with every single character in this book. I loved seeing how the proper Tessa dealt with the informal and sometimes crazy shadowhunters. I think Will was my favorite character. He is such a punk but so funny! Definately the comic relief. But underneith all that sarcasm and wit I got glimpses of who he really is which will be interesting to find out in the coming books.
Romance
What would one of my reviews be without talking about the love story? I think because the characters were so real made the romance that much better. I was just rooting for them to be together! Ok, so the main love interests are Will and Tessa. I love it because they both don't want to like each other, but over time they just...do. If you like the push and pull of a Pride and Prejudicesque  love story then you'll for sure like this. It is set up to have a love triangle with another shadowhunter, Jem, that I'm sure will come about later. (which, remember I'm a weirdie and like my triangles so I'm kinda excited for that)
Overall
This book was fantastic. I have actually read it twice, once a few months ago, and just last week in preparation for the second book Clockwork Prince coming out TODAY! (come on UPS guy, bring it to me soon!) and found it wonderful each time. (it's rare for me to find a book that I enjoy the second time around as much as the first) It is a prequel to Cassandra's other series "The Mortal Instruments" (from what I can tell a modern day version of the same type of thing) which I havnen't read, but I understood everything just fine without reading it first. If you love fantasy and romance and just a plain good story this is a must for you to read. My only complaint is that it makes Conner's nap time a little less productive as far as house work is concerned :)


Clockwork Prince (Infernal Devices #2)
498 pages


So UPS guy has delivered, I have read, and I have Loved! and now on to my review...I'll try to keep it as spoiler free for both books as I can :)

Summary
This picks up about two weeks after Clockwork Angel ends. Tessa has been living in the institute still and they have been trying to track down the Magister. Will has been decidedly cool with Tessa so she befriends Jem, Will's like a brother friend and fellow shadowhunter-in-training. Benedict Lightwood, another shadowhunter in the Clave, thinks that he should be the one to run the Institute instead of Charlotte, the nice lady who took Tessa in. After the events that took place in CA, he doens't think that she is fit to be the leader (I'm sure it might have something  to do with the fact that she's a woman too. Silly old man) Lightwood is not a nice guy so if he gets his way he will surely kick Tessa out (since she's not a shadowhunter) and Will and Jem will be miserable living with him. So the Consul decides to give Charlotte two weeks to find the Magister otherwise it will be put to a vote as to who should get the institute.

My Review
Writing/Plot
So I guess that's really the main plot, trying to find the Magister. But really the meat and suspense of the story is the characters. The writing is so great and characters get deeper and deeper in this book. You learn so much about their pasts and who they are. So many questions are answered. What happened to Nate after CA? Why does Will act the way he does? (which is a heart breaker) and addressing the cliffhanger, what does he need the warlock Magnus' help with? What is Jem's story? We also learn a little more about Tessa and what she is (although not for sure, but there are speculations) Middle of series books are usually stagnant, and action wise this one was no exception. There's not a whole lot of action in the plot in this one, but since the characters are so well written and real to me, the need to know about them turned the pages for me. And the twists! There were a few times I was like, "oh my gosh!" out loud. (yes, I do realize how teenage fan-girl that sentence sounded)

Characterization
You know what I love about Cassie's writing? It's that (at least in this series, I haven't read any others) she has created characters who make sense. Like, Will is a jerk FOR A GOOD REASON! a reason that makes me want to cry. I totally get why Tessa does the things she does. I may not like it, but at least I can see why she made the choices she did. I hate it when I read a book and have to think "what the heck? Why in the world would you do that you idiot!?! It makes no sense!" I don't know if this fits in the characterization category, but there it is.

Romance
Aggggg! This killed me! So remember the love triangle that I predicted in my first review? Well I was surely right. But be warned, this is like, soap opera drama. Without giving too much away of what happens, I have never been so torn between who I want to main person to end up with! (although I still secretly have a bigger crush on Will) Both great guys, both love Tessa so much. From where I stand there can not be a happy ending for anyone involved. Hopefully I can be surprised with a different conclusion.

Overall
Like I said before, this is full of DRAMA. So if that bugs you, then this probably will. (I, on the other hand, have no problems with drama) After reading CA I told my husband that he might like this series, but after this I retracted that statement. "There's not stupid triangle drama is there?" was his direct quote. (He attempted Twilight for me and got through the first 2 books and, needless to say, hasn't finished the series)

A lot of people think that in order for a book to be good it has to have some deep meaning and change the world. I have to disagree. I think that, like anything, if someone can make you feel then it is a success. I love movies and books that make me cry. Is it because I like to be sad? NO!  But I love it when I can be so emotionally involved in a story and characters that I feel as if I am them. I'm happy when they are, I'm sad when they are. I'm even giddy about a boy when they are. (throwback to my high school crushes) It is a great author who can manipulate my feelings and Cassandra Clare has done such a fab job of making me ride the roller coaster that is this book!


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