Book Review
Title: Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA/Paranormal/Fantasy/Romance
Rating: ****
Review: The Infernal Devices trilogy is a prequel series to The Mortal Instruments; I have read Clockwork Angel years ago and didn’t really like it and I DNF’d the second book. However, I recently re-read City of Bones and increased my rating on it, so I decided to read the series in chronologically order. After reading the first 3 stories in the Bane Chronicles and loving them I decided to pick up Clockwork Angel straight away since I am currently in a great reading mood for these books, plus I have come to appreciate historical fiction a lot more, mainly thanks to Kerri Maniscalco.
The opening to Clockwork Angel introduces us to William Herondale and his best friend, James “Jem” Carstairs in London, April 1878 where they have just dispatched a Shax demon but come across the body of a young woman, who could be an early victim of the Ripper’s given the date but we don’t get to dwell on this as this location changes to Southampton in May where we are introduced to Theresa “Tessa” Gray arrived in London from New York after the death of her aunt. Upon arriving Tessa is kidnapped by the Dark Sister and held prisoner because she has a gift. Tessa can “change” her appearance into other and tell others of their life and she has done this several times with the dead. The only thing keeping her from escaping or trying to escape was the threat of death for her brother, Nathaniel. However, this all changes one day when Will Herondale shows up to rescue Tessa as he has been investigating some mysterious deaths including a girl named Emma who Tessa changed into a few moments earlier. There is a battle as Will tries to get Tessa to safety and away from the Sisters and the mysterious Magister who was going to marry Tessa and the Sisters aren’t going to let her go easily. So far, the opening of Clockwork Angel was more interesting than I remember it being but then again, I don’t remember much about my first reading of this book.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Tessa awakes in the London Institute rather terrified of Brother Enoch, one of the Silent Brothers. However, Charlotte is there to calm her down and explains that neither she or they are human as they are Shadowhunters and Brother Enoch calls Tess a Eidolon, a shape changer but not one they have come across before. Charlotte begins the basic of explaining what Shadowhunters and Downworlders are, Charlotte had Tessa pegged as a warlock, but she doesn’t have an identifying mark, so they are currently at a loss as to what Tessa actually is. That evening at dinner she gives a demonstration of her changing ability and it is clear to see that no one currently in the Institute has seen this kind of power before and Tessa is advised to stay in the Institute as per the Accords until her brother can be found. After dinner, Tessa and Will end up in the library where he presents her with the Shadowhunter’s Codex where she will find all the information, she needs about Shadowhunters and the various types of Downworlders that are found, and she might find elements of herself in them. However, Will is an ass and I immediately disliked him especially the way he spoke to Tessa after asking him seemingly innocent questions, he could have just said that he didn’t want to answer them and I don’t think that Tessa would have pushed him for a response given her own dark experiences with the Dark Sisters. The only Shadowhunter I remotely like so far is Henry as he reminds me a lot of Arthur Weasley in personality, kind and forgetful but never threatening. We also get our first proper introduction to Jem, who seems to have a very strange relationship with Will, and he is also very sick, coughing up blood which startles Tessa since Jem is the first person, she feels a genuine connection to at the Institute. I also am disliking Will even more since he is proving himself to be a drinker and womanizer which I really don’t like in male characters especially when they are one of the main love interests. The Shadowhunters have begun their investigation to find Nathaniel and are starting with his employer while Tessa is out shopping with Jessamine although Charlotte and Henry are immediately identified as Shadowhunters.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, we get events happening at the same time. We have Tessa and Jess out shopping as Jess explains that she has no desire to become a Shadowhunter and wants to leave the Institute as soon as she can and wants Tessa help by pretending to be her sister or cousin. Tessa feels swept along unable to say no but not wanting to say yes either, until they happen across a creature who attacks them which Jess kills but she isn’t happy about doing it and yet seems completely used to it. Meanwhile, Jem and Will are investigating the Dark Sister’s house to try and find some evidence to point them towards who wanted Tessa and why they wanted her. We also have Charlotte and Henry talking to Nathaniel’s employer who on his travels has uncover the existence of Shadowhunters and Downworlders and he was part of the Pandemonium Club, the same club the Dark Sisters were a part of and Charlotte manages to scare him into telling her that de Quincey, the head of the London vampire clan is the leader of the club and the very same person known as the Magister, the one that wanted Tessa, now they just have to find out why. As they regroup and recount the days events, they are visited by Camille Belcourt who is their informant about the community of the Night Children, and she wants to speak with Tessa about what de Quincey could possibly want with her and where her brother is.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Camille explains that de Quincey has been breaking the Law, threatening the Accords and Camille has only come forward because she wants revenge on de Quincey more than anything. Camille suggests that Tessa uses her gift to become her and attend the party de Quincey is holding on Saturday as there is a chance her brother might be there and she can also witness de Quincey breaking the Accords and bring the wrath of the Clave down upon him. This ties in with the story, Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale from the Bane Chronicles as Camille explains that Magnus Bane is now her lover and that she wants revenge of de Quincey for murderer her previous lover who was a werewolf since it is forbidden for the Night Children to love or lie with the Moon’s Children. Tessa is going to be accompanied by Will since he has been seen at the clubs and de Quincey will recognise him only as a mundane who has ascended to a vampiric servant and nothing more but until the Clave has reason to enter the house they will be alone, surrounded by vampires. Despite the danger, Tessa agrees to it and changes into Camille which is hard since she has never changed into a Downworlder before the sensation of her heart stopping is almost enough to frighten her, but she is reminded that her soul is still the same. At the party, Tessa gets to meet Magnus for the first time and gets far too much information about the relationship between him and Camille and together with Will they run through the plan. Sooner than they thought they are summoned to the performance where they must wait for de Quincey to draw the blood of the victim before the Enclave can be summoned. As de Quincey is about to feed off the prisoner their hood is removed revealing it to be Nathaniel, Tessa’s brother who is about to die. Despite that Magnus is charged with removing Tessa from the house before the Enclave arrive as they can’t risk the real Camille being implicated in helping the Shadowhunters.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, I was really enjoying Clockwork Angel this time around. I found that the humour was better than City of Bones and we are following characters I like a lot more like Jem and Magnus. Tessa as a main character is better than Clary as she has some real depth that Clary seems to lack until much later in the Mortal Instruments series. The rescue doesn’t go according to plan as Henry’s invention sets de Quincey home on fire which does kill a lot of the vampires, but Tessa still disguised as Camille tries to run to her brother only for Magnus to stop her. However, de Quincey isn’t going down without a fight as the Enclave arrive and it ends with Will and de Quincey in a brawl where Will bites the vampire only for Tessa to try and shoot him. Eventually de Quincey escapes, Nathaniel is rescued, and everyone returns to the Institute except Magnus and Camille who have fled. Back at the Institute both Nathaniel and Will are being treated for their vampire bites which can be cured with holy water if it is acted upon soon enough. Brother Enoch is summoned for Nathaniel who is having a hard time dealing with the bite and he informs Tessa that unlike her, Nathaniel is completely human which is very strange given the fact they claim to have the same parents. Will isn’t as bad, but he refuses to drink the holy water and Tessa offers to convince him which she manages to do but he does steal her first kiss before throwing her out of the attic. Tessa is emotionally hurt by this which isn’t made any better when the next day she hears Will ranting and raving about how much he hates both Downworlders and mundanes which obviously includes Tessa as she isn’t human and she gives them a piece of her mind before leaving the Institute. Jem does follow her despite her warning not to and offers to take her to his favourite place in London to help her calm down. I also don’t like Jessamine as she moves in on Nathaniel and immediately begins asking Tessa if he is married or has anyone he is interested in when they aren’t even sure he is going to survive as she sees it as her only way of escaping the Shadowhunter lifestyle. At this point in the novel, the love triangle between Tessa, Will and Jem has been established but it is clear that Jem is obviously a much better match for Tessa and there is the fact that Will is obviously hiding something very dark about himself or his past which both Jem and Sophie have commented on.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Jem takes Tessa to Blackfriars’ Bridge after giving her a bit of a tour around London and we see a genuine connection developing between them, however, they are interrupted by the coachman from the Dark Sisters home who wants Tessa for the Magister who we now know is de Quincey which means he hasn’t given up on her yet and we don’t know why he wants her. The machine man isn’t alone and very quickly Tessa and Jem are greatly outnumbered and make a run for it back to the Institute, while they manage to make it inside the gates the machines are breaking it down when Jem collapses. Tessa pounds on the door before returning to protect Jem before Charlotte and Henry arrive to destroy most of the machines and give chase to the ones that escape but they don’t have any luck in tracking them down. After Jem is taken inside by Will and Thomas, Will comes to fetch her as Jem wants to speak to her and he explains that when his parents were killed he was tortured by a greater demon who got him addicted to a demon drug and he has to continue taking it or he will die but the drug itself is killing him. This information is horrible for Tessa as she has begun developing a bond with Jem, but she also realises that Sophie is in love with him too adding to her dilemma about what to do. Watching Jessamine sleeping next to her brother she seems to realise they could have a normal life together but that is something she can never have because she isn’t human. Tessa returns to her room to sleep only to be awoken to the news that her brother has disappeared; it turns out he was hiding in another room as he is afraid of the Shadowhunters until Tessa explains otherwise. Once he has calmed down, Nathaniel tells them all about his time as de Quincey’s prisoner and everything he learned during that time including the fact that the Dark Sisters mastered the animation spell and that it could only be performed on a full moon which is that very night which means that have mere hours before de Quincey uses his army to awful effect to try and destroy the Shadowhunters once and for all. As the Clave leave for Chelsea to deal with de Quincey, information comes in that the Dark Sisters are in Highgate and they are planning to do the animation spell so Will and Jem head their with Thomas, leaving the Institute unguarded when the machine hoard arrive, killing Agatha. Upon arriving in Highgate Will and Jem know something is off and it turns out that de Quincey isn’t the Magister according to the Dark Sisters it is someone else who I believe is attacked the Institute to get Tessa at that very moment.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we get to witness the final battle with the reveal of who the Magister really is and why he wants Tessa. We also get some major hints about what Tessa is as she seems to be warlock only missing the demon mark that marks warlocks as warlocks like Magnus’ cat like eyes but she is offered a place to live at the Institute by Charlotte for her help in defending it when they were fools who played right into the Magister’s hands. We also get hints that Will is the son of Edmund Herondale who we met in the Bane Chronicles, but we don’t know why he turned away from his parents or was turned away by them and I am eager to find out why. The novel ends with Will and Tessa falling out but she finds some comfort with Jem while Will heads to find Magnus and ask for his help as he can’t ask anyone else although we don’t know why will would need help giving the fact he turns away from it at every opportunity. Overall, re-reading Clockwork Angel has been a rollercoaster and I enjoyed it far more this time around than my previous reading. While I still have some major issues with Will and his behaviour throughout the novel and the fact he is presented as one of the main love interests for Tessa alongside Jem I did really enjoy it and will be continuing on with this series and my reading of the larger Shadowhunter universe.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Also see: City of Bones
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