Book Review
Title: Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA/Paranormal/Fantasy/Romance
Rating: ****
Review: After Finishing Clockwork Angel and enjoying much more than what I thought I would I am continuing on with the series and my reading/re-reading of the Shadowhunter Universe. Clockwork Prince opens with Charlotte and Henry being reprimanded for the actions at the end of Clockwork Angel. As Benedict Lightwood has made a challenge to Charlotte’s ruling of the Institute, she and Henry have two weeks to either find the Magister or some strong evidence pointing to his location or Benedict will be allowed to challenge her which infuriates Charlotte. We also learn that Will is collecting some strange items for Magnus, presumably to due with their meeting at the end of Clockwork Angel but during this time Tessa has become very close to Jem but she can’t forget how she feels for Will. As we get reintroduced to the characters, Jem and Tessa come to the same conclusion that Mortmain’s hatred for the Shadowhunters has to be personal and the decide to check to reparations archives, where Downworlders and Mundanes can make complaints against Shadowhunters. Charlotte finds that Mortmain was possibly the adopted child of two warlocks which would explain where he got the knowledge of dark magic, and the complaint he made against the Shadowhunters for their deaths would explain his hatred of them but it means speaking with another Institute to get the full records. In the meantime, it has been declared that both Tessa and Sophie along with Jessamine are going to be trained by Benedict Lightwood’s son; Gabriel and Gideon which is harder than Tessa thought but even that isn’t enough to distract her from Will’s strange behaviour towards her especially after the cruel things he said to her at the end of the previous book although we are now aware that he believes himself to have been cursed by a demon who he and Magnus are trying to find.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Charlotte doesn’t get the desired response back from the York Institute as the man who runs it still harbours a grudge against Charlotte’s father. She decides to send Will, Tessa, and Jem there in order to gain an item of Aloysius Starkweather’s in order for Tessa to change into him and gain the information they seek. However, they are faced with the problem of Tessa, she can’t say she is a Shadowhunter because she has no marks but Aloysius won’t like them bringing a Mundane or Downworlder with them. They decide to lie and say Tessa is engaged to Jem and preparing to Ascend, the ritual where a mundane can be into a Shadowhunter but something about the trip isn’t sitting well with Tessa, who isn’t used to lying without wearing someone else’s face. Upon arriving in York that feeling is only growing stronger in Tessa and I am excited to see where it is going to go. Between these events we learn a lot more about Shadowhunter culture and their rules, vows and Laws which was really interesting as we don’t get nearly as much of this context in City of Bones. In the York Institute, Tessa is given a very rude awakening to what being a Shadowhunter involved before the Accords and why Mortmain might harbour such hatred towards them. We also get more development on the relationship between Jem, Tessa, and Will as Will is still drawn to Tessa as she is to him but she can’t let his previous behaviour slide and he even confesses that he can’t tell her that he didn’t mean what he said to her in Clockwork Angel which drives a wedge between them. However, when they head to investigate Ravenscar Manor, the home address that Mortmain gave when he made his complaint after the death of his warlock parents, they find that someone is living there and not just anyone, someone Will knows a young girl named Cecily. Although we have no idea who this young girl is, we know she is important to Will as her name has been mentioned more than once and I hope we are about to find out who is she really is and her significance to Will. Although, from Tessa brief description of the girl she might be a relation to Will, a younger sister perhaps.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, we learn that Cecily is Will’s younger sister, although she was only 9 the last time, he saw her as his father, Edmund Herondale, isn’t a Shadowhunter anymore and thus isn’t under the protection of the Clave and Will isn’t allowed to associate with them but there is far more to this story as we soon find out. After Jem and Tessa stop Will from barging into Ravenscar Manor, they realises they have been followed by an automaton and give chase where it relays a message, a message for Will. The message tells Will to stop investigating Mortmain or his family will pay the price, Jem and Tessa have a job to get him back to London but the second they arrive, Will flees. While Jem and Tessa head back to the Institute to relay the events of their trip to Charlotte, Will heads straight for the home of Magnus Bane. We know that Magnus has been summoning demons for Will to find the one that he believes cursed him with little success but in the light of recent events Will wants Magnus to send him into the demon realm and Magnus refuses. Will tells Magnus the whole story that he found his father’s Pyxis when he was only 12 and it unleashed a demon but his older sister, Ella protected him but the demon cursed him so that anyone that loved Will would die and this is proven when his sister dies that night. Will decides to become a Shadowhunter and leave his family in order to protect them and this has brought back haunting memories for him especially since he has fallen in love with Tessa and he confesses this to Magnus. While this did make me see Will’s horrid behaviour in the first novel, especially towards Tessa in a different light it doesn’t excuse it for me and he better make up for it. However, as Magnus won’t help him Will leaves. Back at the Institute, Jem and Tessa tell Charlotte everything and she asks Tessa to change into Aloysius in order to see if he hid anything from them but all Tessa learns is that the man is going senile. Charlotte summons Ragnor Fell who has been keeping tabs on Will’s family and asks him to make some discreet enquires to see why Will’s family has moved into Ravenscar Manor and what Mortmain might want with them and he agrees. In all this time Will hasn’t returned and when Tessa receives a letter from Magnus, she immediately shows Jem and the pair decide to track him down.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Jem and Tessa manage to find and retrieve Will but the fact they find him high on the drug Jem needs to survive drives a wedge between the trio. Surprisingly through it is Tessa that explains to Will why his actions had such a profound effect on Jem and this prompts the normally cold Will to apologize to his friend but both Jem and Tessa omit the fact they were in bed together a few nights before and almost ended up making love if it hadn’t been for an accident. This pushes Tessa into meltdown territory as she is increasing becoming more and more torn between Jem and Will although I still firmly believe that Jem is the better love interest even with his illness as he doesn’t let him stop living. However, more bad news is to come when Sophie comes to Tessa and tells her that after seeing Jessamine sneaking out several nights in a row dressed in man’s clothing she decided to investigate and found an invitation to a ball hosted by Benedict Lightwood where she is meeting Tessa’s brother, Nate who betrayed her. After knocking Jessamine out and tying her to the bed they decide to only person they can go to for help is Will and he readily agrees. They decide as it is a masked ball Will is going to go in disguise and Tessa will go as Jessamine but she is concerned since she can’t access any of Jessie’s emotions or memories but the only reason, they are going is to find out whether her dealings with Nate are innocent or whether Jessamine has truly betrayed the Shadowhunters. This is made more urgent since there are werewolves buying up the supplies of the drug Jem needs so the urge to catch Mortmain once and for all is greater than ever.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Tessa is able to find out during the party that her brother has married Jessamine and she has been leaking all the information on their investigation into Mortmain right back to Nate. However, after drinking some lemonade laced with warlock powder Tessa begins to lose control of her change and Will manages to get to the balcony. As both drank the lemonade, they are overcome but the loss of the their inhibition and share a steamy kiss before Magnus Bane interrupts them and explains their situation. He helps them escape from the party without being seen and Will has already sent Nate off on a wild goose chase but he encounters the demon he has been hunting and gives chase, leaving poor Magnus to get Tessa back to the Institute. Once there, Sophie wakes Charlotte but in the meantime, Jessamine awakens and knows she has been caught especially when Brother Enoch arrive with the Mortal Sword which forces Shadowhunters to tell the truth. In light of her betrayal, Brother Enoch learns that there is a block on Jessamine’s mind and take her to the Silent City in order to discover what she is hiding. However, Charlotte is deeply hurt as Jessamine has been with them since she was a little girl and her betrayal hurts, but more than that, Charlotte knows if she goes to the Consul she is playing into Mortmain’s hands and they still don’t know where he is hiding. In the meantime, Will finds Magnus in Camille’s home after fighting the demon who managed to escape but not before biting Will and leaving a tooth behind that Magnus can use to summon it. However, Camille arrives home and tries to lie to Magnus about where she has been when he knows she has been in Russia with a human lover who she has now killed. Magnus is hurt as he wanted Camille to be faithful but she makes the argument that no immortal can truly be faithful which hurts Magnus even more. He lies to her saying he is with Will now which enrages her and the pair have parted on decidedly bad terms but he agrees to help Will summon the demon he needs in a few days’ time before sending him back to the Institute. During all of this Tessa has come to realise she can’t choose between Will and Jem because she loves them equally and it feels like her heart is being torn in two and with the revelation that she might be the child of demon and Shadowhunter, a seemingly impossible thing, is only making things more difficult for her.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, after Jessamine is taken to the Silent City, they only thing the remaining Shadowhunters and Tessa can do is get in touch with Nate as he is their only solid connection to Mortmain but in order for that to happen they need Jessamine to help them. Jem and Tessa are chosen to go to the Silent City as they are the only ones that Jessamine is likely to listen to but upon arriving Jem disappears leaving Tessa to talk to Jessamine alone and I am scared at why he disappeared for the length of time that he did. The pair eventually manage to convince Jessamine to help them even if it is only to save herself and she writes a note to Nate to meet in their usual place. The Shadowhunters go ahead to position themselves ready to capture Nate and get the information they need while Tessa walk to the meeting place. Upon arriving Nate instantly grabs her telling Tessa that he knew from the minute he received Will’s note that she had been disguising herself as Jessamine and a battle immediately ensues. Nate, however, has the upper hand as he has massive automatons at his disposable that instantly disable Charlotte and Henry. However, she manages to use her able to change into Nate, giving her an edge as she gets Henry’s device to Will who is clinging onto the mechanical creature which has thrown Jem off. She commands it to grab Nate who is directly in the heart of the following explosion. Nate dies in Tessa arms and while he doesn’t give up anything useful, he reminds her to always wear her angel which reinforces the idea from the first book that it has another purpose which not even Henry could uncover. However, Will is also dealt a devastating blow as he is injured and they can’t heal him without removing the metal. It is only at this point that Jem points out that Tessa herself is also badly injured before she collapses unconscious in his arms.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, there are less than 100 pages left in the novel and I have no idea what is going to come. In the aftermath, Tessa is lost inside of her own mind for a while as she watches the world around her including Jem confesses his love for her and being comforted by Will although she claims that both of these were dreams. When she finally wakes up, Will has been healed although his injuries are completely healed and he goes straight to Magnus where they summon the demon, he chased down earlier only to learn the curse was a lie and that his sister died because she was stung by the demon’s stinger. Will is clearly heartbroken at his actions and immediately begins making up for it and he plans to tell Tessa of his feelings but we are aware that Tessa has just accepted Jem’s proposal to become his wife which is going to hurt him and Tessa since she does still feel something for him. However, right now the attention of the group is what is going to happen to the Institute but they discover that Benedict Lightwood has demon pox from improper relations with a demon which is passed to his wife which is why she committed suicide. This information isn’t only enough to secure the Institute for them but also reveal Benedict Lightwood’s connection to Mortmain and they begin to put a plan together. With less than 50 pages of the novel left I wasn’t sure what kind of cliff-hanger it would be left on since I know there is a final book to come and I am also aware that Will does die at some point. In the end Clockwork Prince was a mixture of happiness and disappointment as Tessa rejects Will because of her engagement to Jem but feels like she has torn her own heart in half by doing it but she knows she can’t have both of them. We also get the news that Charlotte and Henry are expecting their first child but all this is overshadowed when Will’s sister, Cecily turns up at the Institute requesting to be trained as a Shadowhunter. Overall, Clockwork Prince was great still not a five star read as Will’s horrid behaviour was only deemed acceptable right at the end of this novel but we know the Shadowhunters are preparing for war against Mortmain and with Cecily on the scene now I can’t wait to see what the final book has in store for me.
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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