Thursday, July 20, 2017

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Timesbestselling Mortal Instruments series.

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them...







Rating: 3/5 Stars


I bought this book in 2015 because after reading City of Bones and not really enjoying it, many friends told me to try this series deeming it to be a “better version of TMI” at least in their opinion! So I started reading it happily, but my problem was that while being on Tumblr I saw THE Mother of All Spoilers. Like, I’m not even kidding, a person wrote a blog post (thus forgetting that despite tags anybody who followed her would see it) and without knowing what it was I started to read and… that’s how I got spoiled for the entire series *face palm*

After that, I was so pissed I stopped reading but after almost two years (MAN does time fly?!) I’ve decided to pick it up again and do a binge-read of the series.

Now, comparing it to City of Bones I have to admit I enjoyed Clockwork Angel a lot better. Maybe it wasn’t a masterpiece for me, but it was entertaining and the writing has an addictive sort of quality that makes you want to keep reading… even though the characters sometimes leave a lot to be desired.

Tessa is our main character, she’s an American girl that after the death of her aunt goes to live with her brother Nathan in London. As soon as she arrives she’s kidnapped by Warlocks who want to sell her for a special power she didn’t even know she had. 
Admittedly, I liked Tessa better than Clary… but that’s not saying much because I really disliked that asshole.

They both have similar stories; a relative goes missing and they are thrown into a supernatural world they didn’t know it existed but that they’re part of, and both have special powers that set them apart from others. Personality wise they are also similar, and that’s a shame because they both have this weird superiority complex and are extremely judgy of everybody, always holding themselves on a higher ground.
I wasn’t exactly a fan, especially considering how Tessa was pretty much useless (I know I’m harsh, but can you say I’m wrong?) and yet everybody praised and loved her and stuff. She was the typical self-insert to live the story by. She’s also a book lover which is a huge WARNING ALERT for me. I know I must be pretty much alone with this, but whenever a main character loves reading I just have to roll my eyes. It’s just so… cliché? Like a cheap way to make the MC relatable to the audience, “my readers clearly like to read, so I’ll make my character a bookworm! They’ll love that!” but I can hardly ever connect with them because it doesn’t feel real. The way Tessa speaks about books feels like those fabricated posters “Live everyday as if it were your last!” that are sold by the bucket world-wide. She didn’t seem like a real book lover to me, simply a stereotype of it with no soul, like those fricken automatons.

Still, I tried hard not to see her through my standard because I know this is nineteen century and things were different back then. I can’t expect Tessa to just throw away everything she believed in and embrace this world because standards were different, and women especially were indoctrinated to think a certain way. I just didn’t see the appeal to her.

Will is the main love interest and one I’m not terribly fond of. I know, I know, EVERYBODY loves him but to me he was just… too much. Too snarky, too brooding and I know that there’s a story behind what he does, but I also know it’s convoluted and forced to make the “tension” between him and Tessa last for three books. Why does he even like Tessa? I mean, other than her being the lead?? The romance had little development and basically came out of nowhere, it just consisted of Will pushing Tessa and way and her being “drawn” to him despite everything because she’s kind of a masochist that, thanks to the century she lives in, thinks with a great deal of misogyny and believes that a man who treats a woman poorly is most likely in love with her (her words not mine).

Jem oh… my sweet Jem! You deserve better than being Tessa’s second choice, damn you Cassandra Clare!

The story in itself was good. I’m really curious about the Magister and who Tessa is, plus her role in this whole war against Shadowunters. It was also interesting seeing how this wasn’t black and white with the “Good” Nephilim fighting against the “evil” downworlders. Nephilim do think of themselves as superior and won’t even give downworlders positions in their council, despite that what the Council does is oversee the whole of the supernatural world! The characters certainly weren’t perfect and I liked that.

Overall, not perfect but really fun and entertaining. I recommend it for people who either loved or hated The Mortal Instruments, though beware because the characters can be quite similar!

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