Clockwork Angel

Magic is dangerous--but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks, and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, who are members of a secret organization called the Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

I have had literally no time for reading lately. With all the writing and editing and planning, reading has had to take a backseat. Which really sucks because I've got a lot of new books I want to read. One of which, as you can probably tell, was Cassandra Clare's CLOCKWORK ANGEL. Well, guess what!

It seemed to take ages, but I've finally finished it!

Now, on to the review...

My first impression of this book was...mixed. (Yeah, let's say mixed.) I'd heard so many good things about it and the premise really piqued my interest. But it started off a little...slow. In fact, the prologue and first chapter put me off a bit. If it hadn't been for people here on the blogosphere wanting to hear my opinion, I'm not sure I would have kept reading.

Well, here I am to give you all a resounding THANK YOU!! for pushing me to read this book. If it weren't for you guys, I would have missed out on this incredible book! And that would've been a real shame. But first, let me just get those nit-picky things that annoyed me off my chest...

The prologue opens in Will's perspective, then switches to Tessa's. This slightly annoyed me, but I'll talk more about that later. For now, I want to make mention of the rain.

"It was drearily gray. Rain drummed down onto the spires of a distant church..." pg. 7

"The Main, its shining black-painted hull gleaming wet with rain..." pg. 7

"Drops of rain stung her unprotected head and neck like pinpricks from icy little needles..." pg. 8

"...her hands, inside their insubstantial gloves, were clammy and wet with rain." pg. 8

"...and a tall hat, its brim collecting rainwater like a cistern." pg. 8

"...but the rain and mist were too thick for Tessa to read them clearly." pg. 9

"...sheltering themselves from the rain." pg. 9

That's enough of that. (By the way, there are four more mentions of rain in the prologue.) Like I said, this is very nit-picky of me and I do give Cassandra big points for her ability to paint a amazing picture, but I found all the mentions of rain in the prologue a tad repetitive and that worried me. I took it as a sign of what was to come.

Boy, was I ever wrong. Things really picked up about halfway through chapter one. *cough*Once Will showed up. *cough* Hm? What's that? Heh--okay, you caught me. I have a nerd crush on William Herondale. So sue me.

And that leads me into my second nit-picky qualm. I enjoyed Will's narration a lot more than Tessa's and would have loved more of that. I can't pinpoint exactly why I liked his narration more (nerd crush, maybe?), but I did.

But other than those very little things, I ADORED THIS BOOK! I really did. I found myself craving just a few hours every evening to read another chapter. (Oh, I guess the twenty page chapters kind of wore on me too, but that wasn't a big deal.)

All the characters are so well-developed. It's rare to find a book with a cast like this one--they're all interesting and full of personality. It's hard to pick out a favorite with all these amazing choices. By the end, I'd come to love all of them (the Shadowhunters, that is) like close personal friends. (Even Jessamine. I didn't think it was possible, but I ended up loving her right along with the rest of them.) Tessa didn't really strike me and I'm not sure if her character will stick with me, but she didn't bother me, which is wonderful, because I usually find I either love or hate characters. Coming away feeling only lukewarm about one is new.

The story itself is masterfully done. Very engrossing and compelling. The pacing was great and the details invoked some really beautiful images. The fight scenes got a little "meh..." in places, but that's alright, because I cared deeply for the characters involved in those fights. And the humor. I can't begin to express how much I loved the humor in this book! I spent almost every other page with a smirk on my face.

All in all, I think CLOCKWORK ANGEL is a great book and you should definitely read it if you already haven't.

HAPPY READING, LOVELIES!
((Oh, by the way! This is my 100th post! I just noticed! Woot woot!))