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, 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: Jem, 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.
I have a confession: I have not read the Mortal Instruments series yet. I have them sitting on my bookshelf at home. I bought all three of them at the end of January (I think), but haven’t cracked them open yet. Bubba, however, plowed through all three of them in less than a week. Which is why, when I got Clockwork Angel from Traveling ARC Tours, I let him read it real quick before I read it (I was still reading Firelight anyway, so it was just sitting there…). So, while this review is mostly my own, I am going to draw from a few things the husband said, as his perspective was a little different having read the other books.
Okay…enough with that.
There isn’t much I can say about the plot (aside from what is in the synopsis above) that won’t give things away, so I will just dive right into what I thought.
As far as the plot goes, I loved this book. It was intriguing, with enough action to keep things moving right along, but enough mellow spots thrown in there to let me slow down and just enjoy the writing. Which is great. Clare’s prose is not overdone, and the style fits perfectly with the time period of the book.
I think I am just going to take a minute to break down the good and bad of this book, using only my favorite and least favorite things (I’ll admit: I am starving, but I won’t go get food until I finish this review, so I am only going for the extremes). 
The Good: Maybe I only really noticed this because I was coming off of reading Firelight, where I was less-than-impressed with the characterization, but I loved it in this book. I felt like all the characters were fleshed out nicely here. Everyone had a motive, no matter how small, for acting the way they did. Good guys, bad guys, guys who I couldn’t tell whose side they were on…they all had their reasons for being the way they were. And we got to experience those reasons. Even Will – he often acted abrasive and cold for no apparent reason, but I also felt like he had a solid motivation for those actions. It never seemed that Clare just wrote his character that way; rather, I think he has some deep-seated reasons for acting like he does. Reasons I am hoping we will learn about in the next book (the epilogue of this one leads me to believe maybe we will).
The Semi-Bad: This is where Bubba comes in. Having not read Clare’s first books, I could not have picked up on this, but Bub definitely did. While the characters are well-fleshed out, they are also very reminiscent of the ones in the Mortal Instruments books. The husband unit says Jace and Will are very similar. There is a Gem-like character in the first series. The secondary girl characters shadow each other between the books. I will have to see if I pick up on this when I read the other books (which I will soon, promise!), but Bubba definitely got that vibe.
The Bad: grrrrrrr. Why is it that in YA, when a girl finds herself with two semi-love interests, she always pisses me off? I see it happen time and time again. There is a girl. And two boys. One of the boys is sweet, kind, and gentle. He obviously adores her, though he might do it from afar, without being in-her-face about it. He is good to her, always. The other is hot and cold. One moment he is kind to her, the next he is abrasive. There is a spark between them, but as soon as they act on it in any way, he completely shuts down and treats her like crap. But which of these boys is she going to choose? Of course! What woman wouldn’t want to be with a guy who treats her like crap 50% of the time. Seems like the best option to me too.
Except for, yeah, no it doesn’t. Yet I see it over and over and over again in YA books (probably in other books as well, but I will be honest that I see this setup in YA more than other genres). The girl almost always goes for the guy who is a jerk half the time. Yes, the argument could be made that this happens in true life a lot as well (which it does), but still I would like to see this change a bit. Can I suggest we all read Wicked Lovely for a great example on NOT doing this.
Phew. Rant over. Aside from my obvious issue with the love story, I really did adore this book. I will definitely read the rest of the series, along with the Mortal Instruments series.
2 Comments
Don’t leave home without it. I totally agree with the rant, am now unsure of my enjoyment of the read. I read the first three books in three days. Yeah, I get a little obsessive, but so does everyone else, so whatever. But with that rant, I will say one thing. We always want what we cannot have, even if available options are far more appealing. Oh, eventually most come around, but some people just stick with that first reaction. Throw in some teen angst, and you have people you’d rather punch in the face than interact with. Good times, all around.
You are totally right! The appeal to what we can’t have is probably a big factor in why the girls always choose the wrong (in my opinion) boy. It is definitely an enjoyable book – that aspect was not nearly enough to keep my from liking it.