Clockwork Prince
by Cassandra Clare
In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.
Hardcover, Collector's First Edition, 502 pages
Published December 6th 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Other works by this author:
RATING:
3/3 Smarties
A Long Story ... Short!
After my disappointment with Clockwork Angel, I didn't expect too much from Clockwork Prince...which was a good thing. Character-wise I still had the same problem with this one that I had with the first book in this trilogy: they reminded me too much of The Mortal Instruments characters. Okay, mostly Jace and Will appeared too similar to me. Plot-wise this book had even more to offer, it has a lot of action and seems to never really slow down. Clare revealed a few twists I never thought were possible (or never imagined to happen). Writing - as always with Clare . was brilliant, not poetic, but pretty straight-forward and fluent which makes the book readable and even with the (maybe) intimidating number of pages a quick read.
Review for You:
Clockwork Prince is a fun, adventurous Action, Urban-Fantasy novel that will keep you glued to the pages for hours and hours. It made me laugh and swoon and bight my fingernails due to its suspense (that's a total lie. Thankfully, I never had or understood the habit of biting one's nails).
All the lame character introduction and story and world building was put on hold in this sequel and made room for more plot, more relationship drama, more evil plans and more brilliant enemy-fighting theories! Claire's fluent writing style adds to the addictiveness of this book because you never need to take a break, you can turn page after page and Clare's easy choice of words and lack (but not in a negative way) of poetic descriptions was - as always refreshing and fun to read.
I grew to care for the characters a bit more even though two specific ones drove me crazy and almost made me cry of frustration towards the end because I just knew that what they were doing was wrong but they wouldn't realize until it was much, sooo much too late!
Also, Clare never fails to surprise me with plot reveals and twists that leave me with my mouth open, gasping in surprise.
Now, a book seldom is without flaws, is it? Because with Clare's plot twists and especially her book endings I have a very big problem every. single. time.
I don't believe them. Absolutely not. It's almost always way too easy. There we are, still sixty pages to go in this total mess, not knowing how to get ourselves out of it again and then Clare slowly reveals the solution and its so easy it doesn't even make sense anymore. Honestly, I'd much rather have a major cliffhanger at the end of the book or an important character dying or anything than to always have these flat, prepackaged solutions handed over the counter. Just, no. I won't accept that.
I was almost going to say that I'm still looking forward to the last book in this trilogy, Clockwork Princess, but then I noticed that's not quite true since we do have a major problem at the end of Book Two and we don't get the solution yet and I'm really hoping Clare is going to find a logical one instead of looking for the easy way out. Oh, and one more thing that makes me fear the next book a bit: I really want it to be the last. DON'T come up with three more, please. It's enough and I guess I'd turn my back on Clare if she did what she already has done with The Mortal Instruments Series. I would, however, really like to read new books by her that are set in completely different worlds.
Sooo, all in all? A really great sequel. If you love Clare, go read this book. If you've had enough of Shadowhunters you might still want to try Clockwork Prince since I think I would've missed out on something if I hadn't started and continued The Infernal Devices...
Review for me:
Favorite Quote:
"Easy enough to say at seventeen," said Magnus, "with no small amount of coldness. "You are in love and you think that is all there is in the world. But the world is bigger than you, Will, and may have need of you."
What I Learned From This Book:
I wouldn't necessarily say that I learned it from this book, but this is definitely a very important message that can't be repeated often enough: It's important not to judge people before you really got to know them. They might turn out entirely different from the image you had of them.
When I want to reread this book:
Not anytime soon, I guess as Clockwork Princess is coming out this year, I think and my memory is hopefully going to be fresh enough until then.
