Considering that I just discovered Cassandra Clare and her shadowhunter world less than 6 months ago, it might come as a shock that Clockwork Prince was my most anticipated read of the year, and even more so when considering that I was reluctant to even begin reading the Infernal Devices series (based solely on my extreme partiality to Clary Fray from The Mortal Instruments and my Taurean nature that is adverse to change).
Nevertheless, after Clockwork Angel, I thought I was going to die before December 6th got here! I didn’t die, but I did get a Kindle Fire as an early Christmas present so I knew just what I was going to download first. 😉 And when I started the book, I just died!
There is only one way I know to describe Clockwork Prince. It’s just like falling in love again for the first time. You know how you get in a relationship with somebody new who just gets you and you think they are so fascinating? You think about them nonstop and doodle their name on every scrap napkin on your desk? And when you do, you get that feeling in your stomach, like a million butterflies covered in fairy dust on a sugar high? Read this novel, and you will feel it again. In fact, I think my “Jem Carstairs” doodles almost ruined my marriage. Seriously. Jem makes me sigh out loud while I’m reading; my husband is suspicious.
The story returns us to the London Institute where the Branwells are desperately trying to save Charlotte’s role as head of the institute, Tessa is settling in as if she, too, is Nephilim, and Will is up to something with everyone’s favorite warlock, Magnus Bane. The pursuit of the magister is still on with more and more pieces falling into place. Is there time for the Nephilim to solve the mystery before the institute falls? Can Tessa fit into the world of shadowhunters so seamlessly, or does something drastic have to happen to secure her place? All of this and more is answered within the pages of Clockwork Prince.
We come a few steps closer to knowing the truth about who or what Tessa really is. (The only person more excited to know than Tessa herself is probably me. I still haven’t figured it out yet!) We also get to see a stronger side of Charlotte and Henry, both individually and as a couple, and we find even more reason to deplore Jessie and Nate, which was pretty much set for me after the first novel. The London backdrop that Clare describes is, once again, amazing, and it makes me almost homesick of London, a place I have never visited. I find the heroin den setting to be devilish and delicious. 🙂
Additionally, I loved (with a capital LOVE) how Clare stepped up the romance in this novel. The love scenes between Tessa and Jem and Tessa and Will are breathtaking. In fact, one was downright smoking hot. It never gets inappropriate by today’s standards, but the really sexy thing about the level of intimacy is that it would have been beyond inappropriate during Tessa’s time. As it is, I am dying for my husband to suggest that he take “liberties” with me just so I can say, “Take them.” (File this under things that are never going to happen.)
Finally, Clare always leaves about a million loose ends, but she does it so perfectly. She is honestly one of the best at this in the genre. It’s never awkward or obvious; it’s pure magic. I dove into this book and finished it in less than 12 hours, and that was only because I had to sleep and pretend to be a mother and wife for a bit. I was pleasantly vexed when it ended without really ending anything, and if she weren’t coming to Germany in March, I’d probably begin to internet stalk her for more details.
Go. Buy. It. Now.
(Then, somebody please find the name of the guy who does the cover work for this series because he is YUMTASTIC. I want to have a new inappropriate and totally underage fantasy crush since Taylor Lautner has come of age.)
