Clockwork Angel

I'm doing my first review here on a book given to me by a wonderful friend. She had an extra copy, and while I was home visiting I acquired 5 new books, this ended up being on the top of the pile to read. My friends have an easy way of getting me to read a book, it goes like this: "Read this you'll love it."

Book: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare - Book One in The Infernal Devices series
Alright, I'm a huge fan of YA literature in general but with so many wonderful titles to read this is the first by Cassandra Clare I have read. Yes, I know her Mortal Instruments series is a best seller and I HAVE planned on reading her, apparently I just needed one of her books shoved in my face to do so.
This book is billed as a Prequel to the Mortal Instruments series, but I was told I did not need to read them first.



Dust Jacket Impressions: Clockwork Angel, according to the dust jacket, is about a girl named Tessa on a quest to find her brother, apparently in England in Victorian England (yay steam-punk). There are supernatural creatures, and some kind of police forced called Shadowhunters (okay not the most exciting name). Tessa ends of kidnapped (Really? A useless heroine please tell me that isn't the case), by Dark Sisters of the Pandemonium club. Reading on I find Tessa discovers she has her own magical abilities whereupon she can transform into another person, and the Magister wants Tessa's power, please please please tell me she's not a Mary-Sue. Apparently Tessa 'takes refuge' with the Shadowhunters of London and offer to help find her brother if she uses her power. It looks like she has some romantic interest between two best friends, some moody bad-boy, and some fragile dude, really? Apparently Tessa must choose between saving her brother and saving the world.
Alright, the dust jacket didn't exactly wow me, it made me feel that this is going to be some trite book with a Mary-Sue main character who is amazing and everyone loves her and she's the only one who can save the world. My friends don't shove crap like that on me, so I'm fascinated to read her work and hope the dust jacket reader gets a smack in the head for making the book sound ridiculous. Well, I hope it's just my negativity shouting at a terrible summary.

The first 100 pages: The book starts with a prologue, two characters Will and James (Jem) are introduced. I find myself incredibly interested in them. Will seems to have a charm about him, in a rebel sort of way, Jem appears to be his conscious. Half-way through the prologue we switched to Tessa the main character, disembarking a boat and being picked up by the Dark Sisters with a note from her brother saying they will take her to him. Alright, I'm intrigued: the first 100 pages covers the first 4 1/2 chapters in my copy of the book. I find myself liking Tessa unlike I thought I would from the dust jacket blurb. The story so far, while nothing groundbreaking, is well paced and interesting, it kept me turning pages and wanting to know what was going to happen next. Following Tessa the reader is drawn through her imprisonment, discovery of her powers, and her selflessness. We are told a bit about the world the book takes place in, but aren't thrown too much information we can't keep track, same with the characters we are introduced to. I was glad to see Will brought to the reader's attention again, he is a reckless and entertaining character, frankly I am more interested in him than I am Tessa, the main character. He has a story that Clare teases at, but so far we aren't learning much, damn authors keeping secrets! The reader is introduced to the Shadowhunters (of which Will is a member) and the mysteries of the book such as: what exactly is Tessa, who is the Magister, what is going on with all this crazy clockwork stuff? Overall the book grabbed me entertained me and held my attention. I am anticipating the rest of the book to be as good, if not better. I hope many of my arisen questions are answered by the end of the novel, I for one am incredibly impatient waiting for continuations of a series to be finished!

Overall Review: Read it. This book is a decent YA novel and will be enjoyable by readers of all ages, especially fans of steam-punk, fantasy, and occult. Vampires, werewolves, warlocks, magic, demons, angels, they all exist in this book and they fit in the world Clare wrote. If you are looking for a book with action, mystery, and a teeny bit of romance, check it out.
The characters that are focused on are decent and we learn enough of most of their back stories to care about them, or are teased enough about them that we want to know more. I found myself taken with Will, not because I liked him, but because I wanted to know his story. Tessa didn't interest me much because I was so focused everything happening around her and not on her. She is not a bad character, she grows from someone who is just trying to save her brother, and has to be saved, to a young woman who masters her own powers and actually saves herself. I spent more time trying to guess ahead of the story I missed Tessa take onto her own for a short time. She manages to get the attention of both Will and Jem, although neither one of them seems altogether right for her, much of her large plot points had me leaving a mild taste of a Mary-Sue in my mouth. The overall story of the Magister and his secret plays out well. He intends to build an army of clockwork men and take out the Shadowhunters, and the twists regarding his story were thankfully not seen a mile away. I was slightly disappointed with so many questions left unanswered, I was hoping for less loose ends to combine with my tidbit cliffhanger. I am looking forward to the Clockwork Prince which is coming out this winter and hopefully keeps me as entertained as Clockwork Angel did.
On a scale of 1-10 I'd give Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare a 7/10 for a fun mystery adventure, which will keep you turning pages until the book is done.

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