Bookish Matters

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.

—Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Monday, April 9, 2012

On the Bookshelf—Review of Clockwork Angel



The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
First book in The Infernal Devices series
Prequel to The Mortal Instruments series
Fantasy, Young Adult, Steampunk


I read this book in two days, so you know it's good. It begins when Tessa Gray, finding herself orphaned, goes to Victorian England thinking to live with her brother, but instead is abducted by a pair of women known as the Dark Sisters. Tessa Gray is forced to learn to use a magical power she never knew she had. She is introduced to a world of warlocks, vampires, demons, and the Shadowhunters—the Nephilim—skilled warriors descended from angels who enforce peace and try to protect humans from the supernatural creatures that might harm them.

One of these Shadowhunters is Will Herondale, a long-lashed young man with a mocking air and dark secrets in his past. He has way more personality than Edward Cullen, and is exactly the sort of romantic hero my fourteen-year-old self would have been head over heels for. My 23-year-old self knows that rogues (no matter how much they sweep you off your feet) and troubled youths (no matter how much they awaken your mothering instinct) are not the sort to get romantically involved with, but it's fun to put aside such wisdom to indulge in escapist romance and be 14 again.

Now Tessa Gray must come to terms with her own powers, find her brother amidst the seamy dangerous underworld of London, sort out her feelings for Will, and ultimately question where she comes from, if she is human, and who essentially is Tessa Gray.

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