Friday, May 20, 2011

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra clare

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, #1)Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Cassandra Clare is a well known Author in my house –

My daughter is a HUGE Fan of TMI – I don’t mean just a fan – my daughter (age 12) has read each book 5 or 6 times – Then started a book club and passed by books around to her friends so she could talk about them :)

Also, TMI’s is one of the first set of books I read right after my “twilight” phase – and I really enjoyed these books – TWICE!

So when we found out about Cassandra Clare’s NEWEST book – Clockwrok Angel – The Infernal Devices – we were ALL set for the release date to get here - While my daughter has read it over and over again, I'm wondering why it took me so long to read it!

There is defiantly a difference between my daughter’s POV and mine with reading – Oh sure I loved this book – maybe not as obsessed with it as she is, (She has read this book 4 times already – this was my first time, and I will probably skim over it again when the next of the Infernal Devices comes out -)
What I don’t understand is HOW does she not shed a single tear while reading!?!? She made FUN of me! Ugh! Is there no compassion for a mother who cries over a 17 year old boy’s “Loss of everything” ???


Ok that said – let’s get to the book review –

This was a LOT like the Mortal Instruments books – all of them - I saw a LOT of similarities between Will and Jace, and Tessa and Clary , even a little between Isobel and Jasmine , but Simon and Jem? Nope they’re definatly their own characters -

This book had a lot of history background – like maybe it was meant to explain the TMI background history – BUT Then again there was a lot of things in this book that you wouldn’t have really understood if you didn’t know anything about TMI – we all know what a Shadow hunter is – and the book does explain it… somewhat – but TMI goes into far more details about what the Shadow hunter really is. But Clockwork Angels tells you where Shadow hunters Come from - The whole Nephilim and half demon and Humans mixing it up.

SO with that said – this book was pretty good – it had its own originality to it – The clockwork Angel – It was different – I was trying to read it like I was back in the 1800’s – with the horse and carriages, and the big fluffy dresses the women wore – the servants and the way they talked – It was interesting to learn about how they made their new “not demon, nor God’s” Army . It was all new to them.

The book started out with Will and Jem chasing after a Demon in the alley of London. Will was really excited about killing it so quickly :) But when he turned around, Jem was gone. Looking around for him, he finally found him in a hole deep inside the alley. After looking carefully – he found a girl, a Dead Mundane girl.

Next we arrive at the docks in England , where Tessa walks off the steam ship and looks for her brother Nate – She misses him dearly. And now that their Aunt has passed on, he is all she has left in the world.

2 strange women meet Tessa at the docks with a note from Nate saying that he trusts these women, and to go with them. So she does.

6 weeks later she is still being held against her will at the Dark Sister’s home, and has not seen nor heard from her brother. She learns she has a new talent – and it took her a LONG time, the whole 6 weeks of being held by the warlocks to perfect her new talent (not gonna tell ya :P)

Just when the Dark Sisters thought Tessa was ready, and the time was right to call the Magister …. In comes this strange boy into her room to rescue her. In attempts to rescue her, Tessa gets hit with a bolt of Magic that tosses her across the room and slams her on the stone wall until she crumbles to the floor unconscious.

She wakes up in a strange room with a strange mysterious death creature looking at her (one of the Silent Brothers) and she screams and screams and screams!

That's where we meet Charlotte – the leader of the London’s Shadow Hunter’s Institute. And she is very caring and compassionate, and coaxes Tessa down from her fears and let’s the silent brother help heal her – He got a good look inside her mind and could tell she is not quite human – and yet, nothing like he’s ever seen before –

So what is Tessa?? Is she a Shadow Hunter? A Warlock? A Demon? A Mundan?? Well we don’t really find out – and we probably wont until the 3rd of 4th book, but still :) It’s fun trying to guess, and then halfway through the book, you realize you’re wrong, so make another guess – and yup, wrong again :0

The mystery of what she is, is strong and hopefully wont keep you up at night wondering :)

The relationship between Tessa, and Jem and Will – now that’s complicated and fun.

Will is a very strong headed – stubborn kid (17 year old, and the Clave wont recognize him otherwise until he’s 18 :) ) But Will has trouble taking anything seriously – that is anything BUT Jem – Now one would think Will and Jem were more then best friends – more then brother’s – but that’s all it is – Will loves Jem like a Brother, and jem loves Will like a brother. They are very close and look out for eachother. It’s very sweet the way Will looks after his best friend –

But Tessa can’t understand why that compassion that Will has towards Jem, can’t work with anyone else. She tries hard to break through the wall that Will has placed in front of himself – and just as she thinks he is going to open up to her and be her friend – he goes and ruins it by saying the WRONG THING - more then a few times.

I felt for her – she truly cares for Will and Jem , and you can see Will starting to care for Tessa – but he is forcing himself NOT to care about her – NOT to let her care for him – NOT to let her get too close. Why?? We don't know the whole story yet - but I would really love to get inside his head - especially towards the end.. It breaks my heart.

Jem is a great guy – he is sick though – but there is something about him that really makes you care for the guy. He doesn’t get mad – he doesn’t say hurtful things, he is Will’s complete opposite!

The main characters are great in this book – Charlotte and Henry – Henry is hilarious – yet very strange :) Then Jasmine – she is very selfish and doesn’t want anything to do with being a Shadow Hunter. She has a hard time becoming friends with anyone who wants anything to do with them. Sophie – she is a feisty Mortal servant who becomes a friend to Tessa, and yet, not quite a friend because of her feelings towards Will (she loathes him) Then there is Thomas – the trusting Mundan that has been with them since he was a child. He is now a very loyal servant – as well as the Agatha (she won over Will's heart with her cooking :)

Now that we met all the fun loving guys – let’s just say that this book was great  Defiantly worth the 5 stars :)

Looking forward to the next Infernal Device’s book :)

View all my reviews

2 comments:

  1. Great review Jen! My daughter is also a huge fan, but because this one didn't have Jace and Clary, she refuses to read it. Go figure!

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  2. My daughter has read COFA's 3 times now - I'm just starting it - looking foward to it though. She's good about not telling me what's going to happen in the book - even if I beg her to tell me if I'm right or wrong :)

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