Clockwork Angel (ARC review)

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

Synopsis (Product Description):
Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: Jem, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm’s length…everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world…and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

Review:
I know I’m going to fail you.  I know I’m not going to be able to adequately express how much I LOVED this book! I know I’m not going to be able to articulate with certain certainty how I think you need to stop what your doing right now and read this book! But I’m gonna try!

Clare is a literary genius!

That in itself should be enough, but I’ll go on.  From the moment I started reading Clockwork Angel I could not put it down, and I never wanted it to end!  It is an epic adventure like one I have been longing for! Although I have heard many praise The Mortal Instruments series, I have not read any of those books.  If fact, I just ordered and received them this month, and now I plan to read them immediately. Clockwork Angel is the prequel to the Mortal Instruments, but I never felt lost reading it.  Regardless of its ties to The Mortal Instruments, Clockwork Angel is its own wonderful story that can be read without prior knowledge of the series.

There is no delay in action! Straightaway, Tessa Gray is thrust into a world like she had never imagined possible.  She is forced to harness magic within herself that she does not understand.  Soon enough she discovers the Shadowhunters, which bring about events that will change her life.

Tessa is the best kind of heroine! An ordinary girl with an extraordinarily power, Tessa is a book lover at heart, which marks her as very clever and lovable, but she was also not without faults.  Her naivety felt very real. She struggled, but as she learned and grew into herself, so did the reader.  And, I’m so in SWOON with the shadowhunter William Herondale. Will had me laughing out loud with his silly musings.  Captivated as I was by him, I must have re-read his scenes a dozen times before I could stop gushing and giggling enough to move on.  Yet his mysterious past kept me guarded, and he even broke my heart a bit. Will’s best friend, Jem was also quite enduring.  I don’t know if I’ve ever admired a character more than I did Jem.  There was a centered calmness to him that I couldn’t help but wish I possessed in myself.

While the storyline was unique and unexpected, mirthful yet thrilling and dark, one could say the best bits were all the literary references, the poetry quotes and even the chapter titles! I love it all!    

 

Cassandra Clare reading my favorite scene!

“I have mastered many things in my life. Navigating the streets of London, speaking French without an accent, dancing the quadrille, the Japanese art of flower arranging, lying at charades, concealing a highly intoxicated state, delighting young women with my charms…”

Tessa stared.

“Alas,” he went on, “no one has ever actually referred to me as ‘the master,’ or ‘the magister,’ either. More’s the pity…”

~*~

Will looked horrified. “What kind of monster could possibly hate chocolate?”

“One must always be careful of books,” said Tessa, “and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”

~*~

“Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.”

“I do not believe you can threaten people into goodness.”

~*~

“Whatever you are physically,” he said, “male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy – all those things matter less than what your heart contains.  If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. All those other things, they are the glass that contains the lamp, but you are the light inside.”

Reviewed for Book It Forward ARC Tours

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Posted at 9:04 pm  •  Labels: 2010, 5 stars, angels, ARC, Book it Forward, Book Review, YA