Friday 16 December 2011

Clockwork Prince review

Clockwork Prince
Cassandra Clare 
December 5th 2011
Walker books


In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.
Right. Okay. Clockwork Prince. I'm not really sure how the hell I'm going to sum up all of my feelings for this book, but you can be damn sure that I'm going to try my best! I loved it, and I think that this series is better than TMI, and it's totally worth the five stars that I gave it on GR, but Tessa has kind of started to annoy me. And I know that this is just me! And I like her for the most part. But her relationship with Will and Jem frustrates me. Which I will come into soon (think back to that love triangle post. Might give you some clues to my emotions.)
I love Will. I know that after this book, everyone is all thinking Jem is amazing, and he is, but I just love Will so much! And now that we have the back story for why he's been a prick, it's so much better! Plus we get to see him start being nice and have him show his emotions more, which is awesome, because it means he isn't going to go all Jace on us. Besides, I only like Jace when he's being a jokey sarcastic arse. I just hope that this means Will isn't going to get all sappy on us in book 3, because sappy people are NOT fun to read about. Crazy, demon pox obsessed, secretly lovely people are fun to read about.
And Magnus! I love getting to see more of him. He's probably my favourite character from all the books. I won't lie, him and Alec are the main reason I still read TMI. (I love the series but we all know it should've stayed 3 books long.) And Jem is a lovely person, but I just struggle to buy into any romance there... I know that Tessa loves him, but I don't think that she is IN love with him. And anything that happens with Jem feels forced, and just, not right, I guess? But all of the side characters in this book were wonderful, as they always are. The members of the institute (I think I'm most in love with Henry out of all the characters), and Gideon and Gabriel! Okay, so Gabriel's a meany, but Gideon turned out to be a really nice guy! Plus I'll always love Sophie.
But Tessa. Okay. Controversial here, but I think Tessa's a teeny tiny bit of a Mary-Sue. And I'm not saying this to be horrible, and I'm not accusing her of just being a way for Cassie to vicariously live out her fantasies, or that she's a HUGE Mary-Sue, but I do think she has aspects of Mary-Sue-ishness. She's nice, but I don't think she has that much of a personality, and I don't really think she does much. I can't really see what she's done to make two people fall so desperately in love with her in such a short span of time. Also, she doesn't have any flaws.  I mean, she has them, but they're never presented as such. She never does anything wrong, even if she asks an inappropriate question or hurts someone's feelings, nobody ever gets pissed of at her. There is no one like that. I WANT her to have something or other that irritates people, or some kind of flaw, something to make her seem more relateable... But again, this is just me, and in most other reviews I've read, people seem to love her, so maybe there's just something off with me... I think the way I most want this series to end (whilst being kind of tragic) is with Jem dying, Will going away and finding happiness some other way, and for Tessa to find someone else, because if she's so confused about both of them, and can't pick between them, then she should save everyone and not get involved with either of them romantically. Again, just my opinion.
One thing I love about these books though, is that without the love triangle, the plot would still be plenty enough to keep the book interesting. All this with the Magister and Nathaniel, you just know that tension is building, loyalties are going to be tested, and some BIG SHIT is going to go down. And that it is going to test our hearts to the very max. I am probably going to be a puddle of tears, knowing me, reading Clockwork Princess. Just as long as she doesn't chicken out and have everyone come out safe. I want at least one tragic deaths please and thank you. It's not a good series of books if someone loveable and brilliant doesn't die.
Clockwork Prince has not failed to impress me, as I was worried it was considering how much I loved CA. No second book syndrome here, AT ALL. You will not regret reading these books.


*Also, Cecily, which is, like, nearly my name. That itself makes CP AWESOME.

3 comments:

  1. Lol! some 'big shit' really is going to go down!! Absolutely cannot wait for Clockwork Princess, but I cannot believe we have so long to wait!! I do sorta get what you mean about Tessa...but I really like her :P Totally agree this is much better than TMI!

    The Cait Files

    ReplyDelete
  2. I need to get to this series soon!! I have both sitting on my shelf, just waiting. :) Great review, makes me what to pick them up right now!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know this is a very old review, but I just wanted to say I completely agree with you - Tessa is a 'Blank Slate' heroine, a main character who exists for the reader to pretend to be them, which is easily achieved because they have no real personality and every character loves them. I hated the Jem-Tessa lightning-quick relationship upgrade which was so forced and stupid. Tessa came across as incredibly selfish in her dealings with the two best friends. A tiny quibble here, but whenever Tessa kissed someone, like properly kissed someone, I kept thinking, she wouldn't even go in a boy's room alone, let alone get on their bed and snog them to death! Sometimes the series feels too modern for its setting. Apart from this, I adored the book so much :)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...