Review: Clockwork Angel – Cassandra Clare

The Infernal Devices #1

SYNOPSIS: The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them… – via Goodreads

So naturally I jumped right at the chance to the world of Shadowhunters because I freaking love that universe Clare has built. It is huge and expansive and does not need to be limited to one set of stories/characters, and I was really interested to see where she would take this. Clare takes us back to 1878 and to London this time, and starts to tell a fresh story, and I was hooked, of course.

The pacing is a little slow in the beginning, and I was wondering what this story was going to give up, but it doesn’t take too long until it actually catches, and then you are very interested to see where everything goes. An array of characters are introduced to us, once again, but the important ones we spend the most time with are Tessa, Will, and Jem, and boy, aren’t they wonderful?! I hope to read a lot more about them, and I know that we will (seeing as they are the main characters), and I am excited to see what Clare does with them.

The story is also rather interesting. The villain that presents in this has potential, too. Magnus Bane returns and I was beyond thrilled with the development. I wondered if I would be able to separate the characters names from this from their more modern counterparts in The Mortal Instrument series, and it is far easier than you would think. You read about the family names, and you know about the later branches of the family tree, but it is always fascinating to go further back, and they are their own people, you aren’t constantly thinking about what happens in the other series.

All in all, I really liked Clockwork Angel and will certainly be devouring reading the rest of them. The book starts slowly but sets alight quickly and draws you in before you rightfully know what happened. Had an absolute blast with this! I will be starting the next one immediately!