Review: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

“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....”

As I’ve made clear many times since we’ve started this blog, I love Cassandra Clare. I love everything about Shadowhunters and the shadow world in which they live.  Although I had thoroughly enjoyed Clockwork Angel, it didn’t touch The Mortal Instruments for me but Clockwork Prince has definitely put it in the running.

Clockwork Prince picks up where it left off in Clockwork Angel.  Agatha and Thomas are dead.  Nate has betrayed Tessa and escaped with the Magister, pyxis in hand and they are nowhere to be found.  Benedict Lightwood has deemed Charlotte unfit to run the Institute in London and proposes a challenge to the Consul; if Charlotte cannot locate the Magister within two weeks then the institute should be given to him.  If Charlotte no longer runs the institute, then Tessa, along with Will, Jim, Jessamine, and Sophie are without a place to live and with the Magister wanting Tessa for himself she’d likely be handed over to him without the protection of the Shadowhunters she had begun to consider her family.  Besides trying to locate the Magister, Will has his own problems and the only person that can help him is warlock Mangus Bane.  With Will’s ever occurring mood swings, Tessa finds herself growing closer to Jem.  Clockwork Prince is a fabulous steampunk novel filled with action that will keep you turning the page and a love triangle that will leave you with your heart broken in a thousand pieces and ready to explode with happiness at the same time.

My rating for this book:

I love that Cassandra’s books show you different characters points of view, it makes the anticipation, at least for myself, much more intense than it would otherwise.  I’ve never really been one to read one book and that is the entire story.  I feel that you don’t really get to know a character properly, which is why I loved this book and only really like Clockwork Angel.  I love that in this book you really get to know Will.  He’s not just arrogant and sarcastic anymore.  He has a great amount of depth that you only get a glimpse of in the first book. 

Cassandra Clare is the author of the best selling series The Mortal Insturments and Infernal Devices.  She has worked for various magazines that report things like Brittney Spears wardrobe malfunctions. She likes HBOs Game of Thrones, she has two cats, and typically book tours with fellow author, Holly Black.  To learn more about Cassandra, follow her on twitter @cassieclare or go to www.cassandraclare.com.

How many of you guys have read this book?!? Let’s chat about it!

Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

“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...."

When Tessa is kidnapped by the Dark Sisters, she fears that she’ll be stuck with them and their torturous training until she is given to the Magister.  That is until a mysterious boy busts into her bedchamber and helps her escape.  The boys name is will and he’s a beautiful as her is powerful and mysterious and equally hot and cold.  With nowhere else to go, and her brother AWOL, Tessa has to seek refuge at the London Institute.  Now Tessa is torn between her feelings for the moody, broody Will and the interesting and kind James.  At the midst of everything they will go undercover to find out what truly happened to Tessa’s brother with The Pandemonium Club.  Clockwork Prince is a fantasy set in Victorian London, filled with action, wit, mystery, love, and betrayal. 

I was very pumped for Clockwork Prince to come out because I absolutely love TMIs.  And I have to say Cassie Clare has done it again.  I love that Clockwork Angel was from a downworlders, Tessa’s, point of view because you didn’t get that as much from the TMI series until the later books and even then, Simon isn’t a true downworlder to me.  I also like that it’s a prequel to the TMI series so you see some of the downworlders that were introduced in TMI series such as Mangus, Camille, and Tessa. You also get to meet the ancestors of the Lightwoods and Herondales.   

My rating for this book:

Cassandra Clare is the bestselling author of The Mortal Instruments and Infernal Device series.  She friends with fellow Author Holly Black, whom she often goes on book tours with.  She is a fan of the new hit series A Game of Thrones and she is currently residing in New York City.  To learn more about Cassandra Clare follow her on twitter! 

Did any of you guys check out ID?  What did you think? Let us know!!!

Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Barnes and Noble Summary:
“When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing — not even a smear of blood — to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?
This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .
Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.”

I first discovered The Mortal Instruments series right around the time when the second book came out.  I immediately fell in love with the books and characters and it quickly worked its way up two my second favorite book series of all time.  So for those of you haven’t read the series yet I’m going to tell you about City of Bones, the first books in the series, by Cassandra Clare and show you what you’ve been missing out on.

Clary Fray is fed up with her mother’s over bearing nature.  If she’s so much as a few minutes late because well frankly that happens when you have to haul a cab in New York City, she’s basically grounded and doesn’t hear the end of it.  But when her mother tries to force her to give up her summer taking art classes at the infamous Tisch simply because “she needs to get out of the city” she’s gone too far.  Little did Clary know that when she storms out of that apartment life as she knows it will be changed forever.  After storming out of her apartment with her best friend Simon in toll, she happens sees the invisible murdering hoodlum, Jace, she saw the night before.  But while she’s confronting him she gets a frantic call from her mom saying not to come home and someone’s found her.  When she gets to her apartment she finds that her mother is gone, and her only chance at finding her is Jace and his family.  City of Bones is an exciting YA thriller with evil, romance, friendship, battles, vampires, werewolves and much more. 

My rating for this book:

5

I love that Cassandra Clare created this whole new mythological race that is absolutely refreshing in comparison to all the vampires and werewolf stories that are out now.  Something else that’s great is that she isn’t afraid to go to extremes with her plot twist to make the readers beg for more.  City of Bones is told just from Clary’s point of view but as you get further into the series although she’s still the main character you get a glimpse into the other characters minds as well. 

Cassandra Clare is the bestselling author of The Mortal Instruments and Infernal Device series.  She friends with fellow Author Holly Black, whom she often goes on book tours with.  She is a fan of the new hit series A Game of Thrones and she is currently residing in New York City.  To learn more about Cassandra Clare follow her on twitter! 

If you guys have not read this series you have to check it out!! You will LOVE it!
--M