Release Date: March 19, 2013
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: E-book
Source: Purchased
Series: Infernal Devices #3
Pages: 568
Buy: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Google
Description: Goodreads
Tessa Gray should be happy - aren't all brides happy?Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.
I am not going to write a typical review of Clockwork Princess. In fact, if that’s what you’re looking for,
then here you go: Run, do not walk, to your nearest bookstore, buy all three
books in The Infernal Devices series, and read them immediately. Read them as you’ve never read before. Ignore everything and read with reckless
abandon.
Okay, so we got that out of the way. Now, I know in my Clockwork Prince review, I said that I didn’t want the series to
end. In a manner of speaking, this is
still true. I adore these characters
so—not only the core trio of Tessa, Will, and Jem, but the rest as well from
Charlotte and dear Henry to the Lightwood brothers to Sophie and Cecily and
always Magnus—and I would love to spend years and books and lifetimes with
them. However, I also truly love a
satisfying finale, and that is exactly what Cassandra Clare gives her readers
with this last installment. By the
Angel, what a thrill ride!
This entire series overflows with action and adventure, but
this book in particular is nonstop. It’s
got training, fighting, torture, revenge, giant metallic monsters, chases,
escapes, true love… doesn’t sound too bad, eh?
It’s an incredibly visual book as well.
Many of the scenes explode from the pages, as if they happen right
before your eyes. It’s hard to write
this without spoiling it for everyone, but there are many scenes with Will on a
solo mission that really stuck with me.
He has a brutal sequence that ends with a fight with a band of
werewolves that is described in vivid, exquisite,
see-it-all-playing-out-in-your-mind detail.
Gah. It’s really good, is what
I’m saying.
And for all its
action and suspense, this is a story to be savored, not devoured. I took my sweet time reading this (hence, the
review appearing weeks rather than days after its release). Like Steven Tyler, I didn’t want to miss a
thing. Believe me, I am usually a
quick-as-lightning reader, so it was often a struggle to take my time with
this, but I’m so glad I did. Fans of
Clare’s other series know that even the smallest detail can find its way back
into the story when you least expect it, and I suspect there are many details
from this story that we will hear again.
Finally, there’s that love triangle. I’ll only say that it is resolved in an
entirely fitting manner. However, as
invested as I am with these characters, it’s so interesting to me that the
relationship I cheer for most is the parabatai
relationship between Jem and
Will. Almost every moment that moved me,
that affected me, that caused me to shed tears involved these two broken
boys. To use a phrase of Tumblr speak, I
can’t even with those two. They make me
lose my ability to even.
Again, I implore you
to run to the bookstore and buy these
books already. The Infernal Devices
easily earns a spot as one of my all-time favorite book series. It’s not perfect, but it’s perfect for
me. I wish I could read more of them,
but I am so grateful to have this ending, just as it is.
"I might be thrown out of the kidlit community for admitting this, so please realize this comes with some risk to my personal safety: I have never read the Harry Potter books… or seen the movies, or have any burning desire to do so. I feel bad mostly because all the references to the series—and wow, are there many—go straight over my head. Sometimes I smile and nod though, and I guess now you’ll know I’m faking it." - Nova Ren Suma, author of 17 & Gone.
