Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices Series #1)

Rinse and Repeat Romance

A girl has discovered a secret world of demons, angels' spawn, and darkness. It is revealed that she has a strange power no one has ever seen before. Thrown headfirst in to a world of violence and chaos, she is taken in by the Shadowhunters, protectors who stand between humans and their destruction at the claws of the demons. While learning who she is, she finds herself torn between two boys: one is brooding, obviously attracted to her, and off-limits. The other is sensitive, supportive and her confident. The book is a whirlwind of violence, romance, danger, drama, (predictable) plot twists, divas and a race of guardians with superiority complexes. Sound familiar? Cassandra Clare followed a blueprint almost identical to her first series, the Mortal Instruments, when she wrote this book. Don't get me wrong. It's a great read for lazy Sunday afternoons, before bed or on the beach. Just don't get your hopes up for anything new and you won't be disappointed. You might even come away eager for the sequel. All in all not bad, but not terribly good. Hopefully we'll see something new and different in Clare's next piece.

20 out of 29 people found this review helpful.

Not Up to Par with the TMI Series

The problem with creating an entirely new story in an already established world is that there are expectations from everyone who has read the previous stories. As someone who read and loved the Mortal Instruments series, I had high hopes for the opener in the Infernal Devices series. Unfortunately, Clockwork Angel came up short.

Overall, the plot and the characters seemed too much like those from the TMI world. Will is startlingly similar to Jace, just as Tessa has many of Clary's traits; Jessamine even reminded me of Isabelle and Jem has a more introverted personality like Alec. It just felt all too familiar. Almost like a retelling with different names and locations. Instead of a villain like Valentine raising a demon army, the Magister is planning on employing an army of clockwork people infused with demonic energies. Both people are power hungry and out for themselves. It took me a while, but I was able to move past the similarities and enjoy the story for its Victorian touch and slightly steampunk nature.

Aside from the TMI similarities, the main problem I had with this book is that it was incredibly slow. The build up took far too long. I couldn't even bring myself to truly care for the characters or the story until I broke the 300 page mark. After that, it was much more fast-paced and the plot really started moving along.

Even with such a slow start, I did enjoy Clockwork Angel. Any fan of the Shadowhunter world will appreciate seeing the familiar characters like Magnus Bane (and Church!) and hearing about the Lightwoods that Isabelle and Alec descended from. Will's backstory is alluded to over and over and that really piqued my interest. Tessa's obviously unique nature presents many possibilities in the future and Jem's illness sure had me curious. While this wasn't quite what I had expected, I'll be continuing the Infernal Devices series to see just where Clare plans on taking us.

Opening line (from prologue): The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts. ~ pg. 1

Favorite line: "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." ~ pg. 283

10 out of 15 people found this review helpful.

A okay read

I really enjoyed the story but found that Miss Clair was repetitive in the personalty's of some of her characters. Such as Will who is almost exactly like Jace from the earlier mortal instruments series. And other repetitive personalty's through out the book. That is why I give this book only 3 stars had I read this book before reading the mortal instruments I would have enjoyed it much more.

5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Clockwork Angel takes place in London during Queen Victoria¿s re

Clockwork Angel takes place in London during Queen Victoria’s reign. This trilogy is the prequel to The Mortal Instruments (City of Bones, City of Ashes, etc.). It is told in 3rd person point of view, and focuses on Tessa Gray, who learns that she is not fully a mundane and where her brother had gone. Clockwork Angel involves a lot of paranormal characters including vampires, but the author also came up with new, fantastic creatures like the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders. This is a book where some people knows about the paranormal creatures.

I adored Cassandra Clare’s writing style. She made it seem like she wrote the book during the book’s timeframe, but during the first half of the book, to be honest, was boring for me. The pacing was just so slow. There was a lot of talking and less action. The characters were so mysterious too that I kind of lost interest in them and I stopped caring why they acted that way.

Will Herondale was the MOST mysterious, moody character EVER in this book. Why so many bookworms love him? I do not know. What I know is that he has a good reason of why he acts that way, but we won’t get to know it till the next book. He is a Shadowhunter and like the rest of the Shadowhunters, he is an orphan. Jem, who is from Shanghai and is Will’s partners in crime, is another Shadowhunter. He is my favorite character in this book because he is so sweet and cute! Tessa, the heroine of the book, was an okay main character for me. I don’t like how sometimes she throws herself to Will when obviously Will shows signs that he is not interested in her as much as she is to him. She wasn’t a kick ass heroine, but that’s understandable because she’s still new to the whole Shadowhunter world. She’s still experimenting with her power.

Despite the slow beginning, the second half of the book was amazing, especially the last 5 chapters. It was action packed and there was so many twist that surprised me. I refuse to talk about the amazing scenes that happens towards the end because I’ll ruin it for you so just read it! If you think that the first half is “mehh” like I did, well the ending will make up for it. Trust me. I recommend it to paranormal lovers, and to those who loved The Mortal Instruments.

First off I apologise for an overuse of ellipses in this review.

First off I apologise for an overuse of ellipses in this review. Please just envision a pale Irish brunette tearing her hair out and gurning at those intervals if it helps!

Sigh…So I read The Mortal Instruments in the first two weeks of January this year and I swear I barely slept. I read before getting up, before breakfast, at tea break, after dinner. I was obsessed. Completely enthralled in the world of the Shadowhunters, I adored all the characters, Jace broke my heart as he struggled to find happiness, Clary didn’t whine as much as other YA heroines which was a blessing and Simon, oh Simon, you cute little geek you! I discussed TMI at length on Goodreads and everyone assured me that The Infernal Devices were far far superior to TMI, I would instantly fall for Will, worship Tessa and be “Jace who?”

Hmm…Don’t believe the hype is a lesson I’ve learned. Okay, I’m being overdramatic…possibly. With Clockwork Princess coming out in two days time I decided I would hold off reading the first two until March so I wouldn’t have to be tortured with the wait. So I settled down into my fave chair, snuggled up with my doggy Gypsy and prepared to be overwhelmed with love and adoration for Cassandra Clare.

Eh…

Okay let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first because I do have good things so I’ll rip off the band-aid!

My main issue with this book was the characterisation. It was blah. Every character was just a watered down version of TMI. Tessa=Clary, Will=Jace, Jem=Simon, Jessamine=Isabelle. Tessa and Jem were the two shining lights in a murky pond of bland and even then…barely. I have never cared less about characters in my life. They could have been killed horribly and I would have shrugged and said “what ever!” Cassandra Clare seems to think for a man to be irresistible to a woman he must slouch, sneer and snark as much as possible. I know there’s some deep dark secret and Will’s got some inner turmoil that will be revealed (I hope) over the next two books but if you’re going to set up that storyline please don’t wait until the epilogue to truly make that clear! Jessamine, just ugh. I had a whole rant but she’s not worth my time. Charlotte and Henry, who were they? At times I completely forgot!

The bad guys were so archetypal mannequins, moustache twiddling, rubbing their hands in glee I’m surprised there wasn’t a big flashing arrow over them. The reveals were clumsily done and at no time was anything a shock. Everything was just so convenient and utterly frustrating.

I’m well used to rolling my eyes at stereotypes so the fact that CC seemed to have gotten her “The Big Book of British Stereotypes” and “This is What Victorian England Was Like” out as reference books when writing was another tear-my-hair-out moment. The Simpson’s writers could have done a better job at accuracy.

Okay what did I like?

The overall plot of the Clockwork Army was intriguing and I’m looking to the continuation of that storyline. Tessa’s mysterious origins was another highlight as was Tessa overall. I liked her tenacity, her intelligence and her values. Jem’s sweetness, patience and background story made him my favourite. The origins of the Shadowhunters and the politics was explored more and I appreciated the knowledge gained in particularly the status of the accords in the times before Valentine. I’m hoping the complexity of the TID world is expanded in the later books and will hopefully match TMI. At time of writing I’m about a 1/4 into Clockwork Prince and I am more sympathetic to Will and definitely more invested in the storyline but I think that’s due in large part knowing that CA was part one of a story. If one read it in the hopes that it would have the ability to be enjoyed as a Stand-Alone novel in its own right, they would be sorely disappointed. There was no plot point that was resolved in CA, everything was left open ended and instead of making me feel like ” I NEED THE NEXT BOOK NOW”, It was disappointing and lacked resolution. Perhaps Lauren Oliver got writing tips for Requiem from this! Personally if I had read this when it first came out and didn’t have the luxury of returning to my Kindle menu and selecting part two I honestly don’t think I’d have bothered.

Perhaps Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess will make me eat my words.

Suck it

Yeah i said it

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good Enough In the beginning I found the writing a bit bumpy an

Good Enough

In the beginning I found the writing a bit bumpy and felt as bewildered as Tessa as I tried to grasp what was occurring. After a few chapters, however, I finally quite groping blindly for understanding and the writing flowed a bit better, but the writing never really did feel organic. Though, supposedly set in Victorian London, things pertaining to the era seemed more as an afterthought than a real plot point and I never got the sense the story really felt at home in the era. As for the characters living at the institute, they definitely came together to make a very dysfunction unit I would loosely call a family. As the main character I never found Tessa incredibly likable. She always seemed very aloof and I never got particularly attached to her. The only remotely likable characters I found was Jem and possibly Sophie. I also kind of thought it funny how dramatic the blurbs about the book sounded in comparison to what actually took place in the book.

For all of my little complaints I really did like this book overall. I found the mythology fascinating and appreciated the new world I was introduced into. The story was captivating, even if I didn’t find Tessa all that lovable. The characters all came together to play their parts and as a whole they made the story work well enough that I didn’t mind my lack of empathy for most of them. I also liked the playful interplay during the dialogue and the understatedness of the love triangle.

Clockwork Angel has been my first real introduction into the Steampunk genre and I find myself wanting more. With a slight lowering of my expectations, I look forward to reading Clockwork Prince, book two in the Infernal Devices series.

I enjoyed this book right up to the ending. The ending was very

I enjoyed this book right up to the ending. The ending was very disappointing. Is there a sequal to this book? I hope there's a sequal because there really wasn't an resolved ending. It only left me with... "What happed?"...

Flux

*strides in*

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

great read

This is a teen reader but I enjoyed it. Great example of steam punk

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Prequel

Since this series is a prequel to the Mortal Instruments Series whoever read this series first could ead Mortal Inatruments next. Is it gopd?I usually don't read Clare.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Eh

Its ok

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

good, but not great

This was a good, easy to read book. I like Cassandra Clare's other series Immortal Instruments much better. I didn't feel like I connected to these characters as much as her other series.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Clockwork Angel

Not as good as I hoped it to be, but the author is good at what she does.

E Dr. Anonymous

This would be 5 stars except for the fact of a "disapointing twist". But this is definately better than the mortal instruments series, which was 2 stars

perfect.

Cassie Clare wrote a good one here. i cannot wait for clockwork princess to come out. oh& for all of you annoyed TMI fans, WILL WAS ALIVE BEFORE JACE THEREFORE JACE IS A COPY OF WILL. duh, if you read the book you would realized this is set WAY before Jace was even thought of. oh & the connections to the MI series was great. the fact that Henry's middle name was Jocelyn was cool and the fact that its a back story to the Herondale/ Lightwood feud was brilliant.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Another Fantastic book by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
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Tessa thought she was a normal human girl, but found out how wrong she was when her aunt passed away. She had nothing left in New York, so she left for England to be with her brother. When she arrived she was captured by a pair called the Dark Sisters, and taught what she could do. The night she was to be given to someone called the Magister, a Shadowhunter (supernatural secret police) named Will rescued her and brought her back to the London Institute. Once she was free from the Dark Sisters all she wanted was to find her brother and save him. She found out a lot more then she bargained for in that search.
This was another fantastic book by Cassandra Clare. I loved reading about the characters in a different century than when the Mortal Instruments series took place. I also liked that it was in London, giving different scenery than the other books.

I absolutely loved the characters. They worked very well together and felt real. The various relationships in the book were great especially Jem and Will’s. They have a unique relationship and their banter is hilarious. I was laughing throughout this entire book and a lot of it was because of them. Will’s snarky remarks are also a lot of fun.
“Are you implying that shreds of my reputation remain intact?" Will demanded with mock horror. "Clearly I have been doing something wrong. Or not something wrong, as the case may be."

He banged on the side of the carriage. "Thomas! We must away at once to the nearest brothel. I seek scandal and low companionship.”

I have loved all of Cassandra Clare’s books. I easily get lost in them and this one was no different. She always pulls me into the world and then I don’t want to come out. That is how I felt when I finished this book and I can’t wait to start reading Clockwork Prince. I have no doubt that it will be just as good.

-Christie's Book Reviews

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The title tells the tale ...

Since I enjoy character-driven stories--and none of the characters in this novel were particularly compelling--I found this book borderline boring. Yes, it's well-written, but the writing is rather like it's title: a mechanical sci-fi story that functions without any true spirit.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

For those into the paranormal world, romances and mystery

I thought this was an interesting story, exciting read full of deceit and mystery. Not my favorite though.