Cloclwork Angel ~ Cassandra Clare

Genre: Young Adult/Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
544 pages
ISBN: 9781481456029
Source: Barnes and Noble

I love bookstagram because of specific things like book order.
I was nearing the end of City of Glass (halfway through Clare’s Mortal Instruments series) and it was brought to my attention that I needed to stop and read Clockwork Angel before I continued.

I can’t tell you, yet, whether or not that served its purpose as I haven’t yet returned to The Mortal Instruments. I will say, though, that this is a fantastic throwback in the Shadowhunter world.

We meet Tessa, an orphan from New York, on her way to meet her brother in London. In typical Shadowhunter fashion, nothing is what it seems and there are soon powers and people involved that no one saw coming.

As usual, I can’t tell you too much but I will say that for those who have read The Mortal Instruments, this is an awesome look at the previous generations of Herondales, Lightwoods, and Shadowhunters, and Downworlders. Of course, my beloved Magnus Bane is already around and has been for quite some time but that’s a spoiler to no one.

The teen pack of Shadowhunters can all but be interchanged with the modern day New Yorkers (which isn’t as stale as it sounds; it’s more like pointing to a long tradition of business as usual) but I did find Tessa very different from Clary in positive and negative ways. A lot of what irritated me about Tessa (her strict gender roles, mostly) I realized could be attributed to the time period and as soon as I reconciled that with reality, I relaxed. She does gain a backbone at some point, though, so the irritation, however justified, does eventually subside.

Phew, ok, that went down a wet blanket sort of path. I will say that I really enjoyed the first of The Infernal Devices and I’m so in love with the was Clare writes. It was a nice break from the hectic rush of modern-day Manhattan and I love a good Victorian steampunk story. I really could get lost in this giant world. It’s so expansive and magical and I would pay anything to live in Cassandra Clare’s head for even a day.