Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

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Description: 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. Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by–and torn between–two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm’s length…everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world…and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

This review based on a publisher-provided copy of the novel.

Stacy’s Review:

I have been looking forward to this book for awhile – I’m a big fan of Clare’s “Mortal Instruments” trilogy (soon to become a quadrilogy as her stand-alone about daywalker Simon has become the forthcoming 4th book in the series), and when all we knew about this was that one of the characters from the “Mortal Instruments” series, Magnus Bane, was going to make at least a cameo, despite the time discrepancy, I was all over it. Plus, it’s Victorian London. Where steampunk began, I am sure to follow.

This time the workings of the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders are much more organized – where in her previous trilogy, years of complacency and relative peace made for a, well, lackadaisical group of heroes at the get-go, this time, on the cusp of the Accords (the first peace treaty between the Shadowhunters, descendants of angels, and the Downworlders, those who are part demon, part fae, and all second-class citizens in their world which runs parallel to our own), we get to see what everything looks like when everyone is on top of their game.

My best friend said it well: “she sure does love her love triangles”. Though, where in the “Mortal Instruments” trilogy I was just as torn as Clary between broody, pretty Jace and BFF Simon, here, there is no contest. I go for broody, moody, snarky Will who clearly has a secret (and no love for our fair heroine, Tessa, who is only in this mess because she thought she was coming all the way to London to reunite with her brother) over mild, soft-spoken Jem. However, this story is not nearly as convincing in its love story as even the first of the “Mortal Instruments” series, City of Bones was. I almost felt like it was a bit contrived – while Will is the classic “pull a girl’s hair if you like her” sort who antagonizes Tessa the whole way, Jem’s supposed affection for her only appears late in the story and it appears to have been a throw-away or put in there to purposefully remind the reader that this is supposed to be love triangle. I don’t buy it.

As this is the beginning of another trilogy (called “The Infernal Devices”), we get just a taste of what’s going on here – and worse, I was comfortable waiting for the second book until Clare tacked on a juicy epilogue (she should have just called it “here is the bit that will make you want book two NOWNOWNOW” and been done with it) that hits at Will’s secrets and potentially changing loyalties.

Another link to her earlier publications, a club frequented by Downworlders in NYC, called the Pandemonium Club, turns out to have deeper roots – in Clockwork Angel, the Pandemonium Club is revealed to be outwardly, a type of scholarly, gentleman’s club interested in the occult. But instead, as most things are, it is not entirely what it seems. Tessa, who is kidnapped at the beginning of the book by members of the club when she comes to reunite with her brother, has a latent power – she can change her form into that of another human (I’m reminded of Morrigan from Dragon Age pointing out that she never changes shape into other humans because she has nothing to learn from them that being a human herself she can’t already discover…I’ve always disagreed and agreed at the same time). And while she knew she could do this, she didn’t, as it scared her to do so, but her intrepid brother spilled the beans and made her one of the Pandemonium Club’s Most Wanted. Enter the Shadowhunters.

With Clare’s books, it is hard to judge the first of a trilogy, because there are many threads dangled and few tied up; one doesn’t know which are important and which will be fleshed out and which are just bits of information given to fill space. However, it doesn’t mean I am any less interested in seeing the story continue.

Plus, the bonus Magnus Bane, managing to be loud and fantastic despite the time period and the setting – and always balancing on that line of mature detachment and impish desire to get his hands dirty – made me happy. I love Magnus. And his canary yellow sheets and his clashing fashion and eyeliner. And okay, I want more of him and Alex Lightwood, but that’s another time altogether.