Clockwork Angel

Title: Clockwork Angel
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Infernal Devices Series (#1)
Pages: 479 (hardback)
Published: September 2009
(All links below lead to the respective books' goodreads page)
Summary: In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them...

My Thoughts: I had heard from so many different book reviewers that this prequel series to The Mortal Instruments was even better than the original series, which I love, so of course I had to check it out. I love history and historical fiction as well as the world that Cassandra Clare built in The Mortal Instruments books I had read so far and expected to fall in love with this series, as well.

First off, it took me forever to finish this book (about a year from start to finish). I started it when I was in a slump and subsequently had a hard time getting into it because of this slump. But I persevered! I was determined to finish this book before I started reading the fourth book of Clare's The Mortal Instruments series, City of Fallen Angels, which I so desperately wanted to read recently.  It was a great book, don't get me wrong, but I just found that I couldn't get completely sucked in sometimes. I'm going to mostly chalk that up to the aforementioned slump and not the sometimes dragging and overly detailed scenes I would occasionally run into while reading this book.

I honestly enjoyed this book despite how long it took me to get through it. The characters, though a bit "Mary Sue" at times (specifically? I'm lookin' at you Tessa Gray), really ended up blooming in their own right and I can't wait to get to know them even more and see their personalities grow in the next installment of the series, Clockwork Prince.

This exciting novel was filled with twists and turns, love and gore, and some amazing thrill-inducing fight scenes. And I loved the steampunk aesthetic you got from the blending of the Shadowhunting world and Victorian London. This is only my second foray into steampunk, but I look forward to diving into this genre even more in the next novel of this series and thus continuing on this thrilling and beautifully written journey of Cassandra Clare's.
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars