Book Review: Clockwork Princess

The Plot: A net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. Mortmain plans to use his Infernal Devices, an army of pitiless automatons, to destroy the Shadowhunters. He needs only one last item to complete his plan: he needs Tessa Gray. 
Charlotte Branwell, head of the London Institute, is desperate to find Mortmain before he strikes. But when Mortmain abducts Tessa, the boys who lay equal claim to her heart, Jem and Will, will do anything to save her. For though Tessa and Jem are now engaged, Will is as much in love with her as ever.
As those who love Tessa rally to rescue her from Mortmain’s clutches, Tessa realizes that the only person who can save her is herself. But can a single girl, even one who can command the power of angels, face down an entire army?
Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment, and the tangled threads of love and loss intertwine as the Shadowhunters are pushed to the very brink of destruction in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

Why I read it: 3rd in a series
 
The Characters: I don't know if it's just because it's YA, and I'm tired of YA or what, but these characters seemed so, so young. I could tell it was supposed to be all romantic and stuff, but it just seemed overdone. It was like the author wanted to write a romance like the one in Pride and Prejudice or the like, but she does not have the talent for it. It made me not really care for many of the characters, even though this is the last book in a trilogy, and I feel like by now I should care more about the characters.

The Setting: The setting is basically a steampunk England. It was fine, and possibly the best part of the book for me, but still nothing to write home about.

A Sample of the Writing:  
She leaned forward and caught at his hand, pressing it between her own. The touch was like white fire through his veins. He could not feel her skin only the cloth of her gloves, and yet it did not matter. You kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire. He had wondered once why love was always phrased in terms of burning. The conflagration in his own veins, now, gave the answer.
 
Who Should Read This: Fans of Cassandra Clare, definitely. But only after reading the first two.

Final Thoughts: I think I would have liked this book better if not for the last maybe 100 pages, but even then it wasn't very well written. It just went on and on, and at the end I was bored and heavily skimming. And I guess it was supposed to be romantic, but it was all just a little bit much.

Cover Thoughts: The cover is gorgeous. Definitely in this case the cover is better than the book.

Grade: 2 stars (it was okay)


*I know I've been MIA for quite awhile. Blogging was becoming a chore for me, and I wasn't enjoying it. So I'm going to tentatively start posting again, and just see how it feels.

City of Fallen Angels

City of Fallen Angels takes place two months after the events of City of Glass. In it, a mysterious someone’s killing the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine’s Circle and displaying their bodies around New York City in a manner designed to provoke hostility between Downworlders and Shadowhunters, leaving tensions running high in the city and disrupting Clary’s plan to lead as normal a life as she can — training to be a Shadowhunter, and pursuing her relationship with Jace. As Jace and Clary delve into the issue of the murdered Shadowhunters, they discover a mystery that has deeply personal consequences for them — consequences that may strengthen their relationship, or rip it apart forever.

Meanwhile, internal warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

I thought the first book in The Mortal Instruments series had some good, but was kind of a mess. Still, it was good enough to get me to keep reading. As the trilogy (or what was supposed to be a trilogy) went on, I thought Cassandra Clare was improving in her writing. She seemed to be hitting her stride.

She certainly proved me wrong with City of Fallen Angels. It's everything I hate about YA literature. That's not to say that I hate YA books, there are just certain aspects about them that I don't like, and this one is filled with them.

I cannot stand the angsty teenage romance thing. 125 pages in, and that's all that seems to be going on. The love that surpasses all other loves in the world (even though it hasn't been that long since they found out they weren't really brother and sister), but that can't be all. There has to be some "I love you but I can't love you", "does he really love me?", "there is some secret reason why I shouldn't love you".

But wait, there's more. We have a love triangle with Simon and two girls. Oh love triangle, what would I do without you in these YA novels? I wouldn't have anything to spoil my enjoyment, and we wouldn't want that. I didn't get far enough into the book to see what becomes of it, but I don't care. In fact, I'm done with these characters altogether. The story is done and over with as far as I'm concerned, so I'm going to stop reading and pretend it ended with City of Glass.

Book Details

Title: City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments, Book 4)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Page Count: 424

Publishing Info: April 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry

Why I Read It: 4th in a series

Grade: F (DNF)

Cover Thoughts: Hmm . . . just, no.

Clockwork Angel

Book Details:
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 496
Publication Date: Aug. 31, 2010
Why I read it: ARC Tour
Grade: A

Cover thoughts:
The cover is pretty cool. It looks kind of steampunky. I think for the most part it correlates to the story pretty well.

About the author: Cassandra Clare is the author of the Mortal Instruments series. You can visit her website here.

The plot:
Tessa travels to London to live with her brother, but upon arrival, two sisters, who are part of a secret organization, are there to pick her up instead. They kidnap her, and force her to use a power she didn't know she had, which is transforming into another person. She escapes with the help of Will, who is a Shadowhunter (warriors who fight demons). She joins with the Shadowhunters searching for her brother, and trying to find out more about the secret organization, and who is behind it all. It's a very interesting start to a new series--the only downside is the insane cliffhanger. Why does every author do this now?

Characters:
I adored Tessa. She's a strong character, and she's also very witty. The best part about her is that she loves to read. Who doesn't love book characters that share our passion for reading? The other characters are well fleshed out, and for the most part are pretty likable, except for the bad guys, who aren't supposed to be. :) Will was kind of a jerk, and it seems as if there's something behind it all, but we never find out why. We don't really know his background at all, but I assume that's something that comes out in other books.

Setting:
The setting here was wonderful. It felt very dark and mysterious, and went along with the story quite nicely. Clare always does a good job with world-building.

Notable quotes:
"One must always be careful of books," said Tessa, "and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us."
"Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry."

Read this if you're in the mood for: A fast moving plot with likable characters. If you like Clare's other books, you'll like this one--she just keeps getting better.

Continue or part ways? I'll keep on reading this series, for sure.

City of Glass

Title: City of Glass
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA fantasy
Page Count: 541
Why I read it: third in a series
Grade: A-

Synopsis:
To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters -- never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.
As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadow-hunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadow-hunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her new found powers to help save the Glass City -- whatever the cost?

My review:
I thought the first book of this series, City of Bones, was just okay.  The second one was better, and now I think Cassandra Clare must have just found her groove, because this one was great.

The story is very intense, and although there are times in the plot where things slow down a bit, it never gets boring because the characters were so great.  There were even times when they were downright funny, and I laughed out loud, and I don't remember that in the previous books.  Either the author has really grown as a writer, or I'm just relaxing my standards as a reader.  Whatever the case, I had a hard time putting City of Glass down.

There is a lot going on in this book, and the POV switches back and forth between characters quite often, which is a great tool for creating suspense.  It seems that all the foreshadowing in the previous book comes to a head here, and we are given all the answers (or so it would appear, but since I see there is another book forthcoming, who knows?).  The ending was quite the happily ever after type, which isn't a bad thing.

I would recommend this one to fans of YA fantasy.  As I've said, I really didn't care much for the first one, so if you don't like that one, don't give up.  I truly think the series gets better as it progresses.

Series Reading order:
City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass
City of Fallen Angels (out in 2011)

City of Ashes

Title: City of Ashes
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 453
Why I read it: 2nd in a series
Grade: B+

Synopsis:
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go -- especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil -- and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings -- and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?


My review:
City of Ashes is the second book in the Mortal Instruments series.  This book was far better than the first one, City of Bones.  While I thought the first was all over the place and a bit of a mess, it seems that the author got it together a bit for this second book.  It was more cohesive, and the writing was just better.

I remember not really caring about any of the characters (or even what happened in the story for that matter) in the first book, but here in book two I really started to care.  I think the characters have become more likeable.  Some of the characters, Valentine in particular, seems to be a little bit too one dimensional.  A little bit too evil just for the sake of being evil.  Although there are glimpses that show that there might be a little bit more to him.  

There also seems to be a lot of foreshadowing, and lots of things that may not be what they appear.  It makes me want to read the rest of the books to find out what happens.  I would recommend this book, but first you have to get through book one, which I only halfway, maybe recommend.  But if the books continue to get better, it's definitely a series to check out.

City of Bones

Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA Fantasy
Got it from: Library
Why I read it: Kept seeing it all over the place
Grade: C

Synopsis:
When Clary Fray witnesses three tattoo-covered teenagers murder another teen, she is unable to prove the crime because the victim disappears right in front of her eyes, and no one else can see the killers. She learns that the teens are Shadowhunters (humans who hunt and kill demons), and Clary, a mundie (i.e., mundane human), should not be able to see them either. Shortly after this discovery, her mother, Jocelyn, an erstwhile Shadowhunter, is kidnapped. Jocelyn is the only person who knows the whereabouts of The Mortal Cup, a dangerous magical item that turns humans into Shadowhunters. Clary must find the cup and keep it from a renegade sector of Shadowhunters bent on eliminating all nonhumans, including benevolent werewolves and friendly vampires.

My review:
This book was kind of a mess. I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes, and being really annoyed. Besides borrowing heavily from other stories, I felt absolutely nothing for any of the characters. I didn't hate them, necessarily, I just didn't care about them.

At the 300 page mark, I felt like I could have put the book down, and not worry about finding out what happens. But at that point I felt like since I had invested all that time to read 300 pages, I might as well finish. I th...more This book was kind of a mess. I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes, and being really annoyed. Besides borrowing heavily from other stories, I felt absolutely nothing for any of the characters. I didn't hate them, necessarily, I just didn't care about them.

At the 300 page mark, I felt like I could have put the book down, and not worry about finding out what happens. But at that point I felt like since I had invested all that time to read 300 pages, I might as well finish. I think it may have gotten slightly more interesting.

There are some interesting concepts in this book, and I wished they would have been explored more, instead of exploring what (to me) seemed to be a ripoff of Harry Potter, with the Circle and the Clave and stuff. I also spent a lot of time wondering if she really meant to borrow from other books, or if it was an accident. Like when Jace gives Clary a rock to be a light in dark places, all I could think of was Lord of the Rings, and the elves giving Frodo something to light his way in dark places. It just felt like so little was original.

Still, I think I may read the second book in the series, to see if it gets better, so I guess the book wasn't THAT bad.  And may I just say, in closing, that I despise this kind of book cover.  I'm really not embarrassed about the covers of the books I read.  The girly chick lit covers don't bother me--I can't really think of much that does.  Except this.  The Fabio-like naked man on the cover is just tacky.