Book Talk | Clockwork Angel

Title: Clockwork Angel

Author: Cassandra Clare

Page Count: 479

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Goodreads Rating: 4.33

My Rating: 5

Book Cover Rating: 4 

Would recommend to: People that enjoy epic battles and supernatural beings.

Bad Book Review: I would choose Jem over Will any day.
Review Type: Spoiler free!
 

What's it about?

In Clockwork Angel we dive back into the Shadowhunter world and travel back to the year 1878. Tessa Gray her aunt has just passed away and she has recieved a letter that she should come live with her brother in London. Once she arrives she is welcomed by two very strange ladies who claim to be sent by her brother. Later she meets with the Shadowhunters who live in the London Institute, where she stays for a while. From the moment she got off the ship that brought her to Great Britain, she found out a lot of things about herself and the world she lives in: Mythical creatures like vampires, wereworlves and warlocks exist. She also finds out that she is supposedly also a warlock with a very strange ability, though she does not bear their mark. What Tessa does not understand, is why there is a mysterious man called 'The Magister' very desperate to wed her.

The main characters

As always I am going to start off by telling everybody what I thought of the characters in this series. First, I like Tessa Gray a lot more as a main character than the protagonist Clary Fray, from The Mortal Instruments series. Clary annoyed me quite a lot, especially in the first few books in the series. With Tessa I never experienced this. She is kind and held back and the thing I liked most about her is that she doesn't make hasty decisions, what really annoyed me from Clary. 
Another thing I really liked about Tessa is her love for reading, I could relate to so many things she thought of said about a book. In difficult situations Tessa would also think about what her favorite book characters would do, which then gave her strenght or the guts to do something and I admire that a lot.
I also can't wait to read the next book to find out more about Tessa's heritage, because I'm so curious about who her parents are and what the whole deal around them is.

William Herondale. Don't get me started on that guy. I had the highest expectations, since everybody on the internet seems to be hopelessly in love with him. I didn't see it. I found him incredibly rude and nothing more. He was mean to literally everybody in the Institute and besides that he didn't really have any qualities that he really showed that make me think of him otherwise than just being a rude and arrogant shit. 
I am curious to find out more about his backstory and his parents, because I am sure 'that his tragic backstory will make up for everything he does now', but right now I really don't like the guy.

A male character in this book I did really love and who was actually everything I was expecting Will to be, is Jem Carstairs. Now I already knew Jem, because I read The Mortal Instruments, and I really liked him in there, so I couldn't wait for him to be introduced into the story. 
Jem is such a sweet and loving guy and every time Tessa had thoughts about Will I wanted to shout at her: ''No Tessa go for Jem he is so much nicer!'' When I found out about his decease I couldn't wait to find out what was causing these moments where it was almost like he was dying. Luckily we found out in this book and I don't know why, but I also really liked that Jem told Tessa himself, dispite Will telling him he shouldn't. This way it felt more personal between the two of them. 
Another thing I loved that even though the Institute was under attack, Jem had to save the damned cat. I couldn't help but smile (especially after reading about Jem stealing the cat from the New York Institute in Heavenly Fire, I can't). 
Jem also plays the Violin, which I think is like the sexiest thing on the planet. I'm learning to play the violin myself and I love the instrument so I love that he plays it. Can you tell I'm kind of in love with Jem Carstairs?

“One must always be careful of books," said Tessa, "and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”

The General Book

The first thing that immediately jumped out to me is how amazingly Cassandra Clare created this time. In the Foreword she explains that she spend months reading only books from this time era and just generally investigating all the courtesies and such from that time. You can really tell she did this from the way this book is written. So many references were made throughout the book to novels from authors such as Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, which made the story feel really real, if that makes sense...

Another thing that made this book feel like it was actually written back in the 1800s, was that Cassie actually wrote in a different what than she did with The Mortal Instruments with sentences such as 'She had never been one to stare in mirrors'. She would have written that sentence differently if she would be writing in this time and it was amazing to see how she managed to do that.

I also loved the whole story around The Pandemonium Club and it was such a great addition to the book. Of course, the Magister is the head of the club and it exists out of Downworlders and Mundanes interested in the Shadow world. I just generally thought the whole Magister deal was great and I can't wait to find out more in the next two books. I really fell for the trick Cassandra added in there, I never expected that ending, which I am obviously not going to talk about because that would be a spoiler.