Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare is the final book in The Infernal Devices trilogy. It is part of the Shadowhunters Chronicles and a prequel to the Mortal Instruments series.
Tip: read this series before City of Heavenly Fire (the last book in the Mortal Instruments series).
(Warning: may include spoilers from the other books in the series)
While Tessa is preparing for her wedding, Mortmain is preparing for his army of automatons to destroy the Shadowhunters. Tessa is abducted. Jem and Will will go to any lengths to rescue her, but she realises that she is the only one who can rescue herself and save her friends.
The Good:
-This is my favourite book of the series and of the Shadowhunter’s books so far. So cry worthy!
-All of the characters have their moments to grow. I can’t think of one who doesn’t.
-The characters, especially Tessa, continue to be relatable and human.
-One of the most hilarious eavesdropping scenes happen in this book.
-The love between Tessa, Jem and Will is unique. She loves both of them, and yet because they are parabatai, jealousy is not too much of an issue.
- There is a significant focus on relationships over the problems with Mortmain. It seems to be the way Clare likes to write her stories. Because of this, her books stand out from many other tales in which the main focus is the action and defeating the bad guy.
-It has the most beautiful conclusion and one of the most satisfactory I’ve ever read. All loose ends that needed to be tied were tied. I’m sure Cassie Clare has mended many of her readers aching hearts with this conclusion—the surprises just kept coming. Although, most of the last 200 pages were tearjerkers, good and bad. It was perfect.
-I’m still thinking about these characters weeks after I finished the book- always a good sign.
The bad:
-Not “a bad”, but more of a surprise: there were so many pages after the action with Mortmain’s Infernal Devices was over. Regarding the characters, there was much to be shared of their lives afterwards. As I’ve said, it was the loveliest ending, it just threw me out a bit.
-Since the focus was about relationships rather than winning the war, the events with Mortmain slightly anti-climatic, but not enough to defeat the impact.
Quotes:
“Our hearts, they need a mirror, Tessa. We see our better selves in the eyes of those who love us.”
“You endure what is unbearable, and you bear it. That is all.”
“You don’t think I can fight.” Tessa said, drawing back and matching his silvery gaze with her own. “Because I’m a girl.”
“I don’t think you can fight because you’re wearing a wedding dress”, said Jem. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think Will could fight in that dress either.”
“Perhaps not,” said Will, who had ears like a bat’s. “But I would make a radiant bride.”
“They say you cannot love two people equally at once,” she said. “And perhaps for others that is so. But you and Will—you are not like two ordinary people, two people who might have been jealous of each other, or who would have imagined my love for one of them diminished by my love of the other. You merged your souls when you were both children. I could not have loved Will so much if I had not loved you as well. And I could not love you as I do if I had not loved Will as I did.”
“There is more to living than not dying.”
“You know that feeling,” she said, “when you are reading a book, and you know that it is going to be a tragedy; you can feel the cold and darkness coming, see the net drawing tight around the characters who live and breathe on the pages. But you are tied to the story as if being dragged behind a carriage and you cannot let go or turn the course aside.
5 stars
Read: December 2019
Published: 2013
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