Marked By Books: Review of Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

Now, seeing as how some of this is new for those of you who were to lazy to read the book, I am going to narrow down the options for you. You can either read the basis of the story on Spark-notes (Which I do not recommend by the way) or you can read my interesting narrative of what happened in this amazing sequel to Clare's, Clockwork Angel. Now this I do recommend.

As in the first book in this trilogy, there is a character by the name of Tessa Gray who is a Downworlder. She lives in the institute with the handsome Jem Carstairs and the alluring (and annoying) Will Herondale. One might think, "HEY! A teenage girl living with two hot dudes who are only 17-years old! That can't be that bad!"

Well, it is. For one, the majority of the book consists of Tessa and her "courtship" of one of these attractive males. When I say "courtship" what I am really trying to say is that they both have feelings but they aren't really acknowledged. Sad, really.

Aside from that little incident, there is really much to be admired about this book. For one, its originality. Vampires, werewolves and magic are all in this book but there are some instances when the originality is completely different from the silver bullets, full moon, fangs and Abra Cadabra that we as Americans are generally associated with. That is what makes reading this trilogy so very refreshing: Something new is always around the corner. Or should I say, on the next page. Because that would be more accurate.

For one, there is the matter of demon hunting that goes on. Not many books focus mainly on that. Vampire hunting? Yes. Werewolf hunting? You bet. Even fairy hunting. But demon? True, actual, from the pits-of-hell demons? Not so much. Yet another reason that I absolutely adore this author. She gives us a sense of the unreal. Not that vampires don't do that already, but its more of a sense of writing outside the box and researching more ideas aside from your basic, everyday, vampire thrill.

So, as the British would say: "Cheers!"