Book Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel
Cassandra Clare
Genre(s): young adult, fantasy, steampunk
Published: June 14th 2011
Pages: 482
Rating: 4 stars

“When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Friendless and hunted, Tessa seeks refuge with the Shadowhunters, a band of warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons. Drawn ever deeper into their world, she finds herself fascinated by — and torn between — two best friends and quickly realizes that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.”


Much like City of Bones, Clockwork Angel didn't disappoint me but it also didn't live up to all the hype. 

I found things to be a lot more explained in this book, which was really nice because the terminology was the thing I struggled most with when reading City of Bones. I think it's because Tessa gets her hands on a copy of the Shadowhunter's Codex, the book that explains everything about the Nephilim. Either way, I found myself able enjoy reading more as I could actually understand things. 

The pacing still needs a bit of work, and (again) I feel that a lot of scenes could have been cut and the book still make sense. There was a lot of unnecessary filler parts that dragged and this book islong, so that was less than desirable. But then, I like things to be condensed and don't like waiting around for the action. This book came across as a whole lot of nothing for about 300 pages and then a whole lot of someone for the last 100 or so. I just don't understand why it needed so many pages, you know?

The characters weren't bad though, and unlike with City of Bones, I do have a favourite this time. Sophie. She was a breath of fresh air for me in the shadowhunter world and her personality and back story drew me in. Although, I do feel that a lot of the back stories are a bit far-fetched and unbelievable, no matter how well they seem to have been pulled off (Jem's was the perfect example). They were all still a little one dimensional (the bad guys are crafty and all out bad, the protagonist is clueless yet strong, the bratty girl is stuck up, you get the picture) and I couldn't help but feel that I'd met them all before.... In City of Bones. I just felt that Tessa was filling Clary's shoes and William Jace's and it was rather annoying. 

I did enjoy the plot, though. Throughout the whole book I was saying to myself 'what has Tessa's angel necklace got to do with anything?' Because you can't call a book Clockwork Angel, include a clockwork angel necklace and then not have it do anything. The whole clockwork (do I want to say clockwork any more?) thing was interesting, and I didn't see the twist coming at the end with the army invading the Institute and Nate's involvement, so that was a nice surprise. 

Overall, I did enjoy this book. Perhaps a little more than I enjoyed City of Bones because I do love the Victorians (even though it lacked the feel of being set in Victorian England, which I was rather disappointed by). But whatever. I will definitely be completing the trilogy at some point, but knowing me, it won't be for a couple of months.