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Hallo!
I finished Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare and I couldn’t wait to write a review about the book.
To begin with, if you don’t know, Cassandra Clare is the author of the series of The Mortal Instruments. Namely, a collection of romance and fantasy books that tell us the story of Clarrissa Fray, a determinate girl who discovers that after all she is not an ordinary human as she thought but yes, a Shadowhunter, that is a person with angelical blood whose mission is to protect the World against demons. This new World that the Heroine discovers is shared by the Nephilim (also known as Shadowhunters), vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and fairies. After her discovery, she sees herself in a dangerous but epic adventure to save her mother and the rest of the World from her recent revealed father: Valentine Morgenstern. Luckily, Clary is not alone, counting with the help of her best friend Simon, the sarcastic Jace Wayland, the brothers Alec and Isabelle Lightwood and other supernatural creatures such as Magnus Bane, Lucian Graymark…
In the end of these series, it is presented to us the characters of Tessa Gray, Brother Zachariah (James Carstairs) and we have references to Will Herondale. Therefore, Clockwork Angel tells us the story about these persons at the end of the nineteenth century, in London.
Theresa Gray is 16 years old and lives in New York, when suddenly, due to her aunt's death, she has no choice, other than travel to England in order to meet her only familiar alive: her brother Nate. She leaves with just a few personal items, inclusive a very important piece of jewellery that belongs to her mother: a necklace with a little mechanical angel:
(CONTAIN SPOILERS)
“Tessa could not remember a time when she had not loved the clockwork angel. It had belonged to her mother once, and her mother had been wearing it when she died. After that, it had sat in her mother’s jewellery box, until her brother, Nathaniel, took it out one day to see if it was still in working order. The angel was no bigger than Tessa’s pinky finger, a tiny statuette made of brass, with folded bronze wings no larger than a cricket’s. It had a delicate metal face with shut crescent eyelids, and hands crossed over a sword in front. A thin chain that looped beneath the wings allowed the angel to be worn around the neck like a locket.”
In the moment of her arrival in Southampton, our main character can’t help but find it weird when she is received by a strange pair of woman’s, who tells her that they are responsible for her in name of her brother. Six weeks later, Tessa sees herself as a prisoner of these woman’s- the Dark sisters- that blackmail her: Tessa do what they want her to do, and they don’t hurt her brother Nate. Scared for her brother, Tessa obeys. But you may be thinking, what do these scary woman’s want from a mundane girl? The truth is, Theresa Gray, apparently, a normal girl, has special powers: she has the unique ability to change, to be another person, alive or dead, think what she thinks, speak as she speaks, and see her memories. For this reason, the Dark sisters have the mission to train Tessa and develop her power, because one day she will be given to the Magister, a powerful man who owns the Pandemonium Club:
“Have you asked Miss Gray about the Pandemonium Club yet?” Will asked.
The Pandemonium Club. “I know the words. They were written on the side of Mrs Dark’s carriage,” Tessa said.
“It’s an organisation,” Charlotte said. “A rather old organisation of mundanes who have interested themselves in the magical arts. At their meetings, they do spells and try to summon up demons and spirits.” She sighed.
Finally, Tessa is saved by Will Herondale, a Shadowhunter with a strong personality, and refuges herself in the protection of the Shadowhunters in the Institute, where she learns about the Downworld, and that she belongs in it:
“The lamp flickered low as Tessa read, her eyelids slipping lower and lower. Downworlders, she read, where supernatural creatures such as faeries, werewolves, vampires, and warlocks. In the case of vampires and werewolves, they were humans infected with demon disease. Faeries, on the other hand, were half-demon and half-angel, and therefore possessed both great beauty and an evil nature. But warlocks—warlocks were the direct offspring of humans and demons.”
Slowly, she starts to consider the Shadowhunters as a new family, feeling safe with them while they protect her, and help her try to find her brother Nate, and who is the Magister that wants her power.
I absolutely love the characters of this book: Tessa is so mature, a strong and determinate woman, passionate, smart… From the first moment, she attracts the attention of the two main male characters: Will Herondale and James Carstairs.
William Herondale is a handsome boy, he is tall, a good-looking guy with dark hair and blue eyes. However, his personality is pretty dark, he keeps everyone at distance and hides his feelings behind a cape of sarcasm and dark humour (Personally, I relate my personality a lot with Will, and he is my favourite character). But for some reason, he can’t keep Tessa away from him, although he tries. He is very intelligent, and reads a lot, knowing quotes of books by heart:
“But that wasn’t what made her stare. He had the most beautiful face she had ever seen. Tangled black hair and eyes like blue glass. Elegant cheekbones, a full mouth, and long, thick lashes. Even the curve of his throat was perfect. He looked like every fictional hero she’d ever conjured up in her head. Although she’d never imagined one of them cursing at her while shaking his bleeding hand in an accusing fashion.
He seemed to realise she was staring at him because the cursing stopped. “You cut me,” he said. His voice was pleasant. British. Very ordinary. He looked at his hand with critical interest. “It might be fatal.””
James Carstairs is a man with an undeniable beauty: he is very pale, with silver hair and glorious silver eyes. Unlike Will, he is a complete gentleman, very educated and elegant. He is Wills Parabatai (a pair of Nephilim warriors who fight together as lifelong partners, bound together by oath, regardless of their gender), and the sweetest and intelligent guy, although fragile. Nevertheless, he has a terrible secret that could hide a cruel destiny:
“A dressing gown hung on a hook by the door; Tessa drew it down and slipped it on over her nightclothes, stepping out into the hallway. As if in a dream, she crossed the corridor and put her hand gently on the door; it swung open under her touch. The room within was dark, lit only by moonlight. (…) In the square patch of moonlight before the window, someone was standing. A boy—he seemed too slight to be a grown man—with a violin propped against his shoulder. His cheek rested against the instrument, and the bow sawed back and forth over the strings, wringing notes out of it, notes as fine and perfect as anything Tessa had ever heard.
His eyes were closed. “Will?” he said, without opening his eyes or ceasing to play. “Will, is that you?”
Tessa said nothing. She could not bear to speak, to interrupt the music—but in a moment the boy broke it off himself, lowering his bow and opening his eyes with a frown.
“Will—,” he started, and then, seeing Tessa, his lips parted in surprise. “You’re not Will.” He sounded curious, but not at all annoyed, despite the fact that Tessa had barged into his bedroom in the middle of the night and surprised him playing violin in his nightclothes, or what Tessa assumed were his nightclothes. He wore a light loose-fitting set of trousers and a collarless shirt, with a black silk dressing gown tied loosely over them. She had been right. He was young, probably the same age as Will and the impression of youth was heightened by his slightness. He was tall but very slender, and disappearing below the collar of his shirt, she could see the curling edges of the black designs that she had earlier seen on Will’s skin, and on Charlotte’s.
She knew what they were called now. Marks. And she knew what they made him. Nephilim. The descendant of men and angels. No wonder that in the moonlight his pale skin seemed to shine like Will’s witch light. His hair was pale silver as well, as were his angular eyes.”
Charlotte and Henry Branwell is the couple that runs the Institute of London, and I think that their relationship is interesting. They are so different, but on the other hand, they complete each other. Charlotte is a leader and was born to rule, and Henry is a genius that is happy in his own World, quit in his little place. Henry is always there when Charlotte is overwhelmed by the Institute problems.
I am still wondering if I like or not Jessamine Lovelace: firstly, the girl is determinate, she knows what she wants and we can understand that she fights well, but sometimes she annoys me a little. You must be proud of who you are, and she is not. She doesn’t want to be a Shadowhunter and her goal is to marry a human to have a normal life. That is another thing that I do not like about her character, you don’t need someone to pursue whatever you want.
To sum up, I absolutely loved Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare. The book is so well written, captivates the reader from the first until the last page, and the characters are phenomenal. Tessa is one of my favourite female characters of all the books I have ever read, and Will and James are so interesting! See the development of Tessa relationship with both is enjoyable, and both are so perfect in their ways that make it even harder for us to choose one. The plot is fascinating, and of course that in the minute I finished the first book I already wanted to read the second. I totally advise people to read Clockwork Angel, but in my point of view, you should in the first place read the series of The Mortal Instruments, where the main characters are introduced for the first time and to understand the context of the World of the Shadowhunters.
Lastly, I want to finish this review with one of my favourite quotes of the book, from James Carstairs:
“Whatever you are physically...male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy--all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. All those other things, they are the glass that contains the lamp, but you are the light inside.”
Nb: I do not own the picture above.
What do you think about Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare?
Hope you’re having a good day!
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