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Clockwork Prince is the second book of the trilogy Infernal Devices, by Cassandra Clare, whose first book – Clockwork Angel – I already made a review here on Aliferous (click here).
In this amazing book, we continue to follow the addictive story of our favourite characters: Theresa Gray, William Herondale and James Carstairs. The story goes on after the dangerous time that closed the first book that revealed who the feared Magister is and a shocking betrayal, remembering us that sometimes the ones who we trust the most are the ones who stabbed us in the back.
(CONTAIN SPOILERS)
Moreover, after an emotional shared moment between Tessa and Will, he inexplicably pushes her away, breaking her heart with an inconsolable revelation:
Lilith’s Children, known also by the name warlocks, are, in the manner of mules and other crossbreeds, sterile. They cannot produce offspring. No exceptions to this rule have been noted….
– Clockwork Angel
Another important thing to remember is that reading Clockwork Angel, we can notice that Will has a dark secret, something that makes him keep the distance from everyone and explains some of his actions and decisions. For instance, this particular last scene he has with Tessa that I referred previously. Personally, I was very surprised reading the epilogue of the first book, when a desperate Will shows up to Magnus asking for his help:
“William,” Magnus said, honestly surprised. “What on earth are you doing here? Has something happened at the Institute?”
“No.” Will’s voice sounded as if he were choking. “I’m here on my own account. I need your help. There is—there is absolutely no one else that I can ask.”
“Really.” Magnus looked at the boy more closely. Will was beautiful; Magnus had been in love many times throughout the years, and normally beauty of any sort moved him, but Will’s never had. There was something dark about the boy, something hidden and strange that was hard to admire. He seemed to show nothing real to the world. Yet now, under his dripping black hair, he was as white as parchment, his hands clenched at his sides so tightly that they were shaking. It seemed clear that some terrible turmoil was ripping him apart from the inside out.
– Clockwork Angel
With this said, one of the main things we learn in Clockwork Prince is the story of William Herondale: his secret, why he left his family, why he left all behind and run away with the age of twelve to the Institute of London, to become a Shadowhunter. In addition, why he pushes everyone away and the reason he is so afraid to love Tessa:
He slipped it into his jacket pocket just as the ghost began to shimmer and fade.
“Hold up, there, Mol. That isn’t all I have come for tonight.”
The spirit flickered while greed warred with impatience and the effort of remaining visible. Finally, she grunted.
“Very well. What else d’you want?”
Will hesitated. This was not something Magnus had sent him for; it was something he wanted to know for himself.
“Love potions—” Old Mol screeched with laughter. “Love potions? For Will ’erondale? ’Tain’t my way to turn down payment, but any man who looks like you ’as got no need of love potions, and that’s a fact.”
“No,” Will said, a little desperation in his voice. “I was looking for the opposite, really—something that might put an end to being in love.”
“An ’atred potion?” Mol still sounded amused. “I was hoping for something more akin to indifference? Tolerance?”
She made a snorting noise, astonishingly human for a ghost.
“I ’ardly like to tell you this, Nephilim, but if you want a girl to ’ate you, there’s easy enough ways of making it ’appen. You don’t need my help with the poor thing.”
And with that she vanished, spinning away into the mists among the graves. Will, looking after her, sighed.
“Not for her,” he said under his breath, though there was no one to hear him, “for me . . .” And he leaned his head against the cold iron gate.
I was heartbroken when I discovered Will secret. No one should have the burden to carry something like that, especially alone and since an early age. He doesn’t want to be loved. He CAN’T be loved, as well as he cannot love, or something terrible may happen. Will is so scared of the consequences of his feelings that he only allows himself to love one person, his parabatai, James.
“Jem is my great sin,” said Will.
Furthermore, the problem is that the Magister is still out there free, waiting for his revenge, for the opportunity to have Tessa again under his control. The reader finds out that his revenge is personal. The Magister wants to put an end to the Nephilim’s because he blames them for a tragedy that happened with his family, and he expects to use Tessa as a weapon to pursue his goals. Likewise, his plan passes to replace Charlotte Branwell from the leadership of the Institute. Notably, we later find out that he has power over a few important people in the council of the Clave (the name for the political body made up of all active Shadowhunters. The Clave keeps and interprets the Law, and makes decisions about the guidance of the Nephilim through history as it unfolds and decides on important matters that affect the Nephilim). With this said, Charlotte sees herself, and the other residents of the Institute, with the requirement to find the Magister in two weeks or she will be replaced for Benedict Lightwood.
“Benedict, you challenged my appointment of Charlotte the moment I made it. You’ve always wanted the Institute. Now, when the Enclave needs to work together more than ever, you bring division and contention to the proceedings of the Council.”
“Change is not always accomplished peacefully, but that does not make it disadvantageous. My challenge stands.” Benedict’s hands gripped each other.
The Consul drummed his fingers on the lectern. Beside him the Inquisitor stood, cold-eyed.
Finally, the Consul said, “You suggest, Benedict, that the responsibility of finding Mortmain should be laid upon the shoulders of those who you claim ‘lost him.’ You would agree, I believe, that finding Mortmain is our first priority?” Benedict nodded curtly. “Then, my proposal is this: Let Charlotte and Henry Branwell have charge of the investigation into Mortmain’s whereabouts. If by the end of two weeks they have not located him, or at least some strong evidence pointing to his location, then the challenge may go forward.”
This leads us to the exciting adventure of the book. To unveil the secrets of the past Tessa, Will and Jem travel to Yorkshire, where they met Aloysius Starkweather, an old and rude Shadowhunter that will be an essential key to solve one of the big mysteries in the last book of the series. There, William will also discover that contrarily of what he thought, his family is not in the safety of Wales, but yes in York, indirectly under the control of the Magister.
He broke off as the rattle of wheels became audible; for a moment Tessa thought the carriage driver had come after them, but no, this was quite a different carriage—a sturdy-looking coach that turned into the gate and began rolling toward the manor. Jem crouched down immediately in the grass, and Will and Tessa dropped beside him. They watched as the carriage came to a stop before the manor, and the driver leaped down to open the carriage door. A young girl stepped out, fourteen or fifteen years old, Tessa guessed— not old enough to have put her hair up, for it blew around her in a curtain of black silk. She wore a blue dress, plain but fashionable. She nodded to the driver, and then, as she started up the manor steps, she paused—paused and looked toward where Jem, Will, and Tessa crouched, almost as if she could see them, though Tessa was sure that they were well hidden by the grass.
The distance was too great for Tessa to make out her features, really—just the pale oval of her face below the dark hair. She was about to ask Jem if he had a telescope with him, when Will made a noise—a noise she had never heard anyone make before, a sick, terrible gasp, as if the air had been punched out of him by a tremendous blow.
But it was not just a gasp, she realized. It was a word; and not just a word, a name; and not just a name, but one she had heard him say before.
“Cecily.”
Will is terrified when he sees his little sister. Even more when he, his parabatai and Tessa reach to the conclusion that his family is a part of the Magister plan as well: a way to keep them away, for them to stop trying to find him. Like a message: Magister knows every one of their steps, and he will not hesitate if he has to use his army of mechanical creatures.
Our favourite characters will pass for uncountable and unforgettable events as we learn more about them.
Tessa will discover more of herself. Who she truly is and more about her family. Is she really a witch like Magnus? How is she the only one in the World with the power to change?
“You must be Tessa Gray,” said a soft voice at her elbow. “You look just like your mother.”
Tessa nearly jumped out of her skin. At her side stood a tall slender woman with long, unbound hair the color of lavender petals. Her skin was a pale blue, her dress a long and floating confection of gossamer and tulle. Her feet were bare, and in between her toes were thin webs like a spider’s, a darker blue than her skin. Tessa’s hands went to her face in sudden horror— was she losing her disguise? —but the blue woman laughed.
“I didn’t mean to make you fearful of your illusion, little one. It is still in place. It is just that my kind can see through it. All this”—she gestured vaguely at Tessa’s blond hair, her white dress and pearls— “is like the vapor of a cloud, and you the sky beyond it. Did you know your mother had eyes just like yours, gray sometimes and blue at others?”
Tessa found her voice. “Who are you?”
“Oh, my kind doesn’t like to give our names, but you can call me whatever you like. You can invent a lovely name for me. Your mother used to call me Hyacinth.”
“The blue flower,” Tessa said faintly. “How did you know my mother? You don’t look any older than me—”
“After our youth, my kind does not age or die. Nor will you. Lucky girl! I hope you appreciate the service done you.”
The heroine is still recovering of a shocking betrayal, but she must be strong and she indeed is. Her heart is drawn more and more to Jem. However, she can’t deny her strong feelings for Will. Theresa begins realising that she may love both.
I love Tessa in this book. She is not afraid to use her power. She is more confident and wants to fight to protect her new family.
Will is more auto-destructive than ever. Knowing about his family and his love for Tessa is more than he can handle. The wall that he built to separate himself from others, in years of sacrifice, is collapsing and he is determinate to find a way to be able to love again.
“It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them.” – William Herondale
Will is so frustrated and in pain, that unconsciously, he’ll hurt the one person that kept his humanity for years.
“Ah,” said a voice from the doorway, “having your annual ‘everyone thinks Will is a lunatic’ meeting, are you?
“It’s biannual,” said Jem. “And no, this is not that meeting.”
“It’s biannual,” said Jem. “And no, this is not that meeting.”
James is still struggling with his disease. Nonetheless, he finds a strength in Tessa, a reason to live. His feelings for her grow until he cannot resist more, asking her to be his wife and giving her his jade necklace as an engagement present. With her everyone notices that he is truly happy.
He flushed, the colour dark against his pale skin. “I mean,” he said, “Tessa Gray, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
Tessa sat bolt upright. “Jem!”
Charlotte and Henry will finally have the conversation that they should have had in the beginning of their marriage. After all, the reason for them to be resentful with each other was nothing but a misunderstanding.
And then she said nothing else, for Henry put his arms around her and kissed her. Kissed her in such a way that she no longer felt plain, or conscious of her hair or the ink spot on her dress or anything but Henry, whom she had always loved. Tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks, and when he drew away, he touched her wet face wonderingly.
“Really,” he said. “You love me, too, Lottie?”
“Of course I do. I didn’t marry you so I’d have someone to run the Institute with, Henry. I married you because—because I knew I wouldn’t mind how difficult directing this place was, or how badly the Clave treated me, if I knew yours would be the last face I saw every night before I went to sleep.” She hit him lightly on the shoulder. “We’ve been married for years, Henry. What did you think I felt about you?”
He shrugged his thin shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “I thought you were fond of me,” he said gruffly. “I thought you might come to love me, in time.”
“That’s what I thought about you,” she said wonderingly. “Could we really both have been so stupid?”
“Well, I’m not surprised about me,” said Henry. “But honestly, Charlotte, you ought to have known better.”
She choked back a laugh. “Henry!"
Jessamine will make the mistake of falling in love with the wrong person. She will make the worse choices that she could have made and disappoint the ones who take care of her. Because of this, she will eventually pay for her actions.
In Clockwork Prince, we have the opportunity to know better Gabriel Lightwood, and we are introduced to his older brother Gideon. They are very different: Gideon is more rational, contained in his actions. Gabriel is way more emotional, very stubborn as well. The reader finally discovers why he hates William so much. In comparison, both are brave warriors. I am very pleased with the relation between Gideon and Sophie. To be honest, I hope they end up together because she deserves to find someone who treats her well.
“Well,” Tessa said, sighting along the line of the knife, “you behave as if you dislike me. In fact, you behave as if you dislike us all.”
“I don’t,” Gabriel said. “I just dislike him.” He pointed at Will.
“Dear me,” said Will, and he took another bite of his apple. “Is it because I’m better-looking than you?”
“I don’t,” Gabriel said. “I just dislike him.” He pointed at Will.
“Dear me,” said Will, and he took another bite of his apple. “Is it because I’m better-looking than you?”
To sum up, Clockwork Prince was a very pleasant book to read. Cassandra Clare reveal to us a lot of secrets of our main characters as we know them better and fall in love even more with them. I look forward to reading the last book of the saga and know the destiny of Tessa, Will and James. What is the secret behind Tessa birth? Will she really marry Jem? Is he going to find a cure for his disease? What about Will? Tessa loves him as much as she loves Jem! Will he talk with his family after so many years? So many questions!
To end this review, I select one of the excerpts of poems that Cassandra Clare chooses to begin a chapter. You can find this one in chapter seventeen. He stayed in my mind for one reason: it is totally true, we can have the most stressful day of our lives, but the night will always come, and after her a new day when we can start all over again, and so on:
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
- Matthew Arnold, “Longing”
Nb: I do not own the picture above.
What do you think about Clockwork Prince, by Cassandra Clare?
Hope you’re having a lovely day!
Mariana Nunes
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