By: Cassandra Clare

Published: March 19, 2013

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Series: The Infernal Devices

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Tessa Gray should be happy as she prepares for her wedding to the frail James Carstairs, but darkness continues to loom around her and her Shadowhunter companions in the London Institute.  An attack on the Institute causes Tessa to become a captive of Mortiman once again and serve his evil purpose of tying demons to his automatons making them the ultimate destruction to the Shadowhunters.  Now Jem and Will both, who lay equal clam to Tessa’s heart, will do anything to save her.

That certainly met my expectations.  The Clockwork Princess follows Tessa Gray and the Shadowhunters of whom she is protected by as they continue to look for the Magister Mortiman who continues to be a threat to the Nephilium as he builds his automaton army in hiding.  This is Cassandra Clare’s final novel in the Infernal Devices Trilogy and 8^th novel in the realm of the Mortal Instruments.

Now first and foremost the love and the tension between Will and Tessa was incredibly more powerful in the first two novels of this trilogy, but in this novel is was so subdued by the love between Jem and Tessa, two characters who were beautiful together but whose love never surpassed that of profound friendship in the previous novels.  Tessa had agreed to marry Jem because she was trying to move on from Will and pitied Jem, there was little foundation of true love between the characters in the former novels, but here it exploded into the pages and resonated that they loved one another.  Nevertheless, all the build-up and passion between Will and Tessa that gathered so much ground in the previous novels was thrown out the window.  The ending was wishy-washy and appeared as though Clare wrote it to appease her fans and provide everyone with the happy ending they wanted.

Clare has always had a way with building the inner turmoil of the characters, bringing to life the pain and anguish they feel as they live their lives and have to battle the emotions that they feel.  The way the love triangle shifted and evolved took something away from the beauty that is in the pain of the characters.

The love triangle and the construction of it was the only blemish on the otherwise beautiful and amazing novel.  The way the plot moved, highlighting the inner turmoil of the characters as well as the amount they have changed as grown as characters.   Will is the character who has evolved the most through the series as well as in the novel, highlighted by Magnus who serves as the catalysts to bring about the true nature of everyone’s character with his strong bearing and clever quips.

What’s more is Clare shows of her attention to detail and research in the way she dove the readers back in time to Victorian England.  The detail to the land, the way it was constructed and brought together was masterful and beautiful.

Cassandra Calre also did what most authors fail to do when they write sequels or prequels to series they have already constructed: she kept holes from appearing in her story and plot line.  As Clare is tying together the past and the present in City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls and no doubt City of Heavenly Fire, she ties them together with such subtle detail enough to build the story but not enough to make the tie together to impactful that one small error could destroy the world she has built.

A wonderful novel with remarkable characters and a beautiful realm to enter.  ★★★★ (B+)