Infernal Devices (2) - Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
And now to book 2 of the Shadowhunters-series in 19th century! Clockwork Prince ( in German Clockwork Prince, in French Le prince méchanique) by Cassandra Clare, in German, the language in which I read it, Clockwork Prince with 572 pages. Originally published 2011.
Benedict Lightwood's making Charlotte's life as hard as he possibly can, and suddenly, the head of the London institute in probatio has a deadline she couldn’t possibly keep. Meanwhile, the institute itself is collapsing, the Lightwood brothers are supposed to teach Tessa, Jessamine and Sophie how to fight – and spy a bit while they’re at it. But the real epicentre of conflict is still around Tessa, Will and Jem. While Jem’s illness gets worse, Will becomes more and more unstable… Tessa has her heart broken in all ways possible and looks for Jem to fix it. And while they find out more about Mortmain’s motivation, he gets his final pieces into play.
This book was… surprising.
Spoiler:
I guess thinking to be cursed is a Herondale thing. Probably hereditary. No matter, I was so damn sorry for Will! In this book, we get to know him, we see so much of his kind and vulnerable side, before he hides it behind his mask of cruelty again. But we actually find out how much it hurts him to hurt others, especially Tessa. He’s so much better than I initially thought he was, he really simply tries to protect everyone from a fate that’s worse than death. And the logic behind that… I’m torn between wanting to hug that 12 year old boy and hit him over the head. Hug because omg, that poor guy, hit him because that’s a very faulty logic (which I would have concluded as well at that age) and because there’s always a third possibility. And because he obviously doesn’t see how much the others do love him, no matter what.
As for Tessa… she’s in a terrible situation as well. She didn’t do anything wrong. As a matter of fact, she tried to do right by everyone, herself included. But when push came to shove, she chose the one option that would make at least one out of three happy, because she’s wise enough to see that this is the best she could be hoping for.
I must admit that I never actually believed you could love two people in the exact same intensity at the same time. At least I didn’t believe it until reading the book – then I started to doubt. And then, I stumbled over a few people openly talking about polyamory, but that’s another story. When I first heard about someone being in love with two people, I thought that that person had to be very selfish – and delusional. But Tessa is anything but. She breaks her own heart in order to keep Jem’s intact, and, even more important, Jem’s and Will’s friendship. She loves them, truly, both of them. And she doesn’t lie to herself. This book… pretty much changed my view on love triangles. And I really felt with Tessa – and Will, I was so sorry for them! If the two of them didn’t try so very hard to be altruistic, this wouldn’t have happened: Will would have found out he wasn’t cursed waaaay before that and would never have pushed Tessa away. And Tessa wouldn’t have let Jem close enough to fall for him as well – and her heart would have remained intact. Which would leave poor Jem on the outside… So, good thing after all that they were this altruistic.
Jem’s proposal… it wasn’t good that Tessa said yes, because she still thought of Will, but she does love Jem as well, and I get why she did it. But… I must admit, if I were months or possibly years away from death, I wouldn’t want one ounce of pity in the reasoning behind a Yes to my proposal. But I get her PoV as well. I really do.
The scene where they announced their engagement literally broke my heart. How everybody just… just froze and thought like “they can’t mean it! Are they insane?!” And Tessa’s concern was that they hurt Jem’s feelings. And how Will stood up and made a toast, because he truly wants them to be happy and to force the others to snap out of it and accept it.
I adore the dynamics. They are all so incredibly loving and selfless it literally hurts to read.
But what was even better was Henry’s and Charlotte’s plot. I love how they finally admitted the truth to each other – how Henry did all he could for her, and then, after coming clean, was like “Seriously, Charlotte, dear. How could you be so stupid? I never really see anything, but you’re far more clever than that.” So. Adorably. Cute!
The new characters, mainly the Lightwoods, were interesting as well. Especially Gideon, I love how Sophie yells at him – so gorgeous! And Gabriel has to learn some manners, doesn’t he?
Well.
I’m sorry for Jessamine, I really am. It’s her own fault, of course, but she is to be pitied.
Apart from that, the ideas were original, the plot sound and the characters amazingly realistic. The only thing two things which don’t make sense are that Jem only wears the green necklace Will gave him against his homesickness – no one ever mentioned a second one. And the background story of Tessa’s family.
Spoiler:
As far as we know, all angels have runes, right? So, how can fey exist, if they are children of angels and demons? How is it possible that a Shadowhunter with runes can’t have children from demons (but other Shadowworlders) but angels from demons (or demons from angels)?
In brief:
Stars for characters, ideas, style, Will and how you suddenly see him in an entirely new light – and, last but not least, the amazing dynamics of the three and how they changed my PoV on polyamory. Minus one for the fey-problem. Plus SoGH.
Prequel:
Sequel: