A Review of Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork  Prince
Book 2 in Infernal Devices Series
Author: Cassandra Clare

Summary (from Amazon.com):

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.


My opinion: This book has everything I love about reading - mystery, action, romance, and un-put-downableness (may not be a word but it works).

The pacing in this is nice, I never felt as though it dragged at all and it kept my attention throughout. One of the things I love the most about Cassandra Clare's writing is her characters. The characters in this, as in her other novels, are so fleshed out and felt really authentic to me. I really enjoyed learning more about Charlotte, Henry, Sophie, and the newer additions of the Lightwood brothers. Gideon is so sweet! The relationships between the three main characters is to me the most beautiful part of the novel. A highlight of Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince for me is Will and Jem's relationship. You dont see many novels these days with such a strong bromance going on and its lovely :)

The love triangle in this is INTENSE, thats about the only word I can think to describe it. I went back and forth several times and I even think I may have switched teams from the first book to this one....and that is an absolute first for me! I'm usually pretty loyal to the guy I pick in the first installment of a series. But now that I'm thinking about it, I'm still not sure... Cassandra Clare is THE queen of writing butterfly inducing make-out scenes, I mean sheesh. I will say that of the several makeout scenes in this book the one I found the hottest really surprised me. The two boys in Tessa's life are so vastly different but both so beautiful, unique, and swoonworthy. That's not a choice I would want to make...wait actually its exactly the kind of choice I would want to make. With my choice being BOTH. I really felt for all parties involved in the end and I'm afraid there is nothing but heartache ahead for all these characters and for me :( Sigh...