Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1)Cassandra Clare
Simon & Schuster, August 2010
ISBN: 978-1416975861
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare is the first book in The Infernal Devices series which is a prequel series to The Mortal Instruments. The setting is London during the late 1800’s and follows a new group of Shadowhunters as they match wits with vampires, demons, warlocks, and the sinister ‘Magister’ in this steampunk flavored paranormal adventure that will please old fans of Cassandra Clare while creating a whole army of new ones.
Tessa Gray, a native New Yorker, who has arrived in London after her brother sent money and a steamer ticket following their Aunt Harriet's death. All Tessa has left in the world is her brother--but she arrives in London to find that he has been kidnapped and she may have no hope of saving him unless she complies with the wishes of the Dark Sisters, who are training her to use a power she didn't even know she had. Enter Shadowhunters, including the sort-of-snarky-mostly-mean Will Herondale, Jem Carstairs (who frequently acts as Will's filter and conscience), Charlotte and her husband Henry (who I compared to Arthur Weasley on speed), and a young lady named Jessamine who wants little to do with Shadowhunters.
Tessa has tunnel vision and wants nothing more than to save her brother from whatever it was that took him in the first place. Will's investigation into the deaths of children is what brought him to the home of the Dark Sisters--and to Tessa--in the first place. Now that the Shadowhunters have Tessa, they believe that she may be a key weapon in finding out what is going on with the Downworlders. There's a fellow who the Downworlders refer to as "The Magister" who is creating a kind of clockwork army--and if he is successful, the results would be deadly and utterly catastrophic. But Tessa just wants to find her brother and get her life back to normal. But was her life ever normal to begin with?
There are recognizable names in the novel--Herondale, Lightwood, Wayland--and even a character we've met before. I'd say that one of the definite highlights of this book is Tessa. She is bookish and smart, even with her desperation to save her brother. She matures from beginning to end and learns things even when she is reluctant to believe. Another thing about Tessa is that she is so sensitive about what a lady should and shouldn't do, how a servant should and should not speak, how a lady and a gentleman interact. She is definitely one of the voices of the period in this novel, along with Jessamine. And while I am rarely a fan of period novels, this one was definitely one I would have been sad to miss.
CASSANDRA CLARE is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. She was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of books. Cassandra lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend, their two cats, and these days, even more books.
