Really Ravishing Review (Clockwork Angel)

Review of Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare.


Quickie: Fantastic. A very difficult endeavor, and it was carried out beautifully.

Full: Tessa's dear Aunt Harriet has recently died, leaving Tessa alone in New York. Tessa receives a steamer ticket and letter from her brother asking her to join him in London. Tessa is overjoyed, since she hasn't seen her brother in ages, and is truly the only family she has left.

Although, upon arrival in London, her brother isn't there. Instead he has sent two ladies to pick her up for him, and Tessa can't help but be disappointed. The woman take her into their "care" and along with housing her, they teach her to use a power she had no idea she possessed- the power to change into any person, living or dead, simply by holding a personal object of theirs and concentrating.

Then the real problem. The ladies, also known as the Dark Sisters, tell Tessa that she is ready to be sent to The Magister. What on earth could this mystery man want? To marry her of course! Eek!

Thus starts a truly amazing adventure, as Tessa is joined by a fantastically real set of characters and face seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Now, you may be thinking- How could a prequel to an already established series possibly be fresh and interesting? Well, I have no idea. But it was. :-p There was a wonderful twining of old and new. I loved seeing how things I already knew existed came to be, and seeing people I'd already met as they were back in Victorian Era London.

The whole book was purely awesome. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. The whole concept of the clockwork automatons completely freaked me out and pulled me in. It was the perfect balance of scary and fascinating.

Will, one of the possible heart-throbs, drove me bonkers. If ever there was a candidate for a Male PMS poster boy... Will would be it. Holy monkeys. Hot, cold, nice, mean, stand-offish, obviously attracted... good grief! I'm honestly wondering if it wasn't Will that Katy Perry was singing about in "Hot and Cold". As much as I was irritated at him, I loved him. Who doesn't love a man with a few terrible secrets? (Fictional men. I like my real men to be honest and open!) I can't wait to see what Will is running from, and why he is so "man on the verge".

Should you read it? I think so, yeah. Even if you haven't read The Mortal Instruments series, you can read Clockwork Angel. It is a prequel, after all. And a lovely one at that.

5 out of 5 stars.