Clockwork Angel is the first book in ‘The Infernal Devices’ book trilogy by Cassandra Clare. This is the prequel series to The Mortal Instruments and is set in the latter half of the 19th Century. The fantastic Shadowhunter world created by Cassandra Clare has been adapted as a Netflix show named as ‘Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments’.
Synopsis
The infernal device trilogy, set in Victorian England, mainly surrounds Theresa Gray, William Herondale, and James Carstairs. The Clockwork angel follows Tessa arriving in London from her home in New York after her brother Nathaniel Gray invited her through a letter, which she later found was a direct invitation to a dangerous world. She founds her brother is in danger and stuck in a mysterious world, she never knew existed. Belonging to a mundane world, she is terrified after discovering a world where vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and demons are real.
She is taken refuge in the London Institute led by Charlotte Branwell and her husband Henry. During her stay, she discovers she is not a normal human being, but something entirely different, which no one even in this unique world can explain. As everyone tries to find what and who she is, they discover that she is the key to shadowhunter destruction, as planned by the Magister, but they don’t know, how.
In between all this chaos, she finds herself falling in love with Will, who is cold and distant. On the contrary, she finds Will’s parabatai, Jem, to be a loving friend and her confidante. The story strongly follows these 3 characters on an emotional roller coaster, along with some other strong characters like Sophie (the maid), Magnus Bane ( The warlock), Charlotte and Henry Branwell, Jessamine (shadowhunter), the Lightwoods (Wealthy shadowhunters), Nathaniel Gray (Tessa’s brother), Camille (Vampire), and Alexei de Quincey (Head of Vampire clan, London).
Writing
To start with the review, first I would like to comment that Cassandra Clare’s writing style is extraordinary. She knows how to involve her readers in her books and one can find themselves reading her series even if they didn’t like the book so much (which is kind of difficult as they are brilliant, but then again different people have different tastes for different genres). The same can be seen in her book one of the infernal devices series: Clockwork Angel. Even though I am not a fan of YA fiction or YA romances (and I did get annoyed at many points and plots in the book), I can still not find the strength to not continue reading. This is her writing style, which creates mysteries in-between, which one would like to follow through, no matter what.!
There was just 1 minor thing I felt in her writing style. At times, the situation was way more descriptive than required, that I started losing my interest. But even then, after a few boring pages, the story was right on track and I was willingly reading again.
Characters
Next, let us talk about the different characters. Clockwork Angel has so many characters (just like other shadowhunter series), but I would like to touch upon only a few main ones.
To start off with the main character, ‘Tessa Gray’, she is portrayed as a 16-year-old basic ordinary teenager who is taught to behave like a lady. Her perception of a woman is kind of annoying at the start, as she believes all women are weak and they need the protection of a man and should be commanded by the will and decision of a man and not the other way around.
Although this can be said as literary accurate since we are talking about 1847 London. Although I didn’t like her character in this book (I’m not really into the teen drama), but she is depicted as the perfect example of any teenage girl who is torn between her heartily desires and her righteous mind. Her character grows from this simple weak girl, who is fascinated by the women's rights and power in the shadowhunter world, to being a strong character herself.
Next, we have 17-year-old William (Will) Herondale, who is funny (in a sarcastic way), and a broken guy, who does not care about anyone (except for his parabatai James and later Tessa). He is a great fighter, who loves to fight and read (a lot..!) He is the perfect image of a troubled boy who pretends he doesn’t care but has a heart of gold and is capable of love when the right girl comes along. Although this character is a basic bad boy cliche, (‘I am bad for you… It’s best people stay away from me… but I can’t stay away from you….’ ), you can’t help but love him for his charming self. He is sarcastically funny, which kind of grows on you.
Next, we have Will’s parabatai, a 17-year-old Jem Carstairs. Jem is a shadowhunter who was rescued from Shanghai when he was 12-years-old and brought to London institute as his parents died in the demon attack, where Jem was tortured by poisoning him with Yin Fen, which ultimately made him dependent on the drug for his survival. He is destined to die before he turns 18 because of this drug. Due to that, he is shown usually sick and weak but displays great courage and fighting skills whenever it was required. This character is the opposite of his parabatai, Will. He is calm, patient, and always smiling. He would fall into the category of a good boy, who is open with his heart and is completely selfless.
All these characters seemed too dramatic to me, but it’s YA from periodic drama, so one can expect that. Although we can see these 3 characters to follow the cliché characteristics of simple sweet girl, a bad boy and a good boy in this book, it would be fun to see how they evolve in upcoming books. One thing I would like to point for these 3 main characters is that the book describes them as 16-17 years old, yet they always looked 20+ to me. I don’t know why but I can’t just imagine them as some 16-17 years old.
Now, apart from these 3 main characters, we have Charlotte Branwell, who is portrayed as a physically small looking women who is great at her fighting skills and managing the institute confidently. I like her character as she is the perfect blend of an emotional woman, along with the confidence and fighting skills of a warrior queen. She is authoritative and great at decision making, which compliments her husband who is more brain than strength.
Henry himself is a great character, who knows his strength (his brain) and is not afraid to be led by a woman.
Jessamine is another shadowhunter in the institute, who hates being a shadowhunter and wants a normal life of a lady, who cooks and cleans and takes care of her home and family (as per that era).
The character of Nathaniel Gray is quite an interesting one. His journey throughout the book, about how a mundane got involved in the downworld business, is something to look forward to.
Then we have, Camille and Magnus Bane, who we can find in other shadowhunter books as well. Needless to say, the character of Magnus Bane is my absolute favorite one throughout all shadowhunter books. He is this wise warlock, who is funny and ever so helping. He isn’t complicated and yet he intrigues you so much.
Then we have The Magister, who is this powerful downworlder who hates shadowhunters and despises the Law. This is quite a cunning character that will shock you at times.
Plot
Next, we talk about the story plot. I wouldn’t say the final plot spoke much to me. There were some shocking twists and turns in the storyline in-between the book, but the final plot wasn’t much intriguing. Since this is the book one in the trilogy, with so many character introductions, frankly I didn’t expect to find any shocking revelations apart from a couple of them (like the reality of The Magister, or the truth about Tessa’s brother, or the power of the clockwork angel pendant she wears from the start). I would say I am quite okay with the plot of this book as I expect to encounter more revelations in the upcoming books.
The story is more focused on the chemistry between the trio(Tessa, Will, and Jem), which at one point did bore me out a little (As I said, I am not really into the whole teen drama), but I don’t really mind the drama if it has shadowhunters involved. The story is fast pacing, where events happen continuously, with a lot of drama, action, and some suspense unfolding involved.
Conclusion
Doubtless to say, even though YA isn’t much my thing, I really enjoyed the clockwork angel and can’t wait to read the remaining books in the Infernal Devices trilogy. The shadowhunter world is definitely attractive to both the young as well as the adult audience and this series will be a great book for both shadowhunter fans and the shadowhunter virgins.
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