Clockwork Princess is the 3rd and final book in The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. The book concludes the trilogy (Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince) by disclosing the whole story behind Tessa’s being and reveals Mortmain’s true intentions for her. A face paced book, with loads of emotional turbulence, I would have to admit that the clockwork princess is truly the best book in the trilogy. I wouldn’t say I cried while reading the book (I usually don’t cry reading books), but I did tear up a little on many instances.! I loved this book and it made me feel things, which is quite extraordinary.
Synopsis
Clockwork Princess continues the story where the clockwork prince ended. Tessa and Will trying to control their feelings for each other, as Tessa is happily engaged to Will’s parabatai Jem, who is busy planning a wedding (before he dies of the Yin fen).
Gabriel and Gideon are living in the institute due to a mishappening in the Lightwood’s house. The consul has been trying to use this as an advantage and asks the Lightwood boys to spy on Charlotte, so he could throw her off the authority as the institute head. Along with the Lightwood boys, we have another edition at the London Institute, i.e. Will’s sister Cecily. Cecily is a 15-year old strong and confident girl, who is adamant about trying a way to take her brother back to their home.
The story follows Tessa being Kidnapped by Mrs. Black to be a present for Mortmain. Will follows to save Tessa as he discovers the true location of Mortmain with the help of Jessamine and Cecily. We discover that Mortmain has been successful in creating the indestructible automatons and now the Shadowhunters will have to fight together against the army of these Infernal Devices.
Characters
I wouldn’t talk much about all the characters as they have been evolving a little from the first book and would just give a bit of update on them. Tessa’s character evolved by the end of the second book (Clockwork Prince) and has been similar in this book as well. She is more confident and braver than she was in the first book.
Will can be noticed as a protective brother towards Cecily, which was kind of fun to watch (Especially his discomfort towards the chemistry between Gabriel and Cecily). Even though his walls are down as the curse was a lie (which is kind of funny.! And not in a good way), he still pretends to be distant with Tessa because he is betrothed to his best friend and parabatai Jem.
Jem on the other hand surprised me in this book. His condition is getting worse and he is destined to die soon. But his story doesn’t end here (spoilers.!). His character is undoubtedly the most shocking revelation for me.
Charlotte and Henry are the power couple as usual. Henry inventing the great devices and charlotte being…. well…. Charlotte. She is an extremely confident and strong woman character and I loved her throughout the trilogy. I would have to say Henry made my heart pound really fast in the finale.
Gabriel and Gideon Lightwood have emerged up as strong characters as well. They have been an important part of the story as well. Along with the romantic angle (Gabriel with Cecily and Gideon with Sophie), they have been spotted as sensible boys, who don’t follow the footsteps of their father. Again, both Sophie and Cecily have been a great portrayal of strong women characters. I love both these characters and strong-willed characters.
Lastly, we have Mortmain, who didn’t really change much from his previous encounters in the last books.
Plot
Now, let’s have a spoiler-free discussion regarding the story plot of the clockwork princess (which is very difficult, trust me!)
The whole storyline starts pacing up as soon as Tessa is kidnapped by Mrs. Black, so she can present her to Mortmain as a gift. It follows Jem being extremely sick soon after. I would have to say I felt bad for Jem, but he did annoy me a little in Clockwork Angel…… So…..
I loved how Jem found out Will’s feeling for his fiancé Tessa. It was really funny.
Next the story behind Tessa’s true origin and how she became… well, whatever she is (spoiler-free)…. Is fascinating too. I can’t really talk much about the little revelations without giving out the spoilers, but there’s one thing I would definitely like to talk about. That is the final plot of the series: Mortmain and his army’s destruction. Cassandra Clare built up the character of Mortmain as this clever powerful guy whose Infernal devices are indestructible. And yet the way they are destroyed just made me go…. Eeehh..! It was very disappointing. All Tessa required to destroy mortmain didn’t really need much effort. But thankfully the whole series wasn’t completely dependent on this one aspect but had many more stories and plots which made the whole trilogy a fantastic read.
The story (as expected), fast forwards into the life of Will and Tessa and other shadowhunters, describing how they grew old (not Tessa of course) and how they died with their children and grandchildren by their side, which was really beautiful.
Conclusion
All in all, I loved Clockwork Princess out of all the three books in the series. I enjoyed the trilogy and would recommend people to read it.