Clockwork Angel
By: Cassandra Clare
Grade: C
To be honest I’d previously never had any desire to read these books. Plus some of the things I’d read about the author made me double down on that. Yet I did consider reading Lady Midnight and then heard that I might really like the character of Tessa who debuts in these books so I thought what the heck I’d give it a go!
And it was…
Okay.
Tessa gets wrapped up in the Shadowhunter world when she goes to London to try to find her missing brother. There’s two cute boys, a spunky maid, the leader and her sweetheart of a husband and my favorite character Jessamine. (You know what you take control of your fate girl! Go after a husband convince the new chick to move in with you! Do what makes you happy!)
Clockwork Angel was definitely better than I thought it would be but also a lot what I expected. I can’t help think I would have liked the book (and the characters) more if I had read it years ago.
I will say there was actually a couple of sad deaths and I liked it’s steampunk element with the creepy automatons. There was even a handful of surprises. Unfortunately I can’t say I cared that much about Tessa or Will. Again it’s not like I hated either of them or they made we want to throw the book across the room or anything. I just felt bored with the. And I didn’t care about the (probably) budding romance.
I’d be a Jem girl myself so there’s that.
But there was just such a feeling of read this before and know this story that I can pretty much bet how its all going to play out.
Also I have to learn just because a character is a bookworm doesn’t mean I’m going to love them! It’s a plus don’t get me wrong but still 🙂
I’m leaning toward not bothering with the rest of this series which I imagine would make it tough to read anything else in the universe (Lady Midnight and its sequels for instance.) But I would definitely be interested in reading more Cassandra Clare if she writes outside the Shadowhunters tales in the future.
Recommend: 50/50 Not a bad book but if you haven’t read it yet you aren’t missing anything life changing.
I read those first Shadowhunters books ages ago when I was much younger, was into star crossed lovers and all that.. 😂 And even then, I thought it was ok but never was blown away by that. I think it’s the predictability and perhaps a lack of depth of those characters, as you pointed out in this book, that also played a role in my own reading experience back then. I’m glad I connected the dots, thank you. 😊
Great review! 😊👌
Okay but never blown away is a good summation!
When i first saw these books, i really wanted to read them, cuz i loved the covers a lot… but when i read the blurbs, i figured it’s not for me.
It was a very long debate, but now i got to the point where i don’t think i’ll read them, it’s just not really my sort of thing.
I have to admit the covers did play a big part in my wanting to read these and the Lady Midnight books 🙂 I need to control myself!
You didn’t like it? I would have thought you would love it, since we seem to have pretty similar taste in books. I personally really liked it. Out of all the Cassandra Clare series (well, I actually out of this one and the one with Clary and Jace, I haven’t read the most recent one), I enjoyed this the most. The costumes, the gentlemen, the internal and external battles….so good. I think I read the whole series twice.
I liked it more than I thought I would 🙂
I just think I would have liked it a lot more if I read it back when it first came out!
Great review but I’ll give it a miss then. Enjoyed the first two books in The Mortal Instruments series but struggled to get through them in the end…also seemed so/so. This comes across as if it would be similar.
Shame this was just okay for you- but I get what you mean about feeling you’d have liked this more if you’d read it years ago. I liked this back when I read it (years ago 😉 ) but having since gone off Clare’s books, I imagine if I read it now with fresh eyes, I’d like it a lot less. Great review!
Whew. This sounds like it was a mediocre experience. I agree, it sounds like the kinda book that would resonate more if read at a younger age. I’ve had this book on my shelf for two years now and I still can’t decide if I want to pick it up because, like you said, I can’t imagine it being life changing!