Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare is the first book in the Infernal Devices trilogy, which recently wrapped up. Aka- the perfect thing to binge on! Who doesn't love to read a series that is already done. It encourages late night reading sprees and even later-in-the-same-night digital purchases of the next book in line.
In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them.... (GoodReads)

Clare's books suck you in. The writing is easy, the plot flies forward, and stories unfold in a short period of time. 

Originality: 4 Steampunk!  automatons and corsets, and some eye-roll inducing posturing, when convenient for swoon, of victorian mores. Girls who don't now who they are, why they are valuable, why they are the key to saving the world, and unaware of their beauty. Overall, we have seen this all before.

Absurdity: 9!!! Steampunk = absurd to me. I can't help it!

CC: Lots of eyerolls for the references by Tessa to what heroines in books do... blargh.  How can this be the same girl who quotes Dickens/Shakespeare?

Level of Paranormal Romance: 7.  Will and Jem, you will realize by the end of page 4, are going to be two points of a love triangle. One is good, one is a badboy. Both are handsome (because, obviously), mysterious, and best friends. But guess what? I expect most readers are ok with it,  because woooooowwweeee these two are equally, if differently, smoldering.

CC- did anyone else think Will was VERY similar to Jace with his moody/brooding/charming self?  Cant say he wasnt swoony just like, pull it together man.

Level of Harry Potterness: 2. I am not reading these books for their literally effects, but for fun. 

CC- agree with GS.  For sure, it was an easy read, and you kinda know plot twists are coming when the characters think they have solved the puzzle halfway through the book- if there wasn't a twist, what happens in the next hundred pages?  

Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I don't know how this happened, but somehow us ladies at YAF & WS have never done a proper review of City of Bones.  With the movie out (GS was very excited....) I thought it was about time.... spoiler free of course.

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Originality: 6.  Teenage angst? Check.  Vampires, Werewolves and every other creature/demon/fairy? Check.  Love triangle? Check.  It almost feels like everything including the kitchen sink is in this book, and I probably could have done with without the vampire/werewolf aspect and stuck with the demons and shadowhunters.  Still, NYC was gritty and cool, and the shadowhunters themselves were a fresh take on the demon world.

Absurdity: 10.  Je-SUS.  At the end of this book I was gasping outloud and g-chatting GS frantically.  AMIRIGHT FOLKS?  High levels of craziness, I was unprepared.

Level of Paranmormal Romance: 7.  O Jace.... I was routing for you in a big way (Simon really needed to step up his game)

Level of Harry Potterness: 6.  I crushed this book, but then again, football has started and I came home sick yesterday, so it was a deadly combination of free time.  While the story plowed forward, sometimes the cheesy-ness and plot were just high roll inducing, yet overall? enjoyed the story.  100% renting this when it comes out.

The real important question is... do I devote time to the rest of this series??