Book Thoughts: Clockwork Angel

Title: Clockwork Angel
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: Infernal Devices #1

I think I would have loved Clockwork Angel a lot more if I hadn't been very busy noticing all the similarities to the Mortal Instruments series (which I absolutely adored). That said, I still thought Clockwork Angel was pretty freaking awesome.

Tessa makes an excellent protagonist - her feelings about/relationship with her brother are awesome, especially later on in the novel - and I adored Charlotte, but I think my favorite characters are the boys. Henry is adorable and reminded me of a cross between Beetee from the Hunger Games series and Luna Lovegood...but Will and Jem were the best. I would love to be friends with Jem in real life, and Will... oh, Will. I can't decide whether I love him or want to strangle him - which means that I agree with just about everyone else in the novel. I kept comparing him to Jace from TMI, but fortunately it's been long enough since I read those that I was able to (mostly) come at this as an independent story, and I loved it.

I'd offer you some quotes, but a) I'd have to pick just a few favorites, and b) they'll be so much better if you find out for yourself.

The plot was awesome too. I kept wanting to find out what happens - I've gotten pretty good at figuring out endings long before I get there lately, but Clockwork Angel had some major twists that genuinely surprised me and were executed very well. I'm really not sure how much I can say without being too spoilery, but I do think the jacket description plays up romance too much. It's definitely there but it takes a backseat to the mystery and suspense, which was good. Once I started reading Clockwork Angel I did not want to put it down (I had to at times, but I'd have loved to read it straight through). It kept me turning the pages and I am so sad that I have to wait until next September for the second one!

Also I love the cover. The cover is awesome and 1800s-England-y (which is fitting) and Shadowhunter-y (also fitting) and I just think it's lovely. And the setting! England in 1878 is a delightful setting. And my friends can attest to the fact that I slipped into old-fashioned British English for a bit while I was reading it. Oops. Oh, and the literary references! *happy sigh*

Definitely, definitely read this one if you get the chance and like supernatural things. I simply loved it! I do think, though, that City of Bones and the rest of the Mortal Instruments series were better. So read those too!

Book Thoughts: City of Bones

Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments #1

[[I wrote this when I was 15 and am importing it for archive purposes only, but I *am* keeping it, because it accurately captures how much I loved it -- in a very 15-year-old way.]]

Okay, so I finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare today and it was soooo amazing. I LOVED it with a capital L-O-V-E-D. It was hilarious and witty but also really serious and action-packed and adventurous and fantastical (fantasy-ish...I guess the word is fantastical anyway).

So basically it's this girl named Clary Fray and she goes to the Pandemonium Club in NYC with her best friend Simon and she witnesses a murder. Except that she's the only one who can see the murderers and the body disappears into thin air. The murderers are Shadowhunters - demon killers. They're really shocked that Clary can see them, and they want to take her back to the Institute - pretty much their home base in NY. Except then Clary's mother gets kidnapped by a Ravener demon, and Clary almost gets killed. The Shadowhunters - Jace, Alec, Isabelle, and Hodge - bring Clary and Simon to their Institute, and there's a whole lot of adventures and excitement and mystery and action and it was completely amazing.

Yes, I'm ranting. Just a little. But it was an AwEsOmE book!

And a couple of my favorite quotes...

Clary: “Those girls on the other side of the car are looking at you.”

Jace: “Of course they are. I am stunningly attractive.”

Clary: “Haven’t you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?”

Jace: “Only from ugly people. The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me.”

Jace: “I wish you’d stop desperately trying to get my attention like this. It’s become embarrassing.”

Clary: “Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt.”

Jace: “I can’t help it. I use my rapier wit to hide my inner pain.”

Clary: “Your pain will be outer soon if you don’t get out of traffic. Are you trying to get run over by a cab?”

Jace: “Don’t be ridiculous. We could never get a cab that easily in this neighborhood.”

Jace: “My one true love remains myself.”

Dorothea: “At least you don’t have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland.”

Jace: “Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.”

There are others, but some of them contain spoilers, and the whole novel is freaking amazing and I definitely can't post the whole novel, so...GO READ THE BOOK!!!!