Tick Tock Goes The Angel's Clock

Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare 

London, 1878, Queen Victoria as queen and men were gentlemen. Tessa Gray travels from New York at her brother’s request but it’s not all it seems when she arrives in London. Her mundane world can no longer exist. If any of you have read any of Cassandra Clare no more explanation is needed. Clare develops a whole new world with vampires, werewolves, demons, warlocks and shadowhunters. And the first instalment of the infernal devices gives an insight into this world for our main character Tessa Gray. Along the way Tessa comes into contact with love, secrets and betrayal.

Tessa Gray is our heroine of the story, she comes to London not knowing anyone and naïve. Throughout the story Tessa becomes stronger and more relatable, she’s a stranger in a different land and the first thing she comes into contact with is betrayal and torture.

William Herondale, Will is the mismatch character in our story. He is a mystery to the readers and a mystery to his own characters. In the first of the trilogy there isn’t much revealed of Will, Cassandra keeps details regarding him quite close to the chest during this first book.

James Carstairs, Jem is the opposite of Will, where Will is risk taking, secretive and mysterious. Jem is the opposite, he is like an open book, you find out a lot about his character, who he is and where he came from within the first book, it is built upon throughout the book and further in the series. Jem becomes the older brother we all want.

There are many other shadowhunters in the story such as Jessamine, the one who doesn’t want to belong to the shadow world. Charlotte, the leader of the institute, Henry her bumbling husband and many other smaller characters. All of the characters go well with each other and contribute to the story. Cassandra knows how each character can attribute the story and each other.

This is the first book in the Infernal Devices series. It introduces all the characters and allows us to get to know each one before the story really begins.

If you enjoy fantasy Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices is a good place to start. It’s not the most intricate of stories there’s a simple story line, it is based in London so that brings some reality into the story. Unlike The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices is a more feminine story with a strong love triangle.

My verdict for Clockwork Angel is a 8/10.

The book starts the trilogy off strong with some strong characters, strong story and strong writing. There are aspects that could be better such as the writing which can be weak in some places. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys fantasy.