Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices, #1)

by Cassandra Clare

[Amanda]

Actual rating: 4.5

Original review: http://onabookbender.com/2011/08/29/review-clockwork-angel-by-cassandra-clare/

Clockwork Angel was the type of book that drew me in without my realizing what was happening, and captured my attention and heart so that when it ended, I immediately wanted more. Not only did I add the rest of this series to my TBR list (and grumbled about the books not being released yet; wait? I hate waiting) but I also added the Mortal Instruments series. If Clockwork Angel is representative of the type of story Cassandra Clare can write, then I want to read them all. Or, perhaps as Missie would say, I’d like to lick Cassandra Clare’s brain.

Clockwork Angel is probably only the third steampunk book that I have read (I am counting Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate as a single entity, since it is the same world), but I am thinking that, if the world is built right, it is a genre I can get behind. I already enjoy historical fiction, so a little fantasy and/or paranormal makes it that much more fun. Although there is a lot of world building, because Clockwork Angel is the first book of three, there is still plenty left to learn and there are still questions that remain unanswered.

I am not quite sure if I want to classify the ending — “epilogue” — as a cliffhanger. To an extent it is, but I also feels that it leaves the door open. There is a clear resolution at the end, and it is that reason I hesitate to cry, “FOUL!” as I did in my review of Faefever. I have been left wondering, yes, but it is not an all-consuming and angry wondering. I would have continued reading this series without the epilogue hanging over my head.

As I mentioned earlier, I got pulled into Clockwork Angel without really realizing it. I found myself asking what about this book that had people so excited over it. Then I finished it and nearly smacked myself upside the head in my own foolishness. Clockwork Angel is seductive; it weaves an intricate story around you until you are caught within its trap. Its characters jump off the page with how real they are, and yet how much we still need to know of them. Will has every marking of the kind of hero I love (right down to his blue eyes), Tessa is a strong young woman who no doubt still has a lot to discover about herself, and Jem…Jem is heart-breaking, I think. Even the side characters have wormed their way into my heart.

I must have more of them.