Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

About the book

Clockwork Princess is the third and final book in The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. The book was published on 19^th March by Walker and it is 592 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy for review.

Plot Synopsis

After having a pretty bad run of it so far, Tessa Grey has finally found a place she can be happy. Living in the London Institute for Shadowhunters, she has a life she can be proud of. As she begins to prepare for her wedding to the silver haired Jem, things begin to go from bad to worse.

Mortmain hasn’t been heard from in months but everyone at the Institute knows that he is up to something. In order to complete his plan, to be able to use an army of automatons known as the Infernal Devices, he needs Tessa. Only she is able to give him what he needs and he will stop at nothing to get her. With both Will and Jem claim to love Tessa as much as the other, but who will be the one to save her?

What I thought

Cassandra Clare is probably my all-time favourite young adult author. I have loved every single one of her books to date and I don’t think she’ll be letting me down any time soon. Clockwork Princess was heavily embargoed but the lovely Hannah at Walker sent me a copy on release day so it arrived the day after. Due to having so much uni work on the go, it isn’t often anymore I get to pick up a book so soon after it arriving and manage to finish it in a day. With this one I stayed up until I was finished reading – I couldn’t put it down.

Clockwork Angel is nearly 600 pages long – that is one beast of a book and to be honest, it hurt my hands reading it. Did I care? Not one little bit. It was worth the pain. Cassandra Clare drops is right back into the Victorian London setting and back with much loved characters, Tessa, Will and Jem. Will is secretively in love with Tessa, who is engaged to his best friend and parabatai, the closest two Shadowhunters can be. Although set in the world of Shadowhunters, those who go around killing demons, there aren’t as many in this series as in The Mortal Instruments series. Instead, we follow a crazy villain who wants to put together an army of automatons.

In the previous book, Clockwork Prince, I felt that protagonist Tessa really came into her own. She’s different from everyone else and there were many questions as to why. When I thought most of that was answered, this book threw me for a loop and introduced a whole range of new and exciting things. Tessa is still the same kick ass, outspoken and free-willed character that she has been before but this time, I felt as though she had matured that little bit more. Previously, she has been quite the Victorian lady but now she is ready for adventure and jumps at chances to be part of the excitement.

Love triangles are quite overdone in young adult novels but with this one, it is perfect and definitely needed. Will and Jem are both fantastic characters and strangely, different and the same at the same time. I have always been torn between the two and could never have picked between them myself. As this is the last book in the series, there are obviously answers to who Tessa ends up with. Yes, the plot summary says she is engaged to Jem but obviously, there are some twists and turns along the way. However, in regards to the love triangle, there were some pretty steamy scenes in Clockwork Prince and I found that aspect to be quite lacking here and I wanted more!

Plot wise, Clockwork Princess in non-stop. Not only do we have Mortmain sneaking around, trying to kidnap Tessa and finally carry out his evil plan but we also have politics of the Clave. I loved the aspects of this book regarding who would be running what, who would be taking over from who and all the back stabbing and secrets behind it all. The mix of the Shadowhunter world along with the intense and exciting plot regarding Tessa and Mortmain was amazing. Clockwork Princess has so much more to offer than just tying up loose ends. Cassandra Clare actually adds in new plot lines which is what made this book so exciting for me. Not only was I finishing a trilogy but I was also finding out so much more about the world she has created too. 

So, as the end of a trilogy, I’m trying to write this review without there being any spoilers, which is damn hard. What I will say though is that Clockwork Princess was everything that I wanted and more. Cassandra Clare has created a world in which there are funny, sweet and brave characters, a world with insane amounts of problems but one which is exciting beyond belief and a world where anything really can happen. I was a mixed bag of emotions while reading this as it had me laughing, crying to the point where I couldn’t see and really excited about what was going to happen at the same time. Cassandra Clare, this was a perfect ending to a perfect trilogy.