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A review by abookishbalance
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
3.0
This is a review of the entire TDI series and contains some light plot spoilers.
PLOT
This series follows Tessa Gray, a girl in search of her missing brother. Her search exposes her to the Shadowhunter world and forces her to discover talents she never knew she had. In the process she meets two very beautiful (Tessa's words, not mine) boys, and thus begins a love trianglequite unlike any I've ever read before. While one may be disillusioned into thinking the main conflict is the Shadowhunters facing a robotic threat bent on wiping out their kind, the real, and very overbearing conflict is the love triangle formed by Will, Tessa, and Jem. A LOVE TRIANGLE LIKE NO OTHER!!!! While I do like the concept here (the automaton, not the love triangle), I felt that it was underdeveloped, and did not reach it's full potential. There was a lot of discussion between the characters of how they were doing everything in their power to try and stop the evil automaton forces, however, as a reader I didn't actually feel like any action was being taken. Tessa spends the majority of the series essentially hiding from the robots, and when FINALLY! something happens, the conflict is resolved in a way that I found to be very convenient and left much to be desired. I suppose the fact that the issue was resolved with a few chapters left over just goes to show how that really wasn't the main focus. I think if you go into this book wanting more of a love story than a plot driven tale, then you'll enjoy this much more than I did.
CHARACTERS
My biggest issue with TID was the characters. I felt manipulated as a reader, instead of letting me form my own opinions of the characters, Cassandra Clare tells me how I should feel about them. She manages to forces these opinions onto the reader through her other characters. The characters are often describing each other, and because of this, this is how we are expected to feel about them. This is something I've never noticed before in a book. A couple of examples here are Tessa, Will and Charlotte.
We are told by those surrounding her, that our main character Tessa is so sweet and kind. I didn't find those particular traits to be reinforced by her actions. The words I would use to describe Tessa are much less desirable. Tessa cares a lot about appearances, to the point where it is distracting. Once a beautiful (Tessa's words, not mine) guy walks into the room she immediately gets tunnel vision and can't stop the inner monologue about how beautiful said guy is. She also doesn't seem to think through her actions, more specifically, how said actions might affect the people who care the most about her. Every time she engages in some hanky panky with abeautiful guy she seems to completely lose all sense of self-control and any regard for how her actions might hurt or affect the other people in the love triangle who she apparently also REALLY cares about. Why is that okay? If this was any other love triangle this behaviour would not be tolerated, and would leave someone extremely hurt.
Then there's Will Herondale. Again, like with Tessa's character, we are told through the lens of the other characters that Will is a broken man. I feel like Will was built out to be a complete jerk for the entire first book, but then suddenly in the second book I am supposed to emphasize with him and like him.I just couldn't get over the fact that his issue could have easily been resolved had he spoken to someone, anyone!
We are told that Charlotte is a kind, compassionate individual, and a real leader. When in reality, I found that Will was more often than Charlotte, making the big and important decisions. Again, I felt that her actions were not backed up by her description.
The other two problems I had with the characters were as follows: there were some characters who seemed to be introduced if only so that every character could get their perfect ending, and by the end of the last book the characters were acting so completely out of character that it just didn't sit right with me.
WRITING
I will commend Cassandra Clare on her writing, she has a very rich and very imaginative world to work with. I really appreciated her descriptions of England in that time period. I also found her writing to be funny, particularly enjoying the witty banter. This has me believing that if Cassandra Clare ever releases a contemporary novel, where the focus is actually meant to be on the romance, that I might enjoy it.
PLOT
This series follows Tessa Gray, a girl in search of her missing brother. Her search exposes her to the Shadowhunter world and forces her to discover talents she never knew she had. In the process she meets two very beautiful (Tessa's words, not mine) boys, and thus begins a love triangle
CHARACTERS
My biggest issue with TID was the characters. I felt manipulated as a reader, instead of letting me form my own opinions of the characters, Cassandra Clare tells me how I should feel about them. She manages to forces these opinions onto the reader through her other characters. The characters are often describing each other, and because of this, this is how we are expected to feel about them. This is something I've never noticed before in a book. A couple of examples here are Tessa, Will and Charlotte.
We are told by those surrounding her, that our main character Tessa is so sweet and kind. I didn't find those particular traits to be reinforced by her actions. The words I would use to describe Tessa are much less desirable. Tessa cares a lot about appearances, to the point where it is distracting. Once a beautiful (Tessa's words, not mine) guy walks into the room she immediately gets tunnel vision and can't stop the inner monologue about how beautiful said guy is. She also doesn't seem to think through her actions, more specifically, how said actions might affect the people who care the most about her. Every time she engages in some hanky panky with a
Then there's Will Herondale. Again, like with Tessa's character, we are told through the lens of the other characters that Will is a broken man. I feel like Will was built out to be a complete jerk for the entire first book, but then suddenly in the second book I am supposed to emphasize with him and like him.
We are told that Charlotte is a kind, compassionate individual, and a real leader. When in reality, I found that Will was more often than Charlotte, making the big and important decisions. Again, I felt that her actions were not backed up by her description.
The other two problems I had with the characters were as follows: there were some characters who seemed to be introduced if only so that every character could get their perfect ending, and by the end of the last book the characters were acting so completely out of character that it just didn't sit right with me.
WRITING
I will commend Cassandra Clare on her writing, she has a very rich and very imaginative world to work with. I really appreciated her descriptions of England in that time period. I also found her writing to be funny, particularly enjoying the witty banter. This has me believing that if Cassandra Clare ever releases a contemporary novel, where the focus is actually meant to be on the romance, that I might enjoy it.