Review for Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

WARNING
This is the second book in The Infernal Devices series. Although this review will contain NO spoilers from Clockwork Prince by talking about the plot there may be unintentional spoilers from the first book in the series.

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Walker
Release Date: 6th December 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Paranormal Romance
Rating: 5/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review

Amazon Summary:
"Love and lies can corrupt even the purest heart... In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, while her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will - the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers to who she is and what she was born to do? As their search for the truth leads the three friends into peril, Tessa's heart is increasingly torn, especially when one of their own betrays them."

Review
I feel that The Infernal Devices trilogy really shows off how far Cassandra Clare has come as a writer since her debut City of Bones. Don’t get me wrong I’m a huge fan of The Mortal Instruments series but I feel that The Infernal Devices is so much stronger in characters, plot, and writing. I’m a sucker for well written historical fiction at the best of times but historical fiction with shadowhunters and all the paranormal creatures you can think of? Yes please!

I had a feeling after reading Clockwork Angel that I could possibly come to love this series even more than The Mortal Instruments and Clockwork Prince definitely tipped me over the edge. This has to be the most romantic of all of Cassandra Clare’s books to date, the majority of the book focusing on the complex relationships our leading lady Tessa has with shadowhunter parabatai brothers Jem and Will. Some huge plot twists get revealed about the boys in Clockwork Prince which literally changes everything for Tessa. Both Jem and Will have been through so much and in this book you get to see the extent of that and get to know the boys so much better. There are some very hot and steamy moments and I, like Tessa, spent much of the book totally convinced I loved kind hearted, silver fox, Jem only to look into Will Herondale’s blue/violet eyes and be undecided all over again. I love both boys so much and I almost don’t want Tessa to have to choose either of them, not if it will end up hurting the other one. Basically Cassie Clare has created the most intense love triangle I’ve ever read. I love it and I don’t even usually like love triangles.

What I love best about The Infernal Devices are the characters. I think Tessa is such a strong, smart and likeable heroine who I connect with way more than I ever have with Clary. Then there are my lovely- I mean bad-ass *cough* shadowhunter boys Will and Jem. But not only that the secondary characters stand out too and are so well developed.

Clockwork Prince takes a step back from the Mortmain storyline and instead focuses on lots of sub plots that are all essential to the overall story. Each character has something going on with them and the book flicks back and forth between storylines so there is constantly something exciting going down. Clockwork Prince doesn’t suffer from the dreaded middle book syndrome at all and instead reveals plenty of secrets and twists whilst creating new questions setting things up for an explosive final book.

Clockwork Prince blends together romance and none stop action seamlessly, Cassie Clare showing other Young Adult authors how paranormal romance is done. As for the book itself I really liked this exclusive collector’s edition as it includes a letter that Will writes in Clockwork Angel and a short story ‘Burning Bright’ which goes into Jem’s feelings during Clockwork Angel when he first meets Tessa. I was really excited to read Will’s letter but surprisingly found myself enjoying Jem’s short story more although both were fantastic and added a little something extra that fans will really appreciate. I think this book is my favourite out of all of Cassandra’s books so far and I absolutely cannot wait for Clockwork Princess, the final book in this series, for what promises to be a heart stopping finale.