Review: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

 

I’m left with bittersweet feelings on all this. I hate to see characters suffer, especially ones that have made an impression on you. But that’s part of it when you care for characters so deeply. ~ Under the Covers

Here it is. The end at last. As a long time fan of Cassandra Clare, I always have 100% faith in her writing and her characters. The Infernal Devices has been a great series to read and I’m very sad to see it end. One thing I was most looking forward to with CLOCKWORK PRINCESS was how Clare was going to resolve the love triangle that she expertly set up. Clare is one of those talented authors who is able to create such an epic love triangle, you can’t ever pick one guy! So I desperately wanted to know who Tessa ends up with. How can you choose between such two lovely men?

This is a quote from a scene between Jem and Tessa…

“He made a sound of frustration, caught at her hand, brought it to his chest, and pressed it flat over his heart. “Every heart has its own melody,” he said. “You know mine.”

How touching a scene. At this point, I’m TEAM JEM.

And then a few pages later, this happens with Will.

“I want you to be happy, and him to be happy. And yet when you walk that aisle to meet him and join yourselves forever you will walk an invisible path of the shards of my heart, Tessa. I would give over my own life for either of yours. I would give over my own life for your happiness. I thought perhaps that when you told me you did not love me that my own feelings would fall away and atrophy, but they have not. They have grown every day. I love you now more desperately, this moment, than I have ever loved you before, and in an hour I will love you more than that.”

Cue the brutal yanking on my heart. I’m TEAM WILL now…I think.

Without giving away any spoilers, I think I am happy with the outcome. Yes, it is heartbreaking, as all love triangles are but when I closed the book, I did feel like things were finally resolved and I was content. The epilogue was not exactly my favorite since it seemed to draw out more of the heartbreak a little more and my heart couldn’t take it, but I could also understand from a writer’s standpoint why that was included as well.

I must gush about Clare’s writing. While I first fell in love with her in the Mortal Instruments series, I have to say that Clare’s writing seems much more explorative and lyrical in this series. Because of its settings and the steampunk vibe, there’s a certain vernacular that comes with it and Clare brilliantly showcases her writing talents in this book. I love how her writing can evoke several emotions within one page. She makes you feel on a level that many authors cannot do.

Speaking of emotions, there were so many waves of different feelings while reading this book. Heartbreak is probably one of the more prominent feeling for me. The overall tone of the book feels darker than the others in the series – and that’s dark if you’ve read Clare before. You feel as if something heavy has settled on top of your chest and I’m surprised that words are able to evoke that from me. Again, that’s due to Clare’s talent.

While Clare doesn’t always recount events for summary purposes, I did feel as if I was lost a couple of times. For example, I inconveniently forgot that Jem and Tessa were engaged! HOW COULD I FORGET THAT? So naturally when I picked up this book, I had a moment of WTF? I’m not sure if that was just me and my swiss cheese memory but there seemed to be some holes in terms of remembering past events. After all, months have passed since the last book and I wished I had the time to reread the others before jumping into this one.

I’m left with bittersweet feelings on all this. I hate to see characters suffer, especially ones that have made an impression on you. But that’s part of it when you care for characters so deeply. Anything that happens doesn’t seem good enough and you want a HEA that is worthy of them. For me, I liked this ending because I couldn’t see how it could end another way and still leave readers content. One thing is for sure though – I will always adore this series.

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[about-author author=”Cassandra Clare”]