June Wrap Up

Let´s call this month “Lena is only reading Cassandra Clare” month, shall we?  Because her books are seemingly all that I have read in the last thirty days. (Except for one book I didn´t like, but who cares)

ClockworkAngel, by Cassandra Clare    3.5/5 Stars 
A “fine” first instalment in TID series

City ofFallen Angels, by Cassandra Clare             4/5 Stars

Liked it; not my favourite in the series so far, but good

Finding theRaven, by Patty Dickson Piezca      1/5 Stars

Really didn´t like it; ended up DNFing it

ClockworkPrince, by Cassandra Clare   4/5 Stars

Loved it, had some problems with it, but I am looking forward to the finale; review coming soon!

Do you guys like it, if I only say a bit about the books in Wrap-Ups or do you want me to do something else? Let me know in the comments down below!

Read on xx

Lena

Clockwork Prince, by Cassandra Clare

*Disclaimer* This is the second book in the "Infernal Devices” trilogy so if you haven´t read the first book yet please be aware of spoilers. I would not advise reading if you want to start this series without being spoiled, but if you don´t mind feel free to continue on, just be warned. However if you have read Clockwork Angel, this review won´t spoil the book .

Title: Clockwork Prince

Author: Cassandra Clare

Pages: 560

Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Rating: 4/5 Stars

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but 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 about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

I was sick when I picked this book up, so I wasn´t sure whether I was really gonna get some reading done or not. But this book! If you have read my review of “Clockwork Angel” (which you can read here) you know that I didn´t like it as much as I would have liked to and I am really happy to say that I loved Clockwork Prince. The plot was so much more enjoyable than pretty much any other Cassandra Clare book I have read so far. (I am gonna make a post on why that is soon) It was action packed with LOTS of plot twists. You think the story is going to evolve in a certain direction and then “BAM”, no. Plot twist. Also their actions were comprehensible (Apart from that weird ghost scene; that was just weird). They were acting like real human beings, which I liked. A great example for that are Jem and Tessa. Instead of doing something stupid, they actually TALKED! About their feelings! Like adults! Finally some YA characters who talk about their problems/feelings instead of running away from them. (I am looking at you Jace Wayland)

This book in a whole is just so full of romance! Not only ones involving Tessa, but we also get to know the dynamic between Charlotte and Henry more, which I loved. But the most prominent relationships are certainly the ones involving Tessa. Clare kills the reader with that damn love triangle. In my review I also said that I wasn´t the biggest fan of Wills yet, but that has CHANGED! We get to know why Will acts like he does and I am sooooo in love with him, please marry me! The love triangle is constructed to be an absolute masterpiece. Clare manages to let the reader see what Tessa feels about Jem and Will and shows two different men, who both have their own reasons for being loveable. Especially in the beginning I shipped Jem and Tessa and Will with myself (sorrynotsorry), but somewhere in the middle I realised that I wanted Tessa to be with Will as well as Jem. I found the romance to be quite Insta Lovey, but once I got over that, I was in it to win it. Apart from that the only complaint I have is that some of the expressions were not appropriate for the 19^th century and that Tessa was a bit naïve some times.

So I am basically a mess right now and can´t wait to read Clockwork Princess. 

Read on xx
Lena

Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare

Title: Clockwork Angel

Author: Cassandra Clare

Pages: 479

Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Rating: 3.5/5

When Tessa Gray crosses the Atlantic to follow her brother Nate to England, she gets kidnapped by the mysterious Pandemonium Club. Tessa find out that there is much more to this world than she knew. Vampires, Faries, Demons exist and she is one of them. She takes refugee with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who promise her to help her look for her brother, if she will help them with her powers.

I am currently marathoning all of Cassandra Clare´s book in order of publication date. I know I am late to the game, but better late than never, right? Having heard lots about this series I expected two things from this book: That it would be faaaaar better than “The Mortal Instruments” and that I would absolutely fall in love with Will Herondale. Now I have read this book but I can´t really approve of either of these statements. I liked the Mortal Instruments. I didn´t love them like everybody else did but I liked them. To be quite frankly I didn´t really see the difference between the two series. Yes, they take place in two completely different time periods and TMI doesn´t have the clockwork monsters, but in both series the main character is a girl who finds out she isn´t who she thought she was and she plays a big role in the Shadowhunter universe, both have a love triangle, where one of the love interests is really rude *hust* Will Herondale *hust* and a girl, who acts like she doesn´t care about anything but can fight real good if she has to (=Isabelle/Jessamine).

But there are some things The Mortal Instruments had that Clockwork Angel just doesn´t. Tessa doesn´t really care about anything except herself and Will and books. Don´t even get me started on Will. On Jace the rudeness was charming, but Will just takes it too far sometimes. It made me smile yes, especially Tessa´s answers, but was it something that made me fall in love with him, so that now he is my ultimate book boyfriend? Heck no! Maybe that will change, the farther into the series I get, because I will learn more about the characters and I will have a greater appreciation of them. We will see.

So what did I like about this book? The change in scenery and time period brought something different. Until now I haven´t really read a steampunk so I had a great time exploring this new genre, which I now really want to read more from, so if you have any good suggestions let me now in the comments down below! Also I loved getting these little nuggets Cassandra Clare put in for the readers of both series. For example the Pandemonium, some of the reoccurring families, church and mostly MAGNUS! I loved how he played a tiny part in this as well. It gave me, as somebody who reads both series right now, a real understanding of how old he really is.

I don´t really have any complex thoughts of this series, but the reason I think this book definitely deserves three and a half stars, was the plot twist at the end. Without it I would have only given it three stars, so yes read it till the end! I am still going to continue with the series, after I finished “City of Fallen Angels”. Hopefully I will love “Clockwork Prince” more, I still have hopes!

Have you read “Clockwork Angel”? And if so what did you think of it? Let me know down in the comments below!

Read on xx

Lena