Review: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (The Infernal Devices #2)

Title: Clockwork Prince
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publication date: December 6th 2011
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Steampunk
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 4.5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

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, though 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.

My thoughts:

I definitely make no secret of the fact that I love Cassandra Clare's books! I've adored The Mortal Instruments from the beginning and I really enjoyed the first Infernal Devices book, Clockwork Angel. So of course I was delighted when I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of Clockwork Prince and I started it immediately. It definitely wasn't a let down and I was really pleased with it over all. The writing is still as wonderful as ever. I find it so easy to get lost in these stories. The writing flows so easily that I find myself having read 100 pages without even looking up from the book. Clockwork Prince was definitely captivating and almost impossible to set down! The plot continues to be fascinating and complex. There are lots of twists along the way and I feel like I never really know where the book is heading next. Unlike lots of book twos, this one actually manages to move the plot along and didn't feel like a filler at all! My feelings about a lot of the characters really changed as I read this one. I felt like I could connect with Tessa a lot more. She felt much more real in this one than she did in Clockwork Angel and I really started to like her. I loved finding out more about Will! He was so mysterious in book one that it was hard to decide whether to like him or not. It was awesome finding out his background and I really hadn't suspected any of it. I thought he was just mean for the sake of it! I didn't warm to Jem in the first book but he was simply lovely in this one! His personality really shines through and you can see that he's sweet and strong despite his illness and his inevitably sad future. Of course, the ending really leaves us hanging and I do not know how I'm going to handle the wait for book three! While cliffhangers can be exciting, they really just drive me crazy. I'm sure that anyone who enjoyed the first book in this series will definitely adore this one.