CC YA THE INFERNAL DEVICES

The Infernal Devices #03: Clockwork Princess

April 24, 2016 / 05 STARS, CC YA THE INFERNAL DEVICES

Title: Clockwork Princess
Series: The Infernal Devices
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: March 19, 2013
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 570

When seventeen-year-old orphaned shapechanger Tessa Gray is kidnapped by the villainous Mortmain in his final bid for power, the London Institute rallies to save her, but is beset by danger and betrayal at every turn.

WrensReads Review:

Seriously don’t read this if you haven’t read the first two. That just isn’t right. Go from the beginning of a series and back.

Clare’s writing has exceeded my expectations in this series. And I am not sure if it is because some of the time I was listening to it by audio book or because she finally has found her niche. Her first series, The Mortal Instruments, had a great story with it (for the first few books anyway) but the writing was so mediocre that I just couldn’t anymore. I am rereading them to give them a proper rating, so stay tuned.

The conclusion of this book will break your heart.

This whole book breaks my heart. There has never been a more crushing or awkward love triangle. I can’t even tell you who I was cheering for. Each chapter I just cheered for the one I was reading about.

I find it odd that this whole story was never even mention in the first story. I know that it was written second and such, but it is a prequel and it was seriously a huge deal.

Women’s rights, girl not being saved but doing the saving, a creation (or creations really) that have never been done before, a HUMAN fighting against SHADOWHUNTERS.

All I can really say about this series is that it is 100% better than the first series in the shadowhunting world. The characters have dimension, the story isn’t predictable and the writing and dialog are actually funny and makes sense. There are more than one story going on at the same time which keeps your interest. All I have to complain about is the fact that everyone falls in love with someone around them and really that just isn’t something that happens. “Oh we all live under the same roof and I just met you but I AM LIKE REALLY IN LOVE WITH YOU.” Idk; maybe it was because they were in the middle of the war and they were all just looking for love.

I recommend this series to anyone who loves the paranormal and wants a really twisted story to read that is still appropriate for young adult ears.

Order to Read this Series:
The Mortal Instruments #01: City of Bones
The Mortal Instruments #02: City of Ashes
The Mortal Instruments #03: City of Glass
The Infernal Devices #01: Clockwork Angel
The Mortal Instruments #04: City of Heavenly Fire
The Infernal Devices #02: Clockwork Prince
The Mortal Instruments #05: City of Lost Souls
The Infernal Devices #03: Clockwork Princess
The Mortal Instruments #06: City of Fallen Angels

*The next two (The Bane Chronicles and Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy) are optional. They are groups of novellas. I believe in reading novellas so you can pick up different things in the books that follow.

The Bane Chronicles #01: What Really Happened in Peru
The Bane Chronicles #02: The Runaway Queen
The Bane Chronicles #03: Vampires, Scones, & Edmund Herondale
The Bane Chronicles #04: The Midnight Heir
The Bane Chronicles #05: The Rise of the Hotel Dumort
The Bane Chronicles #06: Saving Raphael Santiago
The Bane Chronicles #07: The Fall of Hotel Dumort
The Bane Chronicles #08: What to Buy the Shadowhunter…
The Bane Chronicles #09: The Last Stand of the New York Institute
The Bane Chronicles #10: The Course of True Love
The Bane Chronicles #11: The Voicemail of Magnus Bane

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #01: Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #02: The Lost Herondale
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #03: The Whitechapel Fiend
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #04: Nothing but Shadows
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #05: The Evil We Love
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #06: Pale Kings and Princes
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #07: Bitter of Tongue
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #08: The Fiery Trial
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #09: Born to Endless Night
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #10: Angels Twice Descending

The Dark Artifices #01: Lady Midnight
The Dark Artifices #02: Lord of Shadows
The Dark Artifices #03: Queen of Air and Darkness

WrensReads | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

SHARE THIS POST

FACEBOOK / TWITTER / GOOGLE + / PINTEREST / WHATSAPP

The Infernal Devices #02: Clockwork Prince

April 6, 2016 / 05 STARS, CC YA THE INFERNAL DEVICES

Title: Clockwork Prince
Series: The Infernal Devices
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: December 6, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 502

As the Council attempts to strip Charlotte of her power, 16-year-old orphaned shapechanger Tessa Gray works with the London Shadowhunters to find the Magister and destroy his clockwork army, and in the process, she learns the secret of her own identity while investigating his past. Features a previously unseen letter from Will to his family.

WrensReads Review:

I love these characters. I love the chemistry and the forbiddance of half of their relationships.

Tessa has a pull to both of the young men staying at the Institute. Will, with his shut off manner and Jem, with his kindness and gentleness. Will is bipolar with how he treats Tessa. He is passionate and out of control one minute and the next he is saying how they can never be anything because she isn’t a shadowhunter and she is below him. Jem, is always kind and always sweet and always there for her and helping her.

You would think the choice is obvious, but when you learn Will’s side of the story and why he has to do what he has to do… you will be as confused as I am as to what team you will be on.

Is there really a team though? These boys are more than best friends and more than brothers; Will and Jem are Parabatai: Nephilim warriors who fight together as lifelong partners, bound together by oath. Their bond reflects on their closeness and willingness to lay down their lives for one another.

Basically, they are married but not in love or doing other married stuff. Being Parabatai is compared to a marriage a lot in these books.

So this is the typically “love triangle” but with one side of it being in love but not romantically…?

Then there is Jessamine, the other young shadowhunter living at the Institute. Sneaking out in the middle of the night in boy clothes? What in the world is she doing?

Charlotte and Henry, the leaders of the London Institute, are in a little bit of a pickle. Benedict Lightwood has challenged Charlotte (because everyone knows that she is the one actually leading and Henry is down playing with mechanical things) for the Institute. He says that a woman can’t lead like a man (my blood boiled just reading that) and that he would be better to lead it. So Charlotte’s little group of shadowhunters has two weeks to find the Magister and stop him from building an army.

Not as easy.

Wait… who is the Magister? What Army you ask? Well he is just a human building mechanical people to get revenge on ________________________!!!!

Clare’s writing, again, has rocketed. She has learned to tell her twisted stories more clearly and elegantly. The Mortal Instruments series was such a great story, but I didn’t like her writing style at all. It was totally her first book, which by all means does give her an excuse, and she needed more practice writing. Well, she got more practice and how her books have a higher rating in writing with me as well.

Clare has a way of telling a story and making you feel bad for someone that usually you wouldn’t have. She makes an impossible situation seem completely plausible when she wants it to and she makes you feel hopeless when she wants you to. A writer who can control your emotions like that is a writer that I want to read. It isn’t the story itself, but it is in the writing. I have a lot to learn from the way that she words.

This series is better than the first. Don’t give up because her writing seems childish in the beginning. This second series breaks and mends my heart and is worth getting through the first one. Because Lady Midnight, the first book of the third series, is one of the best things you will ever read and you can’t read that one without reading the first two series.

The Dark Artifices #01: Lady Midnight
The Dark Artifices #02: Lord of Shadows
The Dark Artifices #03: Queen of Air and Darkness

WrensReads | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

SHARE THIS POST

FACEBOOK / TWITTER / GOOGLE + / PINTEREST / WHATSAPP

The Infernal Devices #01: Clockwork Angel

March 7, 2016 / 05 STARS, CC YA THE INFERNAL DEVICES

Title: Clockwork Angel
Series: The Infernal Devices
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date: August 31, 2010
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 496

In the prequel to the best-selling The Mortal Instruments series, Tessa Gray descends into Victorian London's dark underworld to search for her missing brother, with the mysterious Shadowhunters as her only allies. 500,000 first printing.

WrensReads Review:

THIS BOOK. THIS IS THE CASSANDRA THAT I LOVE.

As you probably saw in my previous reviews, I’m not a huge fan of The Mortal Instruments series. Clary to me wasn’t lovable or relatable and it was super corny in how the book was written (even though there are some KILLER twist in there that make it worth reading).

Clare’s writing sky-rockets in this second series of her’s. Not only that, but she puts more and more twists and turns, which is what I NEED in a book. I love following the evolution of an author. Clare is growing so much and I’m so excited to see where she goes with it.

Now the story.

Main lady: Tessa

Tessa is kidnapped and basically experimented on by two witches called “The Dark Sisters.” She is rescued by the London Institute of Shadowhunters and they are very interested in her unique ability that she was trained on by The Dark Sisters.

Which leads to another question.

What in the WORLD is Tessa? Warlock? Demon? Something completely new?

So many things need to be answered. Like is her brother okay? Do the Dark Sisters still have him? Who is The Magister and what does he want with Tessa? What’s wrong with Shadowhunter Jem and why is he so colorless? Why is Shadowhunter Will such a jerk? Is there something more to him than meets his words? Is Shadowhunter Jessamine really as unhappy as she seems? Why? Who is Cecily? What did Will do to make a Lightwood hate him so much?

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE WALKING AROUND WITHOUT FACES WHO ARE LIKE SUPER STRONG AND WANT TO KILL EVERYONE?!

Clare keeps you on your toes. Please read this books and nerd out with me.

The Dark Artifices #01: Lady Midnight
The Dark Artifices #02: Lord of Shadows
The Dark Artifices #03: Queen of Air and Darkness

WrensReads | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

SHARE THIS POST

FACEBOOK / TWITTER / GOOGLE + / PINTEREST / WHATSAPP