The Institute of London is full of wedding preparation,
surprise siblings, unspoken and forthcoming infants. Life, for Tessa, Will and Jem is being
lived. Yet all is far from well. Will continues to hide feelings that he
cannot control, Tessa continues to feel torn between the two people she cares
most for and Jem continues to approach the end of his life with untimely
haste. Over and above all, Mortmain,
with his Machiavellian machinations and clockwork minions, continues to lurk in
the shadows – poised to strike at any time.
In this, the final instalment of Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices, the
inhabitants of the London Shadowhunter institute must make a final stand
against a seemingly insurmountable enemy while Tessa must also come to terms
with who she is, who she loves and the prospect of a long, long life.
Tessa Gray has come a long way since the start of her
story. She’s learnt some difficult
truths, faced some catastrophic situations and met people who will be part of
her for the rest of her life yet her core personality remains largely
unchanged. She remains hugely and
enjoyably stubborn, extremely loyal and still a little in awe of the world that
she now inhabits. Her inability to
forget about Will, despite her engagement to Jem should make her unlikable but
it’s hard not to pity her rather impossible situation. Her slow acceptance of her immortality and
how she deals with it is interesting and her attitude towards it slowly starts
to mirror Magnus’s in being one of careful, yet never entirely selfish,
self-preservation. When you know you’re
going to outlive everyone you love, perhaps leaving them before they can leave
you is something we all would consider and Clare looks at this idea towards the
end of Clockwork Princess to interesting affect.
Jem, while playing a powerful and fascinating role in this
final book, remains largely in the background.
He’s dying, and his inherently kind nature shines through as he starts
to prepare everyone for his demise. Of
all character arcs his is perhaps the least easy to predict and easily the most
compelling in that it is pivotal to the story of each protagonist. Jem, from the outset of the Infernal Devices,
has been a delightful character but occasionally seemed a little too
perfect. Here, Clare finally subtly
displays an edge to his character in a later conversation with Tessa, proving
that still waters run deep. And then
there is Will – and this is very much Will’s story. In fact, one suspects that the Infernal
Devices have all been Will’s story. Now
released from his presumed curse he finds himself able to love and express love
and this now extends far further than his feelings towards Tessa. His sister Cecily is now a Shadowhunter, much
to his consternation, and brings out harsher and softer aspects to his
previously sardonic personality while his friendship and love for Jem become
almost transformative. He’s extremely
well written and utterly heart-breaking in his devotion to those he cares
about, perhaps especially when he shows it least.
Other characters are all well represented, each telling
their own story, however small. The
Lightwood brothers remain pretty interesting, particularly Gabriel who
struggles to pick the right path despite being clearly aware what that path
should be. Magnus is as welcome a
character as always and his friendship with Will is truly touching explaining
why, perhaps, Magnus is later so instantly fascinated by Alec.
The story itself is a more than adequate ending to what is
arguably Clare’s strongest series. Mortmain
is the best kind of villain – one driven by utter conviction that he is
righting the world of a terrible wrong.
This wrong, in fact, once more casts a light into the less savoury
aspects of the Shadowhunters as do the letters that pass between Consul Wayland
and Idris throughout the book. Clare’s
inclination to highlight the dark politicking (surely a name for another series
right there, yes?) of the Clave has always made her stories that little bit
more interesting – the Shadowhunters are a fascinating bunch, indeed. Much has been made of the epilogue at the end
of Clockwork Princess. Epilogues are always contentious but I suspect that had
Cassandra Clare not written hers she would have been asked, ad nauseum, the
questions she answers in those final pages.
Like it or not, and I absolutely did, it’s extremely skilled and
pleasingly circuitous storytelling.
The Infernal Devices
has been a joy to read from start to finish.
From the brilliantly envisioned Shadowhunter Victoriana to the
incredibly moving denouement it deserves all the praise it has received. For the eagle eyed reader, it feeds
beautifully into the Mortal Instruments
series both answering and presenting some interesting questions. Certainly, each character in Clockwork Princess receives an ending
that seems fitting – even if certain endings bring many tears to the eye. Finally, as if it weren’t already pretty damn
brilliant, the story contains a Hollow Mountain. Which may or may not contain an Evil
Lair. And everyone knows that Evil Lairs
in Hollow Mountains are cool. For that,
and everything else, tops marks, Clare – top marks.
This review was brought to you by Splendibird. Clockwork Princess is available now, wherever you buy books and we'd like to thank Walker Books for providing us with a copy of this title to review.
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