Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: review

Book: Clockwork Princess
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Infernal Devices, #3
Release Date: March 19, 2013
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 568
Source: bought
Links: Goodreads
Stars: 5/5

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy. Tessa Gray should be happy- aren't all brides happy? Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her. 

MY THOUGHTS:

*spoiler free section*

Clockwork Princess broke my heart. More than once. was the book that caused my heart the most pain. Each sentence was like a sword, tearing through my heart, the cuts getting deeper and more painful as the book progressed. And yet, this book is one of the most uplifting books I've ever read, despite being tough on the heart.

The story is romantic and inspiring, the characters luminous. At first when I started this series, I wasn't sure that I liked Tessa. I disliked how all the attention revolved around other people saving her, not her saving herself. Although this was but a minor complaint (I don't believe I ever mentioned it to anyone before), Tessa in Clockwork Princess was a different girl from who she was before. Her character was beautiful and radiated off strength, truth, and beauty. This cast of characters is one of my favorites that I have ever come across, because of the way that Cassandra Clare makes us as the readers so attached to them in ways I can't properly explain through words. She compels her readers to be deeply and emotionally involved with her characters. There was something deep and gorgeous in the demeanor of the characters, and that is why I adore this series so much.

Jem and Will are, of course, integral puzzle pieces to the story and I loved both of them as much as could be. In this book, Jem was his sweet, understanding self. Although he was the one that was ill and slowly fading away, Will is by far the more tragic one. He is self-destructive and suffering deeply from all of the trauma and pain inflicted on him in his life. My heart broke for Jem, but I think it broke the most for Will. Even though it was clear that Jem loved Tessa, Will's love was fierce, brutally irrevocable, and tragic. The only words for Will are beautiful and tragic. And yet as he radiates off tragedy and heartbreak, he also has a wry sense of humor and was still, deep down, Will Herondale, with his sarcasm and ability to make me blush or laugh out loud. He was perfect. And you know when I say perfect, I mean seriously flawed, but in a way that makes the character beautiful.

*spoiler section BEWARE*

I have left my review spoiler-free for way too long. The spoilers are just waiting to spill out, because they are really what caused me the most heartbreak in this book.

I could not believe it when Will and Tessa slept together right after Jem died. Even though I ship Will and Tessa that just didn't seem right. I wanted their love to develop gradually after Jem's death, not just explode suddenly like that, and it seemed as though Tessa was just waiting for Jem to die so that she could be with Will, even though that wasn't the case, it felt like it . I almost threw the book down in disgust. But then--there was this one sentence in the book, that made me feel differently about this.

"Can one forget a thing that, however unwise, was beautiful?"

And yes, I realized, it was beautiful. It showed that two people cared for each other in a profound and lifelong way. Then I read this quote:

"They say you cannot love two people equally at once," she said. "And perhaps for others that is so. But you and Will--you are not like two ordinary people, two people who might have been jealous of each other, or who would have imagined my love for one of them diminished by my love for the other. You merged your souls when you were both children. I could not have loved Will so much if I had not loved you as well. And I could not love you as I do if I had not loved Will as I did."

 And that paragraph was I think the most beautiful in the entire book.

I can't believe that Cassandra Clare made it so that Tessa could end up with both boys. And if you're reading this even if you haven't read the book, then it's not what you think. Tessa is with both Will and Jem, and she made all of her fans equally satisfied. I'm having a hard time putting my feelings into words at the moment so I'm sort of pacing around the room thinking about what I could write without sounding like a complete psycho. But I'm just going to leave the whole love-triangle stuff like that.

Before I read the book I spoiled it for myself. Not only had I read spoiler reviews on Goodreads, I also took the jacket of the book off and looked the family tree before I started it, and there were HUGE spoilers back there, and I think I would've enjoyed the romances better if I hadn't spoiled them for myself, but a family tree can't tell you everything, and there were still some unexpected twists with the character romances.

Cecily and Gabriel are one of my favorite couples in the book. (One of) my favorite quote from the book:

"Cecy," he said, and closed the distance between them, though it was not much, and then he was kissing her--his hands awkward around her shoulders first, slipping on the stiff taffeta of her gown before his fingers slid behind her head, tangling in her soft, warm hair. She stiffened in surprise before softening against him, the seam of her lips parting as he tasted the sweetness of her mouth. When he drew away at last, he felt lightheaded. "Cecy?" he said again, his voice hoarse.
"Five," she said. Her lips and cheeks were flushed, but her gaze was steady.
"Five?" he echoed blankly.
"My rating," she said, and smiled at him. "Your skill and technique may, perhaps, require work, but the native talent is certainly there. What you require is practice."
"And are you willing to be my tutor?"
"I should be very insulted if you chose another," she said, and leaned up to kiss him again.

AH! I LOVE GABRIEL! ***SWOOON****

Sophie and Gideon also ended up together! I'm so happy! :D And Sophie became a Shadowhunter?

You know what, I should nickname myself, "The Spoiler Machine".

The ending of this book was absolutely insane. It filled me with newfound emotions that I didn't even know existed. I can't even express what I felt at the end, just that it was a mixture of grief, happiness, glee, and a lot of other nameless emotions in my head that captured the essence of what it is like to read a great book. I could say so much more about this book but I'll just leave it at that, and now I have to go off and read other books, but it's possible none of them will be quite as good as Clockwork Princess. 

Favorite Quotes from the Book: 

"I don't think you can fight because you're wearing a wedding dress," said Jem. "For what it's worth I don't think Will could fight in that dress either."
"Perhaps not," said Will, who had ear's like a bat's. "But I would make a radiant bride."

"You know that feeling," she said, "when you are reading a book, and you know that it is going to be a tragedy; you can feel the cold and darkness coming, see the net drawing close around the characters who live and breathe on the pages. But you are tied to the story as if being dragged around a carriage and you cannot let go or turn the course aside."

"Miss Cecily," she gasped, and then her eyes went to Will. She clapped a hand over her mouth, turned, and bolted back into the house.
"Oh dear," said Tessa.
"I have that effect on women," Will said.

There are lots more, but these are the ones that I marked. I could sift through the pages and find hundreds of quotes that I loved, but I suggest you read the book and find them for yourself. :)

Emotions I felt during Clockwork Princess:

~Cover Talk~

I have been fangirling over this cover for months, but it is even more beautiful in person! When I saw this book at the bookstore for the first time, I literally gasped and sprinted up to hug the book to my chest, marveling over its beauty. Beautiful Tessa reading a book--what could be a better cover than that? Not only is the cover beautiful but the content inside is amazing. The cover literally glows and radiates beauty and power. I just love it.