Tag: Tessa

Cassandra Clare – Clockwork Prince | Review

Title: Clockwork Prince

Author: Cassandra Clare

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 512

Rating: 2.5/5

 

Cassandra Clare - Clockwork Prince

Cassandra Clare – Clockwork Prince

 

Yeah, I’m still not a fan of this series. The Mortal Instruments has been okay so far, but both of The Infernal Devices books that I’ve read have been so dull and lifeless. I don’t like Clare’s depiction of Victorian London, mainly because I don’t think she actually bothers to do it too much, and I feel as though these books could just as easily be set anywhere else in the world at any time period given that they spend most of their time inside Shadowhunter institutes or whatever anyway.

I was also under the impression that this was supposed to be urban fantasy, whereas the two books so far have just been romance novels with maybe ten pages of fantasy thrown in. This one has a love triangle in, a trope which I’ve always hated, and Will Herondale is such an asshole that it physically pains me to read about him. I hope he dies in the next book. This book tried to explain why he’s such a douchecanoe, but I don’t think it’s any excuse.

Not that I really care for the other characters, either. Tessa is a wet blanket, Jem is okay but again, because such a big deal is made about the fact that he’s dying, I hope that he does actually die so that it’s not all a big cop out at the end of the next one. I’m pretty sure that some cure will be found or something, though. In fact, if her other books are anything to go by then he’ll die and be brought back to life, which is another thing that I hate. Death isn’t a joke and shouldn’t be used so lightly, and Cassandra Clare isn’t the only author to devalue it by constantly killing and resurrecting her characters.

 

Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare

 

But I’m going off on a tangent. Part of the problem for that is that I just don’t have too much to say about this book. Nothing much happened because like I say, it was all about romance. A bunch of different people hooked up and then hooked up with other people like some giant game of pass the parcel where you don’t want to see what’s inside. Then it ended, and I already can’t remember what actually happened. And I only finished it a couple of hours ago.

Granted, I’m not necessarily the target audience for this book, but The Mortal Instruments series is at least tolerable. With this one, I’m just so over it and the thing I liked about it the most was the fact that it had massive print. When your favourite thing about a book is the size of the print, you have to start asking yourself questions about why you’re even reading it, and I’m actually not sure. I’d have given up on Clare’s books by now if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m buddy reading them with some friends. Eh. Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t re-read.

 

Cassandra Clare Quote

Cassandra Clare Quote

 

Click here to buy Clockwork Prince.


Cassandra Clare – Clockwork Angel | Review

Title: Clockwork Angel

Author: Cassandra Clare

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 496

Rating: 2.75*/5

 

Cassandra Clare - Clockwork Angel

Cassandra Clare – Clockwork Angel

 

I find it hard to pinpoint exactly what I didn’t like about this book. Perhaps it’s the fact that I disliked the majority of the characters (and that I also agreed with criticism I’ve heard before that Cassandra Clare just reuses her characters). Perhaps it’s because it’s supposed to be set in Victorian London but it still felt very American, with only the lightest description. I felt like I was being told that it was set in Victorian London, rather than being shown it. I think Clare was trying to tap into the steampunk trend with this one, but I don’t think she did it very well.

Perhaps it’s the fact that very little happens other than a big scene in the middle where there’s suddenly loads of action and then nothing again. Perhaps it’s the fact that as the reader, you’re supposed to give a damn about the “love story” between boring Tessa and dickhead Will. I just kind of hoped that one of them would die as I thought that might make it more interesting, but that didn’t happen.

I also got annoyed with the number of people smashing into rooms through windows. In the last Cassandra Clare book I read, it happened four or five times. It happened two or three times here, and it just irritated me. She had a few lines of dialogue attacking French people as well, which I’ve noticed in previous books. Nothing too serious I guess, just throwaway lines that imply that French people are all arrogant and that they’re all waiters, but it’s just not necessary.

 

Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare

 

Ultimately, the previous Cassandra Clare books I’ve read have been like eating McDonald’s. They’re not fantastic, but they’ll do the job. This one was like eating cold McDonald’s after it’s been left on the side overnight. It made me wish that I’d just had a salad instead, it’s not worth the calories. In each of the books that I’ve read so far, I’ve felt as though it’s 100 pages longer than it needed  to be. This one could have been cut down to a novella if all of the fluff was removed and we just got on with the story.

So as you can probably guess, I wasn’t too impressed with this one. In fact, the only reason I’ve got this far with Cassandra Clare’s books is that I’m buddy reading them with some YouTube friends. The problem is that the best of them so far have just been okay. With three okay books and one bad one, I’m just not sure if I want to keep going. I was hoping at least one of them would have been “good” by now. I’m going to have to have a think about it to decide whether I even want to keep going. It’s a big time commitment and I have other stuff to read.

 

Cassandra Clare Quote

Cassandra Clare Quote

 

Click here to buy Clockwork Angel.