A BETTER-LATE-THAN-NEVER REVIEW: CLOCKWORK PRINCE BY CASSANDRA CLARE

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
ARC

This book was sent to me an embarrassingly long time ago by Michelle over at Simon and Schuster Canada, and I first wanted to shriek THANK YOU!  To her and them, as they have been very good to me despite my lollygagging.

Clockwork Prince is the much awaited sequel to Clockwork Angel and, although extremely excited that this book was coming out, I have to admit to being a wee bit nervous that it was not going to live up to book one.  Which makes me want to poke sticks in my eyes when that happens.

But, alas, it did not happen this time!  Clockwork Prince picks up where we left off in the story and is just as delightfully written as the first one.

We are taken back to the underworld of Victorian London Steampunk style, where Tessa Gray is still living safely among the Shadowhunters.  But not for long as it is soon discovered that the Magistrate will stop at nothing to obtain Tessa and her powers to use for his own evil purposes.  With the help of the dark and handsomely disturbed Will, and silvery glittery Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magistrates war on the Shadowhunters is a deeply personal one that is fueled by revenge.

The beauty of this story is two-fold.  One, it is set in the enticing Victorian era with a twist.  There are mechanical machines that are used as the Magistrates minions, and Clare's use of them is terrifying and reads like a movie script.  There is magic and demons, and Clare has an extremely imaginative mind that creates the creepiest of visions in your head.  Like the Warlock that comes to dinner with the 4th knuckle on each of his 6 fingers.  Ick.   Or the striking "woman" in the red dress with a long slit up the back to reveal her snake-like tail underneath.  There are so any more visuals like that but done in such a believable way that it only adds to the setting and the story in general.

The second, and possible the best part, is the ongoing love triangle between Tessa, hot hot HOT Will, and sweet and nice Jem.  Will is tortured, to be sure, and he vacillates between being a total dick to clutching her to him in a mad fever.  Huh?  No wonder she is so confused!   And Jem is the quintessential "nice" guy who is always loyally by her side, and Will's and well pretty much the loyal guy that everyone can count on.  Plus he has the hots for Tessa, and he's dying, so this all makes him pretty interesting.

The thing that I love about Cassandra Clare's writing, with this series anyway as I have not read the other one, is that the reason for Will's behaviour is a completely plausible one and an actually very satisfying one within the realm of the world that she created.  You know how when you read a book, and often times a YA one, that the author seems to pull a completely obscure and ridiculous answer to a mystery or reason for a person's behaviour out of their ass and you are yanked out of the story and so utterly pissed off that you feel like heaving the book into the nearest fire pit?

Okay, maybe that's just me.

ANYway, I loved it.  And since it was left as a relatively nice cliff hanger I can't WAIT for the next one to come out!  The next book will be called Clockwork Princess and it will be released March 19, 2013!!

Thank you Cassandra Clare for creating this amazing world and the creatures in it!

For more on The Infernal Devices series you can click here.

And for information on her other series, The Mortal Instruments you can click here. 

RATING:  4.5 STARS

TEASER TUESDAY! CLOCKWORK PRINCE...

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Should Be Reading, and anyone can play along!  I haven't done a TT in months and months, so here goes!

• Grab your current read
• Flip to a random page and select two teaser sentences from anywhere on that page. 
• Try not to include any SPOILERS!
• Make sure you let us know the name of the book and author so we can add it to our growing TBR pile!

My TT is from Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Prince which I got as an ARC back in November.  THANK YOU MICHELLE FROM SIMON AND SCHUSTER CANADA!  I am, obviously, waaaay behind on my ARC reading, but now that I have been spending more time with this one I am LOVING IT as much as the first one, which I LOVED.

Here is today's teaser:


"Starkweather's eyes swept over Tessa again, one last time, before he turned and stalked out of the room, his cloak flapping behind him.  Tessa couldn't get the image of a great black bird of prey - a vulture, perhaps - out of her mind."

For more teasers click here. 

What I'm reading now...

Hey there everyone!

Sorry there have been lack of posts, but it has been very busy around here for various reasons.  ANYway, I thought I would just pop in and chat about what I'm reading now and giving some thoughts thus far.

The most riveting thing I am reading at the moment (although I can't read it at night because it gives me literal nightmares) is an extremely powerful book called Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof.  This book is UNREAL.  I have looked at it for the last year or so, and lately with being involved with BeadforLife fundraising efforts, I have discovered my true passion... for REAL.  Advocating and being involved with organizations that empower women and girls in developing nations and right here at home.  So, I decided to finally pick up the book and my God, what a devastating, painful, and inspiring piece of work it is.  I am half way through and already have so many answers to questions, and many many many more stories that fill my head and MOVE ME TO ACT.  I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE.  Because of reading this book, and working with BeadforLife, I stumbled across this amazing website for this great organization called Dining for Women.  It is an international giving circle where women gather worldwide each month for a potluck dinner (or lunch, or breakfast!) and then pool the money they would have spent dining out and make a collective donation to a carefully selected charity or non-profit featured that month.  When I wanted to join a chapter in my area, I discovered that there was none, so I decided to start my own and registered as a Chapter Leader.  We will be having our first meeting in January and I am super excited about it!  I fell in love with BeadforLife and after selling out of beads in October, I quickly registered for another bead party as I was still finding people were asking me if they could buy more.  Once I sell out of the beads again (I HOPE!), I felt I still wanted to be involved somehow and make a difference, and Dining for Women is the answer.  Check them out!  :0)

The other book I am reading is an ARC for Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, whom I LOVE.  I loved the Clockwork Angel, you can read my review here, and am really enjoying this one as well.  And btw... TEAM WILL, ALL THE WAY!  (Although I liked the other cover Will better than this one.)



Have an awesome day!

THURSDAY WICKED-ASS SURPRISE!

Hey all, I'm back!  The shoot was awesome, so fun, great cast, great weather, and all around one of the least stressful shows of my career.  Good times were had by all...

But back to bookish things:  I got home to a pile of mail and on the pile was a familiar style package from Simon and Schuster Canada (whom I LOVE).  I opened it and there was a stunning ARC of Clockwork Prince inside!!  I cannot express how much I wanted the ARC of this one.... I completely and utterly L-O-V-E-D the first one (to read all of my rantings and ravings click here), and am sending out a HUGE THANK YOU to Michelle over at S and S Canada for sending it to me.

If you have never read Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel, I suggest you download or buy as soon as you are done reading this sentence.... I'll wait.


Clare's work is YA, but if YA is not your preferred genre don't let that stop you.  I don't generally read YA but love anything steampunkish, and this series does not disappoint.  Not to mention the incredibly-hot-but-polar-opposite shadow hunters.. Will and Jem.

Release date:  DECEMBER 6, 2011