Infernal Devices Review

Very rarely am I satisfied by the ending of a book/book series and unfortunately the ending of The Infernal Device's series by Cassandra Clare was not one of those rare occasions. I have already done a post on the first book in the trilogy, Clockwork Angel (which you can read here), but I thought that instead of doing two more individual posts I would combine them into one about the series as a whole.

Now whilst I was disappointed by the ending of the series it is not one that I regret reading. All the books had great moments and chapters, particularly when the character Will Herondale was involved.

The dialogue in general was realistic, amusing and not too long (except for when it was a romantic scene, then it went forever!). But one of the things that irritated me personally throughout the books was the focus on relationships. I also felt as though not much happened in Clockwork Prince.

Don't get me wrong I love reading about the relationships in books and how the develop, but I felt like throughout the series the plot was often forgotten and it was all about who was going to end up with who.

It was a bit like there were 70 pages of relationship development then Cassandra would be like;

"Oh shit! I forgot about the story, lets add in a thirty page scene about the actual plot including a fight where someone nearly dies, so I can make the relationships more complicated."

But those thirty pages were always very interesting and well written. I particularly liked the worm scene at the beginning of Clockwork Princess.

Overall I would give this series 3.5 out of 5.

Okay so the rest of my review contains spoilers.

The Will-Tessa-Jem love triangle. What can I say? It was painful.

Now I enjoyed the other romantic story lines such as Sophie-Gideon, Cecily-Gabriel and even the Charlotte-Henry story. But Will, Tessa and Jem... Yeah I wasn't feeling it.

It was just so ridiculous. Let me sum it up for you from the beginning to the end.

Tessa meets everyone. Tessa likes Will and he likes her back. They make-out. Will is horrible to Tessa because he doesn't want her to love him because he believes she will die. Tessa makes-out with Jem. Tessa kisses Will again. Tessa kisses Jem again and he proposes. Will finds out that people don't actually die when they love him. Will tells Tessa he loves her. Tessa tells Will she is engaged and in love with Jem (this is a suprise to Will because apparently parabatai don't talk about the girls they are in love with.) Jem dies. Will and Tessa immediately sleep together after finding out. Jem isn't dead, but a silent brother who can't marry. Tessa marries Will. They have children together. Will dies of old age, but Tessa doesn't because she's immortal. Jem is no longer a silent brother. Jem and Tessa hook up.

It seems to me as though Tessa chooses which ever guy is currently available and this really annoys me. She just CAN'T end up with both! Just no.

This is obviously a major reason as to why I don't like the ending. But the other major reason is that Mortmain dies and then there is still like 150 pages left!!! This was a particularly bad surprise as I was reading this on my ipad and was disappointed when I saw that there was a ton of pages still left and I just wanted the book to be over.

I'm starting to sound awfully negative about the book, but those two things really did disappoint me and kind of ruin it.

I did find it hilarious how Will kept callincg the Lightwoods the 'Lightworms.' It was always so funny and satisfying. I also really liked how Will was crazy over-protective of Cecily, who turned out to be a complete badass.

I think Cassandra Clare does really well at small details and small character traits/habits, but often gets carried away with her fanfic instincts on the major plots.

Thanks for reading! xx

Clockwork Angel Review

Overall Rating 4/5

Whilst Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare was very enjoyable to read and there were some great moments, there were also many things I found irritating about this book. I had already read the first three books in the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare series and it was inevitable that I noticed the very obvious similarities. 
Here are the main ones that irritated me:
Clarissa Fray- Theresa Gray, I can't be the only one to notice the similar names and lack of creativity.

Jace- Will, their characters were very alike (This may be due to them both being Herondale's)

Missing Mother- Missing Brother, whilst the rest of the stories are quite different they both begin with the theme of a missing relative and receiving the circumstantial assistance of the shadowhunters

Magnus Bane- Magnus Bane, there is a warlock called Magnus Bane in both of them, unoriginal much. (only joking with that one)

But ignoring those similarities and a few others the plot was interesting, although I was generally able to foresee the twists. I really enjoyed the mystery of the shadowhunters backstories (particularly Will's) and when we did learn about them I found it really interesting. They were also quite unpredictable and I can't wait to read about Will's in the next books. 

The characters and their relationships were done really well, particularly Jem and Will's. I personally didn't really like Tessa's character. I thought she was a judgmental gossip who was always demanding to know everything about everyone, even though she just met them. But other than that she was alright, she wasn't a character that I didn't exactly dislike I just didn't really think there was much to like about her. Although in a way this a good thing because it makes her character seem more realistic. Despite my indifference towards Tessa the story was compelling enough to make me get over this. 

I didn't like the way the book was becoming a love-triangle because I hate love-triangles. I think they are infuriating and out-dated (although maybe Clockwork Angel can get away with it as it's set in the 1800's) 

The dialogue was very vibrant. It was quite witty and amusing and often it was very carefully written and thought-provoking. 

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait until I've read the next one. xx