A Wild and Breathtaking World of Shadowhunters

Personal Rating:

I wasn’t planning on diving into the world of Shadowhunters after learning how long this series was. Because of my feelings, while reading City of Bones, I didn’t have high expectations for this book. 

Readers assured me that this prequel series was better than The Mortal Instruments, and they were not wrong. I started reading the first three novels of The Mortal Instruments before diving into The Infernal Devices because the Shadowhunter Chronicles began there as well. Then, when I picked up the first book of The Infernal Devices and started reading it, I felt a rush of excitement flood through my veins. The world was different from Mortal Instruments because TID took place in the 1800s in Victorian London, which is one of my favorite parts of the book. 

Clockwork Angel is the first book in this series, started in a slow story-telling since Cassandra wants us to be familiarized with the new setting and new sets of characters. Every chapter of this book was full of mysteries that you couldn’t stop yourself from reading the following few pages. 

Basically, this book follows the story of Tessa Gray seeking out her lost brother in London’s dark supernatural underworld. She quickly learns that her only allies are the Shadowhunters, who include Will and Jem, the mysterious lads she is attracted to. The Pandemonium Club, a hidden group of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans, soon finds them in their crosshairs. The Club is determined to dominate the British Empire, armed with a mystical army of undefeatable clockwork creatures, and only Tessa and her companions can stop them.

“One must always be careful of books,” said Tessa, “and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”

The storyline is beyond good, and it contains every hauntings creature. It was perfectly built, and the story fits well with the characters, their character traits, their actions, and the style of talking with the period in which the book is written. Everything is in the right place. 

Definitely, the romance in this book is also one of the central parts of the plot; I love Tessa as our main protagonist, she handles the story well, and she’s not annoying, unlike the other main characters in different books; she made some plans that she thinks that might help them to solve the darkness and catastrophe than might happen in the London Institute. 

And as expected, this book ended up in a good narrative but with a twist. 

On the other hand, Clockwork Prince is the second book of this series; I swear this is better than the first book. The prologue was phenomenal and ended up confusingly since you will find out the answer after you read the entire novel. 

“It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them.”

The author’s description of the situation is fantastic. The way the characters express their emotions, passions, eagerness, and sympathy fit perfectly with their society at that time. You can also sense suspicions in their thoughts actions influenced by feelings, inexperience, and age. You get to read about great heroic characters, fearless and strong. There’s just something about them and what they repeatedly do that makes them genuine and realistic. Also, the love triangle was perfect, like you managed to ship both men to Tessa because you know that she deserves them. Some of the side characters in this book were likable; they show the real definition of “unity” when it comes to planning to save their world from the war between Shadowhunters and clockwork creatures. 

Again, unexpected twists and turns happened, and a new character was unleashed by the end of this novel which was one of my favorites when I read the third book on this series. 

Here we go to my favorite part of the series; the third book, Clockwork Princess, started in a breathtaking prologue; it is really great to listen to the audiobook while reading this one. I honestly say that Cassandra Clare improved her writing style in this one, the plot was well executed, and the dialogues were memorable. So many good quotes and relatable lines that you can connect with while reading this book. The clockwork creatures are barely seen in this novel since this is the finale of the series, and more battle and fight scenes are there. 

“Life is a book, and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read.”

I didn’t expect that some of the battle scenes in this book were a bit gory and triggering at some point. I’m rooting for them to win at the end so that I don’t want to read the following few pages because of the tension I felt while reading it. Dark, Secrets, and Betrayal are the three words that definitely describe this novel. This book also left my heart shattered and made me happy at some point, and the epilogue made me cry because of some things that happened. All in all, this is the best conclusion to the trilogy, and I think this series will be the one that I could read several times in my life. I’m hoping for more stories about them, but Cassandra Clare wrote it in a great way, a bitter-sweet ending indeed.