Uptown Oracle Reads… Clockwork Princess

Clockwork Princess is the finale in The Infernal Devices Trilogy. As Mortmain continues to build his infernal devices, the Shadowhunters must keep Tessa safely out of his hands, whilst also protecting the Nephilim.

I think I might actually prefer the second book. I know right? Basically unheard of for a trilogy. The problems I have is that there’s so much focus on the romance. It’s not that the couples are awful, it’s just that I don’t particularly care for them. I think I’ve wrote this about every one of Clare’s books? But I’m here for the fantasy side and the world building. So I often skip over some parts quickly.

I really enjoyed the female characters within this book. Charlotte, Cecily and Sophie were all amazing characters for their own reasons. I especially loved the problems Charlotte faced as a woman an institute within this book. She succeeded by staying level headed and herself throughout.

Another issue is that it took a while for us to finally understand the relationship between our protagonist and antagonist. I felt like there was a big disconnect about why Tessa and the London Shadowhunter’s were so important for Mortmain to antagonise them in particular. A reason does arise within Clockwork Princess but I personally would have preferred seeing it maybe in Clockwork Prince.

As with COG and COHF, Clare extends her endings out for too long. There’s about 100 pages of picking up loose ends and romantic plotline. As I disliked the romance aspect anyway, this was too much. Also, it felt like it was written to purely appease the fans. I personally don’t like love triangles but I know a lot of people love picking one side. The ending made me think Clare’s worried about annoying the fans, and so changes her story ending to make them still like her. Which is stupid because fans shouldn’t judge an author on a love triangle.

Her writing has improved a lot since City of Bones but there is still a lot of description. I know she’s planned two more Shadowhunter series as well as The Dark Artifices so hopefully she’ll continue to improve. I’ve heard one of those series will be a adult fantasy which at this stage I don’t think she can pull off, but when I’ve read TDA books I’ll obviously reconsider. I think Clare would more easily move towards a romance book than a fantasy. Just from the way she writes all her YA fantasy’s, that’s my personal opinion. I dont have many high expectations anymore.

Overall I enjoyed TID. The plotline was well thought out and interesting. I preferred the writing and the plot, although I really think Clare should cut back on the romance.