Clockwork Princess, Cassandra Clare

I'VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR THIS. 

A net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. Mortmain plans to use his Infernal Devices, an army of pitiless automatons, to destroy the Shadowhunters. He needs only one last item to complete his plan: he needs Tessa Gray. 

Charlotte Branwell, head of the London Institute, is desperate to find Mortmain before he strikes. But when Mortmain abducts Tessa, the boys who lay equal claim to her heart, Jem and Will, will do anything to save her. For though Tessa and Jem are now engaged, Will is as much in love with her as ever. 

As those who love Tessa rally to rescue her from Mortmain’s clutches, Tessa realizes that the only person who can save her is herself. But can a single girl, even one who can command the power of angels, face down an entire army?

God dang, I've been excited since I finished Clockwork Prince/City of Lost Souls. The Shadowhunter Chronicles (the whole two series, plus the one(s) coming out) are my favorite books. Before I read City of Bones, I had no true favorite book! Well, I did but it was a book from fourth grade that made my bawl my eyes out so I never read it again. Not that these two series haven't made me cry (my gawd, I've cried plenty over these books), but they were a good cry. That other book had a really sad ending and it never got happy. It was just all sad.

ANY-HOO. 

The setting is Victorian London--and I guess Wales? Would it be called Victorian Wales? I don't know. It's awhile ago, though. Even before the Mortal Instruments character's great grandparents were even a thought in their parent's heads (I did my research-ish). That's a long time.

Tessa used to be the only main character in my mind. But she's totally had to shove over and make room for Will and Jem in this book. I'll start out with Tessa anyways, though. Ladies first and whatnot.

So Tessa Gray is still as awesome as when she started out. Obviously she's had more training since then which makes her even more awesome, but the statement still stands. She's awesome. She's like, the heroine of every book, smushed together into one character. But she still needs saving now and then, which makes her totally real (even if she's in a world of Shadowhunters which don't exist (but how do we know we're not walking amongst Shadowhunters? Hmm? Glamours, people, glamours)). Tessa is just . . . she knows what's up. I guess. She's stubborn--which is not a bad trait--and what's even better is that most of the time she's only stubborn to help someone. Like, "Oh you're going to get hurt, I'll do that for you--no changing my mind!" So she's stubbornly nice, I suppose.

Sidenote:  Apparently, according to my English teacher, the word 'nice' in very, very old English meant stupid. So. Just laugh about that for a second. "Oh, you are just the nicest person I've ever met!" Learning that actually made me laugh for quite awhile.

Back on track now, you silly billies! This is where I'd put a winky face, but I like to keep it pro-fesh-ee-nal.

Second main character is William Herondale. I don't even know if I can write this without babbling on about how much I just want to pinch his cheeks and squish him in a hug. He's is just the cutest. Honestly. Okay, maybe I'm already babbling. Stop me when it's annoying. OH WAIT. I can babble all I want! But I'll try to restrain myself. Basically William is the best person in the world and I just want to cheer him up as he drools over Tessa. To Will:  You're fabulous. I love you. Seriously.

Jem is the next big character. Jem Carstairs, although sometimes I think the book said Corstairs for other people, but I don't really know what that's about . . . Maybe they are related, I don't know. I feel the same way about Jem as I do as Will (ya' hear that, Tessa?). He's definitely different than Will, though. Jem is more of the win-you-over-because-I'm-such-a-sweetheart, while Will is just I'll-make-you-laugh-till-you-love-me. Both are good (take note, boys). Though, for real, I'm just imagining guys like that, and I would not be able to decide between the two! I understand you, fully, Tessa!

I'd say the whole crew at the Institute plays a big role in this book. But I don't really want to list off all of them . . . What can I say, I'm lazy . . . Plus, if I said their roles, I'd give away the whole thing (we'll just pretend it would)!

The other big characters are Charlotte Fairchild/Branwell (she's the best), Henry Branwell (#ohgod), Gabriel Lightwood (cutie patootie), Gideon Lightwood (also a sweetheart), Sophie Collins (strong as nails), Cecily Herondale (stubborn like Will . . .) and of course the Magister. Duh. 

Before I'm even close to done, let me leave you with this amazing song that a fan made for The Mortal Instruments. Click here to get to Cassandra Clare's Tumblr page (the link takes you straight to the post with the audio). Like, seriously this song is amazing. I've been listening to it on repeat for the last, like, four hours. I don't even know this girl, I'm not boosting this because I'm a friend of hers, this is just amazing and perfect for the series and I really think it would be fantastic if it was put somewhere in the movie or added to the soundtrack or something. It is fabulously put together, her voice is really great, and the lyrics are better than I can describe. It's just perfect. Just listen to it. It's fabumazing, fantabulous. Whatever. It's awesome.
(If you don't have a Tumblr, click here to get to the song on Youtube)

Okay, so I said this I think in my review for Clockwork Angel, but I really wanted to do a family tree for this whole story thing. Cassandra Clare beat me to it! The inside cover of Clockwork Princess has a family tree in it! (It was super helpful--I mean, I totally made a family tree without any help . . . sure . . .)

Since, when I was reading this book and I found the connections, I nearly jumped out of my chair, I'll make the words white, so you can only read them if you click and drag your mouse over them, highlighting them.

(The families start with the characters in The Infernal Devices and lead down to The Mortal Instruments)
(??? means "I couldn't figure this one out because it wasn't on the family tree and I just don't know. Help?")
(THERE ARE SPOILERS, SO GO AT YOUR OWN RISK. I AM WARNING YOU!)
(Keep reading afterwards, too!)

Fairchild Family Tree
Charlotte Fairchild/Henry Branwell
Charles Buford Fairchild/???
???
Granville Fairchild (II)/Adele Nightshade-Fairchild
Jocelyn Fairchild/Valentine Morgenstern
Clarissa (Clary) Fairchild

Herondale Family Tree
William Herondale/Tessa Gray
James Herondale/Cordelia Verlac (I think Verlac)
Owen Herondale/Lydia Kingsmill
Marcus Herondale/Imogen Herondale
Stephen Herondale/Celine Herondale
Jace Herondale

Lightwood Family Tree
Gabriel Lightwood/Cecily Herondale (WAAAHT, I KNOW RIGHT?)
Chistopher Lightwood/Grace Cartwright
Isidore Lightwood/Catia Monteverde
Andrew Lightwood/Phoebe Gladstone
Robert Lightwood/Maryse Lightwood
Alec, Isabelle, & Max Lightwood

Okay, so if you didn't put it together (totally fine), here's what I'm so excited about. JACE AND THE LIGHTWOODS ARE ACTUALLY RELATED. WHAT. The relation is just really far back in their ancestry. I don't know if that's mentioned in The Mortal Instruments or not, but seriously that's pretty cool. Like, they're related through Cecily Herondale. She's Alec, Isabelle and Max's great-great-great grandma, but she's also Jace's great-great-great grandaunt. If that works that way. Either way, she's Jace's great-great-great-grandpa's sister. So I think that is how it works. And, Amatis Greymark (didn't mention her) she's Jace's dad's ex-wife, but she's also Luke's sister. I don't really know the importance of that, but I like making the connection. Which I guess it can kind of mean that Jace is like Clary's step cousin-ish? Because Amatis would be his stepmom, and she's kind of like an aunt to Clary since Luke is like practically Clary's dad . . . I don't know. Whatever. This is all just interesting and yeah . . . Sorry. 

Okay all done.

If you knew about the family tree in the inside of the book cover of Clockwork Princess, you'll think it's all true and good, right? Well, that's what I saw until I read this on Cassie's Tumblr . . .

(First you have to know she's already planning another series for between The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments, it's name hasn't been announced, but she calls is TLH (it totally stands for The Large Hamburger)).

“I heard that there was be a love triangle in TLH, but isn’t the outcome already spoilered in the family tree? — ariksay”
You might think so, but — no.

Cassie

In fact it was really fun for me to come up with a family tree that was massively misleading.

Wat r u doing

Remember, family trees are found objects — they contain only as much information as whoever drew them had. Secret marriages, arranged marriages, people being secretly dead, people being secretly other people: the family tree doesn’t reflect any of that.

Cassie

 In fact, some of the most important characters don’t appear on the family tree at all.

 Stahp