Review: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Claire

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Claire
The Infernal Devices #3
Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 570
Genre: Steam punk (YA)
Rating: Good
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'The Infernal Devices Will Never Stop Coming.'

Those words, written in blood, provide an unsettling prediction to what Tessa and the rest of the London Institute must face in the third an final entry in The Infernal Devices series. Mortmain's plans are nearly complete. He just needs one thing to bring about the fall of the Shadowhunters. He needs Tessa.

Quote
'It was a near incomprehensible tangle, the three of them, but there was one certainty, and that was that there was no lack of love between them.'
(Prettily sums up the love triangle.)

Honestly, I'm still not sure what to say about this book.

I did enjoy it, even more than I did the previous two. I'm not sure if that's because Ms. Claire's writing is improving or I'm just getting used to it. It did seem like there were fewer instances of eye color repeating.

To a degree, I liked the love triangle resolution as it really seemed like the only realistic way those three people would be happy - however, it did also feel like a major cop-out. I did occasionally wanted to rap Jem or Will over the head, because of the painfully honorable way they insisted on behaving. You definitely get the feeling that either of them would step back, letting the other be with Tessa, for the sake of friendship and the love of a Parabatai. Of course, their honor towards each other tends to ignore what Tessa herself wants, which was a little frustrating too.

I liked the addition of other characters to the story also. Of course, after awhile it did seem like every character was introduced just to be a love interest for another character. Thankfully enough, they didn't read that way.

One thing I didn't like was the epilogue. I've never been a fan of stories that feel the necessity to lay out a person's whole life in front of you. It often serves to distance me from the character.

On the plus side, my absolute favorite moments of these books are when the whole group is together, (whoever comprises the group for that book, anyway) usually eating, and trading witty barbs, snarking, and generally being absolutely hilarious.

If you've read and enjoyed the other two in this series, I'd recommend you read this one. ('Course, if you enjoyed the other two, you're probably already planning to read this book so my recommendation is moot point.)

My review for the first in the series (Clockwork Angel) can be found here.

Now, I will leave you with two parting words that I shall now find disproportionately funny for the rest of my life: Enormous worm.

This book was read as part of my reading challenges. It helped to complete: Goodreads Challenge & Bingo Challenge & Key Word Challenge & Series Challenge & Lucky No.14 Challenge