Clockwork Prince is the second installment in The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare, which is the prequel series to The Mortal Instruments series. This review will not contain spoilers for Clockwork Prince, but it will have spoilers for the first book in the trilogy, Clockwork Angel.

Tessa Gray has made herself a new home in the London Institute with the Shadowhunters, but the Magister is still on the loose and wants her for himself. The Clave is still mad at Charlotte for allowing Mortmain to escape her grasp and had given her a time limit. If she does not find him before a fortnight is up, she will lose the institute. 

Tessa, Will, and Jem take it upon themselves to solve this mystery and discover Mortmain’s true motivations behind his war on Shadowhunters. As secret after secret is revealed, they realize that the Magister knows much more than he should about their plans. How is the Magister learning so much about them? 

As her relationship with Jem grows more intimate, Tessa tried to put her feelings for Will behind her, but it’s not as easy as she hoped. Especially when Will can’t decide if he wants her or not. As Will begins to change, Tessa is forced to make a decision. Will Tessa choose the man she longs for or the one who needs her? Or will the Magister succeed in capturing her before she has a chance to decide?

Let me start by saying, NO NO NO! This is not okay. I am not okay. Why would this happen? How could Tessa do that? This is so wrong! Alright, now that is out of my system, I can think clearly.

Clockwork Prince did not disappoint after the first book. I gave the first book five stars and so I wasn’t sure if this book was going to be able to stand against it, but it did! I loved this book. Even if I am not happy about certain events and decisions, I think this book was perfect.

I am really interested to learn more about who Tessa is, or should I say what she is. What exactly she is has been in question since she first met the Shadowhunters. She isn’t a mundane. More than likely she is a warlock, but she doesn’t have a warlock mark. I know she is special, but I don’t know what exactly she is and I want to! This book proposed a new idea, but it did not confirm it. It’s just another answer that I need and is driving me to pick up the next book.

I was hoping to avoid a love triangle in this series, but I should have known better, especially since I have read The Mortal Instruments series, which contained a love hexagon. I guess a triangle is better than that, but I know who I want Tessa with and who I don’t so the love triangle was really hard for me to swallow as a reader.

The world this series is a part of pulled me in completely. I love the Shadowhunters world and even after reading six books, I still want to learn more about the traditions and the laws. I love getting to see the Clave back in Victorian times. As for the other aspects of the worldbuilding, I loved that as well. I loved being able to see what a “lady” was expected to do and hear Tessa internal dialogue about what was acceptable and what wasn’t. It flowed so nicely and never made me feel like I was being lectured on the time or place, but it gave me background information I needed to know.

One of my favorite characters in TMI series was Magnus Bane. So the fact that he is a character in these books as well makes me so happy. I love seeing how everything that is happening to him brought him to New York. I want to know so much more about Magnus. He is such a unique character, but he is also drastically different in this series than he is in TMI.

As for the writing, I think Clare’s progress as a writer is clear as you read her novels. Each one I read gets better and better both in the technical aspects and in the storytelling. I get pulled further in with each book instead of feeling like things are overdone or being dragged on.

Overall, I loved this book and gave it 5 out of 5 stars, just like the first one. I think that being able to read this series is definitely worth picking up the other Shadowhunter books! I highly recommend this series, but I think you should read them all the Shadowhunter novels in publication order!

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