Clockwork Prince

When it comes to novels that I have been pleasantly surprised by, the Infernal Devices Trilogy remains a consistent series of books. While it is true that I, at first felt like this series might be a cash grab, I know now, that with this series, it is actually better than the Mortal Instruments series, and may be better still than The Dark Artifices series. This is because that Claire takes this 2nd instalment to display more about the characters we have already met, and improves upon the world building.

One of the most annoying elements, at first glance, would be the love triangle. At it's worst, love triangles can be used to display the differences between three people who have nothing in common, and who all are terrible people, regardless of who they end up with. In this case, however, Claire has chosen to show both sides and I must say that they are compelling choices. Through giving Will more depth, we actually see him as a positive character, and we see how heroic he is, despite his attitude. Then, there is James. He is the friendly person who one could see as a potential romantic partner because of his fun disposition. Both of these boys are ones that Tessa could end up with, which makes this one of the more palatable love triangles on offer.

There there is the plot. We get a chance for characters to react to the plot, as they solve the mystery. They go to different locations, find out some things, and then the characters react to those developments in a very believable way, which, as I have seen, is written in a far better manner than in Claire's previous series.

This book is just written really well. The language selection always is a good choice in my book, and the fact that I first started listening to this book isn't bad either. While I do have my personal gripes about the narrator's not being consistent in this series, Ed Westwick will always be the default voice I hear when I think of Will. In the end, I will keep my four out of five rating. The only problem that I can find is the characters Gabriel and Gideon. It sucked so much trying to keep those two characters straight that in the end I just stopped trying. Thankfully, Claire has learned from her mistakes and hasn't repeated that name problem. For me, this book is just a guilty pleasure, and is totally the best in the series. Now onto the third book...