Beschreibung

 

Bald sollen die Hochzeitsglocken für Tessa Gray läuten. Anstatt die Vorfreude auf dieses Ereignis genießen zu können, werden die Londoner Schattenjäger jedoch von Mortmains riesiger Armee aus Klockwerk-Kreaturen auf Trab gehalten. Die Schattenjägergemeinschaft ist sich über die Führungsqualitäten von Charlotte Branwall als Leiterin des Londoner Instituts nicht sicher und ihrer Warnung bezüglich Mortmains Aktivitäten wird nicht die nötige Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Als schließlich das Schlüsselstück zur Vollendung von Mortmains schrecklichen Plan in dessen Hände fällt, ist es an Will das schlimmste zu verhindern.

 

Meine Meinung

 

Mit “Clockwork Princess” findet Cassandra Clares phantastische Young Adult Reihe um “Die Chroniken der Schattenjäger” ihren Abschluss. Wie gewohnt knüpft der Band an die Ereignisse des vorhergehenden Romans an, jedoch lädt Cassandra Clare zuerst auf einen Blick in die Vergangenheit ein. So erfährt man wie Jem als kleiner Junge ins Institut kam und mit Will Freundschaft schloss.

 

Beim vorherigen Titel “Clockwork Prince” vermisste ich weitere Informationen und größeren Einbezug der namengebenden Klockwerk-Kreaturen, deshalb hat es mir sehr gut gefallen, dass die Autorin hierfür endlich etwas mehr Platz einräumt. Ein weiterhin großer Teil der Geschichte ist für die Dreiecksbeziehung Jem-Will-Tessa reserviert. Mittlerweile habe ich mich an diese Beziehungskonstellation gewöhnt und habe einfach mit allen Charakteren mitgefiebert und mitgelitten. Immerhin haben auch noch andere schöne Pärchenbildungen ihren Auftritt wie z. B. Gideon und Sophie. Am meisten hat micht mal wieder Cassandra Clares Kunst, ihren Figuren eine beeindruckende Entwicklungsbahn zu schaffen, begeistert. Dies ging sogar so weit, dass ein bisher ungeliebter Charakter immer mehr Symphatiepunkte sammelte bis ich ihn sogar mochte!

 

Der Erzählstil hat, wie bereits in den vorherigen zwei Bänden, sehr gut zum Handlungszeitraum gegen Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts gepasst. Dieses Mal hat Cassandra Clare dem ganzen allerdings noch mehr Authentizität verliehen, in dem sie mehrere briefliche Konversationen z. B. zwischen Charlotte und dem Konsul in das Buch mit einfließen lässt.

 

Cassandra Clare ist mit “Clockwork Princess” ein in sich stimmiger Abschlussband der Chroniken der Schattenjäger gelungen der keine Fragen mehr offen lässt und ein richtiges Hollywood Happy End liefert. Der Epilog führt die Geschichte der Hauptprotagonistin Tessa noch etwas tiefgehender aus und setzt dem ganzen die Krone auf. Manches geriet dabei jedoch eine Spur zu kitschig und übertrieben, daher von mir gute 4 von 5 Grinsekatzen.

 

Fazit

 

Ein explosives Finale der Schattenjäger Chroniken!

WOW, just wow

Sunday morning

No one tells you how you should write your reviews. They shouldn’t. It should be in your voice and be in your words. It should be what you thought of a book. For this review, I started it probably (I’m not sure, check my Goodreads) a month ago in my lounge. It’s a Sunday morning and I started this before writing my book.

 

Read in a week

I am reading most mornings, Monday to Friday. Occasionally, I’ll read on Saturday or Sunday when I’m not distracted by my writing or hanging with my girlfriend. For this book, I believe I read it in a week. I’d read the previous two books in the prequel series and the entire Mortal Instruments series. So, it’s not just a one off.

 

No spoiler

I’m not going to spoil this book for anyone. My reviews will tell a story. How I felt. What I was doing. Where I was. I will give each book a rating from five. Unfortunately, due to the limited programming of the plugin I’m using, you can only see whole numbers. I’ll round to the nearest number.

 

Mortal Instruments tie in

As for the book, Clockwork Princess, it links the Infernal Devices to the Mortal Instruments series. We learn from the characters, Jem and Tessa, that they are in fact characters in the Mortal Instruments. I already guessed this from the first book in this prequel as I recognised the name Tessa instantly and guessed who Jem was.

 

Emotionally Satisfying

Cassandra Clare must’ve done a lot of planning to create this series. I’m not going to point out the holes I saw. Many other people have already done that. What I will say is that, emotionally, this series closes the loose ends nicely and can make you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. This is what an author and a reader want. Closure.

 

The history

It does feel like some of the characters, such as Mortmain, were tacked on to this series. It feels as though they weren’t thought of in the Mortal Instruments (which is probably true) because there are no mentions of this history (and there would be) in the Mortal Instruments series. That’s one of the reasons why this book is rated lower.

 

Teenage lust

I suppose, I should add that I’m not a teenage girl. I just found the love triangle repetitive from the Mortal Instruments. The fact that I felt like most of this book was about settling who gets who also lowered the rating. I like the world Cassandra Clare created, but not the characters.

 

Summary

In summary, it’s a good book. That’s why it gets three stars. I would recommend this series to those who liked the Mortal Instruments series. It follows a similar pattern with (kind of) similar characters and circumstances.

3 1/2 stars

I loved the character development of Henry and Charlotte. Their realization that they both loved the other, but they both believed that the other one had married them for convenience. I loved that.

I was disappointed with Jessamyn's death. I was hoping for character development from her, but I suppose we may get it yet in the other Mortal Instruments books since she came back as a ghost. Speaking of ghosts, we were told at the beginning of the trilogy that Will could see ghosts without their appearing to him, but we never had an explanation as to why that was.

I was not fond of Will and Tessa's reactions to Jem's death. It was not normal, and it felt forced. They both cared so much for Jem, that it just doesn't make sense for them to immediately have had sex. When a person's fiancé dies, the first thing they would do would be to mourn. Eventually Tessa and Will could have gotten past the grief, admitted their feelings and gotten married, but it felt really disrespectful to have them have sex so soon after learning of Jem's death. I can't decide if I liked the ending. I am glad that Tessa and Will lived a happy life, and I'm glad that Jem and Tessa will get their chance now, but it seemed too easy for Tessa to get both Will and Jem in her lifetime. Not to mention that eventually, Jem will die and Tessa will resort to the solitary life she had been living since Will's death. I suppose Jem's telling her about the story that took place in the first three books of the Mortal Instruments series indicates that the two of them will appear in the rest of the series, and that does make me happy.

I was surprised that Jem was able to leave the Silent Brothers. For two reasons. The first is that he now knows a lot of their secrets. He is probably the only Nephilim to ever enter the Silent Brothers and then leave them. He's probably the only Nephilim to enter the Silent Brothers for no reason but to extend his life until a cure for his illness could be found. The second is that most of the Silent Brothers were killed by Valentine and the few who are left would probably be less than thrilled about one of the ones who survived just leaving like that.

I enjoyed this book, and this series, but I did not think the plot was as concrete as the first three books of the Mortal Instruments. It may have been slightly less predictable then the Mortal Instruments, but it was also weaker. While some of the supporting characters were excellent, particularly Jem, Charlotte and Henry, the other characters were not any better than the Mortal Instruments.