All my thoughts on Clockwork Angel
Guys, I’m sorry in advance …
I feel like I have some hot takes that people aren’t going to like.
Clockwork Angel is the first book in Cassandra Clare’s series The Infernal Devices which follows 16-year-old bookworm Tessa Gray in 1878 as she makes her way to London from New York and discovers that the world she grew up in is full of magic, mystery and darkness. Guiding her into this world are the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, including parabatai Will and Jem, who just happen to be about the same age as Tessa. As can be expected, an awkward love triangle ensues as Tessa tries to figure out who and what she is and how she is going to navigate life as anything but mundane.
I wanted to love this book so badly, but I ended up feeling disappointed. Every single person I spoke to that read TID raved about this series and swore that I’d fall in love with the story and the characters. Maybe it was the tremendous reviews that set my expectations so incredibly high that they couldn’t possibly be reached.
Or maybe the book just wasn’t as good as everyone said it was.
Either way, here are all my thoughts on Clockwork Angel.
I want to fight William Herondale
This is my hottest take, so let’s get it out of the way first.
William Herondale has the blue eyes and black hair of Alexander Lightwood from The Mortal Instruments with the arrogance and ego of Jace Herondale. However, whatever charm Jace exuded that made his snarky sarcasm and confidence tolerable and sometimes even cute, Will doesn’t possess. Perhaps the Herondale snark got more refined through the generations.
I really started to loathe Will by the end of the book. I don’t care how pretty his blue eyes are, he’s a douchebag to everyone around him except for Jem. He legit throws a bucket at the servant Sophie’s head at one point because she’s trying to get him to drink Holy water after he willingly bites a vampire.
OK, his tactic of biting vampires to throw them off during a fight is funny, but it doesn’t make up for him being an absolute nightmare of a person. I would have chucked the bucket as hard as I could right back at him.
I disliked Will for two main reasons.
- He’s horrendously mean.
- He’s a relentless liar.
I already mentioned how he threw the bucket at Sophie, but that’s not where his mean spirit begins or ends. He tells Tessa that her brother Nate deserved to be killed by the vampires for dealing in shady Downworlder activities, and then he pleads with Charlotte to not allow Nate to be treated and recover at the Institute. Nate did turn out to be a lying slime ball, but it felt like Will’s intentions were to hurt Tessa or get rid of her and not to protect the Institute and those inside it.
Then, he kisses Tessa after she brings him a new bucket of Holy water and begs her to leave like the emo teen he is.
“Please. Just leave. I can’t have you here. It’s — not possible. Tessa. I’m begging you. Do you understand? I’m begging you. Please, please leave.”
Will to Tessa, Page 302
(OK, William, you better go chug that Holy water or you’re going to be an actual vamp kid.)
Will also goes off on Charlotte about her husband Henry’s inventions not working after the party at de Quincey’s.
“You can dance around it all you like, but the reason everything went wrong last night is because the Phosphor didn’t work. Nothing Henry invents ever works. If you’d just admit your husband’s a useless fool, we’d all be a lot better off.”
Will to Charlotte, Page 312
He’s not very kind to Charlotte at all, despite her acting as a mother to him since he was 12 and she only 18. She gave him a home when he had nowhere else to go, and in return he’s a careless asshole.
The cruelest thing Will does is at the very end of Clockwork Angel when Tessa finds him on the roof and confesses her feelings for him, he pretty much says that they can only be friends with benefits because warlocks can’t have children. Warlocks being sterile is a sad fact that Tessa hadn’t known before Will threw it in her face. It was probably the worst thing Will could’ve said to Tessa at that moment. It was heartless. Will’s lucky that Tessa is a proper lady, because I would’ve decked him.
Maybe Tessa is confusing the feeling of wanting to throw hands with affection?
Onto Will’s lying. Throughout the book, Will often paints himself in a negative light. He tells outlandish stories of late night shenanigans involving brothels, drinking, fighting and promiscuous ladies.
However, he’s not very good at lying because Tessa figures out rather quickly that Will isn’t the persistent alcoholic that he claims to be, and Jem confirms her suspicions. Curious of Will’s late night rendezvous, Jem once followed him.
“Never did he stop to speak to a single soul. It was like following a ghost. The next morning he was ready with some ribald tale of false adventures, and I never demanded the truth. If he wishes to lie to me, then he must have a reason.”
Jem to Tessa, Page 326
Another massive lie Will holds onto is his feelings for Tessa. When Tessa passes out from fake stabbing herself to fool Mr. Mortmain, Will thinks she is dead and holds her close to him because he thinks he can let his walls down enough to mourn the girl he was beginning to grow fond of.
“‘Tessa,’ he whispered. He crushed her against him; it didn’t matter now what he did. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, where her throat met her shoulder. Her hair, already beginning to stiffen with blood, scratched his cheek. He could feel the beat of her pulse through her skin. He froze. Her pulse?”
Will, Page 458
It just doesn’t make sense to me. He pretends to be some immoral asshole when in reality he’s a softy who loves books and poetry. Who are you trying to impress, William?
Cassandra Clare does give us an inkling that our emo boy Will has been through something traumatic. (Everyone in this series has some trauma, Will. You ain’t special.) Jem tells Tessa the story of how Will ended up at the Institute. If you’re Nephilim and choose to leave the Clave and abandon your duties as a Shadowhunter, the Clave still has a claim on your children. Will’s father left the Clave, married a mundane woman, and had Will. After refusing the Clave’s offer to become a Shadowhunter twice, Will arrived at the London Institute dirt covered and alone.
“He said, ‘I am a Shadowhunter. One of you. You have to let me in. I have nowhere else to go.’”
Jem telling Will’s story to Tessa, Page 328
When Will’s parents arrived at the Institute to try to coax their son back, he hid under his bed and refused. He was now a Shadowhunter and his parents no longer had a claim to him.
Whatever led to 12-year-old Will running away from home, left a lasting effect on him. Will tells himself repeatedly, “I have lost everything,” during his POV when he believes Tessa is dead. But, does a sad backstory give Will a pass on being a shit person? I don’t think so, but I’ll keep an open mind going into Clockwork Prince. I genuinely want to love Will because he’s funny, chaotic and a book boy, but it’s so hard to like a character when they treat everyone so awfully.
Jem is a Gem
Now Jem is a real stand-up guy.
I absolutely adored Jem, his story and how he always tried his hardest to keep Will in check. The dynamic between Will and Jem can be summed up by this one quotation from the prologue.
“Do what you like, William. You always do.”
Jem, Page 16
Will does as he pleases and Jem accompanies him to prevent him from being killed. I’m really starting to think that every single parabatai duo consists of one Shadowhunter with a death wish and the other who somehow has to have enough common sense and self-preservation for both of them. Do these two types of Nephilim attract each other or something?
Jem is nearly the exact opposite of Will. While Will was mysterious, a liar, consistently rude to those around him and constantly throwing temper tantrums; Jem was open, polite, caring and always tried his best to make Tessa feel at home and at ease.
When Tessa is upset that Nate does not have supernatural abilities like her, it’s Jem who comforts her. He compliments the way she fought against de Quincy and reassures her that it’s OK for her to have a natural instinct to fight in this world when mundane society feels otherwise.
“Whatever you are physically, male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy — all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. Whatever the color, the shape, the design of the shade that conceals it, the flame inside the lamp remains the same. You are that flame.”
Jem to Tessa, Page 293
Then again, when Tessa freaks out after overhearing Will insisting on kicking out Nate, Jem is the one who finds her on the Institute steps and takes her on a walk to his favorite spot in London to console her about her feelings of being other.
“‘We are only ever Shadowhunters. When other Nephilim look at me, they see only a Shadowhunter. Not like mundanes, who look at me and see a boy who is not entirely foreign but not quite like them either.’
‘Half one thing and half another,’ Tessa said. ‘Like me. But you know you’re human.’
Jem’s expression softened. ‘As are you. In all the ways that matter.’”
Jem & Tessa, Page 330
For a third time, when Will throws out the fact that warlocks are sterile to Tessa, Jem is there to be a shoulder to lean on. He promises to help discover the secrets of her past, jokes about throwing Will out on the street, and let’s her know that family doesn’t always have to be blood.
“And one can build one’s own family. I know you feel inhuman, and as if you are set apart, away from life and love, but … I promise you, the right man won’t care.”
Jem to Tessa, Page 482
Jem is just a lovely person, despite having one of the saddest backstories of any character. A demon broke into the Shanghai Institute when Jem was 12, tortured him by poisoning him with yin fen, killed his parents, and left him addicted to the demon poison. Even years later, he’s sick and needs the yin fen to prolong his life despite it slowly killing him with every dose.
At only 17 years old, Jem has already accepted his death. I guess all Shadowhunters have to accept the idea that they’ll most likely die young. Will tells Tessa just as much, though his view on death is a little darker than Jem’s.
“We are dust and shadows. It’s not a long life, killing demons; one tends to die young, and then they burn your body — dust to dust, in the literal sense. And then we vanish into the shadows of history, nary a mark on the page of a mundane book to remind the world that once we existed at all.”
Will to Tessa, Page 100
The fact that Jem is bound to die young gave me a few theories on our sad boy William. Jem and Will are parabatai, and, when one dies, a part of the other dies, as well. My first thought was that Will acts as recklessly as he does because he knows Jem is going to die soon, so he doesn’t care if his life ends also. Another thought I had was that Will became parabatai with Jem because he wanted to show Jem that his condition didn’t make him a lesser fighter or Shadowhunter. My last theory is that Will is hiding something about himself that makes him think that he will also die young and thus makes him the perfect pair for Jem.
Or … Jem is just a wonderful guy and Will was attracted to his pure kindness and in return Jem liked that Will was a wildcard. I really hope we get more details about how these two became parabatai, because they are total opposites. I probably would’ve hated Will if I were Jem.
No matter what, my heart currently belongs to Jem. I think that he and Tessa would be such a sweet couple, but I also believe that Jem is nice enough to put his own feelings aside if Will continues to show interest in her. However, it looks like Will may be doing the same thing for Jem. I also think that Tessa doesn’t have to choose either and can find happiness in herself if she so chooses — though that looks far-fetched with how things are going right now.
Oy vey.
Books, Baby
I want to preface everything I’m about to say by telling you my three least favorite classic books.
- Frankenstein
- Pride and Prejudice
- A Tale of Two Cities
Take a second look at No. 3, because this overrated classic is referenced quite a bit in Clockwork Angel, and I’m pretty sure it’s why I was filled with disappointment. I’m kidding … though every time it was quoted, I did roll my eyes.
My edition of Clockwork Angel included a foreword from Cassandra Clare explaining that she wanted to write a story centered around a girl obsessed with books like herself and many of her readers. It was honestly a tremendous foreword that left me so excited to start Tessa’s journey.
“A girl who learned that adventure was possible from books, that a romance was potentially as wonderful as it was painful, that courage and kindness would carry her through, and that she could be marvelously transformed. I wanted every girl reading the Infernal Devices to feel that she could be the heroine of a novel.”
Cassandra Clare, Foreword
Cassie did a wonderful job at capturing the spirit of a reader in Tessa. During her six weeks of being trained to change, the Dark Sisters used books as a way to reward her. When Tessa is rescued from the Dark House, she immediately thinks of her books on the windowsill and Will promises that he will get her more. He holds true to that promise, showing Tessa the Institute’s immense library that legit makes her giddy and she stays up all night reading the Shadowhunters’ Codex.
The focus on books was my favorite part of Clockwork Angel. I can’t remember another book that I read that had a heroine who’s biggest trait was being a bookworm.
Throughout the book, Will and Tessa go back and forth with references and quotes from their favorite novels and poems, though Will often pretends that he’s not a literary nerd.
“‘One must always be careful of books and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.’
‘I’m not sure a book has ever changed me.’
‘Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.”
Tessa & Will, Page 97
When Tessa and Will are in the carriage on the way to de Quincey’s party, he sheds a bit of his hard exterior to comfort Tessa through books. He quotes both The Three Musketeers and A Tale of Two Cities and shares his secret to bravery.
“Sometimes, when I have to do something I don’t want to do, I pretend I’m a character from a book. It’s easier to know what they would do.”
Will to Tessa, Page 234
This short carriage ride is probably the only time I actually liked Will. It’s this brief moment that gives me a tiny sliver of hope that he may be redeemable.
It’s also a reference to a British folk hero from Will that ultimately saves Tessa’s life when she faces down Mr. Mortmain at the end of the book.
“Tessa heard Will’s voice in her head. She took poison rather than let herself be captured by the Romans. She was braver than any man.”
Tessa, Page 455
The focus on books throughout Clockwork Angel made me connect to Tessa more than I ever did to Clary in TMI, and this connection is what’s keeping me in the series right now.
Girl Power?
Clare gives readers a wide range of female protagonists in Clockwork Angel that represent all types of roles for women.
Charlotte Branwell is the head of the London Institute with her husband; however, it’s clear that she’s the one running the show while Henry dabbles with inventions. She wears Shadowhunter gear, which includes pants. GASP! She’s a genuine warrior who fights and speaks her mind. She doesn’t look to her husband to speak for her. She’s way ahead of her time in the grand scheme of what society thought a woman should be in the 1870s, and I really loved that. Shadowhunters don’t care what gender you are, you were born to fight against demons.
On the other hand, Jessamine may technically be a Shadowhunter, but she wishes to be a proper mundane lady. Just like Will’s father, Jessie’s parents left the Clave and wished to shield their daughter from the dangerous life of the Nephilim. Unfortunately, Jessie’s childhood house burned and killed her parents, leaving her in the hands of the very people they tried so hard to keep her from. Jessie doesn’t want to fight demons, she’s waiting to turn 18 so she can inherit her parents’ money and find a way to leave the Institute and Shadow World for good.
Somewhere in between falls Tessa and Sophie. I honestly don’t know enough about the cook Agatha to place her, so I’m leaving her out.
Tessa grew up mundane and was taught by society what a woman should be. Blah, I hate even thinking about it. However, she isn’t dead set in her ways despite carrying her idea of the proper lady into the Shadow World. She threw the flower pot at Will when he found her in the Dark House, she fired shots at de Quincey during his party, she fought off the clockwork creatures when Jem collapsed, and she tricked Mortmain into thinking she stabbed herself. Tessa may not have been raised to fight, but she is a warrior.
Nearly the same could be said for Sophie, a mundane with Sight who was scarred by her ex-employer’s son and left on the streets. She may not be trained to fight as well as Charlotte, but her bravery makes up for it. Plus I love that she made a deal that she can give attitude back to Will in return for her employment. He needs more people who aren’t going to walk on eggshells around him.
It was amusing to see these different views of what being a woman means collide and conflict with each other in this story. Jessie is appalled by Charlotte even asking her to go through the newspaper to try to track down Nate.
“Jessamine recoiled from the paper as if it were a snake. ‘A lady does not read the newspaper. The society pages, perhaps, or the theater news. Not this filth.’
‘But you are not a lady, Jessamine—,’ Charlotte began.
‘Dear me,’ said Will. ‘Such harsh truths so early in the morning cannot be good for the digestion.’”
Jessamine, Charlotte & Will, Page 125
Meanwhile, Charlotte is leading an entire Institute and heading the Enclave. She took charge when facing Mr. Mortmain for the first time, even though he fooled her and Henry into thinking he was a bystander to the Magister. She’s an all-around badass lady in a time period when being a proud badass lady was unheard of.
However, Jessie did have a specially-made parasol that doubled as a weapon that she used to defend herself on multiple occasions. While she may not want to fight and isn’t the best at it, she can and will when necessary.
One of the things I’m most excited for as I continue this series is seeing if and how these dynamics change. Will Jessie accept her birthright of being a Shadowhunter? Will Sophie train to fight after watching both Agatha and Thomas be killed? Will Tessa learn to harness her shape shifting ability and become a dangerous weapon in her own right? Will Charlotte somehow be even more of a badass lady?
Side Note! All I could think about was how these women would react to Isabelle Lightwood who uses her femininity as a deadly weapon, slaying demons in staggering high heels and tight dresses. Would the TID ladies absolutely love her, be fearful of her, be concerned, or hate her guts? I want to think they’d feel empowered by her.
How could this happen to me?
I realized after I already finished TMI that TID should be read after City of Glass and before City of Fallen Angels. The reason is that the epilogue of City of Heavenly Fire spoils a lot of TID. In fact, there’s tons of clues throughout TMI that completely destroy most of The Infernal Devices’ mysteries. I made a grave mistake in the order I read these books.
Will is referenced and mentioned by name a few times in the second half of TMI. In City of Lost Souls, Jace is reading a copy of A Tale of Two Cities that is signed by Will Herondale. Then in City of Heavenly Fire, Magnus mentions Will when he gives the notebook of stories from his past over to Alec, who remembers the name from Camille. Magnus also mentions watching Tessa grieve over her mortal love. That’s another nod to TID.
The worst spoiler is Brother Zachariah. At first he hints that his parabatai was a Herondale to Jace. Just a little sus. But then he and Tessa show up to Jocelyn and Luke’s wedding together talking about missing a certain specific person who they allude to being a Herondale. Plus, Tessa gave a Herondale ring to Clary. Those aren’t just lying around. The biggest bombshell though is that Brother Zachariah straight up steals the Lightwood’s cat … Church … which just so happens to be what Jem names the cat that he rescues.
So Jem becomes a Silent Brother to evade his imminent death, Tessa is an immortal warlock after all, Church has been through it, and Wessa will be the ship that fully sails by the end of TID.
Pretty much, I spoiled the entire series. I have no one to blame but myself.
Conclusion
I realized while writing this post that many of the issues I had with Clockwork Angel were personal and not necessarily the result of poor writing or an uninteresting story.
I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction. (Sherlock Holmes is my exception, but even then I wrote my final Lit paper in college on how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was right to kill off his famous detective because Sherlock’s methods couldn’t survive the turn of the century.) It’s hard for me to put myself into these time periods, and I can truly never get past my anger for societal differences like gender norms or the casualness of servants. I prefer a modern day setting to help immerse myself in the story. That’s one of the main reasons I loved TMI so much. It was set in a time and place that I knew well and a generation that I grew up in.
However, I did like that a major plot point is an army of Clockwork creatures. It’s around the mid-to-late 1800s when a second industrial revolution hit, standardizing many of the advancements of the first revolution and making further advancements in technology and industry. The expansion of the telegraph and railways during this time allowed for people and ideas to travel at a once unthinkable pace. With this connection of people and places, there’s bound to be some crazy people using it to do some wild experimenting, not to further humanity, but to fulfil a personal vendetta.
Wow, did I really just rant about the second industrial revolution?
Another reason I felt meh about Clockwork Angel was that Tessa and Will constantly referenced A Tale of Two Cities, which I already mentioned isn’t my jam. It just annoyed me, and that’s my problem … not the book’s.
Then there was our sad emo boy Will. I’m sure he has his reasons for being a complete dickhead, but I just couldn’t help but want to scream at him every time he had a line of dialogue. That one isn’t on me. I believe that’s a valid critique. I had no preconceived notions of Will going into this book. I wanted to love him, but he fell short.
Overall, I’d give Clockwork Angel a 2.5 out of 5. It had some good characters, a great concept and an interesting enough plot; but I just wasn’t into it as much as I had the TMI books. It simply was one of those books that didn’t capture me as intensely as I wished it would have.
Onto Clockwork Prince, where I will keep both my mind and heart open. I’m telling you, I want to love this series. Crossing my fingers🤞🏼
Life of Bry 
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