Augustine once said, ‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page’. There are only a few uses of mild language, but there is a lot of bloody violence and one sex scene that has some details in the intense “making-out” phase but none once it cut to the sex.St. Clockwork Princess was a resounding success. In fact, at this point, I’m feeling more satisfied with how Clare has kept this series contained and restrained, honestly, compared with how I feel she’s let the Mortal Instruments run off the rails. It was that sweetly sentimental, but all in a good way. Their fates had me glued to the page, my heart full and my eyes brimming with tears. And I was surprised and pleased to see how Clare pulled together the stories of Jem, Will and Tessa.

Those of us who have read and (mostly) enjoyed the Mortal Instruments can’t help but feel particularly invested and interested in the stories of the earlier Lightwoods, Herondales, and others who are obviously forebears to the characters who come later. This book was incredibly satisfying because it did so neatly tie up the series. The plot takes some nail-biting twists and turns and slowly begins answering some questions and solving mysteries that were introduced in Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince, even providing readers with some sigh-worthy conclusions to the various love stories. Whew! It seems impossible that anyone in our little group of London Shadowhunters will survive, much less have happy endings. And even as Charlotte and her small group of Shadowhunters in the London Institute try to figure out how to find and defeat Mortmain, which seems an impossible task, they are still being stymied by the Clave and its leaders. The Shadowhunter who was in league with Mortmain, Benedict Lightwood, has now proven to be no help at all in finding him because of his demon issues, and Jem’s precarious health is put in danger for several reasons. She still doesn’t know who she is or really even what she is, and no one knows where the evil Magister, Mortmain, is hiding. In this conclusion to the Infernal Devices series, prequels to the Mortal Instruments books, Tessa is preparing to marry Jem, even as she has to hide her feelings for Will.

Infernal devices series