Week of CLOCKWORK PRINCESS: Previously on CLOCKWORK ANGEL

It's Day 2 of our Week of Clockwork Princess! Cassandra Clare's last installment of The Infernal Devices will be released in 6 DAYS and today and tomorrow we are looking back at the past two books in the series. We'll start with a `Previously on Clockwork Angel' which was released on August 31, 2010:

Summary:

The Shadowhunters Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs investigate the murder of a young girl. She was killed with a dagger which shows a symbol that is connected to the Downworld.  Meanwhile, Tessa Gray travels from New York to London to start a new life with her brother Nate after their aunt had passed away. Two women – Mrs Black and Mrs Dark – pick her up at the harbour and keep Tessa as a prisoner for the next six weeks. She has a special power – she can Change into any person she wants to if she holds a piece of something that belongs to them – and the Dark Sisters show her how to use it. The sisters decide that Tessa’s training is complete and that she should now be presented to the Magister – the man Tessa is supposed to marry and who has ‘made’ her. This plan, however, is thwarted by Will and the other Shadowhunters. 

Tessa is brought to the Institute and she learns that she is a Downworlder. The London Shadowhunters promise to help her and her brother who is still held captive somewhere. Will and Jem go back to the Dark Sisters’s house where they find a clockwork creature who warns the Nephilim.  Charlotte and Henry Branwell find out that a vampire named de Quincey is the Magister who kills mundanes during meetings of the so-called Pandemonium Club. This is against the Law and a plan to catch de Quincey red-handed is formed. Tessa –as a vampire – and Will attend a Pandemonium meeting where Nathaniel Gray is meant to be killed. The Shadowhunters arrive but de Quincey is able to escape. Everyone, including Nate, drives back to the Institute where Tessa takes care of Will because he had swallowed vampire blood and they kiss.

Later, Jem and Tessa take a walk through London and are attacked by automatons. These creatures follow them to the Institute where the other Shadowunters intervene. Jem confides in Tessa and tells her about his illness which is slowly killing him. A few Shadowhunters leave the Institute to arrest de Quincey and Axel Mortmain, a mundane who had originally told them of de Quincey’s being the Magister, arrives to warn the remaining Shadowhunters. According to him, Mrs Dark is aiding the Magister and she must be stopped. Will and Jem also leave and walk into a trap. It turns out that Mortmain is actually the Magister and Nate his accomplice. Mortmain is able to enter the Institute where he steals a Pyxis. He also wants Tessa but she threatens to kill herself. Right before the dagger can fatally wound her, she Changes into another person who had bled to death. Mortmain now believes her to be dead but vanishes when Will, who has just arrived, wants to attack him. Will is devastated because of Tessa’s death but she reveals her trickery. At the end of the novel, Tessa is asked to stay at the Institute and she wants to talk to Will about their future. Will is very cruel to her and suggests a purely sexual relationship because Shadowhunters and Downworlders cannot be together. Tessa is shattered but Jem, who cares for her very much, is able to comfort her. In the epilogue Will visits the warlock Magnus Bane and asks him for help.

Please bear in mind that the following points are all subjective:

Where the main characters stand (at the end of the book):

Will – he is asking Magnus for help because he was nowhere else to go.

Tessa – she still doesn’t know what she is and now she has to deal with her brother’s betrayal and Will’s rejection.

Jem – seems to care a lot for Tessa and unfortunately he is still dying.

Cute Moments:

Will tells Tessa that he intends to marry Agatha because “beauty fades, but cooking is eternal” (Chapter 4)

Wills shows Tessa the library (Chapter 4)

Charlotte longing to touch Henry (Chapter 5)

Will tells Tessa that she makes him laugh (Chapter 12)

Jem comforts Tessa (Chapter 20)

Romantic Moments:

The attic scene – do I have to say more? *swoons*

Heartbreaking Moments:

Will thinking about Jem’s death (Chapter 11)

Nate betraying his own sister

Will’s “I have lost everything” (Chapter 19)

Will acting like a bastard and rejecting Tessa (Chapter 20)

Important Moments:

Magnus explaining the nature of the automatons (Chapter 10)

Brother Enoch’s conversation with Tessa:

“There is a power I sense you have. A power no other warlock does.

“The Changing, you mean,” said Tessa.

No, I do not mean that.”

Questions Raised:

What is Tessa?

What is wrong with Will?

Is there any hope for Jem?

What does the Magister want (from Tessa)?

Where We End:

Tessa is allowed to stay at the Institute and the Shadowhunters have a difficult task ahead of them: fighting the Magister and finding out Tessa’s true origins.

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US fans also have the opportunity to win an Infernal Devices box set, which was kindly given to us by Simon & Schuster.