Clockwork Princess

"Clockwork Princess," by Cassandra Clare, is the third and final book in the 'Infernal Devices' trilogy.  If you haven't read the first two books in the series, then I would advise that you not read this, as to not spoil them for yourself.
         Mortmain is almost a thought of the past in the London Institute, with Tessa and Jem busy preparing for their wedding and Will's younger sister, Cecily, recently installed into the household.  Then Gabriel Lightwood comes, pounding on the doors of the Institute, with the news that his father has succumbed to the deadly Demon Pox.  London's supply of Yin Fen, the drug that prolongs the life of people who have contracted Demon Pox, has run out.  Jem, who must also take the drug, is days away from death when the message comes that Mortmain will give the London shadow hunters all the Yin Fen that they want, if only they give him Tessa Gray.  The fight comes to the Institute's own front stoop, and the Shadowhunters are forced to reevaluate everything they know, lest they too fall to the Infernal Devices.

I did not like the ending of this book. What ending do I like?  There are only a few perfect endings in the world, and I'll just have to accept that conclusion.  Sadly, this book is not one of the better endings, though the ending is halfway decent, I'll give it that.  But I hate how everyone has to have their cake and eat it too.  I won't say more than that, lest I spoil anything.  Still, though.  Some people have to go home unhappy at the end of the day, don't they?  -- not saying any more--
       I wish that Tessa was more of a spunky heroine.  She's more of a . . . background character, though, even if the whole book is supposed to center around her.  She's more obsessed with her boys then with getting out of . . . wherever she was.  A bit like in the first book, "Clockwork Angel."  Come on, Tessa!  I thought that we had been making progress in "Clockwork Prince!"  But, noooo, Tessa Gray must be some deranged princess.  She does three great acts throughout the whole books, three great acts that show she has a strong spine, and a fourth that isn't so great but, still, it's definitive. But, her strength is not apparent in her speech, and she is described as 'bookish.'  Uh, I can see Tessa as so much more than that.  It's a shame that her full potential isn't realized.
        Jem Carstairs is a bit better.  He's made his decision of how he's going to live his life, illness or not, and he sticks to that, which is admirable.  He does sort of . . . I won't say anything.  I've just never liked his character that much (I prefer Will).  Jem was always a bit of a wallflower, until he decided that he was going to marry Tessa and then boom, now he's his own person.  He hardly talked to Tessa before he decided he was going to marry her!  In my opinion, at least.  So, I never 'knew' him as well as I would have liked to.  And I won't say anything else here, because I could rant for a good while and give away everything.
       Will Herondale is the real break-out character here.  Before this book, you see him as a good man in the throes of a curse that will ruin his life until his dying day.  Here, Magnus has finally told him he's free of the curse and he's free to live his life as he pleases.  Then Jem and Tessa lay it on him that they're getting married, oops, Will, here's your dreams, let's stick 'em to ya.  In this book, he's dealing with his loyalty to both of them, as well as his loyalty to himself.  His inner turmoil is fantastically done.  You can feel what he's feeling with a rare acuteness, and that's a treat, even if most of what he's feeling is self-loathing.
       The Lightwood brothers also become more prominent in this book, which is good in its own way, but it takes away from the drama surrounding the main three characters.  The time that's spent focusing on Gideon and Gabriel is time that we are not focusing on Tessa.  Also, I had trouble remembering which was the older brother (it's Gideon) because both have the same first letter in their name.
       There are some happy parts where the unexpected happens.  Not that that is a happy thing, because the unexpected is usually not so pretty, but it is good all of the same.  Not everyone has to have a happy ending, and that's a lesson we all need to learn in life.  There are also some mushy parts--namely one--which is annoying, because they're just about to fight demons and stuff.  But, Magnus handles it gamely. (Magnus is, like, the most awesome person in both of the Shadowhunter series.)
       The conflicts in these books are always pretty weird, though.  It's all physiological until the last fifty or so pages, and then some big physical conflict happens.  You know what I'm trying to say?  It's almost as though the story arc has been modified to include some gigantic final battle between the two sides, while the rest of the story is entirely about the manipulation of the mind.  And it has some pretty good manipulation.  Cassandra Clare is, as always, very, very good at portraying human emotion in impossible situations.  
       One of the coolest thing about these book are the crossovers between the stories.  Between the two Shadowhunter series, there are some objects and people that are the same (hint, hint, Isabelle's locket, Church the cat) and it's cool to get their origin stories.  The families that participate in both dramas are the same (So, Clary, it isn't your fault--it's genetic), and you get to see what the 'Mortal Instrument' character's great-grandparents were like.  If you get the hardcover book, the paper covering of the books comes off to become a family tree of the Fairchilds, Lightwoods, and Herondales spanning from the 1800s to 2008.
       As mentioned, this is the third book in the 'Infernal Devicies' triology, with the first two books being 'Clockwork Angel' and 'Clockwork Prince,' respectively. I think that 'Clockwork Prince' was my favorite of the three, with 'Clockwork Angel' and 'Clockwork Princess' tied for third.  And, let me tell you, the name 'Clockwork Princess' is a misnomer.  Technically, it's a metaphor, referring to something Mortmain said in the second book.
       Some things are a little too convenient, and other things are a little too perfect, but as always, Cassandra Clare is adept at capturing the tangled webs of human (or warlock, or Shadowhunter) emotion, making 'Clockwork Princess' a tale that's a little too good.  The cast peddles in humor and misery equally, facing an inhuman army with the pure definition of humanity.
        In our world, in our time, everything goes on as planned, but in the London of the 1800s, the Shadowhunters fight their final fight.  THE INFERNAL DEVICES ARE WITHOUT PITY.  MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON THEIR SOULS.

The url to the Infernal Devices website is this:  http://www.shadowhunters.com/theinfernaldevices/index.php
Though not as extensive as the Mortal Instruments sight, this one does have some pretty decent 'extras,' including a 'Clockwork Princess' countdown widget, which went into negative numbers 10 days, 9 hours, 48 a minutes, and 47 seconds ago.  I got the picture above from the site (I can't draw that well).  

Through Her Eyes

"Through Her Eyes," Jennifer Archer, is a surprisingly good romantic ghost story.
     Tansy Piper wishes that she could live anywhere, be anyone else.  Her life, the pathetic thing that it is, is in shambles after her move from California, the deception of her ex-best friend, her grandfather's dementia, her mother's determination to hide from the past, and the grapevine of her new small Texas town.  Tansy gets her wish after she begins to see strange, black and white photos through the lens of her camera.  She finds that she can travel through these pictures and back into the past, becoming "Bell" Martin, the sweet girl who was in love with Henry, whom Tansy knows will commit suicide before he's done with Bell, and best friends with Tansy's grandfather.  As Bell's world becomes more vibrant, and Tansy's fades to gray, Tansy must choose which she wants to inhabit -- and she'll decided with the help of the town dreamboat, the local Shakespearean nerd, and the most popular cheerleader on the squad.

This was a really good book.  I even shed a few tears at the end.  See?  So, it's a sappy horror novel.  You really don't get too many of those. Or, at least, I don't.
      The plot of the story is very interesting.  In most books, people are like "Oh, I'm being possessed by a ghost!"  But here, it's very subtle, which is a nice touch.  Tansy denies it to the end, as well.  Which, fits in perfectly with Tansy's character (our next topic, but let me ramble on here for a little while).  The reason for the haunting is quite stereotypical, but, really, can anyone think of a better reason?
     There are pretty much two main characters here:  Tansy and Henry.  Tansy is a shy girl who wants to hide and nurse her wounds, at least in the beginning of the book.  She doesn't want to go out and make friends, she doesn't want to be there, but she winds up meeting people due to circumstance and a bit of guilt. Henry is the same way, nearly the exact same character, save that he's a male.  He doesn't like people, he doesn't want to talk to anyone, but he met Bell because they're neighbors, and he talks to Danny because he feels that he's responsible for them.  To me, this is interesting because in another "romantic horror" novel that I love, the main character and the ghost have conflicting personalities and goals.  Tansy and Henry have the same personalities, and pretty much the same goals.
      You could also see it in a way that would put Henry as Tansy's darker side.  Because sometimes he turns violent and abusive to those around him, while she wants to but never gives into it.  It could be considered as half a moral to us, and half a warning to Tansy not to become what Henry became.  There is also a strong sense of irony throughout the book, because even though Henry only wants to help himself, not caring whether he hurts Tansy in the process he winds up helping her.  Oh, sorry, *SPOILER.*
      Bethyl Ann, the cheerleader girl, and the dreamboat guy (I've forgotten their names) are complex characters as well.  Actual, every character is.  Time was evidently put into each character to make them unique and well-rounded.  Nearly every one is dynamic as well, which is interesting.  Not a lot of them change dramatically, but they change within their personalities, which makes more sense and a better story than if they'd changed dramatically.  Actually, none one, not even Tansy, changes in too dramatically.  It's more about her finding who she really is.
     I already warned you that this was a bit of a sappy book.
    Another strong point of this book was the poetry.  Tansy finds a book of poems that were written by Henry, and, well, you know, sort of obsesses of them.  I would obsess of them too, if I'd found that book, because the poems were good.  Two parts creepy, two parts depressing, and all parts truth.  In my opinion, at least.  I'm a  person that is full of angst as well.
      At first, though, I thought that Henry fell off his roof.  He didn't, just so you know.  And why would it be snowing in Texas?  Was it one of those crazy whether years?  Maybe I don't know my geography well enough to answer that question.  Also, no one really explains what was going on in Henry's mind, which would've been nice to know.  There is hardly any transition between Tansy's world being colorful, and then it being gray.  The best friend from California is dropped with only a few glances back.  Some things could've been explained more, and others could've been smoother.
     It's a good ghost story, though, and a nice fall back when I'm in need of a campfire tale.  Even though I can't remember all of the character's names, Tansy's story will continue to haunt me even as my world fades to gray.

Dark Goddess

"Dark Goddess," by Sarwatt Chadda, is the fanstastic sequel to "Devil's Kiss."
     Bilquis SanGreal is back, and she's angry.  After her best friend, and boyfriend?, died at her own hands, a sacrifice against Saint Micheal, the Knights Templar have been in turmoil.  When they get wind of a vampire pack that sacrifices young oracles every year to their goddess, they set out to Russia to rescue the next sacrifice, and they can only pray that they'll find her in time.  With the help of the roguish Ivan, Billi must figure out who she's fighting, where she's fighting, and how she's going to win this thing.  When your enemies are the Russian equivalents of the Knights Templar, the werewolves, a maybe-mobster with a Mafia connections and a finger in every pie, and yourself, you're fighting somewhere in the snow-covered forests of Siberia, and your only weapons are arrows tipped with asteroids, you think you'd give up.  But Billi won't.  Not when her life and the rest of the world is at stake. Not when she could do something, instead of just standing by and watching.  Not again.

Yeah.  So, I forgot the name of Russian equivalent of the Knights Templar.  You can't blame me.  I read the book three weeks ago.  I started at five'o'clock in the afternoon, and finished it at ten'o'clock at night.  The power was out, so I really didn't have anything to do but read.  So then I picked up another book.  ("Rot and Ruin", Johnathon Maberry, but I'll get to that later.) And half the names in this book went flying out of my head.  But it was so, so good.  I would've let it sit a while in my brain, but it was so hot I couldn't do anything but read.
       The plot line differs from the original, which was good.  You know how in some authors become formulaic and all that.  But this book shook it up. Also, a lot of the characters vary.  That makes sense, because a bunch of the characters in the first book died, and then they visited Russia.  The more minor characters are a bit hard to keep track of, in my opinion, but the main characters have distinctive names, so it doesn't really matter. 
        And, this is related, I promise, in some books, you know how there is a first book that has one premise?  Like, one backbone.  One specific task in mind.  And then, in the sequel, it's all like "oh, you were acting under a prophecy, and now you need to do this and this and that?" just to make the series longer?  Really, that bugs the heck out of me.  It's like to two books are completely unconnected, but in characters and setting?  (Mr. Percy Jackson, I'm looking at you.)  But these two books are firmly connected, not just tethered together by a string. 
       In "Devil's Kiss" they mention that some people were out werewolf hunting.  So it wasn't completely strange that the Knights Templar were out werewolf hunting in the beginning of the book.  And they'd mentioned that there were some other organizations that fought the Unholy in the other book, so it wasn't completely random that there was an organization in Russia.  So the books were connected.  That makes me happy.
       Of course, Billi was an amazingly flavored character.  Ivan was too, as was Ivan's nemesis, what's-his-name.  I could've used more characterization on that werewolf woman, and why she wound up helping the Knights, instead of her goddess.  Um . . . and that werewolf who was the werewolf woman's daughter.  What was her problem?  Also, the book relies heavily on characterization from the other book.  We don't see much of Arthur SanGreal, and we're already expected to know what he's like . . . But he changed suddenly at the end of "Devil's Kiss," so that doesn't work out too well.  Also, the new apprentice, Mordred, and the new Father aren't explained that well.  I might've been reading too quickly, but they didn't seem to be expressed to well.  There were almost no personal details about either of them.
       And one can surmise that Ellen (Is that her name?  I know it begins with and 'e.') now likes Billi more because she didn't have to kill Arthur, like that completely random prophecy suggested she might have to.  But she still killed . . . I won't say it, just so those who haven't read "Devil's Kiss" won't spoil the ending for themselves, but her behavior doesn't match up with what we know of her personality.
      Anything else that I want to add?  Um, that I liked the ending.  Yey!  A happy ending this time!   It was really quite relieving.  I also liked that added element of Billi having to fight her 'inner nature,' etc., because it added another dimension.  Um . . . and I'm really glad that the werewolves were in there because I really like werewolves.  Just sayin'.  Nice to read about something other than ghuls or demented archangels, because that's all you seem to read about these days, no?  (It was a joke.) 
      So even though we all know that there's nothing to fear but fear itself, and Billi SanGreal, I've been keeping one eye over my shoulder, holding my breath in fear of the Unholy and the all-to-realistic creatures that lurk in Sarwatt Chadda's novels. 

(You think of something more clever and tell me about it, 'k?)

Again, you can visit Sarwatt Chadda and read his blog at www.sarwattchadda.com
  

Devil's Kiss

Devil's Kiss, Sarwat Chadda, could be classified as 'dark romance', or whatever you marketing people are calling it these days.
    Billi SanGreal has been part of the Knights Templar, a secret organization that has been around since Roman times who destroyed the things that hide in the shadows, since she was young.  Together with her best friend Kay she navigated the ups and downs of being trained as a warrior, a killer of the supernatural.  But then Kay, a talented physic, left to study in Israel.  When he comes waltzing back, he seems to think that everything can just go back to normal between them. Things in Billi's life have changed forever, though, and she just can't understand why Kay abandoned her to her father and the other members of the Knights Templar who hate her.  Things begin to look up for Ms. SanGreal, though, when she save a handsome guy from muggers on a train.   But it would do Billi good to remember that just as it is always darkest before the light, it is always lightest before the dark.  And it's going to get very, very dark.

As this book starts out, you're like, *yawn*, another typical dark-romance, supernatural-hunting, love-triangle-inspecting, novel.  Oh, joy.  But you stick with it because the writing's good and Billi's real and believable and the demons are creepy, and then, not even half way through the book, there's a twist that makes you hit yourself on the forehead and shout "I should've seen coming!"  But you didn't, even if you did happen to read the end of the book first.
    There's another twist about forty pages from the end of the book, and then another one that's gleefully mischievous and sadly heart wrenching about ten pages from the end of the book.  You could figure out the last twist by reading the end, yes, but it still doesn't make it any less sad.  The middle twist leaves you with your mouth hanging saying "Whaa . . . ?  That came from absolutely no where, with very little background in the plot line at all."  And then you think on it, and a ligthbulb clicks on in your head, and you're like "Oh, wait . . . Now that my thinking device up in my skull's been turned on, it does.  Got it."
      So, good points for the story:  I love the plot twists.  I love the creepiness.  Billi seems to be feasible character, a character who I would love to be (stubborn, street-smart, supernatural-smart, and tough).  Actually, all of the characters seemed to be alive in some way.  I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me that they're walking the streets of London right now.  I also enjoyed that the ending of the book didn't give away too much of the story . . .
      My memory's a bit patchy on the finer details of the tale, because I read it two weeks ago, but I remember that I refused to put it down, even as I ate ice cream we got at some ice cream parlor.  I remember that I started it before dinner and finished it at ten at night. And I remember that my heart fluttered with Billi's, my eyes weeped with Billi's, and I felt a murderous desire to hurt the archangel with Billi.  It wasn't an unusual experience, for me, but it was a very nice one.  I usually don't feel all of those emotions in one night.  My range of activities doesn't permit it.  So, we could say that fighting with the Knights Templar through the writing of  Mr. Chadda is a complete and totally escape from reality, as well as an exhilarating way to live vicariously.
       I liked what it said on the back of the book.  I forgot to write it down, but it went something like "There's nothing to fear but fear itself . . . and Billi SanGreal." 
       Um, evidently there is a new book out, but I haven't read it yet.  I will, though, I will.  It'll take Billi SanGreal and a whole lotta Unholy to stop me.  (Ha ha.  Yes, I am a riot.  They do tell me that.  Right before they throw rotten vegetables at me and chase me out of the room.)
      So, Ms. SanGreal, just remember that before you take one step forward into the world of adults, remember to keep a foot in the past, a hand on your best friend's shoulder, and an eye out for things that never are as they seem.  Because if you don't, it could cost you dearly. . . in a currency far more precious than money.

So, for more on Billi SanGreal and Sarwat Chadda please visit www.sarwatchadda.com  Information on his new books and the whatnot can be found here.  Enjoy.