Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

[katekintailbc]

Clockwork Prince
by Cassandra Clare
(Audio)

Kind of hilarious. I looked this up on BookCrossing. One person gave it a 10 and wrote a long review with quite a few exclamation marks, but it's in German so I haven't read it. The other person gave it a 2 and said "really boring." Huh. I clearly didn't read the same book as that second person.

I've read some of Clares fanfic, four of her Mortal Instruments books, and the first Infernal Devices book twice (in fact, I re-read it just before reading Clockwork Prince and I'm glad I did). Clockwork Prince is, without a doubt, the one I found most interesting, most exciting, and most emotional.

We find out SO much more about Will (ZOMG I love that boy now), we get different sides of Jem, we learn about Shadow hunter politics and power struggles, we investigate Charlotte & Henry's relationship, and we learn much more about what Tessa actually is. Oh, and MORE MAGNUS is never a bad thing. I was THRILLED to finally understand that line in the Mortal Instruments about Magnus & Will. That was wonderful. There was also a scene between the two bonded boys that absolutely stole my heart and still hasn't given it back--some of my favorite writing ever, that scene. I love all the subtle and not-so-subtle emotional pulls one way or the other. And I can honestly say I squealed out loud with happiness a half dozen times and yelled at the CD in my player a few times as well. Will's story and the ending especially fall into these categories. This SPOILER-FILLED post on Tumblr actually says it all better than I can: http://breakingdopegirl.tumblr.com/post/15894798032/so-i-finished-clockwork-prince-at-2am

The only thing I actually didn't like about the book was the audio version. I'd just earread the first book again and had all the narrator's voices for the characters in my head. And what happens? TWO brand new readers for this second book. There should be some sort of law in the audiobook publishing world about doing different books in series with different readers. It's just WRONG. The people pronounce words and names differently, which is distracting. And in this case, you've got a woman doing voices for women and men and a man doing voices for the same women and men. I know Clare chose these people, but I was highly disappointed by the audio version. And I know Ed Westwick is a huge fan favorite, but I didn't like his reading of the fourth Mortal Instruments book (what a waste of a good British accent) and I HATED his voice choice for Tessa in this book. Neither reader did as good a job with the characters as the reader of book 1, and so I kept bouncing back and forth from one bad experience to another, hoping each time it would be better and knowing it wouldn't. Disappointing. Good thing I bought the book in hard copy as well. When I re-read it, I'll definitely do so with the actual book, not the audio.

That aside, the story was amazing in every possible way with so many twists and turns and amazing moments. I can't wait for Clockwork Princess now!