Editors Reads Verdict
A masterclass in world-building as prequel: Victorian London makes the Shadowhunter mythology feel properly ancient, and Will Herondale is immediately more compelling than Jace — darker, wittier, and with better reasons for his armour.
What We Loved
- Victorian London gives the Shadowhunter mythology the historical roots it always needed — the setting elevates the world-building significantly
- Will Herondale is immediately more compelling than Jace — darker, wittier, and with better structural reasons for his emotional armour
- Tessa's shifting ability — transforming into anyone she touches, accessing their memories — is used with real narrative intelligence
- As first volumes go, unusually complete — its mystery resolves and its characters are fully established rather than merely introduced
Minor Drawbacks
- Readers unfamiliar with The Mortal Instruments will miss some contextual depth, though the novel functions fully as a standalone opening
- The steampunk clockwork villains, while thematically fitting, are less psychologically interesting than the human antagonists they serve
- The love triangle's foundation is laid here but not yet fully operational — some patience is required before it becomes genuinely agonising
Key Takeaways
- → A prequel set a century before the original can make a mythology feel properly ancient in ways the contemporary setting cannot achieve
- → Cruelty performed with deliberateness is usually a defence — and the person behind it is more vulnerable than the cruelty suggests
- → An ability that lets you inhabit another person's body and touch their memories is also an invasion — gift and violation in the same act
- → Victorian social constraints on women made female independence not just remarkable but costly in ways that Clare renders with genuine historical attention
- → The best parabatai partnerships are built on complementary natures — not sameness but an opposition that makes each person more complete
| Author | Cassandra Clare |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Margaret K. McElderry Books |
| Pages | 479 |
| Published | August 31, 2010 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Historical Fiction |
Clockwork Angel Review
Cassandra Clare returned to the Shadowhunter universe she built in The Mortal Instruments and did something that companion series rarely manage: she improved on the original. Clockwork Angel relocates the Shadowhunter mythology to Victorian London in 1878, and the effect is transformative. The world Clare built always felt like it needed historical roots, and the gaslit streets of the London Institute give the Angel Raziel’s legacy exactly the antiquity and grandeur it required.
Tessa Gray arrives from New York to find her brother, only to be seized by two women called the Dark Sisters who force her to develop a power she did not know she possessed: the ability to transform into anyone she physically touches, taking on not just their appearance but fragments of their memories and personality. The ability is unusual in the Shadowhunter world, and unusual abilities attract dangerous interest.
Rescued by the London Institute’s Shadowhunters, Tessa falls into the orbit of Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs — two parabatai whose friendship is the emotional foundation of the trilogy. Will is immediately the more complex figure: beautiful, cruel, and hiding behind his cruelty with a desperation that Tessa half-perceives from the first meeting. Jem is his mirror — gentle, musical, and living under a death sentence from a demon poison that is slowly consuming him.
Clare handles the Victorian setting with genuine attention to period detail: the Institute’s politics, the attitude of the Clave toward London’s mundane population, the social constraints on women that make Tessa’s independence both remarkable and costly. The steampunk clockwork villains — Mortmain’s mechanical soldiers — feel properly Victorian in their horror.
As first volumes go, Clockwork Angel is unusually complete: its mystery resolves, its characters are fully established, and it earns rather than merely sets up the emotional stakes to come.
Our rating: 4.5/5 — Clare’s finest opening chapter, and the best argument for why the Victorian setting was always where the Shadowhunter world belonged.
Reading Order
- Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1)
- Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, Book 2)
- Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices, Book 3)
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Clockwork Angel" about?
Victorian London, 1878. Tessa Gray arrives from New York looking for her brother and is captured by demons. Rescued by the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, she discovers she has a rare power: she can transform into anyone she touches. Set a century before the Mortal Instruments, the Infernal Devices prequel trilogy begins here.
What are the key takeaways from "Clockwork Angel"?
A prequel set a century before the original can make a mythology feel properly ancient in ways the contemporary setting cannot achieve Cruelty performed with deliberateness is usually a defence — and the person behind it is more vulnerable than the cruelty suggests An ability that lets you inhabit another person's body and touch their memories is also an invasion — gift and violation in the same act Victorian social constraints on women made female independence not just remarkable but costly in ways that Clare renders with genuine historical attention The best parabatai partnerships are built on complementary natures — not sameness but an opposition that makes each person more complete
Is "Clockwork Angel" worth reading?
A masterclass in world-building as prequel: Victorian London makes the Shadowhunter mythology feel properly ancient, and Will Herondale is immediately more compelling than Jace — darker, wittier, and with better reasons for his armour.
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