Reaction to... Dastardly Cradle Snatcher, Victorian Magnus, Lotta Death, and a Sideless Love Triangle

TO UNCOVER OR BE COVERED:
I have only one thing to say about this: Where was the cover designer for The Infernal Devices when both City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls was released for everybody to hate see?

Now, now, darlings, be careful with those freshly sharpened pitchforks. I’m only mostly serious.

SUMMARY: Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

Tessa Gray should be happy - aren't all brides happy? Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.

WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS:
There's so much pain in this series, it's very hard to remember an ending without some of, well, that. And so for those of us who devotedly and determinedly white-knuckled our way through to the very last line of Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, we know exactly where our beloved friends stand. And yes, I use the term 'friends,' for what better term could be applied to ones so beautifully dear?

This series is rapidly becoming notorious for its anguish-riddled love triangle but bear in mind that it's not ALL of the focus. There is so much to be resolved here: the question of Tessa's origins, the solution to corruption born where only good should thrive which is nearly as nefarious as the Magister himself, whose malicious intent has to be stopped OBVS, and the repercussions of the treachery faced in the last book all ON TOP OF the remaining desperate query. Who will Tessa choose; is there ever really a simple choice to such a complex tangle of souls and feelings?



WHERE WE GO:
With all of the above said, there's a ton of stuff to be handled before the ties are snipped and tucked away. And because of that Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare can't begin simply. Clare reminds of you that lump you've been carrying around in your throat for a while but forgot about and the choking feeling arises again. Jem, Tessa, and Will aren't in a harmonious place as combined force of a friendship. The links are strained yet the strength they were founded on remains. There's a withholding of truths and feelings, and a suppression of others. Guilt, shame, love, selflessness, and need battle for supremacy within each of them and it's a struggle knowing intimately of the struggles within each of them and not seeing a clearly defined, necessarily happy conclusion.

But beyond those internal battles, outside forces are invading with threats. Jem's war against his sickness is coming to a head and his chances aren't looking so good with the Magister shadowing its progression and striking hot at the most (for us) inopportune moment as big bad villains tend to do. There's also the matter of the Lightwoods, and this unwanted attention from the head honchos of the shadowhunters club. AND the devious Magister isn't relinquishing his demand for Tessa, his reasons all over the place and still mysterious. Each of these problems takes up time and in a new place which are forcibly endured by our very weary and not yet fully recovered friends.

WHO WE ARE WITH:
I love that Will, Jem, and Tessa are in frame more than most, but the other characters get their moment to bake or bask or whatever in the sun. Sophie, Gideon, Gabriel, Charlotte, Henry. All of them by this point have become so precious, and so does our surprise Herondale visitor, who is both kick-butt and female Will and altogether perfect and perfectly suited to this whole cray cray shebang.

And if everyone pairs up in some way then I refuse to be unmoved by it. It's fantastic that love can dwell where it shouldn't, that it finds a way even in it's most unsuspecting and reluctant of hosts.

THE LITTLE THINGS:

1. The Tender Bromance Goodbye
2. The fact that I got everything I didn't know I could want
3. THE HUGE TWISTS that I didn't completely see
4. The quotes at the beginnings of all the chapters
5. The Desperate Expression of Passion in Prison
6. The wisdom of Magnus and the beauty of that one time with Will on page 235 to 236...
7. THE EPILOGUE
8. And especially... all of it

Where do you go from here? No, seriously, I'm lost and I don't want to find myself all alone on a deserted road with a single broken telephone in a suspect-looking telephone booth. But, really, in all seriousness, how do you just jump back after something like this? The Infernal Devices is so rich and impactful and beautiful that it's impractical to expect something more from me, from you, us, than this satisfying desolation that leaves nothing for anything else unless it's equally powerful. And yet the heart can't take anything more after THIS BOOK that is so much and perfectly enough.

How do you get over a story of weakness, will, and heart, of fools and their better halves?
I'm not quite sure I want to find out.

Hardcover / 568 pgs / March 19th 2013 / Simon & Schuster / Goodreads / $19.99

I received a pre-ordered copy from my awesomecake mommy.