Breakdown:
Plot: when Tessa Gray, a girl who thought she was ordinary with the extraordinary power to Change into other people, living or dead, is rescued from the home of the Dark Sisters, evil warlocks, she is pulled into the world of the Shadowhunters, trained fighters descended from angels whose lives are dedicated to ridding the world of demons, and, occasionally, the one or two Downworlders who decide to act out. Enter Will Herondale, an obnoxiously handsome, know-it-all, rude seventeen-year-old, Tessa's rescuer who proceeds to become her torturer. As we later find out, Will acts the way he does not because he's truly cruel, but because he was 'cursed' by a demon when he was a young child who said that whoever loved him would die a very painful death, which caused him to push away everyone he cared about by being callous and saying the worst things possible to make others hate him. Will's parabatai (two fighting partners who are practically linked together and are expected to give up their lives for each other in battle) is James Carstairs, otherwise known as Jem, who is a kind, light-hearted, intelligent, and a fragile but strong individual, who is secretly in love with Tessa. (We find out in the Clockwork Prince.) Jem's parents were tortured when he was a young child. The torture included making his parents watch their only child be force-fed yin fen (otherwise known as opium) until he was addicted to the substance, which he must now take to live. After both his parents were murdered, Jem fled the Shanghai Institute and found himself at the London Institute instead, where, just like Will, he was taken in by Charlotte and Henry, the people in charge of running the Institute. Among these characters are Jessamine, a conceited, ungrateful, beautiful brat who is resentful of her Shadowhunter upbringing and wishes to marry a gentleman and escape the life she was thrown into, as well as Tessa's brother, Nate, who turns out to be a backstabbing traitor in the end of Clockwork Angel. The villain in the Infernal Devices is Mortmain, otherwise known as the shadowy Magister, who will stop at nothing to claim Tessa for his own. As well as his evil intentions towards Tessa, he is also creating an army of automatons, mechanic machines infused with the life essence of demons, which are given the name the Infernal Devices. Other struggles the Shadowhunters must face during the books are the questioning of the running of the Institute, betrayal from those the Shadowhunters believed they could always trust, evil plot twists brought on by Mortmain, and the ever-lurking danger of the Infernal Devices.
Things I Disliked:
First off, the third book (at least 3/4 of it) made me bawl like a baby, and the best people die for no good reason, except that Cassandra Clare enjoys making us read the most lovable characters' deaths. (Sort of like J.K. Rowling!)
I also detested Tessa in the beginning, who was all, "Women wear trousers?! Gasp!! That is the height of impropriety!" and so delicate with her feelings, that she always wanted to cry. Still, I admired her sense of humor, which was what had Will falling in love with her in the first place.
Yet another problem is the pretentious way she writes. As if she wants to prove to us all she's not an idiot, so using 'big' words is the solution. Frankly, it's really just annoying, but hey, I guess I just have to deal...although I'm not going to avoid mentioning that it DROVE ME INSANE.
I also noticed that Cassandra Clare has a fetish for gorgeous boys with an attitude complex. Jace, for example, and now Will, in 1883. I admire authors that can write a wide range of topics, of genres, which clearly Cassandra Clare can't. In fact, she's so completely obsessed with her Shadowhunters series that I doubt she dreams about anything other than Magnus Bane and demons and attractive guys who are total douchebags.
Greed will do these things to you.
Overall Rating
4.5 out of 5: I loved the plot, the characters, and the romance, not to mention the action and nonstop tragedy they faced. I did not, however, love the pretentious writing, Tessa's character in the beginning, and the fact Cassandra Clare obviously enjoys killing off characters the way I enjoy eating bars of chocolate.
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