Clockwork Prince (Cassandra Clare)

Title: Clockwork Prince

Author: Cassandra Clare

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: 498 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

Actual text from my friend Meredith: “Have you read Clockwork Prince? I just finished it and I almost died like twenty times ahhhhh I need the next one RIGHT NOW!!!!”

I went out and bought this book the day it came out. To do it full justice however, I didn’t read it for several days because I had to reread the first book in The Infernal Devices series, Clockwork Angel, before I let myself read the new book, hence the above text message. My response to Meredith after reading? “Just. Finished. The. Book. O.M.G. Dyyyyyyyyinnnnnnnnggggggggggggg. I now need to read everything I possibly can about the book online.”

If these girl-ish squeals won’t convince you to read the book, I don’t know what will!

How about a short summary (short because I dare not give anything away!): In Victorian England, Tessa continues to search for a way to destroy the evil Magister with the help of two handsome Shadowhunters, Will and Jem. But the cunning Magister always seems five steps ahead, and Tessa must also fight to save her home from falling into the wrong hands, as well as trying to sort out her confusing feelings for both Shadowhunter boys.

Some things to consider:

1.      Cassandra Clare loves love triangles. And bad boys with dark pasts. Win-win? Only if Jem and Will don’t kill me with their awesomeness first. The character growth in this novel is great.

2.      All the good people in this book are young, while the evil people are old. Youth power! I refuse to grow up!

3.      Anyone else feeling a love connection between Cyril and Gabriel? What? Don’t give me that look of exasperation. Everyone else is pairing off…

4.      The poetry. Clever, brilliant, beautiful, but so much of it that it comes across as just a little too pretentious for me. The only thing that actually bothers me about this series thus far is the excessive amount of poetry.

5.      The cover is beautiful, and the perfect darker compliment to those of the Mortal Instruments series.

Go read Clockwork Angel, then Clockwork Prince. You won’t be disappointed. 

Crossed (Ally Condie)

Title: Crossed
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Books (Penguin)
Length: 367 pages
Rating: 4.5/5

This sequel to Matched takes Cassia to the farthest reaches of society. But even in the Outer Providences, where she searches to be reunited with Ky, she can’t quite escape the long arm of society. Her search brings her to deep canyons that show the promise of a different life, and Cassia is drawn to the promise of a revolution, a revolution that pulls her away from Ky, and somehow, back to Xander.

Loved the first, loved the sequel just as much. Don’t you hate that moment when you’re reading a book, and you realize, it’s not a sequel, but only the second in a trilogy instead? You can’t for the life of you figure out how this will end positively, and then you realize you have to wait for another book to find out how it ends. Agony; sweet torture. Often in a trilogy, the second book seems to be a filler between first and third. Not this one.

This book is alternately narrated between Cassia and Ky’s point of view. I argued in my first book that I wanted more character depth, and the switching perspective between main characters allowed for this. My only complaint here is that I couldn’t distinguish between Cassia and Ky’s voices; I would be two pages in and still be confused as to who was narrating, and had to go back and a few too many times. However, I forgave this reading roadblock because the characters grew on me even more as they grew as people.

And the book cover? Did not disappoint!! If you’ve read the books, let me know what you think the third book cover will look like in the comments below. November 2012, I wait for you!

Note from an English major: I love that even though society may not be able to as closely monitor our characters in the far reaches of society, we (as the reader) still watch them. I’ve always loved/hated the idea of reader as voyeur. Cassia at one point says she’s never been this free from people watching, but really, we’re still watching her…cue intense, creepy music…

And finally, from Ryan Gosling Reads Young Adult, Happy Holidays everyone!

FFFT

It's FRIDAY!! Nothing too crazy to share with you this week- just a couple articles about how awesome YA is right now:

This one is from Scholastic: Kid lit: not just for kids anymore! (well, YEAH!) I like this because of the book suggestions though- many are going on my to-read list.

This one's from another blogger: What Makes YA Fiction So Hot? A rather lengthy interview of several librarians, but they also have good thoughts about YA right now and lots of book suggestions. Got to love librarians...and bloggers of course.

And because I'm sharing, here's the stack of books I'm going to read for you next:
It looks more precarious turned on its side...








And finally, a happy Friday present for all you Harry Potter fans!