Clockwork Angel is the latest from Cassandra Clare. Now, I love her first series, The Mortal Instruments. I’ve recommended them and found that they are not everyone else’s cup of tea. But this new book, a prequel of sorts, just gives testament to the fact that writers get better with practice. Clockwork Angel is amazing. The prose is beautiful, the plotting and pacing are eloquent, and the characters jump off the page.

Set in London in the late 1800’s, Tessa Gray’s search for her missing brother takes her into the world of the Shadowhunters, a race of part angel, part humans, who protect the world from demons. On her journey Tessa learns that she is a part of the Downworld with a strange gift of her own and that her brother is in terrible danger, all while she’s falling in love with two very different Shadowhunters.

This series promises to have something for everyone; the refinement of the classics, plenty of action, adventure, and mystery, a well-constructed supernatural world, and of course a complicated love triangle. The only bad thing about it is waiting a whole year until the next one comes out!