Clockwork Angel

Remember when I bought a bunch of new books after Christmas with all of my great gift certificates??  Well, I am finally going to get to read them!  One of the books that I bought is the second in the Infernal Devices Series.  I really want to read it, but I haven't read the first book to the series in over a year and was a little foggy about what had happened.  I decided to re-read the first book (one of my favourite things to do) to help me remember all of the details and hopefully notice some new ones! 

This book is called Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare.  It is set in London, England in 1878 (more than 100 years before the the other series by Clare - the Mortal Instruments - which this book precludes) where a 16 year old girl named Tessa Gray travels across the Ocean from New York to go and live with her brother Nate after their aunt has died.  Unfortunately for Tessa, she is kidnapped by two women who call themselves the Dark Sisters upon her arrival.  It is through them that she learns of an entirely different world that she never knew existed - one where vampires, werewolves, fairies, warlocks, and demons exist.  The Dark Sisters teach Tessa that she is actually a Downworlder with a very rare ability - she can transform into any other person at will.  A man calling himself "The Magister" wants to claim Tessa and use her for her power, but she escapes the Dark Sisters and the Magister with the help of people who call themselves Shadowhunters.

Tessa is taken to the London Institute that is run by Shadowhunters and it is there that she befriends this group of strangers and gets some answers about who she is and why the Magister is hunting her.  Tessa begins to fall for two of the Shadowhunters who also live at the Institute, Will and James.  They are as different as two boys can be - dark and light, thoughtful and impulsive, as well as calm and violent.  As she grows closer to both of them, a deadly plot unfolds that has Tessa in the centre - the Magister is creating an army to come and get her and she must decide where her loyalties lie.  She wants to save her brother (who we find out has been taken by the Magister), but she also wants to help her new family at the Institute save the world from the Magister.

This book was great to read again - definitely worth the time :)  I can't wait to see how the second one unfolds after the ending in the first!  Lots of secrets to come out and hopefully we discover the truth about Will's past, as well as how Tessa became what she is.

Fever Series Complete!

So I was a bit lazy with my posting this past week - been a little busy because I was at OFSAA swimming in Milton, ON.  The team did great!  Second place overall, second place in Jr Boys, Jr Girls, and Sr Boys, and first place in Sr Girls!  Congrats on a great season Riverside Rebel Swimmers!

Anyways,  I finished reading the Fever Series books - I had 2 to go, Dreamfever and Shadowfever.  They were fantastic!  This series just kept getting better as it went.  I don't want to give away too much from these books by explaining what happens in each (plus they get pretty complicated), so I am going to be brief. 

Dreamfever - the walls between Man and Fae have come down freeing all of the Unseelie from their prison.  Mac has been taken and raped by the Unseelie Princes and is now Pri'ya.  She must claw her way back to who she really is (with the help of one Jericho Barrons - love it) and battle the Unseelie-filled streets of Dublin.  Mac is faced with many decisions in this book and is always confused about who she should trust - Barrons, V'lane, the other Sidhe-seers, and even herself.  This story ends with Mac wishing she had never come back to herself and making some extreme choices in order to preserve her own sanity. 

Such a great book - so many surprises!  This one left a lot more questions for the reader - how is she going to continue, who is telling her the truth - does anyone ever tell her the truth??  Couldn't wait to see how Moning was going to end the series!

Shadowfever - the epic conclusion to the Fever Series.  This one begins with Mac making a very scary choice and aligning with some of her enemies.  She comes to her senses (with the help of the Sinsar Dubh surprisingly) and goes back with her former allies when some circumstances change.  Throughout this book Mac is questioning who she really is and what her true history could be.  Did she have parents?  Is she evil?  Is she even human?  All is answered and the ending is quite shocking - definitely didn't see this one coming!  All in all, a great series!  Had fun reading it on my Ipad which I haven't done before :)

Looking forward to my next book!  This one is going to be a re-read because I got the second book to the series recently, but can't remember enough of the first book to not re-read.  Good thing I liked it the first time around!

Fever Series - Book 3

These books are really fast, fun reads!  I liked this book much better than the first 2.  I think I was right in saying that the author's writing was going to change as the main character does - Mac is having to grow up fast and she definitely does in this book.  The third book in this series is called, "Faefever".  This book begins where Darkfever left off...with Mac lying in a puddle because she has come very close to the evil Sinsar Dubh.  It is here that she finally understands how it is traveling around the city and how it actually looks.

After recovering from her encounter with the Sinsar Dubh, Inspector Jayne drops in at the bookstore looking for more answers about Dark Zones, etc, but Mac shrugs him off and tells him he would be better off not knowing anything that could get him killed.  Unfortunately for Inspector Jayne, Mac sees Barrons do something later that night that causes her to change her mind about bringing in more people to help her.  She invites Inspector Jayne over for "tea" and some answers the next day - what she doesn't tell him is that she is going to feed him Unseelie and make him see what is really in the city!  She also strikes a deal with him to help her find the Sinsar Dubh.

After meeting with Jayne, Mac calls up Christian MacKeltar where they discuss what has been going on, etc. and Christian asks Mac if she can convince Barrons to help them with a ritual on Halloween night (the night that all of the walls between the Fae and Humans will come crashing down if they don't succeed).  She agrees and does end up getting Barrons to agree as well.

Mac also finds the secret headquarters of the Sidhe-seers and confronts their leader with V'lane at her side.  She wants to show them what she is capable of and to try to convince them that she can help, but things don't quite go her way.

Many more things happen in this book, but I will skip to the end right now.  Halloween comes and with it all hell breaks loose!  The barriers between the Fae world and the Human world collapse and all of the Unseelie are released into the Human world.  People are dieing everywhere and Mac is forced to hide in a church until morning (she can't get to any of her protectors).  In the morning she comes out of her hiding place and is ambushed by the Lord Master and the Unseelie Princes who force themselves on her, making her Pri-ya (a human addicted to Fae sex).

This book was really intense and I couldn't have seen that ending coming at all - what a shock!  I have no idea how Mac is going to come back from this one and am really excited to see how it all unfolds :)