Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

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When I read, I ask a LOT of questions. Here’s some stuff I searched or wondered about while reading book Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare.

From my review:

This is how a series should end.  You should be glued to the pages and so invested about what is going to happen next to these characters.  There should be a twist that shocks you so much you feel like whacking your sleeping husband with your kindle so you have SOMEONE to tell at 3 a.m. even if he has no idea what you are talking about.  There should also be some melodrama that makes you roll your eyes but you care about the characters so much that you keep reading anyway.  And a little cheesiness never killed anyone (In fact, it tastes darn good on bittersweet sometimes)… Read More

Spoiler Questions

I had a few things I want to discuss with you that spoil the book, so skip this section if you don’t want to be spoiled!

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At the end of the book, the angel in Tessa’s necklace leaves a star mark on her shoulder.  Don’t Jace and Clary have star marks on their shoulder like Tessa does?? I think they do but it’s been a while since I read The Mortal Instruments.

In Clockwork Prince, Will talked a lot about his admiration of Sydney but I think that Jem acutally ended up being Sydney in away so that Will and Tessa could be together.  What do you think?

Bath Chair

Henry ends up needing a way to get around and he builds a sort of wheel-chair that he describes like this:

“…like a sort of Bath chair but better, with self-propelling wheels and all manner of other accoutrements.”

-Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess (p. 469)

Of course I wanted to know what it looked like.  I can totally see Henry motorizing this.

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Favorite Quotes

Hail and farewell. He had not given much thought to the words before, had never thought about why they were not just a farewell but also a greeting. Every meeting led to a parting, and so it would, as long as life was mortal. In every meeting there was some of the sorrow of parting, but in every parting there was some of the joy of meeting as well.

-Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess (p. 507)

“Have you been reading to Henry, Will?”

“Yes, some dreadful thing, all full of poetry,” Henry [said].

-Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess (p. 468).

This poem shows up in the narrative and it is so beautiful.  I found it interesting that it makes life sound more like death.

Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep—

He hath awakened from the dream of life—

’Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep

With phantoms an unprofitable strife,

And in mad trance, strike with our spirit’s knife

Invulnerable nothings.—We decay

Like corpses in a charnel; fear and grief

Convulse us and consume us day by day,

And cold hopes swarm like worms within our living clay.

— Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats”

Places

Cadair Idris

He remembered climbing Cadair Idris with his father, years ago. There were many legends about the mountain: that it had been a chair for a giant, who had sat upon it and regarded the stars; that King Arthur and his knights slept beneath the hill, waiting for the time when Britain would awake and need them again; that anyone who spent the night on the mountainside would awake a poet or a madman.

-Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess (p. 401)

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This is gorgeous. There’s even a lake in real life!!! I want to visit and become a poet/madman (they’re probably the same thing).

Books Mentioned

All links take you to Goodreads in case you want to build your TBR from Tessa’s taste in books

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

Sermons to Young Women by James Fordyce

I couldn’t find this book on Goodreads. But I did find out that this book is also mentioned in Pride and Prejudice.  Mr. Collins tries to read it to the Bennet girls but Lydia interrupts him and then just has him stop. I found that SO funny (Source)

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (I’ve read this and it’s good!)

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Also read this! It’s soooo good!)

Angels

Ithuriel is an important angel in Clockwork Princess (I won’t say more than that!) Ithuriel is an angel also mentioned in Paradise Lost.  He helps Gabriel try and find Satan in the Garden of Eden.  I found that kind of interesting considering his role in Clockwork Princess. (Source)

Ithuriel also appears again in the Mortal Instrument Series.  Click here to read about who he is on the Shadowhunter wiki.

Paintings

Alma-Tadema

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Birth of Venus

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Gabriel rolled his eyes as his brother took firm hold of his elbow and propelled him into what was clearly the grand salon— a massive room whose ceiling was painted with reproductions of the Italian Great Masters, including Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, now rather smoke-stained and the worse for wear.

-Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess (p. 142).

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About Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old.

Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on a Jane Austen short story of the same name (and which later inspired her current pen name).

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Reached by Ally Condie

When I read, I ask a LOT of questions. Here’s some stuff I searched or wondered about while reading Reached.

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From my Review:

More poetic writing from the lovely Ally.  In the final book of the Matched trilogy, we get a lot of questions answered, like how Cassia became immune to the red tablet.  But Ally doesn’t answer everything which is what makes this book stick with me.  In fact, when she signed my book she wrote “Remember – it’s all right to wonder…” I’m still wondering about the Otherlands… Read More

Places

Through the whole series, I kept wondering where exactly the provinces were.  Well I found this awesome map from aimmyarrowshigh.

Click image for larger version

Be sure to check out the post about how they came up with the map.  It’s pure nerdy awesome.

Plants

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Sego Lily

I had to smile when Sego Lilies were mentioned in Reached because they are very Utahn. In fact, they are the state flower of this lovely state I live in.  The Mormon Pioneers ate the bulbs during hard times and they thrive in the desert.

Paintings

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Chasm of the Colorado by Thomas Moran

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Girl Fishing at San Vigilio by John Singer Sargent

Poetry

Click the links to read the full poems.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night – Dylan Thomas

Poem in October – Dylan Thomas

Crossing the Bar – Alfred Lord Tennyson

They Dropped Like Flakes – Emily Dickinson

I Did Not Reach Thee – Emily Dickinson

In Time of Pestilence, 1593 – Thomas Nashe

Books Mentioned

In the author’s note at the end of Reached, Ally says Ray Bradbury and Rita Dove are mentioned in Crossed and the other two authors were inspirations as well. I’ve listed their most well-known works here.  The title links go to Goodreads.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Thomas and Beulah by Rita Dove

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Collected Poems by Leslie Norris

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Wondering About

The personalized signature in my Reached book

My biggest question that I kept wondering about:

Where are the Otherlands? Are they over the ocean? Is it Mexico and Canada? South America?

Do you have any theories? Because I kind of think it might be Europe or something.  They would have to be extremely far away to justify no one coming back.  And Ally doesn’t seem the type of person that would be like no one came back because they ALL DIED.

About Ally Condie

Ally Condie is the author of the international bestseller MATCHED, and its sequel, CROSSED. A former English teacher (who still keeps her license current, just in case!), she lives with her husband and four children outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves reading, writing, running, and listening to her husband play guitar.

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A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont

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When I read, I ask a LOT of questions. Here’s some stuff I searched or wondered about while reading A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont.

From My Review:

As I was getting about a third of the way through the book, I started to feel like it was all very predictable.  It wasn’t veering much from the Jane Eyre story at all.  There were a lot of lines that came directly from Jane Eyre.  Just as I was about to give up, the author threw a twist in there that I did not see coming.  It was the kind of twist in a story that changes everything and gives you chills.  I was glued to the book after that.  And the story grew into so much more than a retelling…. Read More

Love the Opening Quote

…”and best of all, to open my inward ear to a tale that was never ended – a tale my imagination created, and narrated continuously; quickened with all of incident, life, fire, feeling that I desired and had not in my actual existence.” – Charlotte Brone, Jane Eyre

Characters

The creepy cousins

“My cousins were eyeing him with interest, too.  Ashley and Devin were thirteen-year-old twins who resembled the creepy sisters from the Shining movie…” – pg 8

O.o They are wearing frilly dressy and holding hands and somehow it’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen.

Emma’s Dad

“[My dad was] handsome in a Gary Cooper way, meaning he could look rugged or elegant, depending on the context.” – pg 10

This would be the rugged version… Very nice.

Mildly Famous Celebrities Mentioned

Carl Sagan

“And that’s your dad?” I said, pointing to the other photo.

She snorted at me like I was a moron.

“That’s Carl Sagan.”

“Oh.” Long, awkward silence during which I felt like a complete idiot.” – pg 24

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Charles Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author. He wrote the book Contact that was made into a movie.  That movie was killer awesome.  How cool that it was written by a real scientist?

Woody Guthrie

“Or roam the country singing songs like Woody Guthrie.” We both gave him blank stares. “Don’t tell me you don’t know who Woody Guthrie is.” – pg 40

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LOL I don’t know who Woody Guthrie is, either.  He was a famous folk singer who sang a lot about the Great Depression. His most famous song was “This Land is Your Land.”  He traveled a lot and got the nickname “Dust Bowl Troubadour.”

Nick Carraway

“[Owen] was dressed in a black tux, his hair slicked back to look like a 1920s idol, like Nick Carraway or Rudolph Valentino.” – pg 157

Nick Carraway is a character in The Great Gatsby.  This is a poster of Toby McQuire looking mighty fine as Nick in the new Gatsby movie.

Rudolph Valentino

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Rudolph Valentino is a sexy Italian actor from the 20s who died young.

Books Mentioned

Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.  According to Goodreads: “WIDELY REGARDED as the finest literary biography ever published…” I have honestly never heard of this book.  But I should give it a try, eh?  It’s only 1400 pages.

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. I definitely want to read this one.  I love Gothic romances.

Music Mentioned

“Gravity” by Embrace. Cute love song, especially in the context of the book!

And there is a fun quiz at the end of the book.  If you got lost in a book, which literary character would you be? It was fun to take. If anyone cares, I was Elizabeth Bennet

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About Eve Marie Mont

In fourth grade, she wrote her first chapter book entitled, The Only Tomboy in My Class, and she was hooked. Now Eve teaches high school English and Creative Writing in the Philadelphia suburbs and sponsors her school’s literary magazine. When not grading papers or writing, Eve can be found watching the Phillies with her husband, playing with her shelter pup, or daydreaming about her next story.

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