Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Love and lies can corrupt even the purest heart... In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, while her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will - the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers to who she is and what she was born to do? As their search for the truth leads the three friends into peril, Tessa's heart is increasingly torn, especially when one of their own betrays them.

Warning: this review may contain spoilers for the first book.

I was so looking forward to carrying on with this series, to finding out what Tessa was and why the Magister wanted her, knowing more about the Shadowhunters and their heritage and of course what the deal was with Will. Clare can tell one heck of a story, winding different character stories together and pulling them all together all the while keeping up a fast pace to the overall plot. I absolutely adore Clare's writing style, it is almost lyrical in its mimicked-Victorian descriptions which was incredible to read.

We finally found out Will's secret, the reason he's the way he is and while I'm not going to ruin the secret, can I just say it completely broke my heart? Jem came out of his shell too, sometimes showing a lighter side as well as his strength. We got more from well-loved characters as well as some new ones. I especially loved Woolsey Scott, the London werewolf pack leader and the return of Magnus Bane. The wide variety of characters and their individual development was very well done and even with so many, I never felt lost. 

Onto the main storyline, the threat of Mortmain looms closer but there was no sign of the great evil one, instead we learned more about his motives and his minions. Speaking of, Nate makes a comeback. He was truly weasel-like in his actions and every time he opened his mouth, my skin crawled. And the betrayal was quite a shock as well; it was a horrible thought that anyone would hurt the Shadowhunters' cause but one of their own did, and it hurt. 

This might have been the middle book in the trilogy, it never felt like a filler. The story kept moving at a fast pace, and Clare definitely kept me in suspense! I quickly fell in love with this story and its characters and the second book didn't change that feeling. 

Published 1st May 2013 by Walker Books.