Clockwork Angel
By Cassandra Clare
Published by Walker Books
ISBN 978 1 4063 3034 2
Cassandra Clare, author of the best-selling The Mortal Instruments trilogy, knows she is onto a good thing; she has now made the clever move of penning a prequel series to the three novels.
The mixture of romance, Gothic horror and magic is going to be the same again, but on this occasion the time and place has changed from contemporary New York to late 19thcentury London.
The good thing about prequels is that fans don't have to wait to move on to the rest of the story if they are hooked by what they have read.
Clare's new Infernal Devices series is going to be a trio of stand-alone novels that will lead nicely onto her well-established The Mortal Instruments saga.
For Clare novices, Clockwork Angel is a thrill-a-minute, self-contained novel that will certainly have new readers panting for more of the same.
There is a lot going on in the book, with Clare hardly giving the reader time to breathe and take it all in. Setting it in Victorian London allows for the book to be packed to bursting with thrills, romance, Gothic atmosphere and more evil creatures than you can shoot a silver bullet at - or drive a stake into.