The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare (Awesome)

I'm going to do a group mini review for The Infernal Devices series.  I loved the series so much!  To be fair, I started the series off with an incorrect idea of what it was about.  For some reason, I thought the series was basically just Magnus's backstory.  I was terribly wrong, but I loved the series all the more for its unexpected plot line!
(The reviews were all written right after I read whichever book I'm mentioning. )

CLOCKWORK ANGEL:

The cover:

To tell the truth, I'm not sure which character is on the cover.  I am about 90% sure that it's Will Herondale, but it could be a completely different character.  Above the series title, Tessa's clockwork angel flies.  

Official Description:

In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.
The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them....

My review:

I really liked Clockwork Angel.  It was such a great book.  I had forgotten how much I loved Cassandra Clare's writing.  She is truly a fantastic author.

I read the first five books in the Mortal Instruments series before I read Clockwork Angel. I would NOT suggest this to readers. Read Clockwork Angel, at least, right after City of Glass and before continuing the series. My ordering of the books caused me to be about 99% certain that I know what Will's hiding. It kind of built a sense of dramatic irony around it, instead of curiosity, which is what I am sure was intended. 

(*Note: You can actually read them in whatever order.  I still suggest the above ordering, but it turned out that I was wrong about Will's secret...)
All of this doesn't even mention how GREAT the book was. I had high hopes because Cassandra Clare is an amazingly talented writer, but I was afraid that working with different characters might not go as well. This was not the case, by any means! The storyline was completely engaging and exciting. The characters were very well written and the plot complex. All in all, a fantastic book! I am going to find (and read) the sequel as soon as I can!

CLOCKWORK PRINCE:

The cover:

This cover also shows whom I believe to be Will starting with a torch.

Official Description:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but 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 about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

My Review:

I don't think I've been as frustrated by any other book more than I was with this book. It made me want to let loose a grutal scream as many as twenty times throughout the book. (Some of those times, it actually happened.)
However, unlike the normal frustrating books, Clockwork Prince tackled the problems in the correct ways. A character would do something and the effects would be terrible, but I could find no fault with how they handled the situation. 
I LOVED this book. Thinking back on it, while the book was super fast-paced and plot driven, there was not very much that happened in regard to the villain of the story. This, surprisingly, had no effect what-so-ever on the way I enjoyed the book. 
I had a slight issue with Tessa at one point. She would be making some commentary on some event, and I could only think of one thing, "Please, please do not make this a love triangle." Then, as the book progressed it morphed more into, "She's going to make this a love triangle, isn't she?" And then, finally, "She went and make this a huge love triangle." For me, anyway, love triangles just make unnessary tension, an unneeded hatred between the guys, and disappointment in about half the readers at the end of the series. 
Besides the love triangle, I loved watching all of the character's relationships evolve and shift. They are all fully developed characters with their own habits and personalities. Together, you could never know how they would behave. 
A lot of Clockwork Prince simply tugged at my heart strings. As Will's secret was slowly revealed, I couldn't help but feel heartbroken for him. 
All in all, Clockwork Prince was a worthy sequel to Clockwork Angel, and I can't wait to read Clockwork Princess. (In fact, I couldn't and went ahead and started reading it!)

CLOCKWORK PRINCESS:

The cover:

It shows Tessa, like she always is, reading a book.  The bridge (significant with Jem!) is in the background, and she wears her clockwork angel necklace.

Official Description:

Tessa Gray should be happy—aren't all brides happy? Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.

My Review:

I imagined this series's end many times. None of them came even close to the majesty of this book. Clockwork Prince was easily the best book in the Infernal devices series, which really says something when you think of all the other great books included.

Cassandra Clare easily solved the issue of the love triangle with such elegance that I believe that all writers should take heed of.  

In a show of how much I loved all of the characters, I had to fight tears while reading the epilogue.  Thinking about epilogues, Clockwork Princess had one of the only truly good and necessary epilogues that I've ever read.  It was perfect.  This book was perfect.  This series was perfect.

Series-long Phrase:  Demon Pox!