Reviews with content warning for Blood - Clockwork Princess

Of the three books in this trilogy, this was the one that brought out the most emotion in me, in both a good and bad way. On one hand, I found the plot a bit more exciting as it came to a conclusion, and the relationships had me very invested even though I ultimately knew how it ended. On the other hand, the things that bothered me REALLY bothered me, and leave me slightly disappointed with the overall arc of the story.

considering that this book came out in the prime of YA love triangles, this is definitely a unique take on the trope. when you think about what was popular back then, twilight and hunger games and such, most love triangles were two polar opposite males aggressively hating each other and fighting to prove that their love for the girl was superior.

but THIS book, I don't think I've ever seen a love triangle done this way (that didn't end in polyamory anyway, since cassandra clare clearly doesn't love us). Having both boys deeply love each other, Tessa genuinely loving both of them, and the height of the love triangle conflict simply being no one wanting to hurt anyone is genuinely very complex and interesting for this trope. It creates this heartbreaking bittersweetness to the entire dynamic, and makes me want to root for every angle of this threeway to work out.

Which, again, wasn't what it was like 10-15 years ago. Not making the reader fight to pick a side, having both boys be genuinely good options AND be good to each other is a whole new concept and it makes me wonder how much of the popularity of this dynamic lead to the rise in poly ship popularity today.

MUCH TO THINK ABOUT.

Now all of that being said, there were some CHOICES made in this book that were either very out of character or didn't remotely serve the story, and I very much disliked them.

Spoiler

GLARINGLY obvious number 1 - Will and Tessa having sex after Jem dies. VERY out of character decision for them. I don't care if it's their last chance, I don't care if they think they're going to die, neither Will NOR Tessa would ever do anything like that when Jem quite literally just died *and* Tessa only just found out about it a handful of hours before hand. It's a betrayal of their characters. They have spent this entire book struggling to balance their love for each other with their love for Jem, and to have him "die" and IMMEDIATELY have them jump in bed together is just infuriatingly awful.

And number 2 - killing Jessamine for no apparent reason was such a poor decision. I understand bringing her back to the institute was the catalyst in Tessa being taken by Mortmain, but Jessamine didn't need to DIE, it didn't serve any purpose in the story. Why is she a disposable piece after being a main character for the rest of the series? make it make sense.

All in all I found this thoroughly entertaining and emotional. It's fun to see how these books affected me as an adult, and revisiting them was a lot more enjoyable than I might have assumed.

Content Warnings

the_othersidewv's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

HERONGRAYSTAIRS BEST TRIÁNGULO AMOROSO
sin la conexión de Will y Jem no hubiese sido lo mismo btw los amo a los dos 🙏🏼🙏🏼
El desarrollo dado a los personajes secundarios en este libro me sorprendió mucho, me tenía casi gritando a las 3 am.
El epílogo es algo que no voy a superar, en unos años lo volveré a leer y me seguirá doliendo justo como la primera vez...

Content Warnings