Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare: A Review

I am not a good person to review this book. Oh sure I have opinions, (plenty!) mostly positive but some negative as well, but my main point is that I'm not likely to be objective when I write a review about a book like this. You see, this kind of book is right up my alley, my cup of tea, my favorite martian, etc. etc. The setting of Clockwork Prince is Victorian England, and already I'm intrigued. But it doesn't stop there. The author continues to have the wonderful audacity to include various plot elements such as vampire covens, curses, underground institutes, and vaguely metro-sexual morally gray side characters.
In short, I loved this book as well as the previous volume Clockwork Angel. A shallower book would have been content to coast on it's premise but not this one. The basic plot consists of a young girl, Tessa Gray, who has been adopted by a mysterious institute whose goal is to save mortals from the evil creatures who wish to harm them. While the setting is dark and deliciously gothic, the part of the world that applied to me the most was the warm humanity of the characters. Against the bleak and cold tones of the universe the heart and passion of its characters glow like fire. Tessa herself might appear a cliched heroine at first, claiming the hearts of most males around her, but her endearing shyness and compassion won me over. The stronger characters (for me) in the novel are the two male leads Jem and Will.
Jem is a sickly musician who adores Tessa and finds their relationship evolving throughout the novel. And, my personal favorite, Will is a hardheaded "shadowhunter" who cutting sarcasm and toxic jabs hide a wounded soul beneath. Clockwork Prince is a substantial novel at 528 pages but at least for me personally it didn't feel this length (Though I did read it on the kindle to be fair). However, as I must list some negatives I will say that certain parts of the book felt repetitious, as certain characters emotions were restated en masse. Also, the back story of the villain could have used more time to be nurtured and developed. Perhaps this final nitpick will be solved in the sequel Clockwork Princess scheduled to hit shelves November 2012.
The negativity ends here as I wish to conclude this review with the fact that I had one one my strongest emotional reactions I've ever had to a book once I completed this one. It sounds a bit ridiculous but once I finished the novel I almost felt physical pain as the sacrifice and tragedy that befell its characters. All in all, Clockwork Prince improved upon an excellent predecessor and developed its leads and expanded its world beautifully and with real heart.
I give Clockwork Prince ***** out of *****.