Clockwork Princess

Clockwork Princess is the third and final novel in The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} It describes the adventures of Tessa Gray leading up to her final battle. Although the novel is written in third person, it is from the protagonist's perspective.

Plot

Aloysius Starkweather, the Shadowhunter head of the York Institute, oversees the Marking of his fearful granddaughter, Adele, for her first Rune in 1847. However, Aloysius realizes too late that she could not withstand it. In 1873, Charlotte Branwell, head of the London Institute, introduces Will Herondale to Jem Carstairs, a sickly Shadowhunter from the Shanghai Institute, the former quickly agreeing to study shooting with him.

In 1878, Tessa Gray is preparing her upcoming wedding with Jem when Gabriel Lightwood arrives to tell the London Institute about his father, Benedict's transformation into a demonic worm. Tessa, Will, Jem, Sophie Collins, Henry Branwell, Cecily Herondale, and Gabriel and Gideon Lightwood proceed to the Lightwood residence in Chiswick where Gabriel delivers the killing blow to his father. Will confers with Tessa and says that someone has bought the entire stock of yin fen in London. This makes Jem more and more weak.The two try to ask Magnus Bane for the medicine to no avail, though Magnus gives them a pendant that alerts to a demon's presence. The Institute receives a letter from Axel Mortmain, revealing the person behind the purchase as him, and offers them the yin fen in exchange for Tessa, which Jem vehemently opposes. Tessa and Jem agree to shift their wedding to the next day, the day when Jessie Lovelace is delivered back to the Institute after her trial. A carriage with automatons attacks the Institute, kidnaps Tessa, and mortally wounds Jessie, who talks about "Idris" to Will before she dies. Cecily realizes that what she said was that Mortmain is hiding in Cadair Idris, a mountain in Wales. Will goes to rescue Tessa alone, following Jem's tip after the latter learns of the former's love for her.

In the meantime, Consul Josiah Wayland is trying to prevent Charlotte from succeeding him by blackmailing Gideon and Gabriel to spy on Charlotte, but they confirm their loyalty to Charlotte. Aloysius, who interrogates a faerie for information about Adele, who was switched by the faeries, learns that Adele was Elizabeth Gray, Tessa's mother, meaning that Tessa is his half-Nephilim great-granddaughter. Wayland calls an emergency "meeting", a cover-up to prevent the Shadowhunters from assisting Charlotte to confront Mortmain. Aloysius, having tipped Charlotte to inform Tessa of his discovery, realizes that she was right just as automatons sent by Mortain attack the Clave and murder the Shadowhunters, including Aloysius and Wayland.

Meanwhile, Will sees that his parabatai Rune is bleeding, meaning that he is no longer linked to Jem. Drawing into conclusion that Jem has died, Will resumes to Cadair Idris but is trapped with Tessa by a barrier concocted by Mortmain. Confessing to Tessa about Jem's fate and his own love for her, the two have sex and are found by Magnus, who alongside Charlotte, Henry, Sophie, Gideon, Gabriel, Cecily, and the Silent Brothers are mounting an attack on Mortmain. To his surpise, Will finds out that instead of dying, Jem is turned into a Silent Brother: Brother Zachariah. Mortmain reveals that he is the one who had "made" Tessa by masterminding the switching between Adele Starkweather and Elizabeth Moore and then disguising a Greater Demon as Richard Gray to conceive Tessa with her mother. To protect herself, Tessa Changes into the angel Ithuriel, whose spirit kills Mortmain.

Tessa and Will bid their farewell to Jem, now as a Silent Brother is unable to marry Tessa or even associating closely with her and Will. Tessa reveals about what happens to her and her allies afterward: she and Will marry and have two children; Sophie (now a Shadowhunter after her Ascension) and Gideon as well as Cecily and Gabriel also marry and have three children each; and Charlotte succeeds Wayland as Consul, and, taking her maiden name, Fairchild, have two children with Henry. Will dies of old age in 1937 with his friends and family on his side, leaving Tessa to travel with Magnus until they separate during World War II. In 2008, Tessa reunites with Jem, now a mortal, at the Blackfriars Bridge, and asks him to travel the world with her.

Characters

• Tessa Gray – A 16-year-old warlock who becomes involved in a plot of Axel Mortmain and his army of clockwork automatons following her move to London from New York City. She has the ability to Change into anyone after holding one of their possessions. It is revealed in this book that she is the daughter of a Nephilim in addition to a Greater Demon, the only one in existence, her mother, Elizabeth Gray, also known as Adele Starkweather, being the granddaughter of Shadowhunter Aloysius Starkweather.
• Will Herondale – A 17-year old Welsh Shadowhunter of the London Institute. He is in love with Tessa, but prefers to let her marry his parabatai, Jem Carstairs.
• Jem Carstairs – A sickly half-Chinese, half-English Shadowhunter transfer from the Shanghai Institute. His addiction to yin fen, which is slowly killing him, is one of the book's subplots. Following his marriage proposal to Tessa in the previous book, he is currently waiting for their wedding in December 1878.
• Sophie Collins – A mundane maid of London Institute and Tessa's close friend. Despite being mundane, she nevertheless trains in the Shadowhunter arts and becomes close to Gideon Lightwood.
• Charlotte Branwell – The head of the London Institute and a mother figure to its inhabitants, including Tessa, Will, Jem, and Sophie. She is currently pregnant with her first son.
• Henry Branwell – Charlotte's brilliant husband who works as an inventor for the London Institute.
• Magnus Bane – A Dutch-Indonesian warlock whom the Shadowhunters frequently seek for his help.
• Cecily Herondale – Will's younger sister and a Shadowhunter novice. She is fearless and adapts quickly to the Shadowhunter environment, much to Will's disapproval.
• Gideon Lightwood – The eldest child of Benedict, he disowns his father after his alliance with Mortmain was revealed in the previous book and sides with the London Institute. He is in love with Sophie.
• Gabriel Lightwood – Gideon's younger brother who sides with his father at least until the latter's transformation into a demon worm, whom he kills. He becomes close to Cecily Herondale throughout the book.
• Axel Mortmain – The book's main antagonist, Mortmain is a warlock who plans to eliminate all Shadowhunters and replace them with half-Nephilim, half-Greater Demon warlocks, just like Tessa.
• Aloysius Starkweather – A grumpy Shadowhunter and leader of the York Institute whose granddaughter, Adele, was switched by the faeries. The book reveals that Tessa is his great-granddaughter, being the child of Adele (known for most of the series as Elizabeth Gray).
• Josiah Wayland – The current Consul who detests Charlotte Branwell and tries to do anything to stop her from succeeding him.
• Woolsey Scott – The werewolf leader of the London werewolf clan and the brother of the late Ralf Scott, a werewolf casualty of Alexei de Quincey. He is involved in a brief romance with Magnus Bane following his breakup with Camille Belcourt.
• Bridget Daly – A former cook of the Dublin Institute who was transferred to the London Institute to replace the deceased Agatha in the previous book. She is terribly morbid and loves to sing Irish folk ballads about death and heartbreak, which drives the whole Institute crazy.
• Cyril Tanner – The mundane carriage driver of the London Institute, replacing his late brother, Thomas, whom he greatly resembles in appearance, which startles the Institute inhabitants when he first took the job. He is generally more open and confident than his brother.
• Jessamine Lovelace – A resident of London Institute who detests the Shadowhunter life, despite being a Shadowhunter herself. After her trial for supporting Nate Gray in the previous book, she is sent back to the London Institute but is killed shortly after. Her spirit became the guardian of the London Institute.
• Tatiana Lightwood – Gideon and Gabriel's younger sister and the most loyal of the Lightwood siblings towards their father, Benedict, despite his transformation into a demonic worm.

References