Tuesday, October 22, 2013

[Infernal Readalong] Clockwork Angel Week 3: Chapter 11 - Chapter 13

Week 2: Chapter 6 - Chapter 8

Hey quirks! As you may remember from this post, I'm participating in a readalong of Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices! We are continuing to read Clockwork Angel through October. It's still not too late to join us, whether you've never read the series or are a TID old hat! Check out our reading schedule here. [Also, sorry I'm a bit late with this. Had a big book trip and company last week and got behind on the blogging. ^_^]

In my recap posts there is a high chance of  SPOILERS. If you do not want to be spoiled on anything, I suggest reading the listed chapters before reading this post or avoiding these posts if you haven't read the book.

Chapter 11
One of the things that I have consistently enjoyed in Cassandra Clare's books is her fight scenes. This one begins with Tessa realizing the prisoner is Nate, and then screaming at Will to use Henry's invention to call the Shadowhunters. Will does so, vampires already coming at him, but the invention doesn't work properly and every flame in the room shoots up and things and vampires catch fire. Magnus Bane tries to keep Tessa from reentering the room, but she gets away from him. Tessa reaches Will to tell him that the it is Nate on the stage and the Shadowhunters break their way into the room. De Quincey tries to talk himself out of the fight, saying the mundane (Nate) also broke covenant law, (but the Law does not govern mundanes), but when he realizes he won't be able to, the fighting really gets going. The fighting goes on and on all around, but Tessa is able to make it Nate on the stage. Then Tessa is attacked by de Quincey, who calls her names because he still thinks she is Camille, and when Tessa goes to respond, it is Camille who speaks. Then de Quincey is about to kill her when Will steps in, and the two fight. Will is about to be killed by de Quincey, so Will bites the vampire, which makes him let go. Tessa is able to shoot de Quincey in the shoulder, but he flees and gets away.

When the fight is over, Henry gets Nate out of the chair. All the vampires, minus de Quincey, are dead, along with only two Shadowhunters. They try to clean Nate up a bit, but he is completely out of it, and while Tessa is seeing to him, she sees Charlotte basically yelling at Papa Lightwood (whose name is actually Benedict). Tessa also watches as the Shadowhunters do healing runes on each other. There is then a conversation about who will get back to the Institute in what carriage, and it is decided that Tessa and Nate would go with Charlotte and Henry because Nate had been drugged and bitten. So Will goes out to get in the carriage with Jem, and while he is cleaning blood off of him, he is approached by Gabriel Lightwood. They have another of their spats and Will is about to say something extremely rude but is yanked into the coach by Jem. He and Jem have a conversation on their way back home. At first they talk about Tessa, who it turns out they both think is pretty, and then it turns to Will's guilt over killing one of the human subjugates who had attacked him during the battle. Jem tries to comfort him on it. I will just have to say again that, despite Will having that wit that is funny and vicious at times which certainly draws you in, I love love love Jem. I like how cool and collected he is and how his wit is just as sharp yet he is definitely kinder than Will.

At the end of the chapter we see Tessa with Nate, Charlotte, and Henry in the first coach, and Nate comes to just long enough to ask Tessa, or Tessie, as he calls her, not to leave him. This makes Tessa upset and she tries not to cry in front of the others.

Chapter 12
Nate is put in a room much like Tessa's and Tessa sits with him, trying to ask him questions, but he is still out of it. Then Charlotte arrives with Brother Enoch, and Nate flips out at the sight of the Silent Brother. Charlotte and Brother Enoch have to convince Tessa to let them help Nate. Unlike Tessa, Brother Enoch says, Nate is completely human and could likely die without their help. So Tessa agrees and then runs out of the room. 

She is out in the hallway and hits the wall to clear her head, and Jem sees her and they have a short conversation about Nate's humanity and the Silent Brothers. Then Charlotte appears, saying Brother Enoch has helped Nate a lot but there is still a lot to do, so she suggests the Tessa goes to bed, and then asks to talk to Jem. As Tessa is on her way to her room, she runs into Sophie, who has been trying to get Will to take his medicine but is having no luck. Tessa says she will try and heads up to the attic where Will is. She hears Will say the name Cecily (and I think that might be Gabriel Lightwood's sister, but I don't know yet) and then she enters the room. Tessa doesn't really understand what the medicine, which is actually holy water, is for, so Will explains that because he ingested vampire blood, he has to drink the holy water to burn the demon disease out of him.

They then get into a pretty intense conversation, Tessa asking why Will makes fun of everything but never laughs, and what he cares about, and he asks her what she wants from him. They end up kissing, and when they break apart Will says, "God in Heaven, what was that?" which makes me think two things are possible: either there was some kind of shock in their kiss that relates to what Tessa is, or Will actually felt a pang of love or something like that. Either way, Will makes a mess of things by telling Tessa to leave, that he can't do this, which I think has something to do with Jem. Will actually begs her to leave, which makes Tessa hurt and confused.

The chapter ends with Tessa back in her room, tired and crying, pondering her very first kiss and how it was nothing she expected it to be.

Chapter 13
When Tessa wakes up, Sophie is in her room and tells Tessa that she slept most of the day away. They get into a discussion about Will. Tessa still does not understand why Sophie hates Will, but we still don't find that out. All Sophie ends up saying is that there is something dark in Will, something twisted and rotten, some secret that is eating him up. Then Tessa goes to check on her brother and finds Jessamine reading to him. It is pretty clear what Jessamine is after - maybe, if Nate finds her at his sickbed taking care of him, he, a mundane, will fall in love with her and take her away from the Shadowhunter world. Tessa says that Nate doesn't have any money, and Jessamine responds that she has money enough for them both. I think Tessa feels a little slighted because Jessamine has replaced Tessa in her plan with Nate. Tessa leaves to find the others.

She comes upon them talking in a room and is about to enter when she overhears her own name. She listens at the door, hearing Will exclaiming that they should probe Nate's brain for information, that he is nothing but a mundane, and says some insulting things about Nate. Jem, uncharacteristically angry, defends Nate. Then Will goes on to insult Henry and Charlotte and says some hurtful things. Will is about to say that if Charlotte is too sentimental to probe Nate's brain, then...but Tessa storms in, having heard enough. She goes off on the whole group, accidentaly hurting Charlotte's feelings when she meant to be hurting Will's. He is acting angry at Tessa and Tessa is outraged, especially because of what happened between them the previous night. Tessa finally tells them all to stay away from her brother and storms out.

Tessa winds up on the church steps outside, and Jem joins her. He tries to cheer her up and they end up talking about how Tessa feels about all that's happened, and he admits that Shadowhunters tend to have a very narrow view of the world. He also says Tessa is right when she says that Will didn't mean what he said about hurting Nate, and she asks if Jem is ever angry with Will. Jem says of course, but that he controls himself by going to his favorite place. The chapter ends with Jem leading Tessa away to his favorite spot in London.

My verdict so far:
I enjoyed the big fight and I really want to know who Cecily is. I'm loving the scenes with Tessa and the boys individually, and I'm kind of hope that Jessamine and Nate do become a thing. I also hope that Nate's sickness doesn't get dragged out so we can find out what he knows about de Quincey soon. Also, I was waiting for the Herondale Overblown Jerk Gene to appear, and now we've seen it.

Check back soon for recaps of Chapters 14 and 15!

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