When her aunt died leaving nothing in New York City for sixteen-year-old Tessa, she took the ticket her brother sent and traveled to London. The first odd note comes when Nate does not meet her off the ship. Instead a group of three fairly strange people hand her a note from Nate, and bring her to a dark house with even stranger inhabitants. Imprisoned while they attempted to teach her something impossible for a human to accomplish, Tessa feels as though her life has plunged into nightmare... and then things get worse. She learns she is to be given to a powerful shadowy figure known in the Downworld of London as the Magister...as his bride.

The Magister has his opponents however. A group of Shadowhunters have established the London Institute, risking their lives to rid the world of demons and protect the innocent from creatures who wish them ill. With skin tattooed with symbols of magical power, a Shadowhunter is not entirely human and dedicated to taking on the worst the world can offer.

The dark combination of Victorian machinery with the undead adds a chilling Steampunk touch to this book of fantasy, yet the brightness and complexity of the characters are what keep you reading. The heroes' failings leave them vulnerable and the evil which waits to take the Institute down hides behind the innocuous. I was engrossed from the first page and read the entire book in one sitting.

CLOCKWORK ANGEL resolves some of the issues in this part of the story while leaving lingering questions to be answered as The Infernal Devices series (which is a prequel to Clare's Mortal Instruments books) is continued with The Clockwork Prince later this year.