Mundie Moms

Monday, October 29, 2012

Mundane Monday #160: Book Review; The Infernal Devices, Clockwork Angel Manga #1

Happy Mundane Monday! We're keeping all of our followers and friends along the East Coast who are in the path of monstrous storm Sandy, in our thoughts and prayers this morning! We hope everyone stay safe. For today's post I'm sharing my thoughts on the recent release of Cassie Clare's The Infernal Devices, Clockwork Angel graphic novel, which release TOMORROW! 


By: Cassandra Clare
Illustrated by: Hyekyung Baek
Published by: Yen Books / Little Brown
To Be Released on: October 30th, 2012
Source: book from publisher to review
4.5 stars: I Really Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

A manga-adaption to the prequel of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, The Infernal Devices is the story of Tessa Gray, a sixteen-year-old American girl traveling alone to Victorian London who runs afoul of the city's sordid supernatural underworld. Rescued by the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, Tessa quickly finds herself caught up in an intrigue that may very well destroy her new friends - including the two enigmatic young men, Jem and Will, who have taken her under their wing..... -quoted from Goodreads

Infernal Device fans will enjoy this adaption of Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel. Really I should say, "Will and Jem in magna form, need I say more", and be done with my review. haha. I don't know what it is about seeing my favorite characters illustrated, but man it made me sigh over the Jem scenes and want to slap Will up side the head and tell him to just kiss Tessa already. Oh yes, wait till you read/see their kissy moments. These scenes will have you sighing all over again as will a Jem and Tessa scene. I'm a huge Will fan, but secretly I'm torn between Jem and Will. They're both such fabulous character, and after seeing them illustrated in manga form I'm even more torn over them. I don't envy Tessa and the choice she has to make in picking between the two, because I couldn't choose. 

I loved the way Will, Jem and Tessa were illustrated. Over all I enjoyed most all of the illustrations in this book. I felt like Hyekyung captured the look and feel of this book perfectly. I'll admit it took me a bit to get used to Magnus's look, but once I did I felt that his long hair fit for the time period the book is set in. I just never pictured him w/ that kind of hair style, but it ended up working for him. I was not impressed with Henry's illustration at all. His illustration is my biggest complaint with this book. I felt the rest of the cast were illustrated perfectly. Will, Tessa and Jem had that manga look I really like. I felt that Hyekyung captured the look I had excepted with them, along with Charlotte, Jessamine, Nate and the rest of the cast, but Henry's look was, I don't even know how to explain it. It was bad and didn't fit in with the rest of the cast's illustrations. At all. I'm not sure if the intent was to make Henry feel awkward, or have him stand out, or what. It didn't work for me for at all. In fact I'm surprised someone didn't catch it and have it re-drawn. Being with a cast of well illustrated characters, Henry stood out like a sore thumb, and not in a good way. 

I thought they did a good job on the scene selection for the book. Being an adaptation I know not every scene can be included, though I'm a little surprised there was no mention of A Tale of Two Cities in it. I liked how each chapter was separated, making it easier from me to know where one chapter ends and the next one begins. I enjoyed the illustrations, and I like that the first 6 pages are in color. I had hoped the rest of the book would be in color, but when you're reading Jem and Will in manga I'm not going to complain about them being in black and white or color. Oh and you know who else was in this book, Brother Enoch, and he's just as frightening looking as I had pictured him. Over all I really enjoyed this 8 chapter book. It's the perfect size to get that refresher of the events that happened during the first part of Clockwork Angel. I'm really looking forward to reading the second manga in this series! I'd definitely recommend this book to Infernal Device fans, and I wouldn't hestiate to call it a must have for ID fans. I would recommend reading the Clockwork Angel before you pick this one and read through it. 

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