Clockwork Prince

Judul : Clockwork Prince (Clockwork Angel #1)

Penulis : Cassandra Clare

Tebal : 512 halaman

Penerbit : Walker Books

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?

As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

Review:

Akhirnya saya kembali bertemu dengan Tessa, Jem, dan Will. Buku ini lebih banyak mengupas kejadian sehari-hari di Institut sehingga plotnya agak lambat dibanding buku pertamanya. Awalnya, saya merasa Cassandra Clare terlalu tidak fokus dan kebanyakan basa-basi. Tapi... ternyata penulis sengaja ingin menunjukkan interaksi akrab antara Tessa, Jem, dan Will untuk dihancurkan di akhir buku. 

Hahaha... Saya suka gayamu, Cassandra Clare. Saya sedang butuh dosis cerita yang bikin sakit hati. Saya lagi bosan dengan cerita-cerita bahagia. Dan saya tidak salah memilih buku ini. 

Jadi, ceritanya berputar di sekitar misteri keberadaan Magister yang masih ingin menculik Tessa. Penyelidikan mereka menjurus pada Benedict Lightwood yang ternyata senang mengadakan pesta yang berhubungan dengan demon. Sementara itu, Will secara diam-diam menemui Magnus Bane. Ia sedang bersikap kejam dan menjauhi Tessa setelah bersikap kurang ajar di akhir buku pertama.  Dia membutuhkan Magnus karena dia ingin menemukan cara untuk menghilangkan kutukan yang pernah diberikan demon padanya sewaktu dia masih kecil: Bahwa semua orang yang menyayanginya pasti mati.

Saya tidak begitu terkejut soal rahasia Will yang membuatnya bersikap menyebalkan pada siapapun. Saya sudah punya insting ke arah sana. Tapi entah kenapa saya belum merasa simpati dengan Will begitu tahu soal itu. Saya lebih kasihan pada Jem yang detik waktunya semakin berkurang. Dan dia jatuh cinta pada Tessa tanpa tahu kalau Will juga mencintai gadis itu. Tessa sendiri? Dia masih belum move on dari Will, tapi Jem perlahan-lahan berhasil mengambil hatinya.

Di sisi lain, Jessamine bersikap semakin aneh. Dia sering keluar malam-malam sendirian. Ternyata dia diam-diam bertemu dengan Nate, kakak Tessa. Mereka sudah menikah pula. Pengkhianatan Jessamine itu membuat Clave semakin meragukan kemampuan Charlotte dalam memimpin London Institute. 

Sampai adegan Tessa berhadapan dengan Nate, saya masih menganggap cerita di buku ini biasa saja. Bahkan sedikit membosankan. Tapi lalu Jem melamar Tessa.

“You speak of sacrifice, but it is not my sacrifice I offer. It is yours I ask of you," he went on. "I can offer you my life, but it is a short life; I can offer you my heart, though I have no idea how many more beats it shall sustain. But I love you enough to hope that you will not care that I am being selfish in trying to make the rest of my life - whatever length - happy, by spending it with you. I want to be married to you, Tessa. I want it more than I have ever wanted anything else in my life." He looked up at her through the veil of silvery hair that fell over his eyes. "That is," he said shyly, "if you love me, too.” 

Will tidak tahu soal lamaran itu. Dia juga tidak tahu kalau Tessa sudah menerima Jem. Dia sedang bahagia karena dia berhasil memecahkan misteri kutukannya. Ckckck... Sial sekali kau, Will. Semua aksi meninggalkan keluarga dan sikap brengsekmu itu sia-sia. Dengan bersemangat, dia kembali ke Institut untuk bertemu Tessa dan mengungkapkan seluruh perasaannya.

“We live and breathe words. .... It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them. Reading your words, what you wrote, how you were lonely sometimes and afraid, but always brave; the way you saw the world, its colors and textures and sounds, I felt--I felt the way you thought, hoped, felt, dreamt. I felt I was dreaming and thinking and feeling with you. I dreamed what you dreamed, wanted what you wanted--and then I realized that truly I just wanted you.”  (Saya rasa semua pembaca buku dan penulis bakal jatuh cinta dengan Will. Karena menurut saya, ini adalah ungkapan perasaan paling bagus dan mengena ke dalam jiwa seorang penggemar buku)

Wow. Bom sudah jatuh. Saya tidak menyangka sama sekali. Saya mulai merasa kasihan pada Will saat Tessa dengan dingin memberi tahu soal pertunangannya dengan Jem. Tessa tidak ingin Will tahu kalau seandainya Will jujur dari awal, Tessa bakal menerimanya. Bahwa dia juga mencintai Will. Toh, untuk apa? Mereka berdua tidak mungkin mengecewakan Jem yang hidupnya tidak mungkin lama lagi. Jleb! Saya nangis di adegan ini. Tessa yang menyembunyikan air matanya, Will yang rapuh dengan ekspresi luka yang terekspos di wajahnya secara terbuka, dan Jem yang sama sekali tidak tahu apa-apa. 

Saya tidak tahu bagaimana cara Cassandra Clare mengakhiri cerita ini di buku ketiga. Saya bahkan tidak bisa memihak Will ataupun Jem. Dua-duanya sama-sama kasihan. Saya juga cukup respek pada Tessa yang bertekad menyembunyikan isi hatinya demi kebahagiaan serta persahabatan Jem dan Will.

“You haven't broken his heart yet, have you?"
"No," Tessa said. Just torn my own in two. "I haven't broken his heart at all.” 

Yah, saya sudah dapat spoiler sih dari buku ke-6 The Mortal Instruments. Saya tahu Jem bakal jadi Silent Brother. Tapi saya masih penasaran.

Dan saya tambahkan surat yang ditulis Will untuk Tessa. 

“Tess, Tess, Tessa.

Was there ever a more beautiful sound than your name? To speak it aloud makes my heart ring like a bell. Strange to imagine that, isn’t it – a heart ringing – but when you touch me that is what it is like: as if my heart is ringing in my chest and the sound shivers down my veins and splinters my bones with joy.

Why have I written these words in this book? Because of you. You taught me to love this book where I had scorned it. When I read it for the second time, with an open mind and heart, I felt the most complete despair and envy of Sydney Carton. Yes, Sydney, for even if he had no hope that the woman he loved would love him, at least he could tell her of his love. At least he could do something to prove his passion, even if that thing was to die.

I would have chosen death for a chance to tell you the truth, Tessa, if I could have been assured that death would be my own. And that is why I envied Sydney, for he was free.

And now at last I am free, and I can finally tell you, without fear of danger to you, all that I feel in my heart.

You are not the last dream of my soul.

You are the first dream, the only dream I ever was unable to stop myself from dreaming. You are the first dream of my soul, and from that dream I hope will come all other dreams, a lifetime’s worth.

With hope at least,
Will Herondale” (bah, keren banget bahasanya... beautiful!)

Oh, ya. Buku ini banyak membahas soal Sydney Carton dari The Tale of Two Cities-nya Charles Dickens. Kebetulan buku itu adalah karya Charles Dickens yang paling saya suka. Sepertinya Cassandra Clare menyukai tokoh Sydney yang tragis itu. Hehe...

Cassandra Clare, saya salut!

5/5