The Clockwork Princess or how can I cry during this much of a single book?

b Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: If I thought the last book was full of sad and heartwrenching, it was light, fluffy cake compared with this final book.  I think there were maybe, oh, 35 pages I read while I was not crying.  Even Magnus Bane's awesomeness could not keep the tears from falling. 

More of the past is revealed, and pretty much none of it is happy.  There are some touching redemptive sacrifices and some satisfying deaths.  There is a nicely surprising resolution to the evil plot.  Many other loose ends are tied up.  There is a happy ending, and then there is a lovely epilogue that I totally also cried through.  The epilogue is apparently tied in with the last book of the Mortal Instruments series, which is coming out next year, so I guess I will have to re-read them all again when that one comes out.  Oh, darn.  Maybe I won't get so dehydrating on the second reading . . .

When I was online trying to find out when the last Mortal Instruments book would come out, I found out that there will be a book of short stories.  Oh, Magnus Bane, you are awesome.  Finding out that you will get your own book of short stories makes me happy.  Short stories seem the right amount to showcase what makes you great without you getting on my nerves.

Also, there will be a new series with different characters from Mortal Instruments.  And there will NOT be a love triangle.  Whether that means there will not be romantic geometry is a bit unclear.  I'm looking forward to it anyway.

I've read online reviews claiming that this series isn't worth reading because it is exactly like The Mortal Instruments because it has Shadowhunters, Downworlders, and a love triangle.  Seriously, people?  Of course there are similiarities.  It's a prequel.  It's supposed to be connected to the later-in-time MI series.  And love triangles are at the dramatic heart of any number of stories through the ages. And the construction of the two triangles are very different.  The resolutions are really different, too.  I appreciate the idea that one can love two people equally, and I'm glad that particular triangle worked out eventually into a happy sort of ending.  Anyway, maybe you just need to space the readings out to not get burned out on the same author's works?

The story was compelling, the characters were interesting, there was humor and drama and a good mix of interesting elements.  I was glad it was a trilogy and that things wrapped up well in that time frame.