Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices: Manga, Volume 1) by Cassandra Clare and Hyekyung Baek

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices: Manga, Volume 1) by Cassandra Clare and Hyekyung Baek

Goodreads Synopsis
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...

First of all, I have read the entire The Infernal Devices series and loved it. Second, I don't have reviews written for those so this will serve as a quasi-review for Clockwork Angel. I loved that book (and the series in general) and I picked up all the manga versions of The Infernal Devices series and will probably be finishing them up soon.
Most of the best parts of Clockwork Angel were all present and accounted for in this adaptation. The artwork was beautiful and I loved the way the characters were portrayed. The character designs were exactly what I pictured for them and their mannerisms were depicted in a believable way. There wasn't as much detail to the story as there was in the novel, but the artwork of the Institute and the locations were exquisitely done so I can overlook that. It had the authentic manga feel while still being very true to Cassie's originally work. It was a good mix of the two styles coming together. I think Hyekyung Baek did an excellent job capturing the emotions and depth of the characters in this story. Like giving credit where credit is due, the art was amazing. I loved the depictions of everyone and I thought it was all extremely well done.

I have a couple of complaints though and these are the reason it isn't 5 stars but only 4. Sophie's scar was supposed to be extremely unflattering and was basically a line on her face. I know it is probably difficult to draw something extremely grotesque, but it could have still been a little bit more. It seemed like it cheapened the fact that Sophie had this scar and this back story by it being a fairly insignificant scar on her face.  I know Henry was depicted as being scatterbrained and not all there in the books, but he didn't get a real face. The chibi and shojo art style worked in small dosages when there was a semi-comic relief situation, but it didn't seem right that Henry didn't get depicted in a similar manner as everyone else in this one during the more serious moment. Magnus's "Black hair and blue eyes are my favorite combination" line, which was the best part of the entire Clockwork Angel novel is not included in this. All the rest of the great lines are present but ... I missed this one. I wasn't a fan of it not being included. But I get it. Things need to be cut, etc. but. I was a little disappointed. There were some other little things that weren't mentioned in the manga that were in the novel, but, again, I understand that things had to be cut in order to ensure the entire story was told and they weren't monumental to the plot.

Overall: 4/5 stars. I loved the story but I think I am even more of a fan of it now!