Series: Clocktaur War
Genre: Fantasy
Series Rating: 4.0/5.0
Clockwork Boys Synopsis:
A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It’s not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher’s new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager’s city.
If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.
The Wonder Engine Synopsis:
Pull three people out of prison–a disgraced paladin, a convicted forger, and a heartless assassin. Give them weapons, carnivorous tattoos, and each other. Point them at the enemy.
What could possibly go wrong?
In the sequel to CLOCKWORK BOYS, Slate, Brenner, Caliban and Learned Edmund have arrived in Anuket City, the source of the mysterious Clockwork Boys. But the secrets they’re keeping could well destroy them, before the city even gets the chance…
Geez guys, I am embarrassingly behind on non review copy reviews! I literally read these 2 months ago so I’m doing a combined review of the duology.
The Clocktaur War books were just darn interesting! The main trio of characters are a forger (Slate), an assassin (Brenner), and a paladin (Caliban) who was possessed by a demon and murdered a bunch of nuns. Unforgettable! And surprisingly, they were quite a lovable trio even if the sexual tension was at times unbearable. There’s also a scholar named Learned Edmund who was raised with a horridly misogynistic view of women, but steadily learns he was incorrect.
Our lovely quarter of quirky characters are basically pegged for a suicide mission to Anuket City to try and stop this horrible army of clockwork creatures making war on the lands. They must find out who is creating them (or how) and stop them at any cost. The reward is a full pardon for their crimes and the insurance is an unpleasant tattoo that will start eating the host if they endanger the mission.
During the course of the two books they fight off a possessed deer-humanoid, survive the terror of Caliban’s guttural demon-speak whilst sleeping, survive imprisonment by old enemies, and pretend to be corpses. It was spectacularly adventuresome, had a number of really hilarious moments, a few moving ones, and even a bit of a tearjerker. Ultimately, the duology was pretty solid but won’t be on my “Best Of” list for the year. However, it’s ensured that I’ll be picking up even more T. Kingfisher books in the future because I love her creativity and characters!
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