Clockwork Boys
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4.4 • 137 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
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.
Customer Reviews
Perfectly servicable but didn’t hit the spot for me
T. Kingfisher has enough cred as an author with me that I will give anything she writes a try. But it’s not reasonable to expect that any one author will hit your target every single time. This is a perfectly good story, excellently written, with engaging characters. It just didn’t hit my personal sweet spots in terms of story and characters. Your experience will most likely be different.
First Book in the Clocktaur War Duology
“Clockwork Boys” is another heartwarming fantasy novel by T. Kingfisher, which is the pseudonym Ursula Vernon uses for her works for adults. It is the first novel in the Clocktaur War Duology which takes place in a medieval alternate world that features magic, knights, and various gods. Her Saint of Steel Series also occurs in this same shared world, but they appear independent of the Clocktaur War Duology.
This novel begins with a woman known as Slate, who is in fact a master forger. She has run afoul of the law, and is now being sent on a dangerous, probably suicidal mission. She has already recruited an assassin, and begins looking through the dungeons of the city for more support. She selects Caliban, a disgraced Paladin, who murdered a number of helpless members of his order when he became possessed by a demon. He wasn’t executed after his exorcism, because it was clearly the work of the demon. They are joined by a young misogynistic scholar, who may be able to help gain intelligence on the monstrous Clockwork Boys. These magical monsters are like animated siege engines, and are causing havoc in the countryside. If they survive long enough, they are to infiltrate Anuket City, the origin of these horrors, and discover how they are created…
Once again, Ms. Veron has written a fantasy that has many elements. Certainly, there are are some horrific things going on in this story, but it is also a romance, and a work of high fantasy. It’s a overall uplifting novel, which has warm characters, dry humor, and a positive outlook. This novel is only the first half of the story which is continued in “The Wonder Engine.” It describes the origin of the band, and its travels through the wilderness to Anuket City.
Very good
This is probably the most real work of fantasy I've ever read.