soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2019-01-07 09:09 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2019-01-07 09:09 pm
Clockwork Boys, and The Wonder Engine, by T. Kingfisher
These two books are really the first and second half of the same story so I’ll review them together. This is a darker story that takes place in the same world as Swordheart, though a little bit earlier in the timeline. (The aftereffects of what happens in these two books are clear in Swordheart!)
A rag-tag group of mostly-criminals is sent off on what’s probably a suicide mission to stop a war by finding out the source of the horrifying enormous destructive living automatons sent out by the opposing side of the war.
The two main viewpoint characters are a woman who mainly works as a forger, and an ex-paladin wracked with guilt who was once possessed by a demon and killed a bunch of nuns while possessed. (He’s no longer possessed, but the dead demon still lurks in the back corners of his mind.)
Also on the mission are an amoral assassin and a 19 year old misogynistic scholar-monk. Eventually they get a gnole too.
I didn’t love this book as much as some of Ursula Vernon’s writings, but I still really enjoyed it - even a book that’s not really my thing is a good time when it’s Vernon writing it. (The kind of book that has an assassin as a major character is just really unlikely to ever do it for me. Also I don't have paladin feelings, and this book was written in direct response to Vernon's frustrations with how paladins are usually portrayed, so.)
But the book does have fascinating worldbuilding, interesting characters, the usual Ursula Vernon delights. I was particularly interested in gnole culture, and in Learned Edmund’s character development!
I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance aspect of this duology, idk. It just didn’t quite work for me. Probably because I lack the aforementioned paladin feelings. But it wasn’t as major an element as in Swordheart so it was fine.
Overall a worthwhile read.
A rag-tag group of mostly-criminals is sent off on what’s probably a suicide mission to stop a war by finding out the source of the horrifying enormous destructive living automatons sent out by the opposing side of the war.
The two main viewpoint characters are a woman who mainly works as a forger, and an ex-paladin wracked with guilt who was once possessed by a demon and killed a bunch of nuns while possessed. (He’s no longer possessed, but the dead demon still lurks in the back corners of his mind.)
Also on the mission are an amoral assassin and a 19 year old misogynistic scholar-monk. Eventually they get a gnole too.
I didn’t love this book as much as some of Ursula Vernon’s writings, but I still really enjoyed it - even a book that’s not really my thing is a good time when it’s Vernon writing it. (The kind of book that has an assassin as a major character is just really unlikely to ever do it for me. Also I don't have paladin feelings, and this book was written in direct response to Vernon's frustrations with how paladins are usually portrayed, so.)
But the book does have fascinating worldbuilding, interesting characters, the usual Ursula Vernon delights. I was particularly interested in gnole culture, and in Learned Edmund’s character development!
I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance aspect of this duology, idk. It just didn’t quite work for me. Probably because I lack the aforementioned paladin feelings. But it wasn’t as major an element as in Swordheart so it was fine.
Overall a worthwhile read.