The Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher

[lightreads]

The Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine

4/5. Duology (or at least the story ties off neatly after two books) about a reluctant team of criminals and a disgraced sort of knight-priest and a scholar-monk teaming up to stop the spread of mechanical soldiers.

Ah, these are lovely. I hadn't read any of her adult work (this is Ursula Vernon's pseud), and I found her brisk, funny, warm style translates beautifully from her juveniles. This has heart and humor and a lot of kindness, and it is hitting that perfect spot where ugh-I-have-to-team-up-with-these-assholes turns into this-is-my-family-only-I-can-hate-them. The magic of these books is like that – it consists of ancient mystery machines that eat objects and spit out something new. The trials these people go through are like that – you're never quite sure who will be transformed, and into what.

Comments

[conuly]

Swordheart is set in the same universe, several years later, no overlap with characters. (Main male protagonist is still chock-full of self-loathing, though.)

[lightreads]

Alas, for reasons that entirely escape me, there appears to be no audio of that. It is totally baffling -- I can't think of another writer of her popularity whose every work doesn't get audio. Maybe some weird rights issue...

[niqaeli]

I suspect it's more an issue of publisher size -- iirc (and I might not, granted) she has self-pubbed a significant portion of her adult work and much of the rest has been with tiny imprints. Swordheart, particularly, seems to have published by a tiny queer publishing company in Texas that she probably came into contact with by way of the furry community.

[niqaeli]

I adored those books but wish I'd known that there is as strong a romance plot as there is before I read them. It is, mind you, well done and very enjoyable! But no one I'd seen talking about it... really mentioned the romance at all? I went into it for the worldbuilding and style, based on what I'd heard people chatter excitedly about. And I was still happy enough with those aspects, to be fair! But it meant it was a mental adjustment as I realised that this WAS a kissing book.

[lightreads]

Huh, the more you know. Still, audible has an imprint that picks up a lot of small press and backlist scifi/fantasy.

[readerjane]

I loved these too. After I finished reading them, somebody pointed me at Ursula's Paladin Rant, which is apparently where she laid out the thought process that became Caliban. I find it facinating.
https://mobile.twitter.com/i/moments/918567234896789504?lang=en

(Although I still have problems with giving him the *name* Caliban, because c'mon, Caliban is the creepy dude on the island in The Tempest!)

[cyprinella]

As of July it was "because no one's made an offer" according to twitter. I can ask if there's any movement on it.

[lightreads]

I had the exact same reaction to the name. I kept looking for it to be connected to the Tempest, somehow, but nothing I came up with really added anything.

[kareila]

Is the end of the first book a cliffhanger? My library doesn't have the second one.

[lightreads]

Hm. Not a terrible cliffhanger so much as it's really the first half of a story. Basically, the first book is setup and travel, and the second book is what happens in the destination.

[cyprinella]

Situation still the same. No publisher for it. Which is a bummer because I think it's the best book of the three.