thistlechaser | Books #39 and #40: Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine (Reply)

Clockwork Boys (Clocktaur War Book 1) by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon)
The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War Book 2) by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon)

There was plot in these two books, plenty of plot. Nations were at war, and one nation got a sudden technological (or magical? no one knew) advantage. One of the nations being invaded sent in espionage team after team, trying to figure out where that advantage was coming from. All those teams failed, so as a last ditch effort, they sent in some condemned prisoners: a paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar.

Even though there was a lot of plot, excitement, cliffhangers, giant magical robots, demon possessions, and death, the strongest feature of the books was the relationships. The characters were so wonderful and realistically flawed. The non-human characters were realistically alien, and the romance was the best kind of romance: Slow, realistic, and believable.

It took me about two days to read each book. I usually only read an hour or two before bed, but in the last couple days I spent hours during the day reading these two books.

Next up I'm either reading Swordheart or the Paladin's Hope/Paladin's Strength/Paladin's Grace trilogy, both set in the same world.