Clockwork Boys

Clocktaur War, Book 1

By: T. Kingfisher

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2017 Ursula Vernon (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Wonderfully Strange New World

This story is full of unexpected twists and manages to keep the reader/listener engaged and invested in turning the next page or listening to the next chapter. I have been looking for a story that isn’t just a repetition of the same old same old and finally discovered it right here. It’s impossible to guess what might happen next and that is so difficult to pull off in this genre sometimes. It’s an adventure, a mystery, a romance that is not the raison d’etre of the tale, and has an abundance of wonderfully bizarre, but likable, characters and creatures that make their appearances and surprise the reader as much as they do the characters themselves. That’s a refreshing change from the current 95% of newer fantasy available. My one complaint is that it is a bit short and I am hoping that the sequels are as good as I found the first. Trust me, it will start off pretending to be average and suddenly you’ll discover you’ve fallen into a Alice in Wonderland kind of story. But without being that kind of story at all, although there is a short appearance of a talking rabbit. Just get it.

It gnoll my heart

Wonderfully written. But I fell in love with it near the end because of the gnoll.

good trope, great world

great world building in the quest trope. really enjoyed the performance. she has an expressive voice and a noir meets humor delivery

Another Win

Excellent story my the author. Love the world building. Slow burn with character developement. Author not afraid to use very flawed people.

very entertaining,

a good listen to on a rainy day. No awkward sex scenes. the voice actor gives each character their own voice.

Fun listen but this book is only the first half of the story

This is one of those annoying series’ where you basically have one large book split into two, so this one ends in the middle of the story without finishing much. There are some character arcs for sure, but the meat of the action appears to be in the next book. Mostly this is a story of a journey with a bunch of fun little scenes/encounters along the road as this group gets to know each other…and much of the situational humor is laugh out loud funny. I’ll need to listen to the Wonder Engine to comment more.

Rich weird world building, slightly cheesy characters

This is a visually rich fantasy world, if sometimes a little arbitrary. The characters though, and their canned one-liners grate after a while

meh

i like the story & world. it's just a little thin.
it won't stick with me.

A wonderful Adventure

if you're looking for a good Adventure tale then I highly recommend the Clockwork Boys.

Loved It

Seriously, this is a great story. Really fleshed out, interesting characters. Realized dialogue, fascinating plot. I loved this book.