#clocktaur wars

[nincoverband]

Holy shit I love T. Kingfisher.

[neurodivergent-fangirling]

Timely Fandom Quote #314

“I don’t know why we even bother having wars. The world’s trying to kill us fast enough as it is.”

– Slate, Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher

[checkoutmybookshelf]

It's The Dreaming God. The Dreaming God Is The Problem.

Ok. At this point, the more I read of The World of the White Rat, the more I am ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that the Dreaming God is the PROBLEM. Before I rampantly spoil the hell out of everything above the cut, let's just go ahead and talk The Wonder Engine.

This is your SPOILER WARNING. I'm going to spoil stuff for this book and probably the Saint of Steel books too. Be caught up or be cool with spoilers.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE DREAMING GOD??? I am super not here for Caliban being like, "Gods do God stuff. We learn to live with it or we leave." I WATCHED Caliban be absolutely wounded and in anguish after having been abandoned by the dreaming god. I WATCHED Shane feel abandoned by TWO gods. We've had more than one character be like, "Yeah, the Dreaming God kinda lets his paladins do their thing and doesn't get involved."

I submit to you, dear readers, that this is WILDLY UNACCEPTABLE and if a god is going to call paladins, that they be communicative and explain how paladin-ing works. There should be a contract and actual lawyers involved who can explain the finer points and possible consequences to even the himbo-est of himbo paladins. I bet the White Rat could do that. It's right up their goddamn alley. At the VERY LEAST there needs to be a pamphlet of horror stories that every acolyte is required to read before they accept the paladin mantle, because MY GOD, when paladins are wounded by their own gods, it's BAD. I'm giving the Saint a little bit of a pass, because nobody really controls getting murdered, but the Dreaming God is RIGHT FUCKING THERE and DECIDEDLY ALIVE.

*sucks in a deep breath through the nose and out the mouth*

Ok. Massive siding with Slate mostly over, although I'm still mad about the Dreaming God doing Caliban that dirty, and I'm also mad at the fact that the TEMPLE isn't likely to take him back, even after the God does. Caliban just got done so dirty by EVERYONE, and Slate is CORRECT about being fucking furious that after they exorcised Caliban, he didn't get the aftercare that laypeople would. The temple just...yote his ass in a cell in a dungeon and...

Just LOOK at what they did! They fucked up a perfectly good paladin; look at it, it's got ANXIETY!!!

I might be mildly overprotective of paladins. It doesn't make any sense to me either. They're the big, divine, swordy-bois. I would probably find them endlessly annoying in real life.

Ok, ok. I swear we're moving on to the rest of the review of this book now.

By the time our party reaches Anuket City, they've pretty much got their travel dynamics down, which mean absolutely NOTHING inside a city. Particularly inside a city where Slate is *checks notes* wanted by the big bad crime boss Bad Horse (Boss Horsehead) for accidentally swapping out his marriage license with a warrant for his arrest for corruption and bestiality. With sheep, though, not horses. Because being that on the nose wouldn't have been funny.

On top of that, Brenner and Caliban are getting even more exercised over their uneasy truce and respective feelings for Slate. And...

Goddammit Brenner.

I was willing to root for you, but noooooooooooo, you had to go and make a deal with a goddamn demon and end up in a position where Slate has to stand there and watch while Caliban stuffs your soul full of seven demons and then murders you dead. And no, you being lucid enough to talk her through like 97% of the process DOES NOT HELP, sir. Slate didn't deserve ANY of that.

I also need to just take a moment to talk about Gnoles. Gnoles are the best. They're not flawless--the caste system among gnoles is not what I'd call ideal--but I have yet to meet a gnole I wouldn't literally die for. Grimehug joins Earstripe and Brindle (or predates them? I don't know, and I'm not looking it up) as the best gnole, and frankly his adoption of Slate is both wonderful and adorable. I also flippin' ADORE Learned Edmund leaning into learning all he can about gnole language and customs. His offer to give the gnoles control about how they're portrayed in official monographs is HUGE.

Learned Edmund's arc is also just awesome. He goes from practically incel to "gnole pronouns are job-based, and we respect that" and "I'm sorry for being a dick about women, Mistress Slate" in two books, and it was really and truly a delight to watch that.

Overall, the Clocktaur Wars duology was VERY fun, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[psych0-pomp]

Was reading the Author's Notes after finishing the The Clockwork Boys the other day and there I found an unexpected treat! When I was a teenager, I played Neverwinter Nights 2 and developed an infatuation over one of the follower characters -- a paladin named Casavir. Well, slap my ass and call me Debbie, who was inspiration for Caliban?! (And Alistair from Dragon Age: Origins by the sound of it! Who I also loved!) I was absolutely floored! Never have I have felt such solidarity with an author. That's the closest I've come to kicking my feet and screaming since entering my 30's.

[thesaintofsteel]

somehow i missed this beautiful new clockwork boys cover

[catwithkeys]

Just finished my reread of the Clocktaur War duology and I am feeling some kind of way about Brenner.

Highly, highly recommend this series if you're looking for an amazing escape.

Clocktaur War

Visit Amazon's Clocktaur War Page and shop for all Clocktaur War books. Check out pictures, author information, and reviews of Clocktaur War

[ghostseeds]

what are you reading Wednesday?

Audiobook: Dune - Frank Herbert

ebook (Libby on my phone): Clockwork Boys - T Kingfisher

ebook (Libby on my kindle): The Cider House Rules - John Irving

paperback: Birding While Indian - Thomas C Gannon

[persephinae]

fantasy books

The Clocktaur War series (and sideseries books - Paladin’s Grace & Swordheart)

(book 1 blurb)

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.

it has:

woc as the main protagonist

she’s a document forger who got caught in what would normally be an altruistic scam to help another woman, but wound up being treason against the state

she was offered death or a suicide mission to stop a war

she has a very unique magical gift

her companions are an assassin, an ex-knight who was possessed by a demon and imprisoned, an annoying but brilliant 19 yo scribe, and a badgerlike humanoid called a gnole

writing and characterization is awesome

dialogue is awesome

Just a small warning, "The Clocktaur War" books do have some horror in it - demon possession, small body horror, but they're still really good. 

Paladin’s Grace (set in same universe):

Stephen’s god died on the longest day of the year… Three years later, Stephen is a broken paladin, living only for the chance to be useful before he dies. But all that changes when he encounters a fugitive named Grace in an alley and witnesses an assassination attempt gone wrong. Now the pair must navigate a web of treachery, beset on all sides by spies and poisoners, while a cryptic killer stalks one step behind… 

most of her kindle books are really cheap but they can also be found on  bookshop.org if you want to support your local bookstore as well.