
Clockwork Boys
Clocktaur War, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Khristine Hvam
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By:
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T. Kingfisher
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.Listeners also enjoyed...




















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very entertaining,
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good trope, great world
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Another Win
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That said, the story is engaging, the stakes are high and real, the merry band of misfits has, every one, done something horrible before joining up, but they’re compelling and even likeable and it’s easy to invest in their quest and their personal & team growth.
(Slightly spoilerish list of the bad things done by each: murder for hire, forgery sufficient for treason, murder by dint of demon possession, dismissal of half of humanity as inhuman and unworthy of consideration, and aiding the clockwork boys.
/end spoiler)
The plot kicks along and we learn about the characters’ skills and quirks. They way they treat each other evolves well over time They run into problems on the road and need several tricks to get out of or avoid tight situations. There are horrors, but not the kind that put me off. (I don’t like most horror stories. I don’t have problems with the horror elements in this story.) The weird stuff is, to me, quite clever & weird, instead of the same cookie cutter fantasy elements. Even the more classic elements like demons are handled deftly. The pacing is great too, which is why the abrupt ending is so grating.
Steam: low. Lore than zero because there’s some tension, & references to consensual activities such as adults would think about, rather than ignoring it like lots of fantasy authors do. But the most actual action is a kiss and a cuddle. But there’s something there that could progress and the POV characters think about it.
Narration: I find this narrator incredibly pleasant to listen to. Top tier work. Intonation & feeling match the text, there’s good flow and variety in character voices. The production quality is good & I don’t have to max out my speaker volume to hear the story clearly.
It’s only part 1, but it’s a good part 1
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Wonderfully Strange New World
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It gnoll my heart
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Wow
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The good:
While there were problems, overall I got a kick out of it, mostly I think due to the narrator's presentation. Loved the voices she gave to the characters and I've never heard a narrator be able to sneeze so well. Slate sneezes a lot and the narrator did an excellent sneeze whenever she did.
Will admit, the creatures that popped up toward the end of the book - Runes and Gnolls (spelling could be off as I only heard it) surprised me as while I was prepared for magic and clockwork, I wasn't aware of all the creatures available in this universe.
The Clockwork Boys are definitely an imposing enemy and I look forward to finding out how they are created and how Slate & Co will bring them down. And tattoos that will eat you if you don't obey? Brilliant idea.
Each of the main characters: Slate, Callaban, Brenner, and Learned Edmond were well defined personality wise and kept to those personalities, which I appreciate. I dislike it when an author changes a character's personality for no reason.
The bad:
Whoever edited the narration did not do a good job. There were several places where lines were repeated exactly. That should have been edited out and jarred me each time it happened.
As I said earlier, the author's writing style isn't my thing. Too much quipping - I"m talking there was a LOT of quipping. And yet, this is probably only the third audiobook ever to make me laugh out loud. And it did it several times.
I could only listen to the book for 2-3 chapters at a time before I needed a break. However, the story kept calling me back. Or perhaps that was simply the wonderful narration. I honestly don't know. Would I have been able to read the book? Or would I have DNF'd it? That's a question I won't be able to answer since Khristine Hvam kept me coming back.
Though there must be something in the story - because I've already downloaded book 2. Which is why I gave the story 4 stars. It was good enough to make me continue on to the second book. Plus, like I mentioned. It kept making me laugh out loud.
Far exceeded my expectations
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Narration lives up to the story
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Slate La
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