booksthatburn's Reviews (1.46k)

I liked this trilogy as a kid but it's not appealing to my older self.

 This was fun but weirdly forgettable. The story never stays tense for too long, and most of the stressful topics are handled as things that are at least partially processed or happened a while ago. Even Kitt's very tragic backstory isn't discussed fully until well into the book, and at a moment where it specifically matters to the story and isn't just tragedy for the sake of complexity.

I like that the book begins by establishing that Percy isn't going to be rich for very long, thus reducing the tension in the story. Even though Kitt doesn't learn this for a while, I was much happier knowing that the giant disparity between their stations wouldn't stay forever. 

If you want a romance that has a bit of danger but usually keeps the stress low, try this one. 

 This was almost a DNF for me, except that by the time I was thoroughly bored by very little happening of importance, I was already almost done. As an audiobook, at least, the story flies by, unafraid to spend a very long time on each event without quite being dull. I wasn’t engaged by the chemistry of the main band of heroes, though a particular character who appears helpful and then is shown to be nefarious was much more interesting. This lands in a weird middle ground, like it’s trying to be a character-centered narrative with a traveling party that’ll be a tightly-knit found family by the end, and it’s aiming to be a grand journey epic that takes its time and goes to interesting places and is more concerned with the journey than the destination. I can recognize that it has an assassin with a mysterious past, a battle-hardened immortal, a squire trying to never fail anyone like he failed his last knight, a young woman finally making her way in the world, and an old woman who is prophetic and mysterious. It also has a queen trying to consolidate her power, a mysterious and malevolent prince, and a traveler trying to get help. However, these brief descriptions are more exciting than what actually happens in the story. I recognize the roles they play in the narrative but I don’t care about them as people and I keep forgetting who everyone is. I made my list of important characters without reviewing the list from the official blurb (available above), and my list doesn't quite match because it feels like the characters were chosen based on tropes, but a slightly different list were actually interesting in the story.

Part of what makes everyone feel interchangeable is that most of their individual goals aren’t well-defined. The main antagonist wants to open the spindles as a kind of revenge for his twin being stolen and raised to an inheritance that he only lost due to the luck of being born second. That explains why he’s angry but doesn’t sufficiently explain why he chose this particular plan as his revenge. The queen is my favorite character, her goals and motives are really clear and they make sense in the story. I understand why she’s doing what she’s doing, whether or not I think it’s wise or good. As for the others, they want to stop the spindles from being opened because the spindles let in deadly creatures. Great, love a “save the world goal”, but their individual goals other than “stop the antagonist and don’t die” are lost in favor of cultivating mystery and potential later reveals. It makes them feel interchangeable, because even if their goals are explained before or during the journey they don’t seem to affect what actually happens. At one point they get imprisoned, and not only has one of them been in prison before, they’ve been in this particular prison and already has a way to get out as soon as they decide to implement it. It means that even a prison break (traditionally a pretty dramatic bit of story) is anticlimactic and almost immediately solved.

The events of the prologue felt like they should have been the end of the first book, there's so much tension and depth in such a brief space, and then the rest of the book doesn't live up to that promise.

The worldbuilding related to the spindles is interesting, but the details don’t have time to matter before this portion of the trilogy is over. I have no interest in the sequels. This was bland in an inoffensive but uninteresting way. I don’t hate it, I don’t like it, it’s just blah and I don’t recommend it. 

Halla is a widow who has inherited her uncle's fortune, whereupon her aunt and brother-in-law have locked her in her room until she agrees to marry him. He has an odious personality and clammy hands, and seemingly no understanding that locking a woman in a room until she agrees to marry you is a very terrible start to any kind of relationship. When she decides that death is better than her upcoming fate, she tries to kill herself with a sword that turns out to have Sarkis, an immortal swordsman, trapped inside. Together they escape and attempt to get help for Halla's legal troubles and grasping relatives.

SWORDHEART is one of the funniest books I’ve read recently, and the main contenders for that honor are other White Rat books by this same author. It’s vibrant without requiring the characters to constantly be witty, the whole thing is a delight. It’s a fluffy romance in desperate circumstances, buoyed by Halla’s never-stymied open nature and endless optimism, and tempered by Sarkis’s practicality. Halla uses prattle, questions, and observations as a multi-purpose tactic on a near-constant basis. Sarkis is trapped in a sword and is unfamiliar with current customs of Halla’s home, creating a natural ebb and flow of competency and possession of relevant information at any one moment. Zale is a welcome addition to their party, a temple lawyer acquired to help with Halla’s legal tangle, and Brindle rounds out their party by taking care of the ox and cart.

SWORDHEART is not technically a sequel, it is a stand-alone book. However, it takes place in the world of the White Rat approximately five years after the events of CLOCKWORK BOYS and THE WONDER ENGINE. It contains details that blur the line between callback and spoiler, I think they’re suitably opaque as to keep from giving away major plot points of that duology, but I do recommend reading this after the duology for the best overall experience. The worldbuilding seemed complete enough to stand on its own, someone reading just SWORDHEART would know everything they need to. It is focused on different aspects than in the earlier duology, complementing the prior information without feeling redundant. Because Sarkis is from another land it also helps to establish the patchwork of kingdoms and territories in this part of the world. 

I had a fantastic time reading this and I'm looking forward to more books set in this world.

It feels like it’s taking forever to get anywhere. It’s so short that I made it over halfway through but I’m not enjoying it and I keep reading other things instead of making any progress.

This feels similar to THE BONE HOUSES in many of the ways that made it just okay for me. In particular I find myself disliking the animal companion, this time it’s a Corgi. I want the guy to be broody instead of just quiet, I have very little sense of what anyone thinks, and I’m just not having a good time, so I’m stopping.

Slow to start, and not interesting enough to keep me around longer.

I don’t like the narrator nor the style.

THE WONDER ENGINE is a perfect sequel to THE CLOCKWORK BOYS, full of wit and care between a small group of people expecting to spend the rest of their extremely brief lives in one another's company against long odds and in great danger.

Grimehug plays more more central role here, but specifically not as one of the heroes. He's accompanying the humans so that some gnole is keeping track of them, much as other gnoles accompany the clocktaurs. Learned Edmund's change of character is gradual enough to feel reasonable, but is a complete transformation from his first appearance in THE CLOCKWORK BOYS. I love Slate and Caliban, and I like finding out a bit more of Slate's former life in Anuket City. Brenner continues to be a lurky assassin and an excellent character.

This does a tremendous amount of worldbuilding related to gnoles as their society intersects with humans in Anuket City. It also shows much of Anuket City's underworld, which is highly involved in most other parts of the city's functioning. 

As the second book in a duology, this shows the crew’s whole stay in Anuket City and briefly addresses the aftermath. It addresses Slate and Caliban’s feelings for each other, the mystery of the Clocktaurs, Gnole society, and Learned Edmund’s personal growth. It doesn’t leave anything for later, while other books are set in this same world, these particular characters’ story seems wrapped up for now. Slate and Caliban are the main point-of-view characters, just like in the first book, with a brief section or two from other characters. I don’t think anything is both introduced and resolved here, but this is literally part two of two books and it has its own storyline by being specific to a place while the first book was the journey there.

If someone read just this book without the first one it might make enough sense to be interesting, but several parts of the finale and a lot of the character growth depends on seeing how they started out, which is contained in CLOCKWORK BOYS. While it might still be enjoyable on its own, I definitely recommend reading both books as they are much better together.

If you enjoyed THE CLOCKWORK BOYS then don't skip THE WONDER ENGINE!

Bleak and humorous, CLOCKWORK BOYS follows three convicted criminals and a scholar sent to find out what they can about the terrifying and murderous "Clockwork Boys" who have been devastating their towns and villages.

As a journey narrative, CLOCKWORK BOYS focuses on the dynamic between the members of the party, as well as the internal struggles of the two point-of-view characters. Slate is a forger, Brenner is an assassin, Caliban is a paladin who has a dead demon rotting in his skull, they're on this trip in hopes of a pardon if they survive. Learned Edmund is a formerly cloistered misogynist from an order who prizes learning and instills a fear of mere proximity to women. There's a mix of genuine character growth and learning each other's edges, the kind of forced intimacy which is fostered by a suicide mission with terrible travel conditions in the middle of a war. The worldbuilding is conveyed through a mix of exposition, character reactions, and things encountered as they travel. Slate and Caliban think about themselves and their companions, often thinking things they don't dare or don't know how to say out loud. 

CLOCKWORK BOYS ends on a cliffhanger, as the characters joined together and undertook a journey to a particular city, and the narrative abruptly ends when they arrive at their destination. The story is continued in THE WONDER ENGINE. Since it's the first book in a duology, it doesn't completely tie off anything before it ends, except perhaps that stage one of the plan (the journey there) is done and what remains is entering the city and maybe surviving (maybe not). The characters have been changed by the journey, now it remains to be seen whether they'll survive their destination.

I loved this and am excited to read the sequel!