Review: Clockwork Boys, by T. Kingfisher

[Russ Allbery]

Clockwork Boys
by T. Kingfisher

Series:    The Clocktaur War #1
Publisher: Red Wombat Tea Company
Copyright: 2017
ASIN:      B0783P29QP
Format:    Kindle
Pages:     230

Clockwork Boys starts with Slate picking a man out of the Dowager's
prisons to the overpowering smell of rosemary. It's an uncomfortable
situation for everyone: the warden, the prisoners, and Slate herself,
although on the positive side she'll probably be dead soon and then it
won't matter. That said, she was not expecting to find the infamous
Lord Caliban, who murdered eight nuns (okay, technically three nuns and
five novices) while possessed. He's either exactly the person she was
looking for or a total disaster she should stay as far away from as
possible.

Slate is a forger. Caliban is the third member of an improbable crew,
joining her and Brenner, an assassin. With the scholar-priest who joins
them later, their goal is to cross battle lines, infiltrate an enemy
city, and discover how their enemy is making nearly-indefeatable
mechanical soldiers. It's a suicide mission, of course, which is why
the Dowager is sending convicted criminals and adding the incentive of
carnivorous tattoos.

If this sounds like a D&D party, that's not an accident. This is the
first half of Ursula Vernon's paladin rant in story form (T. Kingfisher
is the pseudonym she uses for books for adults), which she has
mentioned and given partially on Twitter. However, Clockwork Boys is
mostly setup, introductions, and a few road adventures to flesh out the
dynamics of the group. You (and I) will have to wait until the second
book for (presumably) the meat of the rant.

What we get in the meantime is a protagonist who can detect danger and
significance through the supernatural scent of rosemary. Since this is
an Ursula Vernon novel, that means Slate goes into danger sneezing
uncontrollably, with her eyes watering so much she can't see. Magical
premonitions have no sense of proportion. You can tell the paladin is a
paladin because he always has a spare handkerchief.

I thought the best part of this book was that Slate and Brenner (who
already knew each other) go into this adventure with a far more mature
and competent attitude than Caliban or, later, the scholar Edmund. The
latter two have great difficulty understanding Slate's attitude, her
decisions, or her role in the party. However, and this is the very
critical point, none of Brenner, Slate, or the narrator consider it
particularly important to argue with them about their misconceptions.
This book is full of Caliban making some stupid assumption about Slate
and Slate then doing exactly what she was going to do in the first
place without caring one whit about Caliban's assumption. It's
absolutely glorious.

Clockwork Boys is somewhat driven by Caliban and his past and his
emotional reactions to losing his connection with his god (not to
mention being possessed and being kicked out of his order). It is part
of the paladin rant, after all. But much of the focus is on Slate,
which I approve of because Slate is the most interesting character in
this book. She's cynical, sarcastic, and certain this expedition is
doomed, but she's never done something incompetently in her life and
isn't about to start now. Also, full points for a book about people who
know how to talk to other people and how to stop conversations they
don't want to have without having random angst explosions.

And the banter is wonderful.

This is only the first half of what's really a long novel, so it's
worth withholding some judgment before seeing the second half. But it's
a great Ursula Vernon take on D&D-inspired fantasy, I thoroughly
enjoyed it, and am looking forward to the other half of the story.

Followed by The Wonder Engine.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Reviewed: 2018-12-29

-- 
Russ Allbery (eagle at eyrie.org)              <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>