The Wonder Engine

'The Wonder Engine' had lots of good things in it. I enjoyed reading it. The character-building and the world-building were both strong. I found myself invested in what happened to the main characters and in their (complicated and conflicted) relationship to each other. I particularly liked Slate's humour, even in the face of life-threatening danger and I loved the gnoles - they were a great invention both as individuals and as a culture.

Can you hear the BUT coming?

Of course you can.

BUT two things made it hard for me to lose myself in the book. Firstly, it wasn't at all the book I expected based on its predecessor, 'Clockwork Boys'. Secondly, the pacing, especially at the very beginning and the very end, didn't work for me. It seemed show more to me that these two things are related.

I enjoyed 'Clockwork Boys'. When I reviewed it I said:

The only thing that came as an unwelcome surprise is that ‘Clockwork Boys’ is really just the first forty per cent or so of a single book, ‘The Clocktaur War’, which was published in two parts, some months apart. ‘Clockwork Boys’ pulls the team together, drags them through some interesting and difficult challenges and then comes to an abrupt halt when the team make it through the war zone to the city.

I wasn't too concerned as I had the second book, 'The Wonder Engine' on my shelves. It carries on from where the last book, with the four questers arriving at Anuket City to find how the Clockwork Boys are made and to stop them if they can but, although neither the characters nor the situation has changed, the tone of the second book is different from the first. The whole ‘Sword And Sorcery Quest with a twist’ vibe vanishes. In its place, we get a sort of character-driven heist story. This is not necessarily a bad thing and, had 'Clockwork Boys' and 'The Wonder Engine' been a single novel, the change in pace and feel might have not have been so noticeable. Unfortunately, the arrival at Anuket City felt a little flat. It wasn't a good place to start a novel. It was too static and too slow and there was none of the sense of urgency that had kept the first book moving.

The 'character-driven heist' story was a slightly slow burn. A lot of time was spent dealing with Slate's past. We knew from the first book that she had a history in Anuket City that made it dangerous for her to return there but we didn't know what the history was. A lot of the book is spent finding out what she did and dealing with the consequences. We also get to learn more about Caliban, the ex-Paladin. He develops from the not-the-Paladin-you-were-expecting character that he was in the first book, to a fully-round (although still very strange) person. Brenner. the assassin, turns out to have a more complicated relationship with Slate than I'd previously understood and the nineteen-year-old scholar, The Learned Edmund, has undergone a transformation from a rule-following, over-formal man who is so-deeply-misogynistic-he-doesn't-even-know-he's-doing-it to a nice guy who treats Slate as a valued colleague and a friend.

I enjoyed learning about the characters and about Anuket City. There were enough surprises and enough tension and emotion along the way to keep me reading happily.

I was less happy with the ending. In terms of bringing the character arcs to a conclusion, everything worked smoothly, it was all plausible and satisfying without being predictable. BUT I felt that the mission - find and stop the clocktaurs - had fallen into the background. The conclusion of that mission was action-packed and had a couple of good surprises in it but it didn't feel like a high impact ending.

Khristine Hvam's narration was, as always, very good and brought the characters alive. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.




https://soundcloud.com/brilliance-audio/the-wonder-engine-by-t-kingfisher show less

This second book in the Clocktaur War duology begins where the first one ended, with the four protagonists arriving in Anuket City and starting their undercover work to sabotage the dangerous clocktaurs. Learned Edmund enrolls the help of a master artificer, Ashes Magnus (discovering to his enormous surprise that she’s a woman, and therefore further eroding his misconceptions about the other sex), while Slate, Brenner and Caliban must infiltrate the city’s seedier quarters in search of information while Grimehug, the gnole they encountered along the way and who attached himself to Slate, is revealed as a very helpful co-conspirator.

As for Slate, the dangers inherent in returning to Anuket City, which she left to escape the show more retaliation of crime lord Horsehand, manifest quite suddenly and with potentially deadly consequences, while the foursome’s investigation on the origin of the clocktaurs leads to a terrible discovery and a dangerous infiltration mission from which not all of them will return…

Much as I enjoyed the first part of this duology, I have to admit that this second installment, while still reasonably engaging, did not work as well: for starters, the growing attraction between Slate and Caliban did not feel quite integral to the story, and it pushed the true reason for the quartet’s mission somewhat in the background. It was not because of my aversion to romance, because usually T. Kingfisher manages this element quite well in balancing it with a good dose of humor, but rather because there were no sufficient elements in the relationship to make it believable: there is no doubt about the mutual physical attraction, but their personalities are often in conflict, with no apparent possibility of common ground on which to establish a love story - this is quite different from other relationships portrayed in Kingfisher’s later books, and a bit disappointing. On top of that, the rivalry between Caliban and Brenner over Slate’s affections moves from the first book’s amusingly barbed banter into what looks like hormone-fueled clashes, sliding into the trope of the love triangle and robbing this side of the story of its entertainment value.

Luckily for me, I could focus on the very intriguing aspect of gnole culture: thanks to Grimehug we are made privy to the rich and layered gnole society and the way these creatures, alternately despised, feared and ignored, have carved their niche into human society. Grimehug himself is a delightful character, particularly when he shares his (not very flattering) views on humanity’s behavior, and I liked the way he attached himself to Slate: the bond of friendship between them was indeed one of the higher points in the story, as was Learned Edmund dedication in compiling a treatise on gnoles so that they could be better understood - and appreciated.

When not mooning over Slate, Caliban offers another interesting peek into the paladin mentality, particularly where the connection to one’s god is concerned: there is a fascinating dichotomy here, because on one side we are told about this connection to the divine and the constant battle with demon possession, on the other a paladin’s role seems mostly mundane - at least according to Caliban whose activities largely consisted in the exorcism of possessed animals. And yet, Caliban feels the absence of his god most keenly, and at one point seems almost tempted to accept the offer of another god to fill that void - which made me wonder if his attachment to Slate was not an attempt to do exactly that, rather than a genuine feeling…

Story-wise, The Wonder Engine sees the culmination of the four characters’ mission and the discovery of what originated the creation of the clocktaurs, and does so with a good deal of suspense laced with humor that kept me turning the pages at a fast pace: the steampunk element introduced with the clocktaurs is a nice touch in this fantasy setting and also adds a few gory details that heightened the tension. I must add that there is a surprise development concerning one of the main characters which I suspected must be there since the first book, but still managed to appear surprising thanks to its unexpected placement in the story: without spoiling the surprise, I have to say that Slate’s reaction to this revelation and its consequences played very well and served to depict her personality even more accurately.

When all is said and done, I enjoyed the conclusion of the duology even though it did not feel on the same level as other works by T. Kingfisher: still, the entertainment value of her stories remains high and I’m not going to let this slightly disappointing encounter distract me from reading her other novels. show less

Some writers and/or publishers would have printed Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine as one chubby novel—which they actually are, no matter that they have been divided into more bite-sized chunks.

If you are into fantasies that involve small parties adventuring in dangerous places against magical machines, Kingfisher gives you a full plate. But what made The Wonder Engine especially fun was the on-again-off-again romance between Slate the forger and Caliban the paladin.

Paladins of the Dreaming God do not swear an oath of chastity, but sometimes you could not prove it by Slate: “The perfect gentle knight. She had a strong urge to kick him in the shins. Which would do precisely nothing and he'd look confused at me. And then probably show more offer to take his shin armor off so I could try again without hurting my foot.” show less

The second half of the story which began with Clockwork Boys. The description says: Pull three people out of prison -- a disgraced paladin, a convicted forger, and a heartless assassin. Give them weapons, carnivorous tattoos, and each other. Point them at the enemy. What could possibly go wrong?

Slate and her companions have survived the journey to Anuket City, but they have to uncover the secrets about what clockwork boys are before they can begin to develop any sort of plan for how to stop them. This also isn’t Slate’s first visit to the city and there are people out there who want her dead.

The beginning of this book meanders a bit, perhaps in part because the characters have resolved or at least learnt to avoid sources of friction show more between them. (An observation, not a complaint!) But then things become very tense and fraught. It draws together various elements of the story in a way which is unexpectedly clever (rather than contrived) and unexpectedly heartbreaking.

I really like this. Again, it involves humour and the teamwork and characters I cared about. I like the way the romance -- more of thing here than it was in the first book -- develops. I appreciate that this is a story about characters who have made, in different ways, mistakes that messed-up their lives, and now they have to work out how to move on from their failures. The way Caliban’s issues of faith and religion were explored was interesting.

The perfect gentle knight. She had a strong urge to kick him in the shins. Which would do precisely nothing and he’d look confused at me, And then probably offer to take his shin armor off so I could try again without hurting my foot. show less

4 stars for this book, 5 stars for the series.

Some of the best fantasy I've read in decades. Maybe a little too much "oh he/she can't possibly want/like me as much as I like him/her," considering that Slate and Caliban are mature individuals, but the dialogue continues to sparkle, the characters continue to develop, and the gnoles are worth an entire series on their own.

Ms. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon says it took decades for her to complete the Clocktaur War series. I hope it doesn't take as long for her to revisit this world. Even if Slate and Caliban are just glimpsed arguing with each other in the background I'll be happy.

Although I'll never think about chutney and what implements are used to make it in the same way anymore after show more Chapter 33. show less

I talked a harsh game in my review of the first part of this duology, and I stand by what I said. Neither part stands alone to any extent; it really is just one book I had to pay twice for. But! What a GREAT book it is. Hugely entertaining, with a cool cast of characters who evolve and fail and grow before your eyes, with a complexly built world that's worth exploring, with an evocative and SCARY climactic scene, with a romance that's as charming in its pitfalls as in its triumphs. I just ENJOYED this book so much. Looking forward to reading more of this author.

So both male protagonists are canonically bi, fascinated by each other, and still fighting over the lady protagonist? Really? That's a narrative opportunity missed. Especially in light of the ending.

I really enjoyed the first book, but the structure of this one made me crazy. The adventure plot wraps up with improbable neatness and the book turns into a mess of feelings that, while true to the characters, totally squanders the narrative momentum of the previous 140K~ words. It's like a locomotive running out of steam a mile short of the station; residual momentum only gets you so far.

That said, the 'verse is fascinating and I want to see more of it.