BooksOfTheMoon

The second half of The Clocktaur Wars is different to the first, but equally as good. The first book was the journey to Anuket City, with a side quest in Slate and Caliban falling in love but not saying anything because they’re idiots. The second book deals with what they find when they get there. They have to figure out how the clocktaurs are being created (hint: the clue’s in the title) and how to stop them. And at the same time, Slate has to stop the chickens she hatched the last time she was in the city from coming home to roost.

There’s a lot more of Slate and Caliban mooning at each other, something which is obvious to not just the reader, but everyone around them, except, maybe Learned Edmund. Speaking of the scholar, I think he became my favourite character over the course of the story. Starting off as a misogynistic prig, it’s easy to forget how sheltered he’s been for his, very young, life. Being out in the world opens his eyes and helps him grow as a character. He doesn’t just accept Slate as the leader of the group, but that women can make great artificers (everyone loves a good index) and gets fascinated by Gnole society, particularly the interplay between their pronouns and their castes, which was something that I’ve not seen before and really liked.

The one thing that I thought didn’t entirely work was the Grey Church and the threat from Boss Horsehead. I never really bought into Slate’s terror of the man and what he might do, and the whole sequence sort of petered out. The best bit of it was really Brenner fighting to stop Caliban from doing something stupid. I thought that worked really well and led up to the climax, with a really good twist that I was not expecting at all, that hit me right in the feels.

I really liked Grimehug and the Gnoles. When we first encountered him in the first book, he was accompanying the clocktaurs. I assumed that meant that he was part of the opposing army and wondered why the group didn’t sit him down and interrogate him. It turns out he was following them, rather than accompanying them, and we get a lot more on the Gnoles and their society here. I’m almost as interested as Learned Edmund to find out more about them.

The world is interesting, and you learn as much from what isn’t said as from what is. Names, for example, seem to have power. You never find out the name of the city that sent the group, it’s always just referred to as “the capitol” or “the Dowager’s city”. And gods seem to have titles, or descriptions, rather than names: The Dreaming God, The Many-Armed God, The Forge God, etc. I know there’s more books set in the world and I wonder if that will be expanded on later?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its likeable characters and an intriguing world. I look forward to reading more in the same setting.

My main complaint about this book is that it’s really only half a book. As the author says in the acknowledgements at the end, it was getting too long and had to be cut in half. Which means that the book stops just as we’re finishing the setup and finally getting to Plot. None of which is necessarily a bad thing now, when book two is available, but I’d have been quite annoyed if I read this as soon as it came out.

Now that I’ve finished grousing about the stuff around the book, what about the book itself? It’s great! Four mismatched individuals set off on a suicide mission to try and find out information about the Clockwork Boys that a neighbouring kingdom has been using as almost unstoppable warriors. On the way, they learn more about themselves, and each other. And discover that the real suicide mission was the friends they made along the way. Er, or something.

Slade, the nominal leader of the group, is a forger who got caught, and leads assassin Brenner, disgraced former paladin Caliban and the scholar (and only one who’s there voluntarily), the Learned Edmund, who’s in a monastic order that doesn’t admit women and can barely stand to look at Slade, never mind be led by her.

This first half of the story gets the gang together and shows us their journey across hostile territory, to their target city. I enjoyed the writing a lot, which is fast-paced, but draws the characters well, and there were little touches that I really liked. I tend to assume that everyone in a fantasy novel can ride a horse – but neither Slade nor Brenner can. They were raised and have lived in a city their whole lives, where you get around on foot or in carriages. I really liked that. And Slade has a sort of spider-sense, but it comes in the form of an overpowering scent of rosemary, which triggers her (many) allergies. That’s kind of hilarious.

I really like all the characters here. Even Brenner, the assassin, has redeeming features, not least of which is having a twisted sort of affection for Slate. There’s also a nice drip-feeding of worldbuilding throughout, making the world feel lived in. Thoroughly enjoyable, and I’ll be diving into part two shortly.