#clocktaur war

[book--brackets]

Dragonkeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul (2004-2008)

When Kale, a slave girl, finds a dragon egg, she is given the unexpected opportunity to become a servant to Paladin. But on her way to The Hall, where she was to be trained, Kale runs into danger. Rescued by a small band of Paladin's servants, Kale is turned from her destination. 

Feeling afraid and unprepared, Kale embarks on a perilous quest to find the meech dragon egg stolen by the foul Wizard Risto. But their journey is threatened when a key member of the party is captured, leaving the remaining companions to find the Wizard Fenworth, attempt an impossible rescue, and recover the egg--whose true value they have not begun to suspect.

Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher (2017-2018)

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.

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon (1988-1989)

Paksenarrion — Paks for short — is somebody special. She knows it, even if nobody else does yet. No way will she follow her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road. She's off to join the army, even if it means she can never see her family again.

And so her adventure begins... the adventure that transforms her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.

Here is her tale as she lived it.

Paks is trained as a mercenary, blooded, and introduced to the life of a soldier . . . and to the followers of Gird, the soldier's god.

Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen (2006-2016)

An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the first World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica -- an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship the Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.

Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.

Dragon Jousters by Mercedes Lackey (2003-2006)

The first book in this thrilling new series introduces us to a young slave who dreams of becoming a jouster-one of the few warriors who can actually ride a flying dragon. And so, in secret, he begins to raise his own dragon...

Frontier Magic by Patricia C. Wrede (2009-2012)

Eff was born a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son. This means he's supposed to possess amazing talent -- and she's supposed to bring only bad things to her family and her town. Undeterred, her family moves to the frontier, where her father will be a professor of magic at a school perilously close to the magical divide that separates settlers from the beasts of the wild.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (2017)

The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border ― unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and ― best of all as far as Elliot is concerned ― mermaids.  "Serene," said Serene. "My full name is Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle." Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands. It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world. In Other Lands is the exhilarating new book from beloved and bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan. It’s a novel about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools, about friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world ― even if it means giving up your phone.

Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn (2012-2014)

Imprisoned, starved and left with no memories, Thalia awakens to find herself at the mercy of an evil cult known as the Septori. Their leader has chosen Thalia as the test subject for a torture device of untold power, designed to change and twist her into something that is neither human nor Denai.

Escaping, Thalia finds an unwilling warrior to protect her and an unlikely Denai to befriend her. After finding a home at the Citadel as a servant, Thalia’s worst nightmare comes to life and she begins to show signs of power. Scared and unable to control her gifts, she tries to hide her past to fit in among the Denai. But the Septori want their latest test subject back and will stop at nothing to retrieve her, dead or alive.

Old Magic by Marianna Curley (2000)

Jarrod Thornton is mesmerizing, but Kate Warren doesn’t know why.

Jarrod is the clumsy new boy at school that Kate can’t take her eyes off, and it’s not just because he has amazing eyes, but because she senses something different about him, and when he inadvertently blows up the classroom, she knows exactly what it is. He has powers like her, except he doesn’t know it and Kate sets out to show him. On their journey of discovery Kate learns Jarrod has an ancient curse on his family that will keep hurting his little brother and parents if they don’t do something to remove it.

Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist (1988)

Successful screenwriter Phil Hastings decides to move his family from sunny California to a ramshackle farmhouse in New York State. The idea is to take some time out, relax and pick up the threads of his career as a novelist. Good plan, bad choice. The place they choose is surrounded by ancient woodland. The house they choose is the centrepoint of a centuries-old evil intent on making its presence felt to intruders.

[msunitedstatesjames]

So, unlike some more enlightened people in the world, I just discovered T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon in 2021, and I can't believe how much I was missing.

I've read, I think, seven of her books now, and every one has been so well done. How can this woman write fantasy, horror, humor, romance, steampunk, fairy tale retellings, classic literature retellings, books for adults, books for teens, books for children, and often three to five of the above genres at once, and all of them are so good?

I've seen some of her work classified as cozy, which is kind of funny when you read a few of her books (they're anything but low stakes), but she has such a way of infusing every story with so much warmth and humor and love that I can understand why people say her writing is cozy.

This woman really wrote a book about a sister on a quest for revenge against the prince that has been systemically abusing and murdering her sisters (while she shares the road with a witch, a demon, a bone dog, a dude who recently escaped faerie enslavement, and a failed fairy godmother), and the book was both heartwarming and hilarious while breaching really difficult topics.

And the best part of all of this is that T. Kingfisher does all this, more often than not, in like 200ish pages.

But also, I just bought Swordheart and Paladin's Grace, and I'm really excited to see for the first time what she does with a book that's more than 300 pages.

[not-the-blue]

quick slate during class

[kitabasis]

I really respect T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon for looking at Dragon Age and going “I can do better paladin/knight romances”. And then proceeding to write 7 books (and counting) on the matter.

[eagle-writes]

“Mules were worse. Mules were like horses who could *plan*” ~T. Kingfisher, Clockwork Boys

Ink: Akkerman Hofvijer Grijs

[pastelrose-vivi]

If only I existed in an alternate universe where the wonder engine ended in a caliban/slate/brenner polycule like we deserve 😭

[ninsiana0]

Read CLOCKWORK BOYS by T. Kingfisher if you love road trips, getting an elite team together for a secret mission, paladin's overcome with guilt, rosemary, sparrows, assassins, scholars, damaged goods, demons, when things start to get strange, excellent potatoes, tattoos & rats.

[raccoonfink]

Last night I put up my new Adventure Synth album.

I got the BBC Symphony Orchestra VST from Spitfire Audio about a year ago and I almost immediately started writing this really epic cinematic thing and as soon as I had it sketched out I’m like ��damn this sounds like a paladin song” and a switch flipped in my head: I should make a @tkingfisher themed Dungeon Synth album! That track became “Rediscovering Grace” which if you’ve read the paladin books, should make perfect sense to you. :)

I don’t think I’ve ever labored over a release as much as I did this one. I tweaked and re-tweaked and tweaked again until everything was just so. Listening over and over again in the car, on different headphones, taking notes and adjusting down to the level of, like, “flute down .5db” and such. It’s mostly been finished since the beginning of the year, with only Sarkis’s theme and the piano track at the end being done more recently.

I also, for the first time, commissioned artwork rather than bodging something together in photoshop. I couldn’t be more happy with Saga Mackenzie’s cover, it turned out so good.

Anyway, I hope you check it out. I’m really proud of this one and it feels great finally getting it out there.

Preorder is up now, and it goes live August 5th. It will go up on all the usual digital stores in the coming weeks as well.

[dragonbadgerbooks]

[A]s Slate had begun to suspect long ago, the gods did not seem to be listening...

[whisperofthewaves]

I’m reading the Clocktaur War series and the moment the gnoles entered the picture I cannot imagine them in any other way than stinkier and shabby-clothed version of these moomin characters

[reviewsthatburn]

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.

Full Review at link.

[twofoursixohjuan]

"oh fuck" <- person who did not anticipate the ending of the wonder engine

[goodgrammaritan]

Something small whacked him on the back of the skull and he winced.

"Sorry..." came from above them.

Caliban straightened, one hand going to his sword. People didn't usually yell apologies while they were trying to kill you. It made it difficult to know how to retaliate.

The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher

[kitabasis]

Ursula Vernon is an excellent author, but *damn* does she refuse to let any of her male leads realize that they’re people, not weapons! And frankly it’s driving me up a wall! I understand that characters don’t always develop positively, but can we please get a paladin whose arc is about unlearning seeing himself as a weapon, and learning to see himself as a full person who can live for himself and not just others? (My pie in the sky would be one unlearning their kinda Catholic ideas about guilt and suffering and justice but. I doubt that would happen.)

[juniperharvest]

what are you reading Wednesday?

Audiobook: Dune - Frank Herbert

ebook (Libby on my phone): Clockwork Boys - T Kingfisher

ebook (Libby on my kindle): The Cider House Rules - John Irving

paperback: Birding While Indian - Thomas C Gannon

[quoteablebooks]

"You want my socks?' Caliban would have laid down his life for Slate, probably with a sense of relief, but a man's socks...that was asking a lot."

Caliban The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher