Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine, by T. Kingfisher

I read T. Kingfisher’s Clockwork Boys in early December, mostly on the plane flight to and from my parents’ house. I then struggled through The Wonder Engine at a snail’s pace through the rest of December and January. The most surprising part of this is that it’s really one book split into two chunks because it’d be longish for a single book. No plot arcs are resolved in the first book.

But I enjoyed the first one more. The first book mostly takes place while traveling, and I felt like Kingfisher had an interesting take on the standard Long Fantasy Trek. The second book, which is more ‘the Seedy Underbelly of Fantasy City’, did not interest me to the same degree. The conclusion was ... fine, I guess? I found it unsatisfying. There’s an M/F romantic arc where the female protagonist constantly insults the male protagonist. I suspect a lot of people find it endearing, but it grated on me badly by the end of the second book. I expect it didn’t bother me as much in the first book because I thought the relationship would grow out of it instead of entrenching it.

Also, I have become the sort of person who finds using “stupid” and “crazy” as insults to be a bad habit, and that’s ... like ... every page. I try not to get too hung up on this because I still use this language myself, but there is so much of it. o_o

Anyway, there’s lots to recommend these books. I am fond of Caliban as a character. I liked the way he would treat the assassin who hated him with the same consideration as the woman he was in love with, when it was important. I enjoyed how Edmund evolved over the course of the story, both in his own attitudes and the way others perceived him, but remained a nerd at heart. Just some other stuff was a complete miss for me.