Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Wonder Engine

I cried my eyes out towards the end. Based on what I've read from this author before, I wasn't expecting that at all. Overall, I prefer the vibes of the first book.

At some point, I'll have to read the whole Temple of the White Rat books in the proper order (I started with the Saint of Steel trilogy, then this duology, and now I'm about to read Swordheart). (I was also disappointed that the White Rat Temple was so little mentioned here.) I think that will definitely improve my experience.

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dosxhime's review

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

How can I describe the absolute love and outpouring emotions I feel towards the Clocktaur wars series? I'll start off that the deconstruction of the paladin Troupe and the amount of world building here was just phenomenal! There were all kinds of characters that had their own motives and personalities that shone with uniqueness and charm, especially Brenner. And from that sentence alone, you can see how much I was devastated from his death.

I didn't expect to grow so attached to these 5 characters in just two books. Absolutely crazy. I think T Kingfisher just cemented herself as one of my favorite authors.

God I love clocktaur wars.....

4.75 / 5 A

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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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huntress's review

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adventurous dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

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jwells's review

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

I really enjoyed the Clocktaur Wars books and flew through them. The clocktaurs are creepy, and the gnomes are wonderful with their surprisingly complex society.

I'm not the biggest fan of love triangles as subplots, especially when

one of the characters in the triangle ends up dead in the resolution

.

It surprises me that more reviews tag this "light hearted" than "dark." It's certainly funny at times, but also has demons and mysterious fatal plague, and flesh-eating tattoos. I wouldn't call it "light."

That doesn't mean I don't recommend it, though, it is really fun to watch some morally gray characters forced to work alongside a paladin and a young sheltered scholar.

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csevet's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

why is my favorite character always the one who dies. i love the book anyway but that hurt

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booksthatburn's review

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

THE WONDER ENGINE is a perfect sequel to THE CLOCKWORK BOYS, full of wit and care between a small group of people expecting to spend the rest of their extremely brief lives in one another's company against long odds and in great danger.

Grimehug plays more more central role here, but specifically not as one of the heroes. He's accompanying the humans so that some gnole is keeping track of them, much as other gnoles accompany the clocktaurs. Learned Edmund's change of character is gradual enough to feel reasonable, but is a complete transformation from his first appearance in THE CLOCKWORK BOYS. I love Slate and Caliban, and I like finding out a bit more of Slate's former life in Anuket City. Brenner continues to be a lurky assassin and an excellent character.

This does a tremendous amount of worldbuilding related to gnoles as their society intersects with humans in Anuket City. It also shows much of Anuket City's underworld, which is highly involved in most other parts of the city's functioning.

As the second book in a duology, this shows the crew’s whole stay in Anuket City and briefly addresses the aftermath. It addresses Slate and Caliban’s feelings for each other, the mystery of the Clocktaurs, Gnole society, and Learned Edmund’s personal growth. It doesn’t leave anything for later, while other books are set in this same world, these particular characters’ story seems wrapped up for now. Slate and Caliban are the main point-of-view characters, just like in the first book, with a brief section or two from other characters. I don’t think anything is both introduced and resolved here, but this is literally part two of two books and it has its own storyline by being specific to a place while the first book was the journey there.

If someone read just this book without the first one it might make enough sense to be interesting, but several parts of the finale and a lot of the character growth depends on seeing how they started out, which is contained in CLOCKWORK BOYS. While it might still be enjoyable on its own, I definitely recommend reading both books as they are much better together.

If you enjoyed THE CLOCKWORK BOYS then don't skip THE WONDER ENGINE!

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Well, as expected being the continuation of the first half of the story, almost all my questions were answered.

I do think that the split between books one and two should have been at a different point (if not non-existent) since it was very abrupt but not in a way that built tension or really ended on a cliffhanger which would have been remedied by moving that cut off point by a few chapters.

Overall, I really enjoyed this journey. It was definitely the most adult-ish book I've read from Kingfisher thus far and I still think it was easy to read and tame enough that I would give it to a young teenager with zero qualms.

I wouldn't consider this series to be in the "heist" genre since the main goal wasn't to necessarily steal anything but a quest to end a war (by whatever means). There was no real master plan to do it either beyond to get into the city and find out what was going on. Lately it seems like if there exists a motley crew/rag-tag bunch etc. of unlikely people come together with a common cause that somehow equates a heist.

Either way, I liked it. The banter was fun, Grimehug was a gem, and an implied happily ever after which is all anyone can ask for.

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