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purplepenning's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Vomit, Animal cruelty, War, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Sexism, Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Body horror
Minor: Torture and Sexual content
clarabooksit's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Xenophobia, and Sexual content
Minor: Torture
booksthatburn's review
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Grief, and Blood
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Confinement, Cursing, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, and Torture
Minor: Mental illness, Drug use, Suicide, Terminal illness, Slavery, Trafficking, War, Murder, Death of parent, Alcohol, Excrement, and Panic attacks/disorders
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Gore, Grief, Death, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, and Murder
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