Clockwork Boys

The fantasy genre has the reputation of producing books big enough that you could use as a casual seat, trilogies that you could line up, throw some cushions on top and make into a settee. It does not have to be this way and T Kingfisher has certainly bucked the trend with Clockwork Boys, which comes in under 300 pages and is the first outing in a Clocktaur Wars duology. Can epic fantasy work in smaller chunks? Of course it can. 

When Slate, the forger, is tasked with searching the prisons for a useful murderer, the only one she sniffs out is Caliban; paladin, handsome, spree killer. He claims that the demon inside him is dead now, but is that someone you can trust with your life? Slate does not care that much as her life is forfeit anyway. She is to lead a suicide mission to find the origins of the Clockwork Boys, an army of mechanical killers. With only herself, a possessed knight, an assassin, and an academic, there is no chance of them surviving anyway. 

At under 300 pages and only part of a duology, it is likely that the entire Clocktaur War series will be shorter than a single volume of many other fantasy sets. How is this even achievable? Surely Kingfisher has been forced to make sacrifices to shorten the length? The answer to this question is not really. The pacing is not much faster than your average fantasy novel, a genre known for its development in characters and world building. We are certainly given plenty of time for characters to grow, the quest not even starting until later in the book. 

One area that is a strength and does allow for a shorter page count is the reduced number of characters. Slate is the main protagonist, but the reader only gets to know four characters well, who are mostly in each other’s presence. Epic fantasy often has multiple storylines that span nations; Clockwork is a tightly contained novel. 

Having fewer characters focuses one’s attention on them more, and Kingfisher revels in this. The book becomes darkly amusing as the travel partners snipe at one another. A begrudging respect builds, but also an absolute annoyance of one another.  

These relationships are key as they lighten the tone of the story. This is a low fantasy novel, set in a crumbling world. Things must be desperate to send out a gang of criminals to save the Kingdom. All the decent options are already dead. The slog is bleak as Slate contemplates her death. However, there is also hope. The journey and the friendships start to give Slate a reason to want to live, but this just makes the quest harder. Suicidal missions are so much easier if you do not care if you live or die. 

The characters and their immediate world are designed well, but we do not know much about the enemy. What are these Clockwork Boys and who invented them? The mystery plays well; it allows the story to focus on this fellowship and adds tension to what may happen next. 

Clockwork may be brief for a fantasy novel, but it is not hurried. Kingfisher still allows the characters and the world to breathe. The action punctuates the adventure, but it is the relationship between the travelers that keeps you reading. By focusing on a few key characters, Kingfisher has been able to write a classic feeling slice of epic fantasy, but with half the page count and I am all for that.