beth cato – Llamafodder

This is the sequel to The Clockwork Dagger. At the end of The Clockwork Dagger, I mentioned that the book was fine, but not my A+ number one, so I wouldn’t really look for more of the series. Part of blah that assuming that the next book would be the middle of a trilogy… which meant that when I learned that it was only a two book series, I decided to check out the sequel.

Octavia and Alanzo continue their flight, and are soon in a much less war torn land. It’s still a world on the edge of industrialization, with grime and rampant poverty played up from the start. From there, the two of them move through various societal strata, and have difficult relations with Alanzo’s family.

Long story short, the book was well written and went to some very interesting places (a call back about Mrs. Stout’s family, an explanation for the Tree’s fading), and Octavia struggles appropriately–there’s a lot of difficulty to overcome, and it takes a lot of pain and grit at the end. The implacable tree at the end proves to be as sad a betrayal to us as it is shocking to Octavia.

Everything resolves in a nice epilogue; the world went through a rough patch, but it’s going to be revitalized now. Which is a fine place to leave the world. I’m left ambivalent; it was a good story, with good characters and unique powers, well told… but they’re still not books that I love. I’m again vaguely curious at to what you’d do next with the world, given the tumultuous changes, but am content to let it lie.

It’s a world of wonders, but also of early industrial grime, some magic and early science, airships, assassins, infernals, and intrigue. The book was a quick, easy read–and never quite simple. Neither Caskandia nor the Dallows are noble–they’re trapped in a bitter war (or its immediate aftermath–there a pause in the fighting as the book opens), and reach for underhanded methods to advantage themselves. Methods like kidnapping our heroine Octavia, a medicant–a healer.

There are lots of interesting things to the book. Centering the book on a healer, someone who is compelled to heal, even at great inconvenience to herself, is an interesting choice. She’s powerful (and revealed to be uniquely so as the book goes on), but she’s not winning wars or decimating her foes with powerful spells.

The religion of the tree is interesting; Octavia’s a true believer–for good reason–but society around her mostly dismisses worship of the tree as superstition. There’s action and risk, and Octavia does rely on others for most of the fisticuffs… but it’s never not an adventure because she’s not leading the charge.

The book is complete enough to stand alone–the dangling threads can be picked back up, but the book doesn’t feel incomplete, or like the heart of the story is still untold. Instead, she’ll be off on another adventure… in The Clockwork Crown.

Despite the praise above… I may be entering the end of my cyclical fiction reading phase. I don’t feel a strong draw to pick up the next book, despite suspecting that it’ll be a fine book, with even more authorial skill behind it.