Did I have time to binge listen to The Clocktaur Wars series? No. Did I do it anyway? Yep. I read Daggerbound and then I realized that I needed to refresh myself on Learned Edmund’s origin story. I had listened to Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine a couple of years ago while I was suffering from a bug. The combination of T. Kingfisher’s story and Khristine Hvam’s narration make a great distraction, but I can’t say the I was paying enough attention to retain the story. I had forgotten what a judgmental shit the scholar was at the beginning of Clockwork Boys.
Mistress Slate is possibly my favorite T. Kingfisher character, aside from Bishop Beartongue. This is high praise, because I love many of the denizens of The World of the White Rat. If Slate showed up at my door and asked if I wanted to go on a suicide mission, I would pack my extra handkerchiefs, comfy shoes and go. I don’t know what skills I would bring to the mission (I can cook and I’m really good at irritating people), but maybe she wants a fellow allergy sufferer along to commiserate. Or another person to yell, shut up, Brenner!
The quest is a great favorite of mine, and I especially love a high stakes quest with people who don’t necessarily want to be there. The tension of people with different motivations working together is always great fodder. And then, for the first time ever, I read the Acknowledgements in Clockwork Boys and learned that Kingfisher was partially motivated by spite. She hated the way paladins were written, broody and self-loathing, for no discernible reason. Quest + spite = Emmalita catnip.
I suppose thanks must also go to the writers of fantasy paladins, lo these many years, without whom there would be no tradition to enrage me and force me to tackle the issue myself. Inspiration knocks now and again, but spite bangs on the door all year long. Thank god.
In the fine tradition of, “I’ll give you something to cry about”, Kingfisher has given her paladin, Sir Caliban, a reason to be self-loathing (see also the paladins of the Saint of Steel series), and then makes him work through it. Slate and Caliban are the heart of the duology. Brenner, the tragic, sarcastic, cigarette smoking assassin (“Brenner? He’s got a heart of gold…cold, metallic, and made of money.”) is the group’s id and is the grit in Slate and Caliban’s relationship. Learned Edmund starts as a little misogynist shit and I’m so grateful Kingfisher had him grow as a person quickly. The later addition of Grimehug the gnole adds some extra sparkle to the crew. I would have spent a whole extra book in the Vagrant Hills with them.
I’ve become very fond of The World of the White Rat. I’ll probably go listen to Swordheart, and then Daggerbound again. And the Saint of Steel books while I wait patiently for the remaining three books in that series. I’ve listened to these books almost as many times as I’ve listened to Murderbot. That’s a lot.
