Format: E-Book, 352 pages
Release Date: June 9, 2015
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Source: Edelweiss/Publisher
Genre: Steampunk
Rich in atmosphere, imagination, and fun, the action-packed, magic-filled sequel to The Clockwork Dagger is an enchanting steampunk fantasy, evocative of the works of Trudi Canavan and Gail Carriger
Narrowly surviving assassination and capture, Octavia Leander, a powerful magical healer, is on the run with handsome Alonzo Garrett, the Clockwork Dagger who forfeited his career with the Queen’s secret society of spies and killers—and possibly his life—to save her. Now, they are on a dangerous quest to find safety and answers: Why is Octavia so powerful? Why does she seem to be undergoing a transformation unlike any witnessed for hundreds of years?
The truth may rest with the source of her mysterious healing power—the Lady’s Tree. But the tree lies somewhere in a rough, inhospitable territory known as the Waste. Eons ago, this land was made barren and uninhabitable by an evil spell, until a few hardy souls dared to return over the last century. For years, the Waste has waged a bloody battle against the royal court to win its independence—and they need Octavia’s powers to succeed.
Joined by unlikely allies, including a menagerie of gremlin companions, she must evade killers and Clockwork Daggers on a dangerous journey through a world on the brink of deadly civil war.
The Clockwork Crown closes out the duology known as The Clockwork Dagger. Medician Octavia Leander has survived a betrayal of a personal kind, an assassination attempt by the Queen of Caskentia's Clockwork Daggers, and a kidnapping by the Wasters who wanted to use her abilities against their enemies. Octavia's powers have actually grown in depth and scope.
Her connection with The Lady has given her the ability to do things nobody else can do. Octavia is the most powerful Medician on the entire continent which means she continues to have her fair share of enemies, but she does have some pretty interesting allies as well. Her powers allow her to HEAR every single person’s health and ailments in her head. Octavia starts to believe that there is a great price to pay for her expanding magic. What that price is, remains a mystery right until the climax of the story.
The majority of this story is Octavia’s quest for knowledge about her abilities and why her skin is changing so drastically. The journey takes her and Alonzo Garrett, a former Clockwork Dagger and now her Guardian, to Tamaranian in the Southern Nations where she meets Alonzo's sister, back to Mercia where she learns more about the curse that was placed on The Dallowmen by Caskentians, and back to the wastelands where everything comes to a final satisfying conclusion.
The Clockwork Crown ties up every single loose end in a way that doesn't make you roll your eyes, or throw your book around the room in disappointment. I loved the connection between Octavia and Alonzo. I don't want to give anyone hopes of hot and steamy steampunk romance, but what is there, is sweet, and adorable, and they get their HEA. I loved that Leaf, the Gremlin returned for an encore along with a few of this friends. I loved that a long lost King comes along on the journey with Octavia, and opens her eyes to things she never knew before. Even though Alonzo is gone for part of the story, he still stands by Octavia right until the very end. We don't see enough of Octavia's friend Mrs. Stout, but we do meet two other Stout family members.
Overall, even though this is the end, I am satisfied with the outcome, the pacing, the world building, and the characters.
**I received this book for free from (Harper Voyager) via (Edelweiss) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**
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