2018; 251 pages. Book 1 (out of 4) in the “Mission Clockwork” series. New Author? : Yes. Genres : Steampunk; Young Adult & Teen; England; Historical Fiction. Overall Rating : 8½*/10.
Modo hasn’t had an easy life so far.
Very few hunchbacks do.
Especially when they have a hideous face to go along with the grotesquely bent
spinal column.
Modo is presently doing what
most hunchbacks do: he’s in a cage in a traveling freak show called “Merveilles et Mort”. This is in 19th century England, when
there’s no such thing as child labor laws.
Modo is one year old.
Right now, there’s a gentleman
right outside Modo’s cage, staring at him, and offering good money to buy Modo from the show’s proprietor. How odd.
But there’s method to the gentleman’s madness. He’s heard that the boy-hunchback has a
secret talent.
He’s been told that Modo is a
shape-shifter.
What’s To Like...
Mission Clockwork
is set in Victorian-era London, primarily in the poorer, darker neighborhoods,
and both aboveground, including the rooftops, and underground, especially the
sewers. One of my recent reads, Terry
Pratchett’s Dodger, was set in the same time
and place, and it was fun to revisit it.
It’s not a spoiler to reveal why
Modo’s new owner, Mr. Socrates, bought him.
Socrates runs a British intelligence agency, and sees a
huge potential in anyone who can self-rearrange his facial and body
characteristics. Modo is content; he has
a personal combat trainer named Tharpa, and a kindly caretaker, Mrs. Finchley, both at Mr. Socrates' expense. It’s a much
better life than being locked in a cage with people gawking at you.
The first task assigned by Socrates to Modo is to infiltrate a secret group of terrorists that is rumored to be
plotting some sort of spectacular destruction in London in the near
future. Efforts to infiltrate the group
thus far have been fruitless, but perhaps a shape-shifter can succeed. Now, after years of training and upbringing,
the teenaged Modo is ready to go out and do some official reconnaissance work. There is, of course, some risk to his life,
but hey, such sacrifices are occasionally necessary for Queen and Country.
I liked that Modo’s special
talent, while unique, also has limitations.
Yes, he can transform himself into someone else just by studying them
for a bit. And yes, it feels good to not have that ugly face and uncomfortably large growth on his back for a change. But the transformation wears off after a
short while, usually in a matter of hours, so Modo is always under a time
constraint when using it.
The ending is both spectacular
and exciting. It's a bit over-the-top, but that's standard fare in a “YA-ish” tale. The main storyline is resolved, evil plans
are thwarted, and Modo experiences his finest hour. Mission Clockwork is both a standalone novel,
and the first book in a series. There is
an short excerpt from Book 2, Mission Clockwork: The Dark
Deeps, to close things out.
Kewlest New Word ...
Knacker (n.) : someone who buys up old horses,
then kills them for their meat, bones, and/or leather.
Others: Costermongers (n., plural).
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.2/5
based on 269 ratings and 84 reviews.
Goodreads: 3.63/5 based on 3,574
ratings and 459 reviews.
Excerpts...
When Octavia had been a child in the
orphanage, she had often dreamed a man would come to rescue her. He would say, “I‘m your father and my ship
was wrecked. That is why you are here in
the orphanage. Now I can take you
home.” Or he would be a rich uncle. As she grew older, she hoped it would be a
young prince, and she pictured him so frequently that she could actually see
his face. In the end no one came, so one
day she left on her own and began her life as a pickpocket. (loc. 988)
“I can read.”
“Well, congratulations, Modo.” She floated over and grabbed the book from
his hands. “Ah, Hamlet. He’s too much of a gabber, that boy. Wouldn’t survive a second in our world.”
“It’s Shakespeare!” He raised a hand as though on the stage. “‘O, that this too too solid flesh would
melt/Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!’
See! It’s marvellous!”
“Marvellously boring. Though there is a good sword fight at the
end.” (loc. 1983)
Kindle Details…
Mission
Clockwork is usually priced at $2.99 at Amazon, although today and for a very limited time it is free! The other three books in the series normally go for $2.99
(Book 2), or $3.99 (Books 3 and 4), and right now they too are discounted to $0.99 apiece, so I snapped them up. This appears to
be a completed series, but the author also has a more-recent 5-book YA fantasy
series for you in e-book format titled the Dragon
Assassin.
“I nodded off and
fell into a story.” (loc.
195)
The nitpicking about Mission Clockwork is minor. This is a “Teen and Young Adult” book, so I
didn’t note any cusswords or adult situations cropping up. You’d think that would make it a boring read
for me, since I’m much older than the target audience, but that wasn’t the case
at all.
The book is written in Canadian, which is logical since the author grew
up in Saskatchewan. Therefore you occasionally run into weird spellings such as favourite,
and greying, but at least worlds like
judgments and recognized are spelled in “Yankee” fashion. I spotted a couple of typos, such as Her/He,
and wolf like/wolflike, plus one uncapitalized first word in a sentence: humour.
Overall though, I thought the editing was done well.
Consistent with its target audience being Teen-&-Young-Adult, the storyline contains lots of action, with very little blood and gore, despite a couple of fatalities occurring along the way. Yet it still entertained me from beginning to end, and I'm way out of the target age bracket.
So if you’re looking for a kewl Steampunk adventure, set in a fascinating historical time period, loaded with thrills, intrigue, and having a hunchback shape-shifter for a protagonist, Mission Clockwork will be a perfect match for you. Regardless of your age.
8½ Stars. We should not neglect to mention the story’s costar, young Octavia Milkweed, who is also one of Mr. Socrates’ agents. She and Modo start off on the wrong foot, then spend a lot of time learning to work together, and more importantly, trust one another. It all works out, of course, and I'm fairly certain (is that an oxymoron?) that Octavia is going to become a recurring character. But will she also be the catalyst for this series developing a Coming-of-Age plotline? Who knows, but stay tuned.
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