Blood and Clockwork by Katey Hawthorne

Blood and Clockwork

by Katey Hawthorne

Alistair Click set out to lay to rest the superstitious fears about the Mad Prince's clockwork tower. If that meant he might bring the ghost city of Avalonia back to economic life, connecting the western kingdoms once again, so much the better. So what if no adventurer who'd entered the tower in the last century of desolation had ever re-emerged? They didn't have his skill and wit. He could do better.

The tower turns out to be far more than Alistair expected, however. Not only are there clockwork puzzles to open every door, but one of them drops a boy from a strange world into his lap–figuratively speaking, if only just. Marco Murphy was just gaming in his New Jersey apartment, and now he's stuck in what feels like a never ending LARP nightmare.

The deeper they delve into the Mad Prince's tower, the darker the secrets they uncover. They're not entirely sure they'll ever be able to get out again, either. It'll take all Marco's charm and Alistair's cleverness, plus the strange bond growing between them, to get them out together… and alive.

This was a very descriptive novella set in a tower where most everything in each of the vast rooms is made up of clockwork.  I enjoyed the visuals, but after a while I began to get bored when nothing interesting happened.

Marco was a great character.  I loved his humor and his use of the modern-day Earth phrases that confused Alistair.  He pretty much saved the book for me.

One thing I loved was that Alistair was an asexual character.  That is very uncommon in books, especially in romance.  I thought that was pretty brave of the author.  After all...sex sells, right?

I would have rated this book higher if there was some sort of action or purpose to it all.  It was mostly a story about two characters exploring a strange tower and getting to know each other.  Not quite enough "meat" for my taste.

 

I received a free Kindle copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.