A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It's
not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly
serious stakes. T. Kingfisher's new novel begins the tale of a murderous
band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to
unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a
neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager's city.
If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long
journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also
requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns
darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group
of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they
drive forward on their suicide mission.