Clockworld: The Iron City

By: Ben Myatt

Narrated by: Luke Hannafin

The Iron City has stood for thousands of years, but now, dark forces move within her metal walls to bring down her royal family and subjugate her people. Princess Aldreia, heir to the throne, must join with the peasant tunnel-runner mouse to battle against the threats against her city and protect her birthright!

From the darkest cellars of the city Underworks to the skies around its tiers, the battle for the Iron City has begun!

©2018 Ben Myatt (P)2019 Ben Myatt

Not a bad steampunky, book.

~3.5 stars. I initially wasn't very into this books setting, characters, etc. As the book progressed, I became more invested into the storyline and I think that I ended up enjoying the book quite a bit. There are a few things that I would recommend the author to improve upon. The book did well at keeping me interested and not feeling sluggish at points where there was less conflict occurring. I think that several elements were adopted from other famous works without properly making them fit that took away from the story. Examples like characters saying "By the old Gods and the new" and "What in the seven hells" are phrases that I recognize from ASOIAF, but don't make since in this story (what old Gods and what new Gods are they talking about?).

This could be more of a preference, but I would have liked more world building and understanding what the world looked like, how everyone (not just in the cities mentioned) live, other religious beliefs, etc. I was also interested in learning more about how the technology functions, which I hope will be covered in later novels. I definitely see potential in this series being quite good.

On another note, and this could also just be personal preference, I think the narrator almost ruined this book. One of the main reasons I was having trouble getting into this book was the narrator. I didn't find his normal reading voice that appealing. I felt he also had trouble conveying the emotion of the situation and characters in the entire novel. Some of his voices were somewhat ridiculous (such as a certain Queen's Paw that sounded like Batman), and sometimes he would slip out of a character's voice while speaking, or forgetting to speak with that character's voice that confused me at parts.

Overall, I would likely read the next book in the series, hoping that the author continues to improve in writing quality.

Also, I received this book for free, and that in no way influenced my review.

Loved It

From the depths of the dark impoverished underground, a special gem named Mouse is found. While most people of the underground rely on illegal ways of life, Mouse is known for his exceptional skills as a tunnel runner and a fixer; and he prides himself on not being a criminal. When he’s thrust into the upper levels of the citadel in search of answers, everyone just assumes he’s lost or up to no good like the rest of the underground, but Mouse is special.

Imagine a steam punk setting with a hint of magic tossed in. Strange men that look more machine than man are commonplace. Exotic old machines are everywhere. A poor kid from the streets goes from trying to survive the daily grind of the underground to trying to stay alive and solve the mystery of his strange new discoveries he’s apart of, almost connected to, alongside a mix of people that would not ordinarily give him the time of day.

It’s a great story, Very original, and right up my alley. I had a great time imagining the scenes the author sets forth for you, very descriptive. The narrator does an excellent job with inflection, characters, and reading clearly overall. Great job narrating and great job imagining and transferring this story to paper by the author.

I would read again for sure.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Fantasy and Steampunk

This sort of book is up my street and the author did not disappoint. The characters were interesting and so was the plot. It reminded me a little of Abigail the movie.
This is for those that love steampunk mixed in with fantasy.

Fun story

The characters and story were good, and that's why we read books. I agree that the narration wasn't... ideal, but I think the fact that I listened to it on 2x helped me get used to it quickly. I think the problem isn't that the narrator is bad in his own right, more so that we have so many examples that are AMAZING that this is just... ok.

The book is fun, though. Definitely check it out.

I was given this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

absolutely brilliant

great story line and follow through I'm going to see if there is a sequel !

Steam Punk tale, magic great hero's & great story

This is a bit of a sleeper, sad because this is a great listen. the background is a Steam Punk world after a ancient cataclysm, lost knowledge becomes religious decorum.
Power games drive the life of the prime protagonist and the bad guys go from bad to despicable
Dear friendship, deep loyalty and a twisted mystery make each minute of this story "edge of your seat" exciting. the narration is absolutely perfect and make this great story a most memorable one. The story and narator deserve "6 Stars"

Clockworld

This could have been a terrific book.It was just good.The atory was good.People living in a world of Steam run things that are running down.There have been wars and Mouse,a rugrat may be connected to the builders of shiips.The Queen has a daughter and she is looking for Mouse. While Luke Hannafin was not a terrible narrator,he was just ok.In todays audio world we can tell.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'

Steam and spirits

** I received a free review copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review, My review has not been coerced or influence

There really isn't enough quality steampunk, Fortunately this really is quite good. The setting is quite a bit different from most steampunk which is normally some variation of alternate history Victorian Era Earth where some scientist usually Babbage and/or Tesla made some extreme breakthrough and science runs amok.

That is not this, This is a unique original setting, where people live in an ancient giant city entirely constructed of steam and gears. People go about their daily lives almost oblivious to the oddity that is all around them. They never asked themselves why the machine city is there or what it was built to do, They probably should have.

It's important to note that the advanced machinery is also slightly psychic, they are controlled by crystals that house mental patterns and allow for complex coordination.

So our main characters, a street boy called Mouse, who is kind of a hard bitten sly rogue, and a Ria the crown princess who is a bit of rebel and it turns out badass with a spear, are both descended from a group of people called the Makers, they are referred to mostly in vague terms throughout the book, and are somehow said to have created the most advanced tech. Well it turns out that they do this in part by being able to communicate on subconscious and sometimes conscious level with the sentiences stored in crystals. This lets them understand machines better than anyone else.

There are a handful of other interesting characters such as Marius is a political hostage and scholar that lives at the palace and is probably the most interesting of the secondary cast, And of course there are some cookie cutter background character that show up to remind you of the tropes like the occasional sniveling noble who say something catty or want some political favor

Meanwhile there is a religious group with a splinter cell that reveres the machines and attempts to emulate their god, by mechanizing themselves. Naturally when they discover a boy with supernatural mechanic skills they they plot and murder to get there hands on him,

Without going into details about the plot, The storytelling is pretty sharp it has a frantic pulpy feel, like the characters are always running against deadlines and sometimes things are happening in different places simultaneously making the action sometimes feel faster or give a break between tense moments, Mostly the characters motivations are pretty simple and other Mouse, and Marius most characters aren't overly complex but I don't really think the story need it all that much.

The narrator, isn't terrible, but I think he's probably inexperienced. First there is the audio quality itself, there is a minor constant sort of echoing like he's reading in an empty room with hardwood floors, it's minor enough that while listening after a few minutes you don't notice it but if you stop and start a couple times each time you do it becomes obvious again for a few minutes.
Next, all of his pacing is just a bit slower than I would like. He seems very deliberate and careful while reading in a way that doesn't seem to quite match up with the tone of the story.
And lastly, this might not be the narrators but there is a character Marius who is described as having a somewhat sibilant lisp, perhaps the dialogue text has it spelled out in such a way the narrators reading might be accurate, but the amount of hissing used for his dialogue seems gratuitous

Overall I can fairly strongly recommend this book, qualms with the audio included it was engaging and fun as well as something just different enough to really make it stand out.

A very good story with an OK narration...

It's 3.5 for the narration, really, but as there are no half-stars available, I have to stick with 3...

It's my first meeting with Ben Myatt and it's a good one:) "The Iron City"is a fast-paced fantasy with a very well built world, quite unique when it comes to the mechanics of it; I like the idea of the whole city being really a giant clock and the descriptions are detailed enough for me to imagine every nook and cranny vividly... The main characters feel real; they have strong personalities, they show real emotions and react naturally to whatever comes their way. And although it's the first part of a longer series, it has a satisfactory ending and can be read as a complete novel, with an opening for a continuation:)

Narration by Luke Hannafin is generally OK; I liked the speed of his reading and some voices were really well-done, others, however, were a bit irritating. The one that I didn't like at all was Mouse's voice - it jarred with this particular character's personality so much... Mouse is a courageous, no-nonsense, sensible character, but he sounded like a squeaking, weak, cowardly brat... And also, I got confused more than once while listening; there are no indications in the narration when the action moves from one place to another - sometimes miles away. We just "jump" from a talk between one set of characters in the palace to a description of what is happening in the tunnels in one smooth sentence, with the narrator not even taking a break for a comma or a full stop. Each time that happened I needed a second or two to realize who was talking to whom and where they were... I think a short pause in the narration would have helped a lot to "unconfuse" me :)
But as I said, generally it's an OK interpretation of the book and I wouldn't mind listening to another book read by Mr Hannafin.

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Fun and exciting light read

I really enjoyed this action-filled steampunk adventure. The characters were engaging, the action suspenseful, and the worldbuilding fascinating. I look forward to hearing more of Mouse’s adventures.

I was given this free audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.