Season of Wind

Clockwork God Chronicles #2

by Aimee Hyndman

After her stint saving humanity with the God of Mischief, Janet Redstone now has a host of other problems on her mind, namely saving her friend Sylvia while avoiding the fast approaching godly war. Now travelling the desert realm of Kabila with her two surviving teammates, she just wants to kill as many wendigos as possible to get Sylvia's soul back.

But then strange things start happening. Janet begins healing faster than normal. She dreams of Itazura imprisoned in a dark room, even though he's a god and that's impossible. Oh, and when she touches locks, they just open. That's a midlly concerning development.

Turns out Itazura really is in danger. Captive of the Elder Gods, he's sent the majority of his powers to Janet for safe keeping. Said powers exhaust her every time she uses them and make her a target for all sorts of new enemies if she doesn't get rid of them soon. Now she must team up with a god she loves, a god she hates and a god she fears to save him, and avoid getting smote by the Elder Gods in the process.

Genres: Fantasy, Steampunk

Paperback

First published September 19, 2017

About the author

Aimee Hyndman has been writing ever since her toddler fingers could grasp a pencil. A lover of all things speculative fiction, she spent many a night penning the beginnings of novels that would never see the light of day. Now attending college in Iowa, double majoring in Creative writing and English, she has clearly never lost her love of the craft.

When not writing and avoiding her school work, Aimee enjoys reading, singing, and acting at her school’s theater department. She is also a lover of anime and all things Disney.

Her area of specialty is fantasy of all sorts but she dabbles in many genres— whatever she feels compelled to write at the moment. The plot bunnies are never ending but, luckily, so are the words!

Reviews

[Dave Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hyndman combines the complexity of epic fantasy with the character focus of young adult fantasy, providing a sense of depth and scope without sacrificing accessibility or the reader’s wrists.

This is the second volume in The Clockwork Gods Chronicles. So, spoilers ahead.

Having completed the deal she made with Itazura, the god of mischief, Janet Redstone wants to focus on her own concerns and avoid the fast-approaching war between the current gods and the Elder Gods they replaced. Unfortunately, with her friend Sylvia’s soul stolen by one of the wendigo that serve the Elder Gods, Janet’s search leads through the deserts of Kabila where many have readopted the old religion. Between the threat of ravaging wendigo packs and the chance that any of the people she meets could be an informant, things are tricky enough; then Janet starts displaying odd advantages, such as locks just opening for her, and dreaming of Itazura imprisoned in darkness.

The novel opens in the middle of events a short while after the previous volume. As such, readers coming to it with only a short break will not find their momentum slowed by prologues or reprises; however, Hyndman does include an amount of framing and explanation where it fits naturally into thoughts or conversations, so readers less immediately familiar with the previous volume have the reminders they need.

While this balance is likely to work well for any continuing reader, and makes for more plausible conversations, the reminders are designed to trigger recall of rather than replace matters from the first volume. As such, large areas of cosmology, metaphysics, politics, and other matters are assumed, making this book less appropriate as a stand-alone or entry-point into the series.

Continuing the time associations, Hyndman expands on the idea of the previous gods, defeated but not destroyed, being seasonal rather than hourly. While there is less focus on the impact this correlation with have on performing tasks at particular times, there is an underlying flavour of the seasons to each encounter with an Elder God’s base of power. In addition, the twelve hours of the clock are compared to the four quarters of the year, making each Elder God a gestalt of three of the current gods; but not necessarily the three one might immediately suspect.

Hyndman adopts the same re-framing rather than radically expanding approach to the steampunk elements: the technology still forms a large part of both the world and the narrative, but appears more as a new application of things already present than as the result of radical concepts.

With Janet having interacted extensively with gods in the previous volume, the presence of a high-powered metaphysical thread is almost inevitable. However, Hyndman resists the temptation to escalate dramatically, instead displaying a world that is changing but keeping the immediate impact on the protagonists at a level similar to that of the previous book. Hyndman additionally makes full use of the disparate obsessions inherent in any pantheon to grant the gods a plausible amount of power but limit the application through disputes and lack of broader awareness.

Janet remains a complex and sympathetic character. Experience and a greater purpose have made her less naïve, but her upbringing as one of the disadvantaged still colours her perspectives on the ultimate 1%: the gods. The interplay between having seen a few gods as more than embodiments of privilege and years of being on the losing end of the system makes her at turns more able to demand they work for the greater good and less able to set her own feelings aside.

While there are a few stereotypes among those characters with the least page time, the supporting cast are similarly nuanced.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel greatly. I recommend it to readers seeking fantasy with the immense scale of epic fantasy but without the immense length and convolution.

I received a free copy from the publisher with a request for the fair review.

[Marie -The Reading Otter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review:
http://pagestoexplore.blogspot.com/20...

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Full review to come!

[Dreamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid second entry in steampunk fantasy The Clockwork God Chronicles! There's more of everything I loved from the first book (witty banter, character development, displays of Godly powers) and even more adventure. Diving into the next book now!

[Anna lost in stories *A* · Rating 5 out of 5]

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of this book :) I absolutely adored this story :) it's a phenomenal sequel in a fantasy / steampunk-ish series, and you really have to read the first book to understand everything that's happening, as well as appreciate all of the interations between different characters :) since this sequel is so much connected to the first book, I will have the next paragraph completely spoiler free, even if you are brand new to the series, where I will talk a bit more about the world and the plot in general, as well as some of the characters :) and then the third and last paragraph will be filled with my thoughts and opinions about this particular installment, which means I will be talking about people and events, including spoilers from the first installment, so read at your own risk ;) that way everyone can find something for themselves in my review :)

Like I said, this is a fantasy series with some serious steampunk vibes :) which is only just like my favourite mix ever ;) Janet, the main character, is a leader of a teenage band of thieves, with a prosthetic arm :) she's clever and sarcastic and is willing to do whatever it takes to help her friends :) so when they are all caught during one of their heists and thrown to jail, she agrees to a pact with Itazura, god of mischief, to save them :) soon after she finds herself in the middle of a godly conflict that trails back a long, long time... :) I'm not gonna say much more about the events, cause I want you guys to be surprised by all the twists and turns as I was :) but what I can say is that the writing style is amazing :) highly entertaining, with witty dialogue and interesting characters, it's a fast paced story that you are not gonna want to stop :) within the pages of the first story we get to meet a few gods and they are as interesting as you think... maybe even more :) not only that, but we get more acquainted with Janet's friends :) all of them have their own distinctive personalities, and I cannot wait to have some more backstories and informations about them... especially after already hearing some stories ;) now that we have this little explanation out of the way, let me tell you more about the sequel :)

Ok, last warning for all of you guys who are completely new to the series, avert your eyes, cause I am gonna spoil some major things from that first book :) SPOILERS AHEAD ;) ok, so we pick up when Janet, along with Sid and Parker, are looking for wendigos... at least trying to kill as many of them as they can, hoping that one of them will have their friend Sylvia's soul... that is until they discover that Itazura was kidnapped and no one knows where he is... dun dun duuuunnnn... ;) since he is still connected to Janet, certain gods want her help to find him :) this story was a fantastic sequel... again, full of action and surprising twists and turns... although I predicted some of them ;) we meet new characters, but can we trust all of them? :) we also get to know more people, and gods, we've met before... and some of them may surprise us... :) I loved the writing style again, which made this story such an entertaining read... I already cannot wait for the next installment... especially after *that* ending :) I can't really say anything else about the actual events in the sequel, because it would be too spoilerific, but it was a phenomenal read :) 5 stars all the way :) I definitely highly recommend you all this amazing gem :) if you haven't already, be sure to check out this book, and the first one as well :)

XOXO

A

[Kirsty (Amethyst Bookwyrm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Curiosity Quills Press for giving me this book to review.

Season of Wind is the second book in the Clockwork Gods Chronicles and I really enjoyed it. It was very fast paced, and full of action and deception. While I guessed the main plot twist it was still a fun light book and I enjoyed reading about all of the characters.

Janet is determined to protect her friends and save Silvia but also feels way over her head as she gets more involved in the Gods war. I wish Itazura was in this book more as he was my favourite character from the first book and the story seemed to be lacking something with him not in it. However, the other gods made up for it was I really liked the bander and family feeling between Laetatia, Meroquio, and Kova.

This is a very fun story and I am looking forward to reading the next book in The Clockwork Gods Chronicles. I would recommend Season of Wind to fans of the first book Hour of Mischief.

This and my other reviews can be found at Amethyst Bookwyrm

[Geoff Strayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Clockwork Gods chronicles. I read it back to back with the first (Hour of Mischief), and have to say, these are a decent pair of stories.

In an nutshell, the setting is a steampunk / godpunk world where there are 12 Clockwork Gods - not clockwork as in gears and such, but they each control an hour of the day, along with various other aspects of life. Think the usual smattering of war, lust, drinking, theft, knowledge, and whatnot, but also tied to a section of the day. It is an interesting setup, and one that is beginning to be explored here in a bit more depth than the first book. Admittedly, the exploration is still playing second fiddle to the plot, which is good in most respects (except for the whole 'need more background' thing I do), and the background serves the story. In fact, everything serves the story - there is a lack of extraneous elements, which is refreshing. Nothing is shoehorned into the book, or if it is, it is done well enough that it isn't obvious in the least.

The plot follows our crew from the first book as they continue to work to save the world. This time, in another city altogether, and without the aid of her patron, Itazura. The stakes are bigger, as one of the elder seasonal gods has Itazura captive, and may plan to kill him to disrupt the power of the pantheon. To add to the drama, Janet is changing. And not in the way one expects at her age. No, she is healing, can open locks at a touch, and seems to be having prophetic dreams as well. Almost like she has Itazura's powers or something.

So, in order to save the pantheon, herself, and hopefully her wendigo-imprisoned friend Sylvia, it's off to rescue Itazura - with the aid of some Clockwork Gods. Sadly, there isn't a god of rescue missions.

The story is well done, with good pacing, new information about the conflict and world, and properly introduced new characters (properly - they are introduced in a natural way, treated realistically, and have their own stories). The expansion of the world is well-done, with elements drawn from a good array of sources, without being the exact source. Little changes are nice, and it makes the informed reader feel they saw behind the curtain, without leaving the uninformed reader wondering what they missed. There is only one real issue I had with the expanded world.

It feels too much like a post-apocalyptic Earth. Way too much. And it didn't in the first book.
While I have nothing specific against the far-future fantasy, it always feels like the creator is thinking themselves so very clever when the inevitable reveal occurs. Dispensing with it early (Son of the Black Sword, for example) doesn't mitigate the bad taste this leaves. In Ms. Hyndman's defense, there has been no such reveal, and the feeling could be just an artefact of the 'drawn from' method of world building that has already occurred (see wendigo above...).

But that is all there is to really complain about. Like a good sequel, it is light on 'last episode' stuff, and heads right into the action, with some gaps in time, but they are explained in the narrative, so no long blocks of explaining how we got from there to here.

This is a good series, and worth the time to pick up and read. Well done.

[Melek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, Janet is in way over her head; not that it's any surprise. On top of having a friend to save and trying to protect what's left of her little gang, she is entangled in yet another of gods' schemes. Speaking of gods, have I mentioned that Itazura is kidnapped? Oh, no. Guess who's going to have to save him.

The story starts off in the desert. Their search for Sylvia has brought the gang all the way to desert realms, seemingly a great distance from Fortuna. Their journey from there consists of several cities with unique qualities as well as an array of closed areas that were no less interesting. If I had to choose one thing to commend, it would be the worldbuilding. Season of Wind made a good job of solidifying the world.

However, my favorites were, once again, the characterization and the dialogue; more the latter than the former. We have both returning characters and entirely new ones, which made for a diverse cast that made up for, with all due respect, the dryness of the narrative. In the first book, Janet had shone, but in Season of Wind, I felt like she was underdeveloped. Then again, it might be that she spent far more time among gods, characters that were naturally interesting, than her gang of normal human beings this time around.

I had a real issue with the plot, though. It seemed to follow a 'think of the worst thing that can happen, then make it happen' rule, which made it predictable, overwelmingly so at times. I still enjoyed the story, but it wasn't gripping. Besides that, I think the story could do without the seemingly romantic whatever between Itazura and Janet. I was unable to see any sort of spark of attraction that brought them together or Janet reacting to him in that way, apart from words. I just felt like a romance subplot was being forced upon the main character.

Overall, Season of Wind didn't leave a lasting effect like Hour of Mischief, but it was still an enjoyable read. It was good to see Laetatia and Meroquio again, among others and the banter was fun to read. 3.5/5.

[Denise Wengert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the first book and was so ready to read this! The book starts out weeks after the first one left off. Janet, Sid and Parker are in the desert realm of Kabila trying to rescue Sylvia's soul. However, before they can do that, Janet starts having dreams of Itazura held captive by Autumn, an Elder God, and she starts to heal faster than she should. Janet must make the choice to try and rescue Itazura with three other Gods and Sid and Parker go after Sylvia. Will they be able to save him in time and stop the Elder Gods? What will Janet find out about herself along the way?

This book did not disappoint! When I finished reading it, I immediately looked to see when the next book was being released (I wasn't able to find anything). Cannot wait for the next book - please hurry!