Cobbler's Hill

by Laura E. Price

Corwyn Teachout has a knack for finding people.  Her sister, Gwen, has a knack for hurting them.  That should be enough to keep them alive after their mother dies and the orphanage burns down, at least until they're both old enough to join a gang and start down the long road to ruling the criminal underworld. But the Teachouts live in Cobbler's Hill, black, withered heart of the city of San Xavier, home to alchemical engineers, witches, gang lords, and monsters both clockwork and flesh. The Hill and its denizens have plans for the girls, from tracking a lost fiancée to fighting the heirs to gangsters' empires, from becoming the protegees of the Hill's Old Lady to piecing together the murder of the city's most notorious gang lord.  And that doesn't even take into account the house that likes to eat people. 

 

It's possible that becoming legendary is a crookeder path than they expected.

 

It's possible the Teachouts are about to make their own.

301 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 15, 2024

Reviews

[David M. M.]

Having previously encountered The Teachout Sisters in one of Laura E. Price's short stories in Fuckit, I was thrilled to discover I could read a whole novel about them. Price's short story experience writing shines through in two main ways. The first: every chapter has a self-contained narrative arc. The second: the book doesn't waste your time with unnecessary exposition and trusts you to keep up. I keep trying to write a longer review that expresses how much I liked this book, but I keep sounding silly. Instead, I will leave it at this:
The world and the characters are so vivid and real, you'll have to remind yourself that blood magic clockwork and houses that eat children never existed, not even in Arizona.

[Kate Bexell]

I first fell in love with the Teachout sisters through Laura's short stories, and was beyond thrilled to find that they have their own novel! I love the episodic nature of each chapter and the way Corywn and Gwen evolve into the girls we know and love in the short stories that chronicle their later adventures (or misadventures, as the case may be). Delving deeper into the setting of Cobbler's Hill was an amazing experience that showcases Laura's ability to create vivid, fantastic worlds with history and culture in a concise and entertaining way. Cobbler's Hill ticked all my magical, steampunk, badass FMC-loving boxes (and I absolutely loooove the way the romantic subplot unfolded).