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Kingdom of Clockwork #3
A Clockwork Carol
Clockmaker Karl Nielsen has not been having a good day. He thought he was taking a short Yuletide trip to the city. Now he stands accused of treason, robbery and murder.
The darkly humorous third volume in the Kingdom of Clockwork series features a king disguised as Santa, a prime minister who might be an alien, a pregnant Irish monk and a long-forgotten Danish monster.
The darkly humorous third volume in the Kingdom of Clockwork series features a king disguised as Santa, a prime minister who might be an alien, a pregnant Irish monk and a long-forgotten Danish monster.
274 pages, ebook
First published December 1, 2017
15 people want to read
About the author
Billy O'Shea
7 books11 followersBilly O’Shea grew up at an airport on the west coast of Ireland.
He studied at Trinity College Dublin and under sentence in Mountjoy Jail, but dropped out of both before completing his education. He then briefly pursued a career as a sound technician and sitcom saboteur with the Irish television station RTÉ before being washed out of the country in the great emigration wave of 1980.
He landed in Denmark and struck out as a ballad singer at night, while living a double life as a student in the daytime.
He was awarded a gold medal by the University of Copenhagen in 2000 and shook hands with Queen Margrethe. After that he refused to shake hands with anyone else ever again, for which reason he was denied Danish citizenship in 2022 and sought asylum in Svalbard, near the North Pole.
He has written several novels, which have been translated into Finnish, Danish and Chinese, to the puzzlement of many. His work is not recommended for the sound of mind or adults above the age of 80.
He studied at Trinity College Dublin and under sentence in Mountjoy Jail, but dropped out of both before completing his education. He then briefly pursued a career as a sound technician and sitcom saboteur with the Irish television station RTÉ before being washed out of the country in the great emigration wave of 1980.
He landed in Denmark and struck out as a ballad singer at night, while living a double life as a student in the daytime.
He was awarded a gold medal by the University of Copenhagen in 2000 and shook hands with Queen Margrethe. After that he refused to shake hands with anyone else ever again, for which reason he was denied Danish citizenship in 2022 and sought asylum in Svalbard, near the North Pole.
He has written several novels, which have been translated into Finnish, Danish and Chinese, to the puzzlement of many. His work is not recommended for the sound of mind or adults above the age of 80.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 21, 2021
4.25/5 A Clockwork Carol by Billy O’Shea
Narrated by Billy O’Shea
Run Time: 7 hrs and 35 min
Summary:
Karl Nielsen’s little caper with the former king turns into a much bigger affair. There’s also a separate story like with two Irish monks, Brother Joe (who’s actually a woman) and (Brother Christopher).
Additional Comments:
- Performance 4/5: The author has a nice reading voice. He handles each character well. Many of the minor ones sound the same, but that’s to be expected. People in the same scene are distinct. That’s what counts the most.
- Story 4.5/5: Could be titled Karl’s lousy week. Promised a lucrative, quick trip, he follows along in the charismatic deposed king’s wake … and winds up in a world of trouble. The Northlanders have blockaded Cantabor (sorry about spelling, I heard the audiobook, so I’m not entirely sure on spelling). The city is starving. There’s distrust and accusations flying all over the place.
- Going deeper: If you’d like to go deeper, the plot also brings up a lot of great points about running a kingdom, being a leader, superstition, propaganda and story spin, etc. It brings up an excellent point about human nature. When things go well, people are quite willing to help their fellow man, but when times are tough, they flip to defensive mode and all bets are off.
- Characters are likable: Brother Christopher and Brother Joe are amusing. Karl’s ingenious in his own way, but he’s certainly not an action hero, which is part of his charm.
- Closure is decent: The threads here are answered for, but there is an opening for the author to continue the tale with one of the threads through the monks.
- Content rating: clean. There’s some pseudo cursing and mention (in passing) of things like torture, but nothing is described in gory detail.
- The trilogy is unique in the sense that it’s set in the future but reads like the distant past. So, it’s technically post-apocalypse, but reads like historical steampunk. It’s really an interesting mix.
Conclusion:
A satisfying conclusion to a charming, if somewhat odd, tale of a clockmaker’s misadventures.
Narrated by Billy O’Shea
Run Time: 7 hrs and 35 min
Summary:
Karl Nielsen’s little caper with the former king turns into a much bigger affair. There’s also a separate story like with two Irish monks, Brother Joe (who’s actually a woman) and (Brother Christopher).
Additional Comments:
- Performance 4/5: The author has a nice reading voice. He handles each character well. Many of the minor ones sound the same, but that’s to be expected. People in the same scene are distinct. That’s what counts the most.
- Story 4.5/5: Could be titled Karl’s lousy week. Promised a lucrative, quick trip, he follows along in the charismatic deposed king’s wake … and winds up in a world of trouble. The Northlanders have blockaded Cantabor (sorry about spelling, I heard the audiobook, so I’m not entirely sure on spelling). The city is starving. There’s distrust and accusations flying all over the place.
- Going deeper: If you’d like to go deeper, the plot also brings up a lot of great points about running a kingdom, being a leader, superstition, propaganda and story spin, etc. It brings up an excellent point about human nature. When things go well, people are quite willing to help their fellow man, but when times are tough, they flip to defensive mode and all bets are off.
- Characters are likable: Brother Christopher and Brother Joe are amusing. Karl’s ingenious in his own way, but he’s certainly not an action hero, which is part of his charm.
- Closure is decent: The threads here are answered for, but there is an opening for the author to continue the tale with one of the threads through the monks.
- Content rating: clean. There’s some pseudo cursing and mention (in passing) of things like torture, but nothing is described in gory detail.
- The trilogy is unique in the sense that it’s set in the future but reads like the distant past. So, it’s technically post-apocalypse, but reads like historical steampunk. It’s really an interesting mix.
Conclusion:
A satisfying conclusion to a charming, if somewhat odd, tale of a clockmaker’s misadventures.
October 18, 2018
Readers of the first two Kingdom of Clockwork books will seemingly find themselves in familiar narrative territory. The series takes place in a future post-apocalyptic Scandanavia. As in the previous books, clockmaker Karl Nielson is only trying to keep his head down and make a living but once again he is drawn against his will into complex intrigues and finds himself at the mercy of schemers who have political agendas beyond his understanding. Again, circumstances force him into devising novel clockwork machines for the king, who is comically wrong in his interpretation of artifacts from the distant past (the reader’s present day). At the same time, a pair of Irish monks reappear with a mission to fulfill as they try to stay safe in an increasingly imperiled and fraught city facing threats from without and within.
But once again, this book has another important feature in common with the previous books: the story is novel, original and dramatic. It introduces the reader to new ground (and underground), and contains fresh insightful commentary on politics, loyalty, violence and society, as well as new heroes, villains and ambiguous actors, including strong women who play a part in Karl’s destiny.
But once again, this book has another important feature in common with the previous books: the story is novel, original and dramatic. It introduces the reader to new ground (and underground), and contains fresh insightful commentary on politics, loyalty, violence and society, as well as new heroes, villains and ambiguous actors, including strong women who play a part in Karl’s destiny.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews