Dusk Crier

The Star Clock Chronicles #5

by E.J. Kitchens

Airship captain Kingsley Bowditch is dead. So the world thinks. A slave in the mines where the automaton navigators’ crystals grow, he’s doomed to labor for the Time King, the man he’d hoped to overthrow. But then Sky Keeper smuggler Caroline Lockley sneaks into the mines and asks for his help to find the crystal that will guide the Sky Keepers to the Star Veil to destroy it—before the Time King arrives for it. Getting the crystal might be easy, but getting it out—with guards, gates, and stray fey creatures between them and the sky—might not. Dusk is coming for the Time King’s rule or for the hopes of the Sky Keepers in this exciting conclusion to the steampunk adventure-romance series The Star Clock Chronicles.

Genres: Steampunk

157 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 14, 2021

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much to like about this steampunk story. The banter between Kingsley and Caroline was a delight to read, his humour and her teasing. The pace of the story was strong and made it easy to keep turning the pages and Caroline’s ingenuity and strength of character were compelling.
Being the last in a series of 5 novellas, and not having read the previous four, I felt a distinct disadvantage in both understanding the overall context of the series plus the descriptions of the steampunk universe Kitchens had created. I struggled to picture much of the ships, the automatons, the weapons, Ri Am (I still don’t quite understand who he is, what he looks like and what role he played) and outfits our heroes wore. This made it particularly, difficult to visualise the battle scenes that filled much of the last 30% of the story.

I would highly recommend one reads the other stories first as that will make this final one much clearer and give you a sense of what is going on and I presume a better visual experience of the steampunk universe.

It’s a tough one when you pick up one story in what appears to be a structured organised 5-book series, each story building on the previous ones.

[Laurie Lucking · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an epic conclusion! Kingsley was a great character - he had such an inspiring way of balancing his brokenness with courage and humor. And I appreciated the way Caroline interacted with him using both teasing and gentleness. Gaining an understanding of the mines added a new layer of depth to Kitchens' story world, and that ending! I could barely keep up, but let's just say it was intense! Plus it provided an extremely satisfying wrap-up to the series as a whole :)

*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.*