I have to start off by saying I liked A CLOCKWORK FAIRYTALE
even more than Helen Scott Taylor's Magic Knot series. For
as long as she can remember, Melba has had to disguise
herself as a boy as she runs messages and picks pockets in
the outer circle of Royal Malverne Isle. Saved from a nasty
end in an alley at the hands of soldiers by Turk, a
respected spymaster and local hero, Melba grabs the chance
to pledge to him, join his gang and achieve her goal of
climbing the outlaw hierarchy into spydom.
But her chances are foiled when Turk demands she bathe, and
his housekeeper, Gwinnie, finds out she's a girl and shows
the master. But Turk also learns Melba has 6 toes on each
foot which brandS her as the missing princess of the realm
who was kidnapped years ago and believed dead. Tasked with
turning her into a lady, Turk finds out too late he has to
protect her as well. The king's royal victualler has plans
for Melba that include foul magic, deception and danger.
There's a lot going on in this novel from various secret
relationships, romance and many individuals with ulterior
motives.
Helen Scott Taylor creates a realistic world in Royal
malverne as well as intriguing clockwork gadgets and
intriguing magical Jinns such as the Earth Jinn of the north
and the Silver Jinn of the south. Taylor deftly handles the
realm of Royal Malverne which is similar to the Victorian
era with gas lamps for lighting, row boats for transport and
swords for fighting. As the first book in the Sorcerers of
Arco series, A CLOCKWORK FAIRYTALE wets the appetite for
more in what promises to be a fabulous, suspense-filled
ride.
Abandoned as a young child,plucky, seventeen-year-old
Melba was raised like a boy to pick pockets and run
messages in the poor outer circles of Royal Malverne Isle.
But She longs to move up the criminal hierarchy and become
a spy. When nineteen-year-old Turk, a spymaster and local
folk hero, accepts her pledge to join his gang, she thinks
the Great Earth Jinn has heard her prayer. With his exotic,
dark southern looks and wealthy lifestyle in the inner
circle, Turk fascinates her. Not only is he a famous spy,
he also wields earth magic, and he teaches her to raise
tiny, playful Jinns from flowers. But Turk is not who he
seems. He follows the orders of a higher power and his
master has secret plans for Melba, plans that make her a
target of the evil Royal Victualler's foul magic, plans
that challenge Melba and Turk's beliefs about life and
duty, plans that tear them apart, just as they discover
what it means to fall in love.
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