Another "name that book"

September 4, 2020 7:41 AM

I'm looking for the name of a fantasy book, probably written in the past decade, that starts out with a female protagonist searching a prison for someone to help her, led by the quirk that things important to her destiny are often marked by the strong smell of eucalyptus.

There is some time spent on the past and current eucalyptus smell instances; it is not a single random mention of the scent. The smell gets nauseatingly strong the closer she gets to the person she needs to find in the prison (who is some sort of paladin? knight? who was maybe possessed by a demon and killed a bunch of people?).

The paladin and protagonist then go to (spy? fight?) against an enemy that has (clockwork?) soldiers.

I read it as a Kindle sample, if that helps. Wanted to read more, but couldn't identify it again from looking through my list of samples downloaded to my device in the past year (because the list is huge). Thanks!

posted by rollcredits to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Best answer: A dead ringer for Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon, but the scent is rosemary, not eucalyptus!
posted by foxfirefey at 7:47 AM on September 4, 2020 [11 favorites]

Best answer: Yep - definitely Clockwork Boys!
posted by ChuraChura at 7:57 AM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It's definitely Clockwork Boys and it's really good.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:17 AM on September 4, 2020 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you all! I wanted to read more and was sad I could not locate it. My weekend reading awaits :)
posted by rollcredits at 8:53 AM on September 4, 2020

Best answer: Good news for you: the sequel (The Wonder Engine) is also great!
posted by maryrussell at 9:55 AM on September 4, 2020 [3 favorites]