parasolcrafter's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
this is a really solid book and a great start to a series :o i thought the mechanics of the clocktower and how it translated to colton was quite cool and original. i really enjoyed watching danny grow and open up to colton, and i thought all the relationships between characters were realistic and quite sweet, even if his mother was a bit hard to deal with sometimes. i also love that the fairytales danny told colton about in the beginning had running themes through the story and that fate had Such a big role in it overall. i do think the ending was a bit fantastical with his father coming back after the town was no longer Stopped (i would think the people there would be a bit more confused, though i do understand the book wanting to end kind of like a fairytale) but it wasnt enough to take anything away from the story as a whole.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Grief, Abandonment, Death, Homophobia, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual content
forsakenfates's review against another edition
4.0
Took me over a month to read, but still a great book. Full review to come.
overlookingcovers's review against another edition
2.0
The concept of this story is really interesting. I like the idea of clocks actually being time itself, and how we can feel the lines of it as though it was a web. Points for originality. Even more so, it is set in freaking Victorian London!
Well, I mean, it isn’t exactly Victorian London, but an alternative universe London. And that means that the author can do whatever she wants. We can have cars running on carbon dioxide, people flying with mechanical wings, but nope. We just get a London that has decent cars and phones.
Review: https://overlookingcovers.wordpress.com/2017/09/12/timekeeper-by-tara-sim-timekeeper-1/
Well, I mean, it isn’t exactly Victorian London, but an alternative universe London. And that means that the author can do whatever she wants. We can have cars running on carbon dioxide, people flying with mechanical wings, but nope. We just get a London that has decent cars and phones.
Review: https://overlookingcovers.wordpress.com/2017/09/12/timekeeper-by-tara-sim-timekeeper-1/
scent_of_the_rain's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very nice book. It wasn’t great but in comparison to my previous read was very enjoyable. The strongest aspect of it were it’s characters, and I start see that most of my beloved books are character driven ones, they are pretty “damaged” (for a lack of better word) and that makes them more realistic and with depth, and I like those.
The story is a little less strong. Don’t get me wrong, is enjoyable but a little “naive”(again, for a lack of better word)? And it’s very predictable, not subtle at all. You can figure out what happened as soon the author mentions something related to future plot twist and because of it the lead character can come up as a little dense (or stupid) for not releasing both twist.
But even if the story is predictable it's still enjoyable. Mostly because the lead couple is so adorable that I didn’t really care about anything else. The ending was a little meh for me but it’s only first book in the trilogy so I’m not too bothered about it. I also appreciated the fact that there are some mentions of Polish things, like locations, and they are written using Polish letters.
The only thing that I didn’t like was the steampunk aspect of the book, or the not so well use of it. The more modern things like telephones and cars are just there without a reason, even though there is an explanation from the author at the end but it’s only: “I put it there because it was necessary for the plot to advance” instead of an actual in universe reason. And also they weren’t different from normal telephones or cars so even if they were because of some concrete reason, they would feel as just being there because you cannot tell.
I’m still excited to read the sequel.
The story is a little less strong. Don’t get me wrong, is enjoyable but a little “naive”(again, for a lack of better word)? And it’s very predictable, not subtle at all. You can figure out what happened as soon the author mentions something related to future plot twist and because of it the lead character can come up as a little dense (or stupid) for not releasing both twist.
But even if the story is predictable it's still enjoyable. Mostly because the lead couple is so adorable that I didn’t really care about anything else. The ending was a little meh for me but it’s only first book in the trilogy so I’m not too bothered about it. I also appreciated the fact that there are some mentions of Polish things, like locations, and they are written using Polish letters.
The only thing that I didn’t like was the steampunk aspect of the book, or the not so well use of it. The more modern things like telephones and cars are just there without a reason, even though there is an explanation from the author at the end but it’s only: “I put it there because it was necessary for the plot to advance” instead of an actual in universe reason. And also they weren’t different from normal telephones or cars so even if they were because of some concrete reason, they would feel as just being there because you cannot tell.
I’m still excited to read the sequel.
naemi's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
casmonido's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
jensen1's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded up. Overall, great story and unique concept of time. However, the reason behind the explosions seemed a little too close to home. I was thinking more secret society against time or something (especially since so many people were against the new tower being built). Regardless, I had fun reading it and couldn't wait to find out what happened.