ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, and Confinement
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content
mariebrunelm's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The Clockmaker's Daughter, aka one of the books that almost felt longer than the whole Lord of the Rings. First of all, I want to say that there's nothing inherently wrong about this novel. Objectively it's quite good. The main (as objective as possible) faults I found with it were that some characters felt interchangeable (or even removable), some paragraphs felt like extracts from Wikipedia, and there was a general air of elitism (being rich is good, being poor is bad).
Other than that, it's a good mystery novel steeped into Victorian culture, with a large cast of characters spread out over different time periods, from the 19th century to the present. I loved the Pre-Raphaelite atmosphere and the slow revelations. Most of the male characters were quite patronising towards female characters, but the latter were well-rounded and defied gender expectations. I particularly how Lucy, the teenage sister of a painter, learned to see people for who they were rather than how prejudice makes them look.
The main trouble I had with this book is very personal. I've realised over the past few months that with my PhD, my writing projects, the English lessons I give, etc, I don't really have the mental space for intricate plots and huge casts of characters, which this book has. I also couldn't care less about some of the character arcs and was constantly lost between the different names of one character (says the reader for whom it took 400 pages to understand that Petyr Baelish and Littlefinger were the same person). And finally the ending frustrated me deeply. Sigh.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, and Grief
Minor: Child death, Death, and Death of parent
graceolivia's review
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Stalking, and Violence
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