Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

6 reviews

tinkeringcheck's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

It's hard to review this book. It took me a bit to get into, then I practically devoured the rest. The pacing was meandering in a charming way then skipped along too quick. The style has an inscrutable plainness that leaves a lot unsaid. On one hand it felt like it was respecting my intelligence as a reader to put things together, but as it went on it felt like most of the emotion, deeper thoughts, and motivations of the characters were left offscreen. I loved the idea of the world and the clockwork wonders it evoked, but I felt distant from it - like watching it behind a foggy pane of glass - because of the sparse style.

As for the characters, the concepts were fantastic and bursting with not-quite-realized potential. I adored every little bit of information we got about the talented and mysterious Mr. Mori, but I felt that much of Thaniel's character was left between the lines to the point of him becoming quite boring as things went on. (How this was managed despite having unique narration tics with his synesthesia, I've no idea). And while I found the drag-wearing, anti-suffragette physicist Grace quite fun and offbeat in the beginning - especially her banter with Matsumoto, the dandy friend who lets her raid his closet - she had an abrupt change of priorities and comprehensibility halfway through the book that left me disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing

Mori and Thaniel's

relationship growing, especially since this book's been recommended for its LGBTQ+ representation, but all the heart of it was left offscreen in a way that left me feeling hollow - like

Katsu curled around the cold space in Mori's bed where he should've been.

But what soured what had still been an enjoyable read for me was when I figured out where the final act was going. I nearly threw my phone at the wall. I almost DNF'd with just chapters left. I only skimmed through to the end to see if

Katsu

was alright (more on this in the content warnings) and then reluctantly turned back for the characters I still cared about - ie. Mori and Matsumoto. Grace, who I'd enjoyed despite her purposeful dash of unlikability,

made some truly baffling choices in the back half the book that felt like the author's invisible hand squashing a square peg in a round hole marked 'villainess' instead of an organic character arc

and was ruined for me. Thaniel still felt like a rudderless mystery even after spending so much time with him. Convoluted plots and character arcs were introduced then quickly wrapped up in neat little bows in a way that felt more like a convenient epilogue than a true finish. Even now I feel overly critical writing about it, but that's how much the climax soured me on the rest of the story. It made those things I'd brushed aside before weigh a little more heavily against it.

There's also an honestly uncomfortable amount of casual racism and xenophobia from the white characters' perspectives. It's clearly meant to be period-typical and reflect the society they grew up in because it disappears in the POV chapters set in Japan, but it still felt excessive. Japanese and Japanese-British characters (including Mori) are constantly referred to as small and delicate and juvenile, and they're described by these racialized features exponentially more often than the white characters, even late into the story. For example, Thaniel's grey eyes and other physical descriptors are mentioned offhandedly, meanwhile each time Mori is described physically - like his tanned skin or short height or small hands - it's always tacked on with some remark inexplicably tying it up with him being Japanese. (Matsumoto, being a tall man, is described as being 'English-raised' instead.) At some point I was just desperate for ANY descriptor for these characters that wasn't racialized and was left disappointed.

Overall, I wanted to fully love this book (and nearly did for awhile!) but the overall execution and the plot choices in the climax unfortunately killed a lot of my enjoyment. I did love the premise of a mysterious, talented-beyond-his-time clockwork maker in his wondrous workshop - and I felt the middle portion of the story was the strongest in part because it focused on unveiling Mori's world. But as the book went on and we were moved from his workshop into the strange 3rd act drama with less compelling characters, I wondered if what I loved about it was more about the possibilities I was imagining for myself than what was on the page. Katsu the adorable clockwork octopus, kind and lonely Mori, and dearly underused Matsumoto were the shining stars for me, though I'm not sure I'll be tuning into the next book to see how they fare.

Content Warnings

maddithemoodi's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.75

I’m not completely sure how I feel about this book. I liked the concept and I like Mori (the watchmaker) as a character. I really disliked Grace and the distasteful/bigoted things she’d say or think that went unchallenged by the narrative (weird anti-Asian stuff, being misogynistic towards suffragists). Thaniel felt very undeveloped until the end of the book.

I felt uncomfortable with some of the (probably period-appropriate) racism and East-Asian tokenizing that went unchallenged by the narrative. It was written/referenced/implied constantly that Asian people are smaller than white people. It was so often that it felt like it bordered on fetishizing — Thaniel was constantly thinking about how small Mori (and other Asian characters) was compared to him.

The writing itself was fine, if not a little slow with slightly under-developed characters — though both elements picked up a lot in the last quarter or so. I might read another book from this author, but I’m really hesitant considering a lot of the troubling perspectives or politics that went unchallenged — it just made it frustrating to read.

I had guessed for latter half of the book that a relationship would develop between Thaniel and Mori (there are only a few characters and the book is tagged LGBTQ+). While I could see evidence of those feelings from Mori, I dont really feel like I saw them develop in Thaniel (which may admittedly be because I’m autistic). I think it might’ve also helped if Mori’s and Thaniel’s ages were clearer in the text. I pictured Thaniel in his mid-/late-twenties and Mori in at least his late-forties if not older — I expected found family at first (but then Thaniel seems to think Mori will be dead be the time Thaniel is 50?).

Content Warnings