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colorcrystals's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Death
Minor: Homophobia
charleyyyyy's review against another edition
2.5
đź’«This book was alright, nothing amazing, but it was fun.
đź©·I would have loved this book when I was a preteen just starting to get into reading. And that's why I read it, because I was in the mood for some nostalgic YA fantasy, which is exactly what I got :)
đź•‘My favourite part of this book is the magic system. I thought all the clock magic was so creative and unique.
đź•°I did not enjoy the romance because Colton seemed far too childish and ignorant of human relationships to be in a relationship. It just felt...weird.
🤷‍♀️everything else was alright.
⏳️I do want to read the next book in this series because I'm interested in where the story will go next, but with how many series I'm in the middle of, God knows when that will actually happen!
đź©·I would have loved this book when I was a preteen just starting to get into reading. And that's why I read it, because I was in the mood for some nostalgic YA fantasy, which is exactly what I got :)
đź•‘My favourite part of this book is the magic system. I thought all the clock magic was so creative and unique.
đź•°I did not enjoy the romance because Colton seemed far too childish and ignorant of human relationships to be in a relationship. It just felt...weird.
🤷‍♀️everything else was alright.
⏳️I do want to read the next book in this series because I'm interested in where the story will go next, but with how many series I'm in the middle of, God knows when that will actually happen!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Car accident, and Blood
Moderate: Misogyny and Racism
monniebiloney's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book definitely made me feel autistic. Like, I understood mostly what the characters doing but sometimes their emotions definitely effected their logical thinking was jarring sometimes.
"how dare you leave your tower, and freeze all the people in time when your forced to be stuck all alone without talking to anyone, with the person you love torn away from you.
Now I can't see the person I livewho has been taken away from me! You are so selfish.
Like, this is so jarring for me. Like, do you not see the parallel s in your situations?
But I'd assume this is how a normal person would interact. Normal people have trouble with empathy.
All in all, I enjoyed the book.
The villain is definitely the organization. They cause all the issues. Like, man, all of this could have been avoided if the origination just had their employees read some books out load to their clocks. Tisk-tsk-tisk.
"how dare you leave your tower, and freeze all the people in time when your forced to be stuck all alone without talking to anyone, with the person you love torn away from you.
Now I can't see the person I livewho has been taken away from me! You are so selfish.
Like, this is so jarring for me. Like, do you not see the parallel s in your situations?
But I'd assume this is how a normal person would interact. Normal people have trouble with empathy.
All in all, I enjoyed the book.
The villain is definitely the organization. They cause all the issues. Like, man, all of this could have been avoided if the origination just had their employees read some books out load to their clocks. Tisk-tsk-tisk.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Medical trauma
Minor: Grief, Murder, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Blood
zoeelora's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Death, Bullying, Self harm, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Violence
jenarae's review
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Self harm, Death, Murder, Alcohol, and Grief
Minor: Misogyny, Racism, Colonisation, and Homophobia
bluejayreads's review against another edition
adventurous
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
The back cover I read put much more emphasis on the steampunk/fantasy elements and the mystery of who’s setting the bombs and played it like the romance was going to be a side thing. If this is the back cover I’d read, this book wouldn’t have ended up on my To Read list, because even though I’ve discovered some romances are fine, it’s usually not what I gravitate towards. So I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t, because this was a perfectly enjoyable book.
Our protagonist is Danny, the youngest clock mechanic to pass the mechanic test. He loves his job repairing and maintaining the clocks that keep time running smoothly, and secretly hoping he can find a way to save his dad, who was a mechanic when something went wrong and the clock broke, trapping him in an area where time completely stopped. He also has lingering trauma from a bomb that tried to destroy another tower while he was working, and conflict with his mother who partially blames him for his father going to the clock tower that broke and trapped him. He wasn’t an incredibly compelling character, but he was likeable enough.
His love interest and the romance between the two was probably my favorite part of the story. Danny meets Colton in the clock tower in the town of Enfield, where he first mistakes him for the apprentice helping him for the day and only later discovers the truth: Colton is a clock spirit, the personification of the clock tower and the force that keeps time running. Colton doesn’t know much about love or the world outside of Enfield, but it was delightful watching his and Danny’s relationship grow.
The romance is not the main plot, though. There’s also Danny trying to rescue his father, protests and counter-protests about a new clock tower being built, a series of bombs targeting clock towers, and internal politics and rivalries in the clock mechanic’s union. None of these were particularly uninteresting, but I definitely cared about the romance the most.
This book does have some problems, mainly in the secondary character department. The reveal of the unexpected antagonist was supposed to feel like a big betrayal, but Danny’s relationship with that character was never built in the book – I was just told that he and this character were close instead of actually seeing it. The reveal that this character was behind so many bad things was definitely surprising, but lacked the emotional impact it wanted to have.
I’m also going to criticize the worldbuilding, but as someone who has read a fair bit of steampunk-type books. I found it limited and lackluster, a basic 1800s London with cars and clock towers that control time slapped on top. It didn’t detract from the story, but knowing what great steampunk/alternate history worldbuilding looks like, I found it uninspired. If those aren’t genres you typically read you probably won’t have an issue with it.
There was only one moment (that could have been cut without problem) that set a hook for book two. Without that one moment, this would have been a perfectly self-contained story with a satisfying ending. It very much felt like a case of “my agent sold this as a trilogy” than the story actually needing to continue. Personally I think there’s enough to explore in this world that a second book could be reasonably interesting, but I was also happy with the ending and I didn’t love this book enough to want to read the rest of the series. It is a perfectly enjoyable book – I just have no desire for more of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Homophobia
Note on Death of Parent: The protagonist's father is not dead, but he is trapped in a town where time is stopped. There is no known way to rescue him, so the protagonist and his mother are dealing with the grief of losing him even though he is not technically dead.wirt's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Blood, Grief, Self harm, and Sexism
Minor: Car accident, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Violence
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A slowly-growing mystery and a sweetly anguished romance, TIMEKEEPER is perfect for anyone who wants some steampunk with their time-manipulation, the stuff of ancient deities in their veins.
The characterization and worldbuilding are great, I like the ways it implies that the world is different from ours without the characters saying it outright (because of course they don’t have ours as a point of comparison. The particulars of the MCs position are more explained because the story really needs that, but things like “what would the existence of the clocktowers change about reality” are mainly implied. The blend of these is nice, I liked trying to puzzle out some of the changes but if you don’t want to devote that energy to scrutinizing the background details the story will still make sense.
The romance is sweet, I especially like the moments when the MC figures out that something is playing out differently than he might expect because of who and what the love interest is. I love a good interstitial between chapters and the ones here were great, building up the shape of the world in ways that complemented the main story. There also were some heisty elements, and a fantastic sequence with time manipulation which was one of my favorite scenes in the whole book.
The characterization and worldbuilding are great, I like the ways it implies that the world is different from ours without the characters saying it outright (because of course they don’t have ours as a point of comparison. The particulars of the MCs position are more explained because the story really needs that, but things like “what would the existence of the clocktowers change about reality” are mainly implied. The blend of these is nice, I liked trying to puzzle out some of the changes but if you don’t want to devote that energy to scrutinizing the background details the story will still make sense.
The romance is sweet, I especially like the moments when the MC figures out that something is playing out differently than he might expect because of who and what the love interest is. I love a good interstitial between chapters and the ones here were great, building up the shape of the world in ways that complemented the main story. There also were some heisty elements, and a fantastic sequence with time manipulation which was one of my favorite scenes in the whole book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Homophobia, and Sexism
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Death of parent
CW for panic attacks, sexism, homophobia, blood, violence, explosions, parental death (not depicted), major character death, death.jessie_h's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
Reread 6/26/2023-It's been six years since I first read this book and what a difference that time makes! I decided to reread this so I can continue and finish the series finally. Some of my thoughts have changed. I will say that I still really enjoyed this book but there were several more plot questions/loose threads I noticed this time around that weren't answered/wrapped up. I have so many questions about still. And while I still enjoyed it. I didn't love it as much the second time around so I'm going to reduce my initial rating from a 5 stars to a 4.
I still love Danny and Cassie's friendship. I still want more Daphne. I love the sunshine/grump pairing! Colton is adorable! The clock towers and clock spirits are still mindblowingly awesome.
The mythology felt more out of place in this reread. I'm hoping more gets explained in the next book. I have so many questions about the clock spirits and towers that I hope get answered.
I ended up rereading this mostly on audiobook and the narration was excellent! It definitely upped the enjoyment factor on the story.
First read 11/28/2016- My original review for this book can be read on the Goldilox and the Three Weres blog. 5/5 Stars
I still love Danny and Cassie's friendship. I still want more Daphne. I love the sunshine/grump pairing! Colton is adorable! The clock towers and clock spirits are still mindblowingly awesome.
The mythology felt more out of place in this reread. I'm hoping more gets explained in the next book. I have so many questions about the clock spirits and towers that I hope get answered.
I ended up rereading this mostly on audiobook and the narration was excellent! It definitely upped the enjoyment factor on the story.
First read 11/28/2016- My original review for this book can be read on the Goldilox and the Three Weres blog. 5/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Murder, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Violence, Grief, Car accident, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent, Homophobia, Abandonment, Colonisation, Medical trauma, and Vomit
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