Reviews

Timekeeper by Tara Sim

tckcallahan's review against another edition

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4.0

Cute story. Fascinating idea. Interested to see what more comes out of this world.

stefanh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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

3.75

danielled75's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a fun book to read, the setting, the steampunk vibe, the characters, the mythology and the gingerbread

Danny is a Timekeeper which means he has the ability to fix clocks, I know sounds easy, but when something goes wrong with the clock, the town is effected (example the 2 is missing, so time goes from 1:59 to 3:00, if the weights are wrong on the pendulum the town speeds up, if the clock stops, the town stops).

Danny is given an assignment to fix the clock tower in Enfield, he is unsure about this assignment since he is filled with anxiety and guilt after surviving an explosion at one of the other clock towers. Danny is told that he will be working with a new apprentice, something else that he is not happy about. After

showing up at Enfiled, he is met with who he thinks is the apprentice, a young quiet male who seems eager to learn and help Danny fix the clock. After a few trips out to Enfield, Danny realizes that the young male that was helping him was not the apprentice that was assigned to work with him, but is in fact the clock spirit for the Enfield Tower.

Danny has a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that clock spirits do exist, despite hearing rumors of one of the teachers at the academy fell in love with a spirit. Colton (the clock spirits name) has taking an extreme liking to Danny, and Danny finds out that Colton has been hurting himself, which in turns effects to tower, just to get Danny to come out there.

While Danny is fighting with his feeling for Colton, he is also trying to figure out how he can possibly save his father from Maldon. Along with trying to stop the other clock towers from possibly being destroyed. When I found out who was behind the attacks and why, I felt both anger and pity.

One aspect of the book that I enjoyed was the breaks in the story which explained the mythology background of Chronos and his children. I do hope that there will be more of that in the future books.

One character I hope shows up in the next book is Cassie. She is Danny’s best friend and she works as a mechanic fixing cars. When she first appeared in the book, I fell in love with her, she reminds me of Winry Rockbell from FMA.

I know Timekeeper just came out, but I am looking forward to the next book and seeing more of Danny, Colton and hopefully the rest of the characters.

evieburrows's review against another edition

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3.0

maybe 3 stars, maybe 2.5 stars
cool premise, disappointing execution (and weird pacing)

rjdenney's review against another edition

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2.0

2 STARS!!!

I’m feeling really disappointed as I’m writing this review. I was really hoping that I would love the hell out of this book. It’s LGBT, it takes place in an alternate Victorian era, and it had a sliver of a mystery thrown into it. But sadly it was B-O-R-I-N-G. I enjoyed the romance between Danny and Colton, but the story kept dragging on and on and on and nothing seemed to be picking up until about 300 pages in and that is not a good thing. I liked the story surrounding clock spirits and there were tiny bits of this book that I did like, I will say that. I’d also never read anything to do with steampunk before and so this was my introduction to that too and I’m now more interested in that sub-genre and will be checking it out.

I was truly hoping that the “mystery” in this would save it for me (because you all know I love my Victorian era mysteries) mysterious clock tower bombings in an alternate Victorian era? It sounded awesome as hell but in the end it fell flat and though I really wanted to, I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the entire book and sadly I won’t be carrying on with the trilogy. If you’ve been wanting to check it out I’d say borrow it from the library and then decide if you want to buy a copy or not.

I was sent a finished copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from Sky Pony Press. All thoughts are my damn own. :-) - Richard

mistressviolet's review against another edition

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slow-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

3.0

 
A love story with diverse characters, a unique premise, and a happy ending. I enjoyed the steampunk Victorian setting, the little hints of magic, and the unusual romance. However, the pacing was a bit slow, for my taste. 


Good, but not a favorite. 

lpcoolgirl's review against another edition

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5.0

Oh, loved reading this book, and I need to read more of this series now! 

colorcrystals's review against another edition

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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


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drakoulis's review against another edition

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5.0

An Victorian-esque world where clocks rule time.
A sweet and pure romance for the ages between an 18-year-old clock mechanic and a clock spirit.
The Timekeeper trilogy is historical fantasy at its finest!

Edit: Tara Sim herself fancasted the wonderful Joe Locke as Danny Hart, and I can't unsee this image now

nhdk's review against another edition

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3.0

This book has a great concept. Time is embodied in an ethereal shaped person and is central to how each town lives. If time breaks, so too does the town. I found the book to be slow for the most part, although it was an easy read which made it enjoyable. That said, it was pretty predictable, nothing really surprised me and I kind of hoped it would. I loved the fact that the protagonist was LGBT, it's lovely to read something more diverse. I wasn't overly taken with any of the characters, I just didn't connect with them and failed to be invested in their journey. It was a buddy read though, and many of the group I read with enjoyed it far more than me. So I think it's personal taste.