You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
I just don’t think this is for me. It’s too slow and the reviews make me think I won’t enjoy it either.
A very enjoyable and oddly soothing read. I lost track a bit of what was happening towards the end, and sometimes the characters had this odd way of doing something that I didn’t expect as I didn’t feel that there was enough of a lead-up to the event in terms of motivation, but maybe some parts of the book were just too subtle for me to pick up on. Very well written however, and just lovely to read.
The moment I finished reading The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, I felt a strong urge to go right back to the beginning and start again. It’s one of those stories that starts out simple, close to boring, and then slowly gains momentum until you can’t put it down.
I almost gave up on the author’s writing style after a couple of chapters. Though the language is not difficult, I found myself needing to go over sentences twice because I felt as if there were a hidden meaning that I was missing. I didn’t know if I had the energy to put into reading the story, but I’m glad I persevered.
The characters in this novel (especially Thaniel and Mori) are amazing. You truly feel like they are people you’ve known in a past life. They have a unique coziness to them. Even the clockwork characters are well crafted. One of them, Katsu the Octopus, truly stole my heart. As soon as I closed the book, I started missing them.
Natasha Pulley’s novel is the type that needs to be read multiple times to really absorb all of the tiny details and nuances. I definitely plan to read this book again soon.
If only The Watchmaker at Filigree Street would be made into a movie! It would be challenging, but glorious!
I almost gave up on the author’s writing style after a couple of chapters. Though the language is not difficult, I found myself needing to go over sentences twice because I felt as if there were a hidden meaning that I was missing. I didn’t know if I had the energy to put into reading the story, but I’m glad I persevered.
The characters in this novel (especially Thaniel and Mori) are amazing. You truly feel like they are people you’ve known in a past life. They have a unique coziness to them. Even the clockwork characters are well crafted. One of them, Katsu the Octopus, truly stole my heart. As soon as I closed the book, I started missing them.
Natasha Pulley’s novel is the type that needs to be read multiple times to really absorb all of the tiny details and nuances. I definitely plan to read this book again soon.
If only The Watchmaker at Filigree Street would be made into a movie! It would be challenging, but glorious!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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:
No
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ah, yes. Me. My boyfriend. And his five-foot-tall clockwork octopus.
This started off brilliantly, and I wish I could say the same for the rest of the book. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street follows Nathaniel "Thaniel" Steepleton, a clerk and telegraphist for the Home Office, as he strangely receives a pocket watch that mysteriously saves his life from a bombing months later. He sets off to look for the watchmaker, the Japanese immigrant Keita Mori, who is one of the best in London. As the police suspect his and his clockwork's involvement in the bombing, Thaniel moves into his residence and discovers much more about Mori and the things he is hiding from him.
Natasha Pulley's prose is beautifully written, with quirky writing that invokes the feeling of stopping and taking in all one can see and feel and putting it in writing. Such details might bore some people, but I found it almost immersive and something that requires patience—it is not to be rushed through. In such a way, the first half of the book has little action and focuses on building the context of its characters, who all manage to be interesting in their own right but are not written in such a way that is forcibly likable. It leaves much to be discovered later on, allowing the readers understanding of the characters' motivations but leaving room to ponder.
Although classified as fantasy, it leans closer to magical realism as subtle as the magic is. It was simple but remained crucial to the plot, and there are hints in place even before everything is explained. The romance is also as subtle as it can be, and I understand how it can come as a surprise to others—the LGBT tag came as somewhat of a spoiler, but I appreciated how the relationship is shown as it is, and they just are.
While I greatly enjoyed the first half or so of the book, the latter half was slightly more of a chore to read as we focus on Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist who crosses paths with Thaniel by chance. While she was by no means presented to be a voice of reason, there is much to be said about the fact that she is the only relevant female character in the book. She quite literally says she is not like other girls, and she is insufferable about it. I had nothing against her forming relationship with Thaniel, but the core conflict involving her around which the later parts of the book would revolve felt out of character or, at the very least, poorly built up on. Mori himself started to become questionable as well, and I liked how everyone around him warned him that he was dangerous, because they would be correct.
Given how the rest of the book was slow-paced and had a deliberate build-up, it felt as though too many things happened in the last few chapters, which left an unsatisfying ending in the sense of a lack of a falling action—the high from the climax is still there, and there is no time to process it before everything is suddenly over. Granted, that might partly be my fault for reading through everything in a few days, but it lacks that narrative pause that it perhaps had too much of early on.
Otherwise, my only other gripe with her writing is the number of comma splices that bothered me enough to pause the book every now and then. I cannot speak on the historical accuracy of the book as I know little about England or Japan, and I admit to looking at a map of London the first few chapters to understand the setting. This book helped me get out of a reading slump, and I would recommend it as a light read for people who enjoy slow-paced narratives and subtle fantasy.
This started off brilliantly, and I wish I could say the same for the rest of the book. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street follows Nathaniel "Thaniel" Steepleton, a clerk and telegraphist for the Home Office, as he strangely receives a pocket watch that mysteriously saves his life from a bombing months later. He sets off to look for the watchmaker, the Japanese immigrant Keita Mori, who is one of the best in London. As the police suspect his and his clockwork's involvement in the bombing, Thaniel moves into his residence and discovers much more about Mori and the things he is hiding from him.
Natasha Pulley's prose is beautifully written, with quirky writing that invokes the feeling of stopping and taking in all one can see and feel and putting it in writing. Such details might bore some people, but I found it almost immersive and something that requires patience—it is not to be rushed through. In such a way, the first half of the book has little action and focuses on building the context of its characters, who all manage to be interesting in their own right but are not written in such a way that is forcibly likable. It leaves much to be discovered later on, allowing the readers understanding of the characters' motivations but leaving room to ponder.
Although classified as fantasy, it leans closer to magical realism as subtle as the magic is. It was simple but remained crucial to the plot, and there are hints in place even before everything is explained. The romance is also as subtle as it can be, and I understand how it can come as a surprise to others—the LGBT tag came as somewhat of a spoiler, but I appreciated how the relationship is shown as it is, and they just are.
While I greatly enjoyed the first half or so of the book, the latter half was slightly more of a chore to read as we focus on Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist who crosses paths with Thaniel by chance. While she was by no means presented to be a voice of reason, there is much to be said about the fact that she is the only relevant female character in the book. She quite literally says she is not like other girls, and she is insufferable about it. I had nothing against her forming relationship with Thaniel, but the core conflict involving her around which the later parts of the book would revolve felt out of character or, at the very least, poorly built up on. Mori himself started to become questionable as well, and I liked how everyone around him warned him that he was dangerous, because they would be correct.
Given how the rest of the book was slow-paced and had a deliberate build-up, it felt as though too many things happened in the last few chapters, which left an unsatisfying ending in the sense of a lack of a falling action—the high from the climax is still there, and there is no time to process it before everything is suddenly over. Granted, that might partly be my fault for reading through everything in a few days, but it lacks that narrative pause that it perhaps had too much of early on.
Otherwise, my only other gripe with her writing is the number of comma splices that bothered me enough to pause the book every now and then. I cannot speak on the historical accuracy of the book as I know little about England or Japan, and I admit to looking at a map of London the first few chapters to understand the setting. This book helped me get out of a reading slump, and I would recommend it as a light read for people who enjoy slow-paced narratives and subtle fantasy.
Queer steampunk romance/mystery is a genre? Watchmaker was not at all what I was expecting. Still, a pretty good read.
adventurous
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