Scan barcode
A review by logarithms
Timekeeper by Tara Sim
3.0
I keep feeling like I need to add more to this review but it's long and rambly enough as is...i'll return...
I read this book very quickly - it's a really easy read and gets you hooked. It uses one of my fave styles of exposition in writing, where the reader generally pieces together the next twist a few pages before the characters - not too obvious but you still get the satisfaction of figuring it out. And there's enough hints thrown to create theories, but I didn't find the end super obvious or predictable.
I LOVE the concept of time as an element/power - time just has a lot of good potential, and this book gave it a lot of interesting uses. Fellow STEM readers: just stop trying to bring physics and relativity into this. We need to stop. It's fantasy.
Time + blood is a really interesting combo....nicely done (though I'd love to see more of it - and the reasons behind the connection)
The writing in this book was pretty good - mostly I liked the descriptions of 'the accident', they were so vivid and had the strongest visual imagery (for me at least). I liked the descriptions of the old gods.
I'm in love with Daphne. reaaally wish we could've seen more of her - she's so cool and has so much potential. the author is half indian and daphne is quarter indian - coincidence? i think not - sounds to me like a nice juicy character plotline to explore based on authors personal experiences. Then the questions...what's with the diamond tattoo? why is her mum in the asylum? hows the stigma surrounding mental health in timekeeper england and what effect does that have on her and her mum? did her dad die in an airship explosion or did i miss something and hes still alive? why did the beach tower spirit show herself to her and what connection do they have? is she gay and if so is she available? If i open the second book and she doesn't have a major role in it im dropping. same sentiment stands for cassie i love her and i need more focus on the female characters.
I liked the enduring theme that there is no real villian because relationships and events over time (hehe) get complicated and unclear (though there was a pretty clear villian in the end - like just because he used to be good doesn't mean he can't change into a true villian by the end)
I liked how Danny's character was written w PTSD and anxiety (granted i don't know all that much about either i've only taken one undergraduate psych course lmaoo). Just the fact that his emotions weren't pushed under the carpet and he was actively dealing with them. Also - his angry outbursts and aggresive behaviour (fights, throwing shit, wrecking matthias' house, more examples i cant remember but im sure exist) were (in my opinion) a great thing to include, since the anger that generally accompanies PTSD tends to be less written about. Also, he was never the uwu shy awkward boy i was afraid he would be. His anxiety played out in different ways, and made for a more realistic character.
Things I feel should've been addressed in the first book/addressed moving into the second:
why did christopher rat matthias out and how will he react to danny and colton? (this ones the big whammy)
now that the enfield townsfolk know about colton do they come to visit? do they hang out and form a bond with their clock? (personally i think this would be super cute - and encouraging since colton still cant leave his town, but now atleast he can be a part of it)
if phones in timekeeper england are only for emergency lines or mechanics then why does cassie have one and why do the people asking leila for an interview have one? shouldn't they still be using the post? or just have danny/cass live close by so they can run to each others house.
can colton or any clock spirits be considered 'human'? like yea they feel emotions but is this different to human emotions? how essential is having a living flesh suit and a concept of life/death/passing time to the human experience in relation to treating the clock spirits as human? should we leave this to the android sci-fi books to muse over or put a tad of it in this series? time will tell. ;)
Let's get into some complaints:
ok i've read like 3 books so take this with a grain of salt but WHY is there so much historical fantasy(?)(im bad at genres) set in London. We have other countries. Like yea london is easy to write about cause its history is familiar and well documented but...just try another city for once im begging. I thiiink the next book is set in India(??) which would be cool to read (if true)
the very sparsely placed POV switches were very strange to read and kinda came out of nowhere. The second we switched to Lucas' pov and he was suddenly framed as a nice guy after being The Bully for the whole start of the book i knew he was getting killed off then and there.
I wasn't a fan of the main relationship...like it was cute and they make each other happy, so good for them, but I didn't feel much substance to the relationship at all. It made some of the scenes towards the end pretty lackluster - like 'im willing to fight for love' (or something like that) fell pretty flat cause I was thinking....love? where is it? this is more like a mutual crush? It also fell victim a bit to the 'born sexy yesterday' trope...I'm much more lenient of it because it's gay and thats a different situation but still - never a fan of those 'you're the first human i've ever talked to' stories because it means theres no standards for the relationship and puts the human character in a position of power that i'm not too comfy with...(but really it wasn't handled badly in this book or anything i'm just not into it)
Matthias/Evaline...that felt pretty damn abusive to me, and it was never really addressed? Like, he kept her in his house and never let her leave or see anybody, he withheld crucial information from her so she couldn't make decisions of her own, he LOCKED HER IN THE ATTIC SO SHE COULDNT LEAVE/NO ONE WOULD FIND HER? Hello??? He was so possessive of Eva and it clearly did a number on her, and her arcs resolution is just...the guy gets put in jail and she gets put in her tower...they even say something along the lines of 'time will heal, but whats time to a clock spirit', basically saying that she CANT heal? excuse me??? And no follow up on her is mentioned - Danny doesn't visit, Christopher doesn't visit....they don't send her anyone to talk to or help address her guilt they just...let her dwell there on her own. Anyways. Justice for Evaline.
Steampunk vibes for me are getting a bit...snzz...I guess i just really want to read something solarpunk because that's 100% the aesthetic i'm about. Imagine enjoying the thick steam clouds polluting london (this was mentioned sooomewhere in the book i remember)? whack. I'll be searching...
notes:
i love the millennial author she made playlists and a pinterest board and features fanart and makes mcelroy gifsets on her twitter for her books. she wrote the books but shes basically like part of fandom. theres fall out boy on the playlists. i knew bleeding out would be on there as well because thats exactly the amv 2014 me wouldve made for this book (complete with a imovie slideshow of uncredited fanart)
i am so glad (i repeat SO GLAD) that the author didn't go down the 'touching/repairing the clock is a metaphor for sexy times' route. I was worried. very worried that i would have to see a 'he stroked the cogs gently and colton moaned'. I was living in fear and I'm glad it didn't come true.