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mlkelly14 's review for:
The Timekeepers
by Jill Archie
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
1.75/5 - Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review! I really wanted to like this book, I haven't read a lot of steampunk fantasy but I love the aesthetic and especially with this story revolving around a Timekeepers daughter in the setting of a giant clock world, I was ready to get sucked into this world. Unfortunately there were too many things that didn't work for me. The writing was just not good, very stilted, clumsy, and lacking in depth or nuance. Similarly the characters and plotline felt extremely flat. There was nothing to discover or wonder about, everything was given to you on a silver platter. The characterization did not make sense, the protagonist is supposed to be a sheltered 16-year old girl who has been taught by her brilliant father academically but has not seen any of the world herself, and yet when she finally does go out into this world she is constantly wowing everyone with wise-beyond-her-years philosophizing about the meaning of life that comes out of seemingly nowhere. The villain is moustache twirling with very basic villain-esque motivations, there was a bit of an interesting twist but it didn't really make sense with what had been presented earlier in the story so it wasn't terribly satisfying.
However, I will say the descriptive language was nice and the prose on world-building was very well done. The illustrations were beautiful and added to the already detailed picture I had in my head of the world based on what was written. The author absolutely delivered on the steampunk atmosphere and descriptions of how these elements were embedded in the natural world of this universe as well as in what had been built by the citizens, and that was what kept me going to the end of the book.
However, I will say the descriptive language was nice and the prose on world-building was very well done. The illustrations were beautiful and added to the already detailed picture I had in my head of the world based on what was written. The author absolutely delivered on the steampunk atmosphere and descriptions of how these elements were embedded in the natural world of this universe as well as in what had been built by the citizens, and that was what kept me going to the end of the book.