This book was definitely a find for me. The characters were very realistic and believable, the plot was engaging and I never found myself bored or skipping ahead at any point. Those are both good hallmarks for a well-done book. Another note is that I immensely enjoyed the descriptive nature of the settings in the book, I really felt like I was there!

The beginning of this book had so much potential. The main character is put into a rags to riches situation after the murder of her mother. The steampunk world that Maree created kept me entertained half way through the novel with elegant mansions and fancy parties. As I was reading I thought fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events might enjoy this book. However, halfway through, the plot becomes very disjointed and scattered. I did not enjoy the second half of this book at all. So many new characters were introduced and the monster slaying seemed very random.

The story grasped my attention from the beginning, even though my reviewing copy would have beneffited from a proof reading: lots of minuscules where majuscules should be, bad editing, sometimes you don't know who is talking because of how it is structured... I am assuming here that I got an uncorrected proof or something.
But when I was halfway of the book it began to be confusing. Besides the who-said-that conundrum due to bad dialogue markings, the writing flow got confusing with the voices and the thoughts, which character it was... so progression became sort of messy... and I just stopped caring for the story.

A great, gripping and refreshing debut! I would definitely jump into this world if I could!

The novel takes place in a steampunk world where genies grant wishes in exchange of a persons’ time. Elizabeth Wicker is a seventeen year-old with a heart condition that lives with her mother and attends school girls of her station. The protocol of this school, however, dictates’ that she will be sold to a noble family as a maid after she turns eighteen. So, once the time comes, Elizabeth is sold to her bully that is a member of one of the most powerful families in the country. Her nightmare of a life takes a darker turn when her mother is killed by a stranger and she is forced to turn to the time collectors. When she suddenly dies of a heart-attack, she is revived with a mechanical heart. Elizabeth races against time and is taken on a journey that will require a great sacrifice. Will she be able to make it? At what price?

A refreshing and gripping novel right from the very beginning. This was the first novel I read where genies have this kind of power over humans; it’s unique and very well thought. The story-line is pretty solid and it runs on a steady-pace. In the beginning the descriptions of this steampunk universe are great and the characters are all amazing. The third-person perspective allowed me to have a broader sense of the events, which I appreciate. The writing style is addictive and compelling.

Elizabeth is a good main character. She has the insecurities of a teenage-girl but she’s also impulsive and a fighter. A kind-hearted heroine with an innocent side, no afraid to do what she needs to: an admirable character that I could sympathise with. The chemistry with Klaus, the main male character, is nice and smooth. I would like to know more about his past but like this it just adds a very nice spice to the story, the fact that he’s the mysterious type.

A refreshing debut in a unique and unexplored world that I hope to read more about in the near future. I really enjoyed it and I recommend it to any readers looking for something different and new.

Time Weaver is a fantasy steampunk story with a decent helping of the supernatural thrown in. It focuses around Elizabeth, a young woman who finds herself rising through the class system while racing against time and Time Collectors, beings who can grant wishes in exchange for one's time. The book started out reasonably decent. Readers are introduced to the main characters, told the story behind the Time Collectors, and the world building started out nicely. However, I found that it got really muddled about 2/3 of the way through it. There was just too much going on with the witches and other supernatural beings mixed in with the nuances of the Time Collectors. It was hard for me to follow at times and also limited any further world building or character development. I felt that the author could have carried the story along a bit better (or maybe even made two books) if there was more division between the two sets of characters. I did enjoy the concept of the Time Collectors and feel that there is good potential there for further installments in the series.

Time Weaver: Heart of Cogs is the first novel in Australian author Jacinta Maree’s new Time Collector series and is a riveting and engaging tale that introduces readers to a deeply mysterious but alluring world of steampunk and hair-splitting danger.

Elizabeth Blackmore is a young woman living on borrowed time. Suffering a dangerous heart problem, Elizabeth’s whole world changes forever when her mother passes away. With no one else, Elizabeth faces two choices; find herself sold off to a cruel lord as a maid, or reach out to her estranged father, the eccentric and mysterious Doctor Wicker in the hopes he will take her in. Becoming a Wicker changes everything Elizabeth knows as she finds herself discovering the dangerous world of Time Collectors; immortal beings who exchange wishes for time but whose inhuman abilities come with a price. When Elizabeth suffers a heart attack and she faces death, will the ultimate sacrifice be made to keep her alive? And what will happen when the Time Collector responsible for so much death catches up with Elizabeth?

I’ve previously had nothing by good experiences with Jacinta Maree’s books and was super stoked to read Time Weaver: Heart of Cogs. Drawing us into a vivid steampunk world, Time Weaver was highly entertaining. The tale primarily follows Elizabeth, but also often details situations concerning and featuring a few other minor characters including Klaus, who readers will quickly come to like and learn plays an intricate part in the story.

Time Weaver was quite an interesting book. Maree details a gritty Steampunk/Victorian world where magic and monsters exist and multidimensional and complex characters bring the story to life. I’ll admit there was a few times where the multitude of minor characters confused me and I needed to focus to keep track of everything that was happening; but I have no doubt there’s a reason behind each and every character and situation and that Jacinta Maree will let us all know and understand in time.

Personally I quite liked Elizabeth as the main character and thought her easy to follow and likable, but found myself most intrigued with Klaus and the Time Collectors. Maybe it was just me, but Time Weaver made me think about human complexity and human nature; especially as the novel progressed and some of the seemingly “bad guys” became more than they first appear.

Take Klaus for instance. The fact that he’s a love interest aside—I always seem to adore them regardless—Klaus is a very complex individual who brings about a range of emotions in me. What he is means he’s often the perpetrator of many questionable acts where lives are taken. Yet this is a fundamental part of what Klaus is. He can’t help it. There’s a coldness to him that Elizabeth is slowly starting to thaw and I actually felt sorry for him a lot of the time; especially towards the end of the novel where so much happened that was out of his control or he just didn’t mean to cause happen.

It’s fascinating to read a book and have a character start out as villain you anticipate hating, yet instead you see them in an almost human light as time goes on. Another strong personality within the story is Nikolas, whose determination knows no bounds and who towards the end of the novel finds himself experiencing emotions he wasn’t expecting. It’s intriguing, as so many of his actions have been out of love and the binds he experiences as a Time Collector.

As the first novel of a series, Time Weaver: Heart of Cogs offers us a glimpse and taste of this steampunk world Jacinta Maree has brought to life. There’s a lot going in within the story with various characters introduced and little snippets left to hint at more. The world of Time Collectors, Guardians and other creatures are full of possibilities and I for one am looking forward to seeing more of Elizabeth and Klaus and seeing where Jacinta Maree plans to take this promising series!

Time Weaver has a great concept and premise but unfortunately not a great read for me. Parts of the writing feels disjointed and feels like a series of "and then and then and then..." without much excitement in neither the plot or characters. The chapters are short which makes it easy to read but the plot keeps moving in different directions which feels disorientating while reading and I was constantly trying to make sense of it all. Whilst the story is ambitious in wanting to deliver a fast-paced unpredictable story, it came across as underdeveloped, one-dimensional and uncompelling. There are times where I enjoyed the story but majority of the time, I just felt "plot fatigue" where everything is constantly happening in the story, I then forget what the overarching story is about. This story may be great for someone who enjoys very fast paced storytelling.

I found this lacking in character development and worldbuilding, which is what I say with practically every steampunk book I read (has Gail Carriger's awesomeness ruined the whole genre for me?).

I think my main criticism is the lack of worldbuilding, because there was a hint of steampunk in Elizabeth's mechanical clock heart but there didn't seem to be any other elements anywhere else. Also, I was a bit confused by the concept of the lower-class girls attending the school that trained them to be maids and then they were sold, because it seemed like they were slaves and there could have been a really interesting dystopian reason for that (like in The Jewel or The Handmaid's Tale) but there wasn't. Which was okay I suppose, but a bit boring.

Now for the characters. again, Elizabeth was okay but boring, which to be honest is a phrase I could use to describe most aspects of this novel. Arthur Beaumontt was your typical one-dimensional Evil Person, which was also boring. Klaus and Nicholas were mildly interesting but not enough to render the whole book more interesting.

A good concept for a story, but hasn't quite managed to be executed properly.

This is a novel that I have been looking forward to for a while. Whilst I found the ebook version was messed up with bad structure, it did not prevent me from enjoying the story underneath.

To explain this story succinctly is almost impossible, as so much happens. There is a great mount of room to move, and the series is well set up for a few more volumes yet.

I feel as though the book is better suited for female readers as I didn’t really click with the main protagonist. The world building is a strength of this story, as is the supporting characters. I found the somewhat non-linear story worked well for me, as kept my interest at all times.

This is a good book for the YA audience, and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Before going to the review, first of all I would like to thank the publisher for providing me an ecopy of this book. I was waiting for this book to come out since I first found out about it. I loved Jacinta Maree’s Immortal Gene series and when I saw this book on Netgalley, I was pretty much excited and without waiting a sec I clicked on that request button. As expected, this book turned out to be pretty interesting to read. The cover art of this book looks stunning just like her other books. I loved the unique concept of time collectors and I’ve never read books with this concept before so it’s also kinda refreshing to read. The only thing I was little bit disappointed with this book is that it doesn’t have much steampunk elements in it. Nevertheless, I immensely enjoyed the book.

The story follows seventeen year old Elizabeth wicker who’s attending an academy of underprivileged ladies that had saved her from the streets and brothels. With her eighteenth birthday approaching in a week, school rules states that she’s going to be sold like a property to a rich noble household as a personal maid, servant etc. Elizabeth doesn’t want to get sold to her personal tormentor Arthur who belongs to a powerful noble house that no one dares to go against. When her mother gets killed by a mysterious stranger, Elizabeth’s whole world turns upside down. With no choice left, she turns to the only person who can help her. Later Elizabeth learns about the time collectors, a modern wish granting genies who takes the time of a person as a payment for every wish. Elizabeth never thought that she would get under a time collector’s blade but when she dies of a fatal heart attack, she gets revived with the help of a wish and now she has a clocking heart inside her but sadly, the guy who put it there wants to take it out so she makes a biggest sacrifice to have another chance in life.

Elizabeth is pretty likable character that seemed very realistic. She’s a strong character with brave and headstrong personality who won’t give up without a fight. She doesn’t possess any amazing fighting skills but she’s willing to fight against the supernatural to save her loved ones and despite quaking with fear inside, she always shows a brave front which is a pretty admirable quality. Klaus is both mysterious and intriguing guy. His character intrigued me from the very start and I don’t even know how to describe this guy because he is neither good nor bad. The romance isn’t a central focus of this book but there is a glimpse of attraction between Elizabeth and Klaus. Unfortunately, certain events turns their relationship pretty much complicated so I really can’t wait to know how their relationship develops further in the next book. I’m also intrigued by the corrupt time collector also the villain of this book. He is a complex character just like Klaus and I’d love to know more about him. This book also has some interesting secondary characters that’ll appear in the second half and they really are a great addition to the plot.

The plot is captivating and engaging through out. From the first page, I was hooked to the story and it was hard to put it down even for a sec. It’s a fast paced read and the story has never left me bored. There are some interesting twists in the second half which made the story even more exciting to read. I’m not really fan of books written in third person perspective but surprisingly It didn’t bothered me in this book. I loved the writing style, it was smooth and compelling through out. The world the author created is simply amazing. The story is set in a steampunk world which is perfectly blended with the supernatural world. We have time collectors, supernatural creatures like witches, bacts, gargoyles and many more. I truly can’t wait to explore more of this world.

Overall, it was a great read! Despite few minor flaws, I’m glad it didn’t disappoint me. The story concluded with a minor cliffhanger that left me wanting for more and I really hope the author releases its sequel as soon as possible.

Timer Weaver is an entrancing story that will captivate you from page one. This book is full of intrigue, supernatural beings, adventure, and features a strong willed female lead. The plot to this book is extraordinary and thrilling. We get not one, but two conflicts that intertwine, lending peril and suspense to the story. We find ourselves in the middle of a struggle between two time collectors and join up with a team of supernatural hunters. We encounter witches and shadows, as well as evil humans. For fans of Doctor Who, Supernatural, and Stalking Jack The Ripper, this book will not disappoint!

Sometimes it is just too difficult to give praise to something without comparing it to something else. This book was definitely unique and was a major page turner, but it can also be compared to the two televisions series and the book mentioned above. Our main character reminds me so much of Audrey Rose from STJR. The idea of the Time Collectors and Time Weavers makes me nostalgic for Doctor Who, and the party of hunters or “Gaurdians” we come across makes me think of Supernatural. With that being said, the comparisons themselves lend well deserved praise to Time Weaver because those three titles are highly successful in their own rights’.

Comparisons aside, I truly enjoyed Time Weaver and felt like it cast a magical spell on me. I loved the main character, Elizabeth. I mean, who doesn’t love a strong, brave, headstrong, female character that is willing to fight for what she believes in and those she loves. I think her character was realistic and didn’t succumb to the expectations of normal storybook females as far as falling in love with the first man who saves her.

Speaking of men. I also enjoyed the character of Klaus. You expect there to be a budding romance between he and Elizabeth, since we usually find that between two main characters, and what we end up with is a main character who is struggling against romance. He is not altogether a hero and not altogether a villain. I found him to be intriguing and dashing and terrifying at the same time.

I enjoyed this fast paced adventure with its twists and intrigues. I am very hopeful for a sequel and the continuation of Elizabeth’s story. You will not be disappointed with this fantastical read!

Thank you to Net Galley for providing this for free for my honest review.