Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book. A timely story about family. Solid story, original idea, and definitely worth a read!

Tales of the Tinkers is a well written alternate history/parallel worlds fantasy by Chris Mathewson (& clan). Released 26th June 2020, it's 396 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is an exuberant romp of an adventure. There are plot elements large and small intertwining to create a surprisingly rich and engaging story about family, honor, finding one's place in the universe, being useful and following your creative passions, and being true to oneself. The language is mostly family friendly, there are a few instances of "bloody" "dammit" and "bugger", but nothing worse. The style is lighthearted and fairly deep at the same time and invites comparisons with Pratchett. (It's *not* Pratchett, but it reminds me of him in some good ways).

The author writes dialect into the dialogue and at least at first, it can be slow going. For comparison, it reminded me a lot of the Nac Mac Feegle in Wee Free Men (Pratchett, again).

Four stars. Well worth seeking out this indie published fantasy. I sincerely hope the author (and clan) continue with the story.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Chris Mathewson spins a tale that feels historical, but is rooted in another world entirely. I enjoyed this book as a fan of the science fiction genre, appreciated the author's cleverness, and would gladly recommend this title.

A fascinating story, entertaining and well written.
I loved the style of writing, the world building and the character development.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Great world-building and character development

I thought the world-building, character development, and the Tinker society were done very well. The system of magic is also very good. But there were a couple of things about the book that bothered me. The first of these is the use of dialect spelling in the dialogue. I found it disrupted the flow of the book. I also question that only the Scottish Tinkers and one Irish Tinker had dialect spelling even though there were Tinker clans from around the world in the book. My second of these is the story developed too slowly for my taste. But once it was developed, the book was hard to put down. Overall though, I enjoyed the book.Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the reviewer copy.

I needed a book to read to get my ratio up, so I nervously clicked Read Now and hoped that I would find something that clicked with me on even a small level. What I found was Tales of the Tinkers, and it clicked with me all right. It's a story about family and traditions and what we do when it comes time for some of those traditions to change. It's a very timely story and I couldn't help but think of my own family while reading it. 4 out of 4 stars!

This book was definitely not what I thought it would be. The stories of each clan and their member's strengths and weaknesses was surprisingly good. Whether small, large, rich, poor, white, black, red or yellow, each clans contributions were extremely important to the survival of the whole......sound familiar? The interactions between the locals and the clans also held many stories that can be found in today's news.
I found the book a little confusing at the start....I actually reread the first few chapters once I got further into the book because then they made sense. Barring that, this was a very entertaining read that I have shared with several friends. I'm sure it will generate some interesting conversations.