Timekeeper

Timekeeper was one of my most anticipated reads this year, and it definitely does not disappoint. It's an unusual mix of mythology and alternate universe history and fantasy, but it works together so well, and the whole thing goes off without a hitch.

Timekeeper tells the story of Danny, a clock mechanic in a world where specially trained mechanics who can see and manipulate the threads of time are the only ones trusted to protect and repair the clocks which allow the world to run smoothly, whose father has been stuck in a town for three years after the central cog of the clock disappeared and time Stopped. Just over two years later, Danny was repairing a clock when a bomb went off, leaving him injured, and the story picks up just as he's getting back into work.

Sent out to repair the clock tower at Enfield, Danny meets a mysterious boy who turns out to be the clock spirit. As the clock keeps breaking, Danny is sent there time and again to repair it and he and the clock spirit, Colton, form a bond. All the while, Danny is agitating to join the crew in charge of building a new clock tower in the town where his father is stuck, in the hopes that it will restart time. But someone is going round destroying other clock towers, and Danny comes under suspicion.

This book is a unique mix of genres, and that's what first captures your attention as the reader. It's perhaps a little hard to understand the world, because it's more than just an alternative Victorian era. It has thrown into it a whole different history and mythology behind the creation of time, and is also a bit more modern than you might it expect. To be honest, the more modern alternative universe kind of threw me for a while, but the author's note at the end clears it up. It's a very well constructed world and eminently believable, as are all the characters.

If there was one thing that made me not give this 5 stars, it's that it was actually kind of slow for the first 60% or so. It almost dawdles along, with Colton and Danny getting together (which is cute and all, don't get me wrong, if a little underdeveloped maybe?) before suddenly bursting into action for the last third.

But with world set up and the characters all well-established, I have high hopes for book two.

I’d like to Thank Netgallery for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for a honest Review.

“Timekeeper” was a very anticipated release of mine and getting my hands on a digital ARC fulfilled all my reader dreams, especially given how much I enjoyed the novel! The more I think about the book in retrospective the more reasons I find why this book was a true gem and has great potential to become a well loved book. I’m really hoping that many people pick it up on release day and spread the word about the awesomeness of “Timekeeper”!

All the reasons why this book was glorious

It’s set in Victorian London and has that Steampunk touch which is super exciting because I looove books set outside the US and especially those set in the UK! Therefore, I was more than excited because London is one of my favorite cities and I’ve been there last summer! I’m also all here for a bit of historical background, which was very enjoyable and didn’t complicate things at all! It only gave the story its special feeling that fit together with the clock towers and the Steampunk touch!

The setting is super unique and hooked me right in, because clock spirits? Clock towers that control time and if not fixed by mechanics - also called Timekeepers - can stop entire towns and mess with time? Sign me up already! The worldbuilding was just phenomenal, with the cute little stories about the gods inserted throughout the novel. This approach was perfect, as it talked about Aetas the Timekeeper that couldn’t manage time any longer and therefore, gave the humans the power, which didn’t sit well with his superior Chronos. There were also protesters all about “monopolizing time” and opposing the mechanics which was really intriguing and perfect for some conflict, showing that not all people are please with the clock towers.

Can we also talk about the complex, realistic characters for a second? Danny was a cute cinnamon roll and enjoyable narrator, coming from me this is the best compliment a character can get since I usually don’t prefer the narrator. Danny however felt so real, I could understand his dilemma so much and felt with him when he was treated so harshly by the others and didn’t have many friends expect Cassie. I also felt the pressure on his shoulders and the way he was so angry to being talked down to. Something about his character was deeply relatable. Cassie was basically taking no shit and super badass! She has guilt of her own to deal with but is loyal to the bone and would never leave Danny in danger. She’s also carefree, energetic and such a fun character. She has so many layers to her! Another strong female character was Daphne who had to work very hard since people look down on the way she dresses in trousers and the fact that she works in a man dominated job where people don’t take her seriously. She came off as cold and arrogant in the beginning, but showed that she has a kind heart and only did what she had to, to earn enough money for her own family tragedy. Colton was an ever purer cinnamon roll and understood just what Danny needed. He was so fascinated with all the stories and trapped forever with his clock tower unable to reach out and experience the world. Because his town is small no one looked much for him ... poor bby. The last character is Brandon who turned out to be a good ally to Danny and became so much more likable once he was kind to Danny and explained to him what was going on when everyone kept staring at him. Also my least favorite character was killed off halfway through the book *VICTORY DANCE* that almost never happens, so I was pleasantly surprised *evil laughter*.

Might I also mention that I loved the way that Danny’s PTSD was handled? He had several panic attacks triggered by the bombings, because he barely survived one and those were also described in a very authentic way. We also see that Danny hates that people treat him like he’s made of glass because of his panic attacks, because he doesn’t want their pity or for them to think they know what’s right for him. Multiply times adults would try to tell him what to do anyway and justify their actions with his emotional state which angered Danny further.

The “bad guys” were so understandable and human! They didn’t do evil stuff because they were just evil, oh no they had intentions behind their facade and that my friends is what makes the best villains. Everyone had their own struggles and we got to see a glimpse behind the curtains to further understand their actions. We see that Daphne has to earn incredible amounts of money, because of a family tragedy and seeing how hard Lucas worked to keep his position makes us understand why he dislikes Danny and his natural talent so much. Even Mathias had a tragic life which drove him to be exasperated and making grave mistakes, because he was afraid of losing what he loved again. The best thing about our antagonists in “Timekeeper” therefore was that they underline the motto “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” perfectly.

I was all here for the relationships (platonic, romantic, family) because these were beautiful and heart wrenching. We have the very complicated relationship between Danny and his mother, because ever since his father was stopped in Maldon she’s been very down and barely able to continue with her life. There’s so much weight of guilt between them and things left unspoken that they pile up and make Danny feel miserable, as is mother thinks his fathers state is his fault and wasn’t there for him when he most needed it. I further loved his friendship with Cassie! These two always had their backs and she knew him very well and was always very worried about him. Cass was ready to be right there whenever there was an emergency and he care deeply about her as well, appreciating what she did for him! His blooming friendship with Brandon also was so genuine and I was pleasantly surprised! Now there was also the romance between Colton and Danny which was sooo adorable and fluff! Both were perfect for each other and helped each other in o man ways. Colton gave Danny hope and he in exchange showed him the many things he couldn’t experience/know due to being bound to his tower. Gaaaaah ♥ Also NO BOY DIES!!!

If you didn’t know Two o’clock was missing is the first sentence of the book and BOOM I was immediately intrigued with the book and knocked off my feed because holy hell that first sentence is pure GOLD and easily made it to my favorite first sentences of all time list!

It has the perfect mix of character driven and plot driven which I very rarely see in YA. We got lots of great character interactions, the author never neglected any character of relationship, but instead created great dynamics which made the story very interesting and intriguing. There also was a greater plotline with the bombings, the new Maldon tower and trying to free Danny's dad which tied perfectly into the story.

The whole story felt so very, very real and therefore connected to me on a great level. I felt like I was IN the story and following Danny around naturally. I loved that we got to see his everyday life as well, that it wasn’t just always adventure, that he spent weeks in which nothing really happened and he felt like time was fleeting and he wasn’t up to anything. Basically the whole story was relatable and made you forget that you were actually in a fictional interpretation of Victorian London.

We’ve got some great LGBTQ representation! Danny was gay and it was made to be no big deal (as best as this can happen in Victorian London, see the author’s notes for more information) as this novel is not about coming out at all. It’s rather about Danny falling for a clock spirit (Colton) and trying to solve the mystery of Maldon, the stopped town.

At first I had to get used to the writing style but after a while I really enjoyed it, especially since it had just the right amount of metaphors in it and had many powerful quotes that were repeated during the novel

In conclusion, this book was as good as I expected it to be which is a quite satisfying feeling that lights me up from the inside ♥ I would definitely recommend “Timekeeper” to everybody, because in my opinion it has something in it for everybody!

Maybe my expectations were too high, but the story did disappoint me.

We have a world which is literally running on time. There are clock-towers, each creates its own time area, and if the tower is broken or something its area gets stopped, and people who were within are trapped forever or until the mechanism is fixed, which is impossible 'cause no one can enter the stopped zone. We also have mechanics aka Timekeepers, people who try to prevent time from stopping, people who repair clock-towers 'cause they can feel the time itself and manipulate it a bit.

Our MC's name is Danny or Daniel Hart, he's living in London and already not an apprentice but a full mechanic. His father is trapped in one of the Stopped cities, he himself has been in an accident not a long time ago, but has managed to get out and save another town from being frozen. The Lead is worrying about Danny and try not to push him hard. Instead, he sends him in Enfield to fix its tower which had to be easy and smooth. And it was, even with Daniel being under pressure and afraid of repeating his recent experience again. But the thing is, the tower keeps having problems and Danny is going there way to often. Why? The clock spirit fell for the new mechanic and wants him around. This is how our story starts.

You're up to mysterious bombing, people's protests, first and forbidden love, gay cuteness and stuff. And an alternative Victorian London with telephones, cars and queers being free to be themselves. Alas, it didn't work for me. At all.

First of all, I couldn't grasp the soul of the picture, couldn't feel the atmosphere. There were to many liberties for the world to stay true to Victorian era and too little unique details to become something more and alive. That could be any epoch with the same nuances the author explained in the end of the book.

The world-building is interesting, but raw. I like the idea of time being very essential for people to live and the live itself to be normal, but there are weird threads in this network. When cities are Stopped they supposed to be frozen in time and at first it seem like that, but then we see that people can chat, move and do something inside a damaged territory. For them time flows differently, but it flows. But what about the meaning of the word 'stopped'? These areas called Stopped, not Slowed. So this circumstances look like a plot-tool. It was handy for the final.

I have no idea why people were protesting against mechanics and clock-towers. They wanted to get rid of both and time to be free, but how did they imagine the process? They knew that without towers their time-zones would just stop, they knew that mechanics just fix the towers and not try to change the pacing of time. Why rocking the boat everyone's in?

The romance was very rushed. It's not a slow-burn, it's not a well-developed and nicely warmed-up thing. It's instalove with a few anticlimactic love-interactions. As if the author had no patience and lost it every time her MCs were around each other. Even the forbidden vibe couldn't help the deal. I didn't felt nothing.

Clock spirits are interesting creatures, but we know nothing about their appearance. Why do they look like humans? And feel like them? And have the same desires? Why do they have almost real bodies?

The characters weren't fleshed-out properly. Only Danny as the teller of the story had something on his pockets, but that's not enough.

There were things I did like, though. Otherwise, I would'd give the book 5 stars.

The detective line was nice. Canonical, but reasonable. I liked how the author represented Danial's relationship with his mother, her grief and their problems. Same about Danny's post-traumatic syndrome. It looked believable.

Yeah, unfortunately, that's it.

All in all, I don't even know whether I'll continue with the series or not. The final was good enough to consider the book as a standalone with a happy ending.

*** Thanks to NetGalley and Sky Pony Press for opportunity to read this book early! ***

I was in the middle of a book when I got Timekeeper, but I decided to read the first page just to see what it was like. However, by the end of the first sentence, I was captivated.
"Two o'clock was missing."

That one sentence alone set off so many questions in my head - Was the actual hour missing? Was it just the number on a clock face? Was it both - that I dropped everything and kept reading.

In the world of Timekeeper, clock towers must run properly in order for time to go on. If a clock tower breaks, time in the surrounding area Stops and the inhabitants are stuck in a loop, which is what happened to the main character's father. The main character, Danny Hart, is a clock mechanic who's afraid of clocks after a bomb went off in a clock tower he was fixing. His first assignment after being released from the hospital is in Enfield, where he meets an apprentice who manages to ease his nerves. However, that apprentice ends up not being what Danny thinks - the "apprentice" is actually the clock spirit of the clock tower in Enfield, named Colton. Meanwhile, a new tower is being constructed near the Stopped town in which Danny's father is stuck in the hopes that it will restart time. However, when a series of bombings targeting clock towers occur, Danny is worried about the safety of both Colton and his father and must discover who is behind the bombings in an attempt to save them both.

I loved the relationship that developed between Danny and Colton. They were adorable and added the perfect amount of romance to Timekeeper - enough to be significant, without overshadowing the main plot.

The mythology and world created by Tara Sim in Timekeeper was fascinating. In Danny's world, legend says that Chronos, the Greek god of time, delegated the power of timekeeping to his son, Aetas, a god created by Sim. Throughout the book are a number of stories about Aetas. These stories recount how his handling of time led to the necessity of Timekeepers, like Danny, to maintain clock towers in order to stop time from fraying. I really loved how Sim connected familiar Greek mythology to the original mythology in Danny's world.

The steampunk element of the book was very subtle. Sure, there were steam-powered autos, airships, and telephones in Victorian England, but those things weren't the focus of the book; they are almost incidental. So, even readers who aren't necessarily fans of steampunk will enjoy this book.

I didn't give the book five stars, because it did get a bit too sappy for me at times and the ending felt kind of deus ex machina-y. However, all in all Timekeeper was a wonderful book that I found to be both heartwarming and, at times, heartbreaking. It was a very promising start to a new series, and I cannot wait until the sequel comes out, so I can return to the world Sim created.