Timekeeper (1) Hardcover – November 8, 2016

Rating: 4.7/5 StarsTitle: TimekeeperAuthor: Tara SimSynopsis:Two o'clock was missing.In an alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, a damaged clock can fracture time--and a destroyed one can stop it completely.It's a truth that seventeen-year-old clock mechanic Danny Hart knows all too well; his father has been trapped in a Stopped town east of London for three years. Though Danny is a prodigy who can repair not only clockwork, but the very fabric of time, his fixation with staging a rescue is quickly becoming a concern to his superiors.And so they assign him to Enfield, a town where the tower seems to be forever plagued with problems. Danny's new apprentice both annoys and intrigues him, and though the boy is eager to work, he maintains a secretive distance. Danny soon discovers why: he is the tower's clock spirit, a mythical being that oversees Enfield's time. Though the boys are drawn together by their loneliness, Danny knows falling in love with a clock spirit is forbidden, and means risking everything he's fought to achieve.But when a series of bombings at nearby towers threaten to Stop more cities, Danny must race to prevent Enfield from becoming the next target or he'll not only lose his father, but the boy he loves, forever.Initial thoughts:To be honest, one of the reasons I started reading this book was because it was recommended to me through Amazon because I had read Victoria Schwab’s books. Gotta say I was really excited to read this one because the synopsis sounded really interesting to me. It is a steampunk lgbt romance that takes place in london. It really was my aesthetic all around. Plus the cover is simply gorgeous (Chainbreaker and Firestarter also have amazing covers). I am writing this review now that I have read it for a second time and I am about to begin Chainbreaker for a second time before Firestarter comes out.Plot:What I liked:The premise of this book was simply fantastic. I loved the ideas of the clocks and how they kept time moving properly in specific areas of the world. It was very original to me and had me wondering exactly how the towers worked and where they actually came from. The characters were anything but flat. They had a lot of heart and layers to them that made me feeling for each and every one of them. Tara Sim was a master at illustrating PTSD and trauma in this book. I swear, I was amazed by how she showed and handled it in this book. Another things that I really loved about this book was the romance. I am not going to go into too much depth about their relationship with one another, but it seriously made my heart warm when they were together.What I didn't like:There were really only a few things that I found myself questioning the antagonist in the book. Things seemed a little forced in that aspect, but I did find myself wanting to see where Tara was going with the plot line in the book. I also found that the way Colton was getting attention to be a little toxic in the sense that he would hurt himself so that Danny would come back to repair his clock tower. It was pushed aside as harmless in a sense when self-harm for the attention of a loved one should never be seen as anything but serious.Characters:Danny Hart: I wanted to just hug him and tell him that he was doing a good job and that deserved better. He was a bit quick to jump to conclusions as well and quick to act, but that was something that made him more relatable.Brandon: I loved how supportive he was. He was a good kid who was working hard to provide for his family.Leila Hart: Seeing her through Danny’s eyes kind of made her hard to like. I wanted to see things from her perspective a little bit.  Colton: A precious angel who needs to stop hurting himself for attention. I love this golden boy though.Cassie: She is seriously super amazing! She was kind and cared about her friend so much and just wanted to make sure he was happy and safe.Matthis: He was a very complicated character. I wished that things would have turned out differently with him.Daphne Richards: She was intelligent, talented, and fighting in a man’s world where women are looked down upon. I applaud her and think she is an amazing character.Overall:This book is probably one of my favorite LGBT reads in a while. I found myself happy to return to it with such beautifully crafted book. It has a magical element merging with the steampunk and I was captivated by the creativity and originality of it. I need to read the last book in this series! It seriously cannot wait for it to come out.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I started Timekeeper by Tara Sim. The book has gotten a lot of hype leading up to the release, but I didn’t really know what the book was about. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I enjoyed this book a lot.The book is set in Victorian England where life in cities around the world are controlled by clock towers. The concept of Stopped time, where a city with a damaged clock tower could remain trapped within the same time forever, reminds me a little of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Where in Miss Peregrine’s, the people repeat the same day over and over, the townspeople in Timekeeper can’t escape the moment that all time stopped. These people can’t escape the bubble of Stopped time they’ve been trapped under. Well, enter the main protagonist, Danny Hart, who is the youngest clock mechanic who hasn’t seen in father for three years because his clock mechanic father has been trapped inside a Stopped town.Prior to the start of the story in Timekeeper, Danny has undergone a stressful event and now fears working with clocks, but still wants find a way to save his father. He longs to be assigned to the clock tower that’s being built near the same area his father is currently trapped. However, the Lead, a man who oversees all the clock mechanics in London, decides to test the waters and assigns Danny to a relatively easier job first. He’s been assigned to Enfield where he meets a mysterious boy, Colton, the town’s clock spirit.Danny and Colton are seriously the cutest. Tara Sim manages to incorporate a light-hearted loving feel into the text that reminds me of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. You can’t help but love them and ship them practically from the first moment they meet. However, we soon learn that humans can’t just fall in love with a clock spirit and thus, it is sadly a forbidden love.The characters are wonderful and there’s a mystery sort of element to this story because there’s someone, or someones, who are planting bombs and destroying the clock towers. Now, there’s romance and mystery in this book and it’s fun trying to guess the perpetrator(s).Danny’s story is heartbreaking at times. He’s lonely and lost at the beginning of the book and his only friends are Cassie, a car mechanic, and Matthias, his father’s friend who was once a clock mechanic. He doesn’t see or speak much with his mother, and hasn’t since his father got trapped inside a Stopped town. All the dynamics between the characters have a lovely depth to them that makes them feel so real. Danny and his mother have some gut-wrenching moments, but I can also see where they’re coming from.The setting manages to incorporate Victorian England with a magical wisp of storytelling that brings the story to life. The clock towers are the literal force that keeps the world running. Without them, the world would go into chaos with time skipping, stopping, or any other number of things that could go wrong. This is such a fascinating concept to me, and I loved reading this book’s take on this. I also love Danny and Colton’s story not just as a love story, but the fact that it’s so nice to have a story set in 1875 and have LGBTQ characters be happy and, for the most part, accepted by their peers.There’s an endless amount of time jokes in Timekeeper and I find them corny, but absolutely hilarious. It adds some light-hearted levity to the very serious nature that there’s the clock towers are being bombed, and could result in Stopping the towns.I really enjoyed Timekeeper. There’s nothing about this book that would suggest this is Tara Sim’s debut novel, because it’s just so well done. There’s so many quotable parts and the ending most certainly took me by surprise. I can’t wait to read the next book to find out what happens next to Danny!There comes a moment when time seems to slip faster, running long then short, shadows shrinking as the sun climbs. It’s the moment, he decided, when you’re no longer a child. When the concept of time and the need for more of it come together and make you powerless. Make you yearn for the longer days, the lazy days, before you knew what time passing actually meant.***Thanks to Skyhorse Publishing for providing me an ARC through NetGalley***

This is a really hard novel to review as this book is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. I truly loved reading it, yet I have to admit that it was far from perfect.To start with the positive, I simply adored the concept. I love the idea of a world where clock towers control time rather than measure it. It's a tremendous idea and I really wish that I'd thought of it! The concept also fits the Victorian setting very well and did a great job of blending steampunk, science fiction and fantasy, giving the novel the overall feeling of a faerie tale.I also loved the protagonists. Danny is a sympathetic character and felt very genuine. I loved him for his imperfections - his awkward relationship with his mother, his sense of guilt and inadequacy, his short temper. Colton made the perfect romantic counterpart for him, bringing light and innocence to counteract Danny's grief. The romance was very well handled and the scenes where Danny and Colton drew closer to each other were by far the best in the novel.Yet the plot of the story felt awkward. It was incredibly slow moving and felt really narrow in scope. Beyond the focus on Danny's love life, the novel never felt as though it reached its full potential. The anti-clock protests never felt threatening enough and the eventual "twist" felt tacked on. The villain (as far as they could be called such) had a very weak plan and the way that they went about it felt very impractical and unrealistic. The novel also wrapped up too neatly, ending with a sting to tie in a sequel but otherwise tying up all loose ends far too quickly.I also wish more time had been spent fleshing out the secondary cast as they didn't get a lot of time to shine. Both Daphne and Cassie have their roles to play in the climax but never weighed to heavily on the plot. The character who received the most focus was probably Brandon yet, again, ultimately he didn't play much of a role in the climax.All in all, I actually really enjoyed this novel and will definitely read the sequel. However, I don't think this is one for everyone as beyond the excellent concept and protagonist, it doesn't have a lot of substance.

This book has a great concept. Time is embodied in an ethereal shaped person and is central to how each town lives. If time breaks, so too does the town. I found the book to be slow for the most part, although it was an easy read which made it enjoyable. That said, it was pretty predictable, nothing really surprised me and I kind of hoped it would. I loved the fact that the protagonist was LGBT, it's lovely to read something more diverse. I wasn't overly taken with any of the characters, I just didn't connect with them and failed to be invested in their journey. It was a buddy read though, and many of the group I read with enjoyed it far more than me. So I think it's personal taste.

I was a little dubious about getting this book as it had some negative reviews and was more than 99p - my 'try it and see' level! However, I was pleasantly surprised when I got into the book, and ended up loving it and looking forward to the sequels.I thought the author had some great ideas, unlike so many books today. I had been worried that I would be annoyed by a US author writing about England, as so often they get phrases or places wrong, but I have to say I was not at all irritated and if I had not known better, would have thought the author was English.The only annoying thing, really, is that if your kindle is set to load to the beginning, you miss out the map, and so I didn't know there was one until the credits at the end.

This is a delight of a book: a truly original idea, an utterly fabulous gay love story, an intrigue, a passionate defence of right and wrong... and a magical evocation of time. I fell across it by chance, but I’ll be exploring anything and everything Tara Sim writes. Thank you.

Timekeeper has the heart of a great story, with a rich world and intriguing lore, but it falls short with jarring prose, contrived plot, and an underdeveloped cast. There is potential however, and enough sweet and fluffy story to put aside the problems. Despite my rating, I'm really excited about the sequels!