Audio #Review: TIMEKEEPER by Tara Sim

TIMEKEEPER

Author: Tara Sim

Series: Timekeeper #1
Source: Downloaded from Audible Plus
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Publication Date: November 8, 2016
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:

Summary:

I was in an accident. I got out. I’m safe now.

An alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, where a damaged clock can fracture time—and a destroyed one can stop it completely.

A prodigy mechanic who can repair not only clockwork but time itself, determined to rescue his father from a Stopped town.

A series of mysterious bombings that could jeopardize all of England.

A boy who would give anything to relive his past, and one who would give anything to live at all.

A romance that will shake the very foundations of time.

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

I'm so glad I finally got to this one! The whole series has been sitting on my physical shelves for years but since I could get them on audio included with my membership, it made it way easier for me to actually read them. So now I'm going to read the whole series!

I thought this was a really strong intro to this series, but honestly felt like it was supposed to be a stand alone. It ended with an opening for a sequel (and obviously there is a sequel!), but it felt wrapped up and pretty complete from what we saw.

I really liked Danny's character, and Colton's as well. I thought they were really well done. They had a lot of personality to them. Both Danny and Colton had needs and wants that went beyond just the surface level. I liked seeing how they grew and helped each other throughout the story. And obviously the romance was super cute and swoon worthy!

I liked the way that English (colonial) history played into this, while still providing us with an "alternative" version of events. I thought there was a lot we learned about how things are "different" (like, clock spirits controlling time lol). But truly, the best part of the world building was that the characters themselves didn't know everything about the physics of their world. Danny knows how clocks work, but he only believes the gods and clock spirits to be legends until he meets them.

Even the clock spirits themselves don't have all the answers to how they operate or how they came to be. As a reader who was piecing it all together, it was perfectly paced that we were learning the world alongside Danny himself. It was nice to see that it wasn't all just plot and info dump on the reader but that we were learning alongside Danny at a comfortable pace.

There were some moments where I fell out of the story (any time we switched POVs randomly). That could be because I listened to this as an audio with only one narrator. I think that could have been tightened up in this. There was also a lot of progressive aspects of society and I know it is an alternative version of history but it seemed like it glazed over the idea of how these progressive aspects of society came about.

TLDR: I thought this was a really strong start to the series - a good mix of steampunk, alternative history, and romance. The characters could use a bit more development, but I'm hopeful that happens over the next books. I would have liked to see more about the protests and the options for time keeping, so I'm hoping that is in the next instalment. But this was honestly such a good, strong first book and I'm mad at myself for not reading it sooner!