Tick, Tock, The Problem With Clocks: A Review of "Timekeeper" by Tara Sim
"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." --Tara Sim, Timekeeper pg. 239
My biggest problem with steampunk novels is that they're hard to do well. I feel that a lot of worldbuilding is required to make them truly believable; without enough of this key story element, the whole novel just falls apart.
And unfortunately, I feel that this is the case with Tara Sim's Timekeeper.
I will admit, I did go into this novel a bit hesitantly. It first caught my eye at work; I am employed by my college library, and we had recently gotten in a shipment of books that I was charged with putting on display. I thought that the cover of Timekeeper was very interesting to look at, something that I do take into consideration when picking my TBR books (I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but it's definitely something everyone does). I also noticed that, at the top of the cover, there was a blurb by V.E. Schwab, who is hands down my favorite author. I figured I couldn't go wrong with praise from Victoria Schwab. However, upon further digging, I read some less than favorable Goodreads reviews, as well as discovering that this novel was a debut, which turned me off to this book a little but, but not enough to stop me from reading it.
Here's the thing about debut novels: they read like debut novels. As a whole, I find that debuts lean more towards the cliche, with few exceptions. Timekeeper was not one of those exceptions.
Timekeeper tells the story of Daniel "Danny" Hart, the youngest ever clock mechanic in an alternate, steampunk, Victorian era London. He suffers from PTSD due to a Big, Mysterious Accident, and is (for reasons never explained) disliked by other mechanics. He lost his father to another Big, Mysterious Accident, is on the outs with his mother, and on top of all this, he's gay.
I don't know why, but I feel like I've read this character before. Or maybe I've just read too many books to not see parts of him in every other character ever.
But Danny is not my biggest beef with this novel. No, no. My biggest beef is probably the worldbuilding (as mentioned above). The concept for this world was there: time is a very important element in this alternate, steampunk version of the world. Magical clock towers keep time running the correct way, and if they fail, whole towns can become stuck in time. I found this time magic to be very intriguing, however, I also feel that it was never fully explained. We never learned how the towers were made, or how they function. These things were hinted at, but ultimately left up to reader interpretation. I'm not sure if Sim did this because she will reveal it in later novels or something, but I don't think this was a smart move on her part. I feel that first novels should always be built to stand alone, and she left some pretty gaping holes that leave this novel ready to collapse.
Another element of the world that I struggled with was the time period it was supposedly set in, the Victorian era. However, as I read, I noticed little to no similarity to Victorian fashion, society, or values. As I said before, the main character Danny is gay. That's perfectly fine, except for the fact that he is gay in an era that is known for not being particularly open to homosexuality. As well, there was no evidence of the Victorian era's elitist Society and its class divides, which were both important distinguishing features of the time period. This is just two examples of things that took me out of the time period, not to mention the technology that shouldn't have existed, some of the dialogue, and the way men and women were treated as relative equals (not a bad thing, but again, not timely). Granted, this is an alternate history, but it felt a bit too altered. Sim did provide an explanation for some of her changes in the back of the book, however they felt a bit flimsy. This book as a whole felt very unresearched.
In terms of the actual format of the novel, I was also a bit unimpressed. The pacing was slow for about three-fourths of the novel, but did pick up towards the end (which I feel is a bit too late). The first half was weighed down by dialogue, and was filled with info dumps, which really slowed down the plot. And then there was the point of view problem. The story was mainly told in Danny's third person POV, however there would be times where the story would randomly jump into another character POV, just to give us information. It would have made more of an impact if we learned the information through Danny, and not by jumping perspectives.
Finally, there was the love interest. Something that was established very early on is that no one knows how the clock towers work, but there is a rule that mechanics aren't allowed to fall in love with the clock towers. Why is this rule in place, you ask? Because clock spirits, who may or may not run the towers. My biggest issue with this is that it makes no sense to have this rule in place if you aren't absolutely certain that the spirits exist (spoiler alert: they do). And of course, the main character has to fall in love with this ancient, mystical being.
Yawn. Been there, done that. It was also kind of instalove. I can for the action, not for the kissing.
I knew in the first chapter that I probably wasn't going to enjoy this book, but seeing as I have a policy against DNFing novels, I kept on chugging. There were a few things that I ended up liking about it. For one, she had some great descriptions of people and places. They were very rich and made it very easy to see the world in my head. She also had a couple of great lines every so often, like this:
"He touched the scar on his chin. The shape and promise of a nightmare."
That's some good stuff there. If only her worldbuilding was that good.
Description from Goodreads:
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.
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.86/5 Stars
Publication Date: November 8, 2016
Page Count: 414 Pages