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Tara Sim

Timekeeper (Volume 1) Paperback – Oct. 31 2017

by Tara Sim (Author)

4.2 454 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Timekeeper

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"Timekeeper is a triumph.” –Bustle
"Timekeeper’s premise is original and its world unique." —EW.com

“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.

The first book in a dazzling new steampunk-fantasy trilogy, Timekeeper introduces a magical world of mythology and innovation that readers will never want to leave.

Book 1 of 3

Timekeeper
Print length

448 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Sky Pony
Publication date

Oct. 31 2017
Grade level

9 and up
Reading age

14 years and up
Dimensions

13.97 x 3.3 x 20.96 cm
ISBN-10

1510726608
ISBN-13

978-1510726604
Lexile measure

HL690L
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Product description

Review

Paste Magazine Best Book 2016
Barnes & Noble Teen Blog Best Queer Fantasy 2016

"Timekeeper is an extraordinary debut, at once familiar and utterly original. Between its compelling world, its lovely prose, and its wonderful characters, the pages flew by." —Victoria Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Alive with myth, mystery, and glorious romance, Timekeeper will keep hearts pounding and pages turning til the stunning conclusion. Reader beware—there's magic in these pages." —Heidi Heilig, author of The Girl from Everywhere

"Timekeeper is a triumph . . . If you read only one such book . . . let it be this one.” –Bustle

"Timekeeper’s premise is original and its world unique." —EW.com

"While the world is wildly interesting and fantastic, with broken clock towers that have left towns frozen in time, it’s the emotional impact and diverse cast of characters that make this book soar . . . The resulting story is an exciting and inclusive one, drawing in elements of magic, mystical spirits, swoon-filled romance, and just so much more.” —BookRiot

"Part mystery and part romance, this fantasy novel delves into what it means to grow up and make important decisions. With an easily relatable main character struggling to fit in, the novel has a realistic and contemplative voice. VERDICT: A must-have richly written fantasy novel that will have readers eagerly anticipating the next volume." —School Library Journal

"Sim creates a cast of complex and diverse characters, as well as a mythology to explain how the clock towers came to exist . . . an enjoyable, well-realized tale." —Publishers Weekly

“[M]ystery, LGBTQ romance, and supernatural tale of clock spirits and sabotage that explores how far people might go for those they love. Its strongest elements are the time-related mythology and the supernatural gay romance.” —Booklist

"This LGBTQ steampunk romance sports a killer premise and admirably thorough worldbuilding, helpfully annotated in the author’s afterword. The characters—even the bad guys—are sympathetically drawn and commendably diverse in sexuality and gender." —Kirkus Reviews

"An enjoyable start to a promising new trilogy." —BookPage

Paste Magazine Best Book 2016
Barnes & Noble Teen Blog Best Queer Fantasy 2016

"Timekeeper is an extraordinary debut, at once familiar and utterly original. Between its compelling world, its lovely prose, and its wonderful characters, the pages flew by." —Victoria Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Alive with myth, mystery, and glorious romance, Timekeeper will keep hearts pounding and pages turning 'til the stunning conclusion. Reader beware—there's magic in these pages." —Heidi Heilig, author of The Girl from Everywhere

"Timekeeper is a triumph . . . If you read only one such book . . . let it be this one.” –Bustle

"Timekeeper’s premise is original and its world unique." —EW.com

"While the world is wildly interesting and fantastic, with broken clock towers that have left towns frozen in time, it’s the emotional impact and diverse cast of characters that make this book soar . . . The resulting story is an exciting and inclusive one, drawing in elements of magic, mystical spirits, swoon-filled romance, and just so much more.” —BookRiot

"Part mystery and part romance, this fantasy novel delves into what it means to grow up and make important decisions. With an easily relatable main character struggling to fit in, the novel has a realistic and contemplative voice. VERDICT: A must-have richly written fantasy novel that will have readers eagerly anticipating the next volume." —School Library Journal

"Sim creates a cast of complex and diverse characters, as well as a mythology to explain how the clock towers came to exist . . . an enjoyable, well-realized tale." —Publishers Weekly

“[M]ystery, LGBTQ romance, and supernatural tale of clock spirits and sabotage that explores how far people might go for those they love. Its strongest elements are the time-related mythology and the supernatural gay romance.” —Booklist

"This LGBTQ steampunk romance sports a killer premise and admirably thorough worldbuilding, helpfully annotated in the author’s afterword. The characters—even the bad guys—are sympathetically drawn and commendably diverse in sexuality and gender." —Kirkus Reviews

"An enjoyable start to a promising new trilogy." —BookPage

About the Author

Tara Sim can typically be found wandering the wilds of the Bay Area in California. When she’s not chasing cats or lurking in bookstores, she writes books about magic, clocks, and explosives. Timekeeper is her debut novel. Follow her on Twitter at @EachStarAWorld, and check out her website for fun Timekeeper extras.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sky Pony; Reprint edition (Oct. 31 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1510726608
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1510726604
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 454 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 3.3 x 20.96 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #338,901 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #37 in Steampunk Sci-Fi Books for Young Adults
- #347 in LGBTQ2S+ Romance for Young Adults
- #482 in LGBTQ2S+ Fiction for Young Adults

Customer Reviews:
4.2 454 ratings

About the author

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Tara Sim

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Tara Sim is a YA author found in the wilds of the Bay Area, California. When she's not writing about magic, clocks, and boys, she drinks tea, wrangles cats, and sings opera.

Tara grew up in California, but braved the elements of Virginia to study English/Creative Writing at Hollins University.

Half-Indian and full geek, she eats too many samosas and awkwardly dances to Bhangra music.

TIMEKEEPER (Sky Pony Press, Fall '16) is her debut YA novel.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

454 global ratings

5 star		53%
4 star		27%
3 star		15%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from Canada

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CharlieReviews

Great concept for a romantic adventure

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 4, 2019

Verified Purchase

I'd found this in paperback in a store but had to get the hardcover to complete the trilogy. It's a geat adventure through a dieselpunk world with a central romance that manages to avoid a lot of the clichés. Highly recommended, particularly for teens interested in LBGTQ2 representation.

Helpful

Angie

Ugh this was such a good book

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

Timekeeper was such a fun read, I loved the idea of clock spirits and how interesting the concept is.
Danny was such a great main character, and Colton is such a ray of sunshine. All the female characters were so amazingly diverse. Cassie was my favourite. I can’t wait see what happens next in book 2.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 7, 2020

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I don't read or watch steam punk theme but this was pretty good! I couldn't put the book down :)

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 23, 2019

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BEST BOOK SERIES

Helpful

Great Start to a New Series!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 3, 2021

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!

Helpful

Dee

A Wonderful, Captivating Start to a Trilogy

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 10, 2016

Rating: 3.5

Timekeeper is one of my anticipated books of 2016. It’s a story set in a world where clock towers control time, and if a clock tower is destroyed, time will stop. It’s a story boy who wants to save father from a city that’s clock tower broke.

The premise of this book is exciting, it makes you shiver, it makes you wonder, it makes you very very curious. What could a world which time is run by clocks entail? This book explores those ideas. When any part of the clock machinery has gone wonky, ripples occur in time. In the very beginning of the book we see Danny, our main character, trying to fix the tower where an hour on the clock as disappeared. Two o’clock was missing.

Timekeeper was a fun book to read, but I’ll be honestly, I was a little disappointed with it. I think it may have to do with my overexcitement for the book, I had a lot of expectations and some of them fell flat. The book is filled with a sense of subtle magic when it came to fixing time. Danny can feel the threads of time, which is why he’s a clock mechanic. People are born with this ability. And it’s a really cool to read. I loved all the imagery when Danny pulled at the golden threads of time. I loved the characters, and how Danny handles his PTSD. The characters, the actions, and plot that throughout the novel were great, but what was lacking was the atmosphere.

This series is set in Victorian London, but it didn’t feel like I was Victorian London. I think this is due to how close the narrative it to Danny. We see most of the story through him, and I guess the setting was very normal to him so there weren’t as many descriptions to the city. But that’s what sort of fell flat for me. I didn’t feel like I was in Victorian London. To be perfectly honestly, I didn’t feel like I was in Europe at all even though it’s set in England. The descriptions of the city were bland, and the characters felt very modern, which changed the atmosphere of the novel. Yes, this novel is sort of a steampunk, but I’ve quite a few other steampunk novels that had more of a historical presence than this book did.

Although the atmosphere was lacking, I did like the plot. There are a few twists that occur in the novel, where once you’re done reading you go “How did I not see that before?” It’s very entertaining and puts you at the edge of your seat. The romance between Danny and Colton is also really sweet even though they fall for each other quickly. They kiss very early in the novel, but it wasn’t so much a romantic kiss but a curious one, which was a nice change from novels where the first kiss is a full on make-out and confessions of true love.

Timekeeper was a captivating novel, and I’m very excited to see what’s in store for Danny in book two. This book left us off with many questions, and it’s set up to have some of the story set in India, which I’m really excited about. If you’re looking for a quick, fun, magic filled book about boys kissing, you definitely want to pick up Timekeeper.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Arkham Reviews

Brilliant Concept

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 24, 2016

Verified Purchase

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.

7 people found this helpful

Sacha Black

great concept

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

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.

One person found this helpful

dragonsmama

Much better than I expected

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

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.

Manda Scott

Beautiful, brilliant, heartwarming - and thrilling.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

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.

C. L.

Despite the Flaws, Timekeeper is a Heartwarming Story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

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!

One person found this helpful

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