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katierodante's review
4.0
The setting is London, and the year is 2025. This futuristic novel combines the urban fantasy and dystopia genres to provide an entertaining story full of action and intrigue.
Nick seems quite ordinary in the first chapters, and is immediately drawn to a girl causing a scene at a train station in London. The petite yet feisty girl is running toward the train Nick has boarded to escape the police, and his curiosity leads him to extend an invite back to his place for a few hours of safety from the situation she's outrunning. Nick gives this offer thinking they will only be spending a few hours together, but they soon realize that they're allies in this world.
As I mentioned earlier, this is a dystopia. The government has way too much control over its citizens, and even a minor offense can land you in jail for a week's time. The biggest challenge Nick and Ellie face is that the government is rounding up supernatural creatures, and nobody suspected of living a paranormal life is safe. The main goal of this capture of supernaturals is to eradicate them entirely, and this mission does not bode well for our main characters.
While this is an enjoyable, action-filled mixture of genres, it's also a romance. Realizing that they both have a dangerous secret, Nick and Ellie become more drawn to one another and more enveloped in each other's lives as the action progresses. Ellie is a time keeper, which means that she has the ability to temporarily travel through time. The travel itself is only temporary because she is pulled back to her regular time, and has no way to stop this. In interviews with Nicki J Markus, she mentions that in writing this novel she was inspired by The Time Traveler's Wife, and this is one of those aspects where it's easy to spot that influence. The time travel in Time Keepers is done differently despite the similarity of not being able to control when Ellie can travel back to her original time. As a side note, I don't read a lot of time travel novels, so maybe that's a common theme in more than just these two books.
Nick is a werewolf, and this is a problem mainly when it gets difficult to hide his transformation from passers-by. I liked this aspect of the story, that both Nick and Ellie have an aspect of themselves that they cannot fully control. Plus, I think it's interesting to read about their adventures together in a world that is against them for what they are. Their story versus the dystopian government is intriguing, and I like the bits of romance and humor woven into the novel.
Nick seems quite ordinary in the first chapters, and is immediately drawn to a girl causing a scene at a train station in London. The petite yet feisty girl is running toward the train Nick has boarded to escape the police, and his curiosity leads him to extend an invite back to his place for a few hours of safety from the situation she's outrunning. Nick gives this offer thinking they will only be spending a few hours together, but they soon realize that they're allies in this world.
As I mentioned earlier, this is a dystopia. The government has way too much control over its citizens, and even a minor offense can land you in jail for a week's time. The biggest challenge Nick and Ellie face is that the government is rounding up supernatural creatures, and nobody suspected of living a paranormal life is safe. The main goal of this capture of supernaturals is to eradicate them entirely, and this mission does not bode well for our main characters.
While this is an enjoyable, action-filled mixture of genres, it's also a romance. Realizing that they both have a dangerous secret, Nick and Ellie become more drawn to one another and more enveloped in each other's lives as the action progresses. Ellie is a time keeper, which means that she has the ability to temporarily travel through time. The travel itself is only temporary because she is pulled back to her regular time, and has no way to stop this. In interviews with Nicki J Markus, she mentions that in writing this novel she was inspired by The Time Traveler's Wife, and this is one of those aspects where it's easy to spot that influence. The time travel in Time Keepers is done differently despite the similarity of not being able to control when Ellie can travel back to her original time. As a side note, I don't read a lot of time travel novels, so maybe that's a common theme in more than just these two books.
Nick is a werewolf, and this is a problem mainly when it gets difficult to hide his transformation from passers-by. I liked this aspect of the story, that both Nick and Ellie have an aspect of themselves that they cannot fully control. Plus, I think it's interesting to read about their adventures together in a world that is against them for what they are. Their story versus the dystopian government is intriguing, and I like the bits of romance and humor woven into the novel.
stefhyena's review against another edition
4.0
This one was an interesting blend of cliches and then some very original directions or unravelling of the usual pattern. One of the good things was that unusually for a romance heavy story with supernaturals it was from the male perspective (mostly) and it was convincingly done, no poetic flights of teenage girl fancy. The romance element seemed to be based on tenacity and strength and intelligence (although it started as insta-love which I am never mad about).
The main villain was pretty stereotypical in a lot of ways, but I am not one for wanting to psychologise or relate to villains so I didn't care, at times I wondered if aspects of that were intentionally a bit humorous. I liked that the time-travel aspect was handled differently than for anything I had ever read before, the werewolf wasn't remotely macho (and therefore had to use his brain or die) and there was no deus ex machina, they had to work for their victory, they made one very stupid mistake but only the one. There are some disturbing scenes but overall it is pretty feelgood (in terms of the movement of the story).
I enjoyed reading it. I thought it was the right length and had the right amount of description (once again a rare thing to find in the YA supernatural with romance type books). Unlike the run of the mill, the heroine wasn't helpless, stupid or shallow and the hero didn't (and couldn't have) dominate(d) her. There was a triangle of sorts but understated and since it was from the male's perspective we didn't get all the TMI angst about that.
I was worried about reviewing this because (here comes the acknowledgement) I got the copy free from the author who is a nice person and I am a tough reviewer and do not wish to be otherwise. I was relieved as hell to enjoy it and think it offered much to the genre.
The main villain was pretty stereotypical in a lot of ways, but I am not one for wanting to psychologise or relate to villains so I didn't care, at times I wondered if aspects of that were intentionally a bit humorous. I liked that the time-travel aspect was handled differently than for anything I had ever read before, the werewolf wasn't remotely macho (and therefore had to use his brain or die) and there was no deus ex machina, they had to work for their victory, they made one very stupid mistake but only the one. There are some disturbing scenes but overall it is pretty feelgood (in terms of the movement of the story).
I enjoyed reading it. I thought it was the right length and had the right amount of description (once again a rare thing to find in the YA supernatural with romance type books). Unlike the run of the mill, the heroine wasn't helpless, stupid or shallow and the hero didn't (and couldn't have) dominate(d) her. There was a triangle of sorts but understated and since it was from the male's perspective we didn't get all the TMI angst about that.
I was worried about reviewing this because (here comes the acknowledgement) I got the copy free from the author who is a nice person and I am a tough reviewer and do not wish to be otherwise. I was relieved as hell to enjoy it and think it offered much to the genre.
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