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dreizehn's review against another edition
4.0
I requested this book for review based on the interesting cover and premise, and was excited to get to read it. The first thing I noticed about Prehistoric Clock was that it was surprisingly well-written. Although I am a big fan of steampunk books, I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to get from a London-based steampunk novel with time travel and dinosaurs. It could be great fun, executed smoothly like Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series, or it could have left much to be desired. I am happy to report that Prehistoric Clock was far from a disappointment.
The novel follows the stories of three different protagonists, each very different from the next. First, you have your the strong female figure, captain of an airship in a time when male dominance presides. She is beginning to question the motives behind some of her life decisions, and whether she truly wants to follow in the footsteps of her family. Then, there's the son of a marquess. His uncle and father were executed after a false trial rife with judicial conspiracy and forged evidence. He is doing his best to keep his enemies at bay and find out the truth behind the secret that led to his father's death. Finally, you have a jaded scientist devoting his time into developing a method of time manipulation to save his family à la The Butterfly Effect. Their paths become intertwined through a simple case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Prehistoric Clock has a lot going for it. The action scenes are heart-pounding. The suspenseful sequences are thrilling, leaving the reader with an appreciable growth of dread to rival the characters'. The mysterious elements of the plot leave you with niggling questions pricking at the back of your mind . The romantic scenes are sweet, not unnecessarily forced or over-the-top. It is a well-crafted, adeptly compiled and thoroughly entertaining novel. Fans of science fiction, steampunk, and time travel will delight in this wonderful gem. I know I am anxiously awaiting the next installment in the series.
This book was obtained freely from the publisher, Carina Press, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The novel follows the stories of three different protagonists, each very different from the next. First, you have your the strong female figure, captain of an airship in a time when male dominance presides. She is beginning to question the motives behind some of her life decisions, and whether she truly wants to follow in the footsteps of her family. Then, there's the son of a marquess. His uncle and father were executed after a false trial rife with judicial conspiracy and forged evidence. He is doing his best to keep his enemies at bay and find out the truth behind the secret that led to his father's death. Finally, you have a jaded scientist devoting his time into developing a method of time manipulation to save his family à la The Butterfly Effect. Their paths become intertwined through a simple case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Prehistoric Clock has a lot going for it. The action scenes are heart-pounding. The suspenseful sequences are thrilling, leaving the reader with an appreciable growth of dread to rival the characters'. The mysterious elements of the plot leave you with niggling questions pricking at the back of your mind . The romantic scenes are sweet, not unnecessarily forced or over-the-top. It is a well-crafted, adeptly compiled and thoroughly entertaining novel. Fans of science fiction, steampunk, and time travel will delight in this wonderful gem. I know I am anxiously awaiting the next installment in the series.
This book was obtained freely from the publisher, Carina Press, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
tracey_stewart's review against another edition
4.0
Sooner or later, clockwork requires each piece to accept its nature or break. Hearts are no different.
I have limited experience with steampunk. Most of what I've stumbled across has been romance of some sort or other, which is fine in its way. But that's why I kept expecting someone to leap into bed with someone in this book. There is a romance element - but a PNR this ain't. (*muted rejoicing*)
What this is is the story of Professor Cecil Reardon, whose wife and young son were killed in a terrible accident - and he wants them back. He has been working to conquer all obstacles to the time travel necessary to go back and save them. The work is kept undercover; to keep them from interfering, he is happy to allow the Leviacrum Council to see him as having become a doddering old codger broken by his tragedies. He is getting close, when one night -
The same night that Lord Garrett Embrey goes on the lam from the Leviacrum Council. He took the floor to protest, in the strongest terms, the unjust executions of his father and uncle, and when his vocal dissent accelerates the Council's intentions to put him out of the way, he runs out into the night -
Which is also the same night that sees Airship Officer Verity Champlain into the port of London. She and her crew have seen some harrowing action, leaving her the senior officer aboard, and she and her largely African crew are looking forward to decompressing and untangling exactly what has happened to them and to the Empire, and what will happen next. And ice cream. Their airship sails into London's night -
And the night is split by a massive concussion, a blinding light. When people gradually come to, they discover that they are where they had been, in the heart of London - but they are no longer when they had been. The blocks of London town where they happened to be have been excised and transported back - to the age of dinosaurs..
The result is the best dinosaurs vs. humans story I've ever read.
Not that there have been so very many of those.
Conspiracy, top-secret government plots, dinosaurs stampeding through London streets; factions emerging and lives coming under threat in the heat of emotion; loyalty and betrayal and, yes, a romance - all the folk dropped together in the midst of the prehistoric jungle don't quite get along, and even the prospect of getting back home doesn't pull them together. And if they do get home ... then what? The velociraptor is out of the bag, the experiment in time travel has gone beyond the drawing board, and the government is going to be all over it.
Skillful writing, nice characterizations, a really wonderful airship, and some truly awful dinosaurs and people both: well done.
Received from Netgalley for review - thank you!
I have limited experience with steampunk. Most of what I've stumbled across has been romance of some sort or other, which is fine in its way. But that's why I kept expecting someone to leap into bed with someone in this book. There is a romance element - but a PNR this ain't. (*muted rejoicing*)
What this is is the story of Professor Cecil Reardon, whose wife and young son were killed in a terrible accident - and he wants them back. He has been working to conquer all obstacles to the time travel necessary to go back and save them. The work is kept undercover; to keep them from interfering, he is happy to allow the Leviacrum Council to see him as having become a doddering old codger broken by his tragedies. He is getting close, when one night -
The same night that Lord Garrett Embrey goes on the lam from the Leviacrum Council. He took the floor to protest, in the strongest terms, the unjust executions of his father and uncle, and when his vocal dissent accelerates the Council's intentions to put him out of the way, he runs out into the night -
Which is also the same night that sees Airship Officer Verity Champlain into the port of London. She and her crew have seen some harrowing action, leaving her the senior officer aboard, and she and her largely African crew are looking forward to decompressing and untangling exactly what has happened to them and to the Empire, and what will happen next. And ice cream. Their airship sails into London's night -
And the night is split by a massive concussion, a blinding light. When people gradually come to, they discover that they are where they had been, in the heart of London - but they are no longer when they had been. The blocks of London town where they happened to be have been excised and transported back - to the age of dinosaurs..
The result is the best dinosaurs vs. humans story I've ever read.
Not that there have been so very many of those.
Conspiracy, top-secret government plots, dinosaurs stampeding through London streets; factions emerging and lives coming under threat in the heat of emotion; loyalty and betrayal and, yes, a romance - all the folk dropped together in the midst of the prehistoric jungle don't quite get along, and even the prospect of getting back home doesn't pull them together. And if they do get home ... then what? The velociraptor is out of the bag, the experiment in time travel has gone beyond the drawing board, and the government is going to be all over it.
Skillful writing, nice characterizations, a really wonderful airship, and some truly awful dinosaurs and people both: well done.
Received from Netgalley for review - thank you!
listener42's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
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