The Watchmaker of Filigree Street: The extraordinary, imaginative, magical debut novel

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So yeah, the characters were not well developed, so their relationships, motives and actions didn't make any sense. I particularly appreciated the realistic depiction of being a Japanese expatriate in Victorian London. Mori, alongside other Japanese characters, is routinely exposed to racist behaviour and attitudes. Grace’s story instead emphasises the way in which gender discrimination oppressed, repressed, or constrained women lives.

It's too much. It makes him aware of everything at any moment, small things and the bigger picture. He couldn't possibly organise infinite things. Second to the magic as my favourite thing (but very very close second) are the characters. If you loved them in Watchmaker, you will love them immeasurably more in this book, while also having your heart shattered into a million pieces by them. I know because that’s exactly what happened to me reading this. Not to mention the characters you want to see together are actually separated for a good chunk of the book. It’s basically a recipe for having your heart ripped out your chest.

Wrap Up

Past ghosts and future ghosts. The outline of things that happened or might soon happen. The logic is hard to grasp... but suspend disbelief for that, fair enough. But how come only soon-to-happen fate strings appear? Why only the most likely fate strings? (e.g. those trajectories for the owls or the stone-throwers? surely there are infinite possibilities, however small a chance?). The more you think about it, the harder it is to find the 'logic' of the idea. What determines what appears from thousands of years of potential ghosts, why only the most plot-relevant stuff? A lot of things in this book felt like the author wanted to show off her knowledge of Japan, rather than have a book that happens to be set in Japan. Spoiler. Da unten sind Spoiler, die ich nicht getaggt habe, weil ich zu wütend war. Lesen auf eigene Gefahr. While Thaniel and Grace’s paths do eventually converge, readers might be surprised by the consequences of their acquaintanceship.

Clever and engaging, this impressive first novel will reward both casual readers looking for a fun period adventure and those fascinated by the tension between free will and fate. I liked Mori in book one. He could remember the future, it was a simple concept. He knew a lot of things, but he always felt like a grounded character that was 'limited' in his scope. In this book, his clairvoyance seems to be through the roof. Every tiny detail (down to a footstep, a word, a inclination) is meticulously prepared in advance. He is seeing decades of futures and near-infinite possibilities, not just for his own life, but for Japan, London, Russia... he is carefully manipulating thousands of people to do things to lead to other things (see: the Hokkaido prisons).So many side characters were not fleshed out - Vaulkner, Pringle, Suzuki, Tanaka... they felt a little 2D Generally speaking, I’m fully on board with genre-defying/genre-bending works. Is this historical fiction? Steampunk? Mystery? Alternate history? Romance? Yes, sort of, a little, kind of, and yeah, sure. ("It's a taste treat! It's a laxative! Stop--you're BOTH right!")