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

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But it was ruined by weird (often glacial) pacing, insufficient editing, and mildly sympathetic or unsympathetic characters, who we never really get to know, with confusing and constantly shifting motivations. So many side characters were not fleshed out - Vaulkner, Pringle, Suzuki, Tanaka... they felt a little 2D

Die Grundprämisse der Geschichte ist großartig. Es spielt in London und in Japan des ausgehenden 19. Jahrhunderts und es geht um Bombenattentate, einen englischen Telegrafisten und einen japanischen Uhrmacher, der die Zukunft sehen kann. Und einen mechanischen Oktopus, der vielleicht oder vielleicht nicht eine Seele hat. When they returned to Filigree Street, Mori refused even to go upstairs. Instead he hid under a quilt in the parlour with Thaniel's never-read copy of Anna Karenina. The Russians, he said, knew how to write genuinely boring novels, and he would only stop being afraid when he was bored enough. They were all the more boring because he could remember reading the end in the recent future.” This kind of writing is rampant in this book as well as the author focusing on minute details, such as how silk skirts hiss when someone wearing them walks, in favor of developing the character wearing the silk skirts. On it goes. The characters are mostly flat, bloodless, and unlikable, and they all sound alike, whether man or woman, young or old, British or Asian. Which brings me to this: there's a peppering of racial remarks throughout the book aimed at Asians and other non British persons. I'm not sure why the offensive remarks are in here, especially when everyone sounds the same and pretty much looks the same. One of the main characters, who's Asian, has bleached his hair blond and cut it very short. How very strange for a story taking place in the 1880's. Far too frequently, Pulley’s use of language is unfocused and imprecise. She tells us far too much about extraneous matters and not enough of what we do need to know. Non-sequitors abound. Dialogue is completely undifferentiated and it is frequently difficult to understand which character is actually speaking. This all could have been ironed out by a thorough line-by-line edit.I'm one of those people that would have given 6/5 stars to the first book, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. I adored it. But this book was a poor sequel. I'll mention a few things:

She was educated at Soham Village College, New College, Oxford, and the University of East Anglia (MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction), 2012). [1] [2] [3] Works [ edit ] Also meiner Meinung nach hätte es der Story (UND der Romanze, aber zu der komm ich später) sehr gut getan, wenn Nathaniel irgendeine Agenda gehabt hätte. ANYTHING. Wenn er z.b. extrem karrieregeil gewesen wäre und sich deswegen bei Mori (dem japanischen Uhrmacher) einquartiert, um an Infos zu kommen und dann merkt, dass der Typ zwar seltsam aber ganz nett ist und Gewissenskonflikt und so. Das hätte VIEL mehr Spaß gemacht, als das was wir kriegen. Natasha Pulley had me hooked with her depiction of Victorian London; its burgeoning system of telegrams that bounce between government buildings and a rapidly expanding underground train system. I’m getting tired of writing these words, but it seems like a great many of the highly touted, recently published novels I’ve read lately in the fantasy/magical realism genres have great potential, but never become the excellent books they could have been. The usual caveat: I received this book free as an advance reading copy from the publisher. I do not think that prevents me from giving an honest review.It is hard to pigeonhole this book. Literary? I’m not sure. Historical? Kind-of. It does deal with a historical period. Steampunk? Not really, even though the characters have some paranormal abilities, and the Victorian era adds credibility to such a label. The closest I can come up with is magic realism. Thaiel and Mori were easily my favourite characters. There is a faltering quality to their friendship. In spite of their age, class, and cultural differences they soon became used to one another. Codega, Linda H. (19 February 2020). "Peering Into The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley". Tor.com . Retrieved 24 May 2021.