A story that could have been great but fell apart brick by azure brick
344315
A story that could have been great but fell apart brick by azure brick. The premise was interesting enough but the elements and detail to hash out the environment and character development weren't there. At times the characters seemed unrealistic, and the storyline rushed, which made for a shaken and jumpy read. I had high hopes reading the summary and looking at the cover for this book. But as I got further into it I realized it was something that fell way short of my expectations. I feel like it needs to be rewritten to be made right. All in all so disappointed.
2634878
I really don't know what to say:  this was a great premise for a book; the "what if you could go back in time and save Kennedy, kill Hitler, stop Pearl Harbor, or whatever"  scenario.  In King's version, Jake Epping, a 35-year English teacher has the opportunity to go back in time and attempt to avert the Kennedy assignation.  Epping is introduced to the concept of time-traveling and the prospect of saving Kennedy by Al, the proprietor of a local diner.  Apparently there is a "rabbit-hole" in the pantry of the diner that deposits anyone climbing through to September 9, 1985 (always the same date).  Al asks Epping, a man whom he only knows as a customer, to "carry on his mission" since Al is now dying.  After thinking about this for precisely one day, Epping goes back in time and lives there for five years while he concocts a plan to stop Lee Harvey Oswald.  The story starts out well enough and then it just falls apart; it is a rambling, clich ridden mess where the past is romanticized/sanitized and the protagonist develops amazing (read: unbelievable) skills (spying, shooting, planning) .  Great concept, lousy execution; this book would have benefited from a heavy editing hand, 300 less pages, and two less story lines.
2558661
The story could have been GREAT...it was good...but missed the great mark. The beginning of the book was a bit far fetched...a girl who was apparently a goody too shoes sleeping with her long term crush within minutes of seeing him again? No. The whole side story with his brother being interested in her too? No. The borderline abusive boyfriend who just went relatively quietly into the night? No. I loved the relationship between the heroine and the hero...the conflict aspect of the novel between the two of them was a surprising but believable twist...really like how their relationship was fleshed out and developed. Much of the rest of the novel however seemed underdeveloped or unneeded.
3562289
Steampunk. Time travel. Dinosaurs.

These three things make Robert Appleton's Prehistoric Clock a book after my heart. And does it capture it? Does the book provide a fun and engaging story along with its interesting premise?

Yes. Yes it does.

And thank goodness for that. When I read the synopsis, I so wanted to like the book, but I worried it wouldn't live up to its potential.

Set in 1908, Prehistoric Clock is told from the perspectives of three main characters, Verity Champlain, an acting captain of an airship, Lord Garret Embrey, an aristocrat wrongly accused in a conspiratorial trial, and Cecil Reardon, the inventor who creates the time machine that drives the plot behind the novel.

Though Reardon's scientific experiments are sponsored by a shady organisation called the Leviacrum (which we are given to suspect also controls the British empire), he secretly builds a time machine which he intends to use to go back in time to save his wife and son from dying seven years earlier.

Of course, something goes wrong, and instead of sending Reardon back in time, the time machine sends a large chunk of London back in time. Not just seven years, but to the prehistoric age. Champlain's airship and Lord Embrey get caught in this time bubble as well, and not long after arriving in their new era, they unite to try survive and find a way back to their own time, but not without some initial misgivings.

The story starts by focusing on the survivors but as they explore their surroundings using Champlain's airship, the author pulls back the curtains just a tiny bit to let us know that this prehistoric land is hiding something much more sinister than just dangerous reptiles.

The characters are commendable. Verity Champlain is a no-nonsense female who knows how to gets things done and commands respect from her crew. She harbours a great regret, in that she wasn't around to save her beloved sister from a rebellion in Angola, a rebellion that incidentally, Embrey, along with his father and uncle, is accused of starting.

That provides some tension between the two and though Garrett Embrey maybe a toff, he is also tough, being somewhat of a seasoned gentleman explorer. Armed with two steam-powered pistols, Embrey is the typical macho hero of pulp adventures who can do no wrong. He is the lovable rogue of the story and there's nothing wrong with that.

Cecil Reardon starts out as somewhat of a foolish and selfish character, but we soon become sympathetic with him as the story moves along. What I really liked about him is that he becomes much more important later in the story than is let on, but I'll let you discover that one out for yourself.

Prehistoric Clock is a wonderful novel in the spirit of pulp adventures by H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs and is the first book of a series. If you love page-turning thrills with a dash of romance, here's a book for you.

But really, you should have bought it the moment you read "steampunk, time travel and dinosaurs".
3113778
I finished the first half in one reading this weekend, glued to the storytelling and the well-paced action and solid science. It was a spiraling disappointment beyond that point. Partial Spoiler: When the main character opts to forego warning her rescuer--whom she now trusts with her life--about impending ambush and then jumps into bed with him instead, it was absolutely out of character. Having completed the read, I can only imagine this was a flagrant effort to extend the story and build out the on-coming space opera. Cliff-hangers and teasers betray lacking imagination and do little to bring closure to a good story--and this was one.

Admittedly, keeping up with the quality of the first half would have been tough. But it was achievable. If I did not know this was a first attempt, I would have thought the author sold out. The three stars rating is a poor average of the stellar first half and a passable latter half. Keep working at it and find a good editor or someone you trust with the content.
4542170
There is definite skill depicted within the first half of Lepucki's debut - the careful pacing and unfolding of the climate shift and post-petroleum world and the protagonists' place within it; their special skills and particular viewpoints, their histories and sorrows, both separate and collective.  Even in the place they find themselves and the others they encounter.  And their reason for seeking society once more.  But unfortunately the second half is ruined by too many undeveloped tropes, convenient coincidences, too much exposition, and sloppy pacing so that the plot can boil over in the conclusion.  Although I know publishers loath doorstoppers these days it really could have used at least another two hundred pages to do justice to the kind of story Lepucki *wanted* to tell.  It really did have such great potential.  I think they picked the wrong title for it, The Land would have been more apt - vague enough but nicely ominous, because despite what has been noted in the publicity materials, it doesn't really matter *where* this story takes place, and you certainly don't get enough atmosphere to specifically understand the geography, in my opinion.  The end is chilling in its implications, but knowing what a rushed journey it was to get there lessened its' impact all the more.  I don't regret giving this book my time and money, I'm just disappointed it couldn't have attained the promise implicit in its concept.
713116
I really, really wanted to like -- no, to LOVE -- this story. Maybe too much, and that contributed to my overall disappointment in the read. It wasn't an awful book -- the writing was good, the characters well-drawn, the setting interesting and believable, the world-building worked for me. I enjoyed the idea of biocyph and how the teks worked, and the relationship that built between the characters were very well-done, but... I think that my expectations for the story were too high. Partially because I'd heard that the story was so good, but partially because of Creasy's development itself. There's a lot of time and effort put into the secrets of Scarabaeus and I'm not going to include spoilers, but suffice it to say that I found the ultimate unraveling of the secrets to be something of a frizzle rather than a bang. Certainly, the story twisted nicely with the revelations, and everything fit as it continued, but I'd expected something more than what everything turned out to be, and that left me feeling let down. Also, the book really does end on a cliffhanger of sorts -- the big questions of the book are answered, but there's a lot left that has to be explored. I do have the second book, Children of Scarabaeus, and I will probably read it, but I won't go into it expecting anything dazzling or brilliant, maybe just a decent space-set story.
4660372
I was tempted to give it 1 star, but the story was too good. I gave it 3 stars because occasionally this story was very engaging. Sections of the story were kept me turning pages wondering what would happen next and I really enjoyed it. Other times the story was so bad I skipped entire portions of the series without losing any context (book 3). Which really was a let down when I was turning pages and then hit a dead spot (more than 1).
The author often just throws something into the story out of no where, without regard to the past story events, or in direct conflict to his own fantasy world, to simply move the plot forward because he couldn't think of anything.

Also be prepared for incredible racism, and sexism that the author thinks to be hilarious. A better title would have been "Swords. Sorcery. Bigotry"
3022975
A book's ending can make or break it.  While the majority of this story was fairly decent, it fell apart at the ending.  I liked the idea that the young girl was telling her story from heaven.  Unfortunately, the author seemed to have been struck with a case of writer's block at the end and asked a stranger to write the ending.  That could be the only explanation.  Why else would the girl come down from heaven to have sex with some boy, but never come down and reveal her killer?
4593534
Sadly, although I think this story has great potential, the execution of it led me to put down the book after reading only about a quarter of it. The writing was, to me, the main failing, both in style and in narrative structure.

The style is juvenile, cliched, and casual, possibly trying to be a reflection of natural teenage speech, but immature and depthless to my tastes. Errors in grammar also make frequent visits to the passages.

The narrative structure I thought to be poorly chosen. Quite interesting events are told, explained, as the main character's recollections, filling in the reader on things that happened in the past, when actually seeing those events unfold would have been ten times more compelling. There are some interesting and creative ideas here, but--possibly due to inexperience and lack of an editor--they are glossed over and burdened by a campy, superficial writing style that does the story no favors.

Perhaps this author's style is just not to my taste, but I think a few hundred more hours writing and reading (and a better grasp of grammar, and an editor) would be a huge benefit before sharing completed works.
2454442
This book needs a good proofreader, editor and person to tutor the author in basic writing skills.  It could have been a great story if it weren't so poorly executed.
50649
I would love to give this story a high rating as it had some very interesting premises and characters,  Unfortunately, about halfway through, it lost most of what was making it compelling and became rather predictable.  I would love to see a rewrite of this with different avenues explored.
2001735
I started this with great expectations, but these were soon shattered.  To start with, the opening had the feel of a sequel, that I had come into a story that had already been partially told. Add to that some awkward dialogue and an undistinguished writing style and you have a long and difficult novel.  The idea was great, but the actuality of the book wasn't.
1001488
The last 1/3 of the story just didn't add up to the beginning.  The magic tied it all together too neatly. The author could have done anything, since magic and disbelief were key to the story anyway.
481057
A book written around a great premise, but sadly one that can't hold up an entire book.
1481240
The concept of this story is brilliant. The first sentence introduces a mystery that drives you to turn pages all story long. The events and backstory--on a macro level--are awesome. One of the most creative concepts I've read and I read a lot.

But the execution of these concepts was sloppy. Characters suddenly swing into rages, standing and yelling at each other. The health and fitness aspects weren't believable (some people run distances too easily and later in the story are winded by less, healing happens too quickly. The social dynamics aren't nuanced--they're pretty stereotyped. And for a long while I wasn't sure I liked the main character.

So it's worth reading, but you'll have to be patient with immature writing. I'm hoping the author got better in the next books.
4500756
Ugh.  Great tale in desperate need of another try.  List of failings too long.