Review: "Clockworkers"... the pros and cons... 3 1/2 Stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 4, 2014
"Clockworkers" is modern day, quasi-fantasy adventure by author Ramsey Isler.This Kindle e-book was approximately 345 printed pages and sold for $3.99 at the time of writing this review.General theme (some minor spoilers)When Samuel Chablon dies, his watch repair business transfers into the hands of his daughter, Samantha (Sam). The business has earned a reputation of not only being able to fix the oldest and rarest of watches but also the problems that no other watch repair shop could solve. Shortly after her father's death, Sam finds out the secret to his success... and it arrives in the form of a small Elf named Piv.Some thoughts on "Clockworkers"...The Pros:1.) well written and edited, with few if any grammatical or spelling errors. It did however have several formatting errors (read on the Kindle reader app for my IPad mini).2.) an interesting plot filled with many twists and turns. I thought the beginning section and end sequence were the best areas, while the middle section struggled a bit with believability (believability within the context of this fantasy setting).3.) there were a few dark and creepy chapters that I felt were particularly well done.4.) cover art... a great image. Truly reflecting on the potentially dark and mysterious nature of the tale within. Loved the eyes.The Cons:1.) dialogues... this was probably the book's weakest area. Many conversations were short and appeared to be somewhat forced, lending them a choppy, abrupt feel. Although in fairness, these areas were dictated to a degree by Sam's curt personality.Impressions:I loved the premise for this story, but I struggled when it came to our heroine, Sam. Specifically, her attitudes when it came to dealing with people... if I had to pick a missing quality in her, it would be her lack of empathy towards others. I suppose this would not have been such an annoying trait to me if she'd been the villain, but I don't think the author had this intention for her. I simply find that it's hard to really like a novel when you don't feel some sort of attachment to the main character. Obviously these reflect my own personal and subjective feelings... other will probably disagree.My concerns regarding dialogue, made me aware of the importance of the conversational aspects of any novel and how much it contributes to the overall quality of prose. This area could use some improvement.While I liked many areas of this book, the real question is,  would I read a second book in this series?... maybe, but only after reading the sample available from Amazon.com to see if Sam and I are a little more compatible... lol.As it is... 3 1/2 Stars.Ray Nicholsonralannicholson@hotmail.com@ralannicholson