Review: Timekeeper by Alexandra Monir

Published: January 8^th, 2013 (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)

Pages: 288

Rating: 3/5

Goodreads ~ Amazon

When Philip Walker appears as a new student in Michele Windsor's high school class, she is floored. He is the love she thought she lost forever when they said goodbye during her time travels last century. Overjoyed that they can resume the relationship they had a lifetime ago, Michele eagerly approaches him and discovers the unthinkable: he doesn't remember her. In fact, he doesn't seem to remember anything about the Philip Walker of 1910.

Michele then finds her father's journals, which tell stories of his time-traveling past. As she digs deeper, she learns about his entanglement with a mysterious and powerful organization called the Time Society and his dealings with a vengeful Windsor ancestor. Michele soon finds herself at the center of a rift over 120 years in the making, one whose resolution will have life-or-death consequences.

Alexandra Monir's Timekeeper combines breathtaking romance with a tale of complex magic in a sequel that will have every reader believing in the transcendent power of love [Description from Goodreads]

Michele’s life couldn’t get any better, right? Wrong. When Phillip Walker, flesh and blood, struts into her classroom at school, it’s more than she can believe. It’s also more than he can believe. When she tells him that they met long ago in an age of long skirts, horses and buggies, and no internet, he only stares at her like she’s an idiot before turning on his heel and leaving girls swooning in his wake. Just when Michele thought they could be together forever, Phillip seems to have forgotten all about them. Dangerous mysteries are discovered, long-dead relatives turn up, and death threats swirl; will Michele be able to sort out her life and keep Phillip in her grasp at the same time?

I’m not going to lie. I downright wasn’t impressed with this second book. Considering I wasn’t all that fond of the first book, Timeless, I didn’t really expect to love Timekeeper. I disliked this book for most of the same reasons I disliked the last book. I absolutely couldn’t connect with Michele, and I felt her character lacked depth. She felt needy, immature, and predictable. When Phillip’s amnesia of their relationship got in the way of them being together, she’d constantly pester and stalk him, which sat on the verge of being reeeealllly creepy.

Everyone’s reaction to Rebecca’s existence and threats seemed artificial somehow. Mentioning Rebecca, she wasn’t all that terrifying as far as villains go. When the characters are majorly creeped out by the villain but you as a reader wouldn’t wet your pants if you met him/her in a dark alley, something is quite wrong. Just saying.

So, as some of you might know by now, I’m an avid Doctor Who fan. Translation: I understand the ins and outs of time travel as theorized by Steven Moffat. And I can usually wrap my head around any other time travel theories you throw my way. But the way Alexandra explains time travel in this book…*shakes head* I was lost. So, so lost. The numerous rules about deceased folk going to one time period and having to stay seven days before they’re visible but they can be killed if they’re slain in oh-so-many time periods and so on and so forth…it just got all jumbled up. If you’ve read this one and understood this concept better than I did, by all means, feel free to comment and shed some light on the issue!

So I guess you could say that Timekeeper just wasn’t my book. I didn’t expect much out of it, but I did hold onto a small shred of hope that it might impress me more than Timeless did. But no. *sad face* I can’t really say whether or not I’ll read the third and last book (granted there’ll be one) but going off of how I feel about the series right now, I’d say not. For the sake of not writing a review that’s completely negative, I will say that Timekeeper gets five shiny gold stars out of five for clean content. Some violence ensues, but I’d have no problem giving this book to a middle-grade reader. In fact, middle-grade readers might enjoy this more than mature readers (teens and adults, etc.).  But as far as my opinion goes, this one definitely didn’t make a big impression on me.

 Quick Content Review: *may contain spoilers*

Language: None (possibly only one or two words…)

Violence: Mild (a violent ending scene with the villain)

Sexual: Mild (some kissing)

Timeless by Alexandra Monir

Published: January 11^th, 2011 (Delacorte Books)

Pages: 304

Rating: 4/5

Goodreads ~ Amazon

When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.

Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives. [Description from Goodreads]

When death steals the joy from Michele’s life, the last thing she wants to do is go live with her stiff grandparents in far-off New York City. The fact that they don’t want her there doesn’t make it any better, either. But then she discovers that the grand old house holds things that can transport her back in time to visit her relatives- and a certain dashing young gent that seems to show up everywhere in her life.

That’s when things get a little more complicated.

Thanks to Doctor Who, I’m constantly intrigued with the concept of time travel. The River of Time series really delivered, and I eagerly moved on to Timeless. There were several things I liked about it, though I can’t say it beats all else I’ve read in the genre. The characters, especially Michele, were difficult to connect with. Her reactions and responses seemed suited for a girl younger than her. In addition, Timeless lacked the usual intensity and peril that fills YA books nowadays, which didn’t make me like the book any less but made it feel a bit more juvenile. Because of those two points, I’d recommend this book for younger teen or tween readers. It’s no doubt, though, that mature readers could easily enjoy it as well.

I was surprised at the accuracy and preciseness of the history aspect. When I heard the book was written by a singer/songwriter, I had my doubts about how in-depth and accurate the historical facts would be, but it’s apparent that Alexandra did some thorough investigating beforehand. I loved that Michele traveled to different time periods- sometimes it gets monotonous when the time-travelling only involves one place in history. Each visit in time showed the reader a peek of the culture and tradition during that particular time period, and I loved that as well.

Now, I know others have raved on Phillip, Michele’s love interest, but I really didn’t find him that attractive. He was…perfect. Loving, gentle, honorable, and musically talented, all wrapped up in one handsome, dark-eyed package! Sounds nice, eh? I don’t go for the perfect type, though. I liked the romance between them mainly because they couldn’t be together (since they live in different time periods). I’m eager to see how they fix that little problem in Timekeeper (#2).

One thing I didn’t particularly enjoy was the writing style. It felt like I kept being told what was happening instead of letting me, the reader, put it together myself. Also, the science of the time traveling seemed kind of ridiculous and not quite believable. It’s tricky to make time travel seems believable, but some people have pulled it off nicely. Timeless? Not so much.

So while I can’t say it’s the best that I’ve read in the time travel genre, I did enjoy the story, particularly the romance and history aspects. I feel it might be more suited for readers on the younger end of the spectrum; I know I would have loved it more if I were a little younger. Either way, all qualms aside, Timeless is definitely an enjoyable read-something I much enjoyed myself. I wouldn’t put too much expectation into it, though. A fun read, but not one to be taken too seriously or looked at with too critical of an eye.

 

Quick Content Review: *may contain spoilers*

Language: None

Violence: None

Sexual: Mild (Some kissing. Two characters contemplate sleeping together, but decide against it.)