The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

I really wanted to like this book. Loved the setting, the writing style, the characters and most of the plot. I say most, becauuse *SPOILERS AHEAD* that precognition thing made my brain hurt and I couldn't really follow the intricacies of its workings, or even understand what was not to understand and where the understanding ends... it just seemed messy to me, and the ether-thing really didn't make things better for me. Maybe it is that I am not a native english speaker, but at the end the book left me a bit on an puzzled state. I wasn't sure if I missed most of the plot or that what I read was just messed up...

Steampunk as a subgenre of fiction. Fantasy in a Victorian setting, using components of steam powered machinery to bend time and place. Until I read the reviews of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street here, I'd never heard of it.

Despite a lack of context of the literary genre, I loved this novel. Clockworks attract my fascination. Mori, a former Japanese Samurai turned watchmaker in Knightsbridge, London came to life. His relationship with Thaniel, a boring clerk, was real and endearing. His world of future telling and incendiary events captivates. Oxford physicist shakes the fantastical octopus. Well done debut by Natasha Pulley. Great read.

This book is worth reading. The book is not Steampunk or fantasy but more Victorian Science fiction concerning a protagonist who is familiar with relativity and quantum mechanics. I am not much for series but i would enjoy reading more about these characters. The understories intertwined with the plot give a very interesting view of Class, ethnicity, and gender.

My only complaint is that it reminded me of seventies movies where there the film and in this case the novel is just a slice of life. I very seldom give five stars but this book was very close.

This novel is an alluring mix of history and fantasy. The bits about London ring true, lending a realism to the fantasy at the core of the story. If you like whimsy and don't mind being surprised, this book is for you.

A hopeful beginning was followed by the drawn out development of characters. While the historical references were cleverly intermixed with the steampunk theme, the slow pace took away the hope of an interesting plot.

A beautifully written story about friends, possibility, and different cultures. I won't comment on the plot as that would give too much away however the main characters are engaging, the pacing excellent and the plot is well thought out. The main aspect of the book is fantastical and brilliantly and slowly revealed. I recommend you read it!!!

The conceptualization of time and how events (as in physics as well as, as in life) occur and self-refer is extremely subtle, and
the creativity of Pulley's characters, her descriptions of Victorian London and Meiji Japan, and her social commentary are all exceptional.
This is a truly outstanding new talent. The octopus is my favorite character.

The conceptualization of time and how events (as in physics as well as, as in life) occur and self-refer is extremely subtle, and
the creativity of Pulley's characters, her descriptions of Victorian London and Meiji Japan, and her social commentary are all exceptional.
This is a truly outstanding new talent. The octopus is my favorite character.

Who could describe this book? SPOILER ALERT: A Japanese man who can shift the future travels from Japan to London in the mid-1800's to meet a man whom he knows will become his best friend. This Japanese man is also a clock maker of exquisite and refined designs. As a hobby, he makes mechanical birds, bugs and even an octopus. Then the plot heats up with a number of unexpected twists.

This story had a very slow build. It was entertaining and interesting once it got going, but somehow the characters kept getting muddled in my mind. Not a bad story, but slightly disorganized. I do look forward to seeing what the author does next though!

I rarely review novels because taste in novels is so subjective. I bought this because of a book review and am very happy I did. This one was a delight - delicately and cleverly written, an intriguing and engaging story, and a series of twists and turns that I did not see coming. Flights of fancy combined with depth.

Strangely interesting? Interestingly strange? The book is chock full of interesting observations and quotable thoughts. The story line is, well, choppy...probably by intention. There are places where too much is left to the reader, and there is a (deliberate?) lack of continuity. It was a fun, quick, read.

It was very innovative plot. the story arch was interesting.
It had a Steampunk sort of feel with hints of magic, but it didn't fit into any one genre. (Historical fiction, Steampunk, magical)
Surprising edges to the characters.
And there was a clockwork octopus which was very interesting.

A very nicely constructed piece of work - tiny gears meshing perfectly to move is through mystery to understanding. Mori is one of the most fascinating characters I've come across; he makes the book sparkle like one of his clockworks. If not for a little slowness and overworked opacity near the end, I would have given it five stars.

I was put off initially when the protagonist was some British guy but with the introduction of Grace and the mysterious watch and the explosion, I was totally hooked. This is the YA fantasy I wish I had when I was a teenager.

This book does however lose a star for its weird obsession with the concept of ether and it's attempt to use it to explain the more supernatural elements of the story.

The story line was too disjointed. I found the story line hard to follow. I quit the book about half way through. I returned to the book a couple of weeks later but still quit reading it. I would give it zero stars.

I tried multiple times to get through this book. Great cover, but that's about it for me. It struggles to be in a genre. Characters start talking and you don't know where they come from. I flipped to the end just to see how it finished but I read a line about an octopus in an elevator and that was it for me.

The story line started out as very unique, and the characters were intriguing. I mean, a clairvoyant clock maker, and a telegraph clerk who sees sound in color, that's new. The characters were well developed, I would even go so far as to say over developed. After a while I found myself thinking, I get it already, Grace likes science, Thaniel doesn't want to believe Mori is a bomb maker...an so on.. Unfortunately, the opposite was true about the plot, which never took off. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it just droned on about tea and cakes, and excessively detailed description on insignificant settings. I skipped over several pages at a time trying to find a point where the story moved along. Then it all went sideways, when the streampunk adventure I thought I was reading turned into a gay romance. I felt cheated, like when Hollywood produces a great movie, but to keep it under budget they whip up some stupid abbridged ending that just doesn't work. Disappointed.