Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Book Tour for Clockworkers by Ramsey Isler, presented by Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours. Please leave a comment or question for Mr. Isler to let him know you stopped by. You can follow the rest of the tour here.
by Ramsey Isler
Publisher: Ramsey Isler
Release Date: November 23, 2013
Genre: Fantasy/Fairytale/
Paranormal
Length: 345 Pages
ASIN: B00GS8SB2M
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Buy Link: Amazon
About the book:
Samantha Chablon is a self-proclaimed “gadget girl”. She runs the family watch repair shop while her eccentric old father spends his days researching fantastical stories of elves. Sam loves her father, but his odd habits have always been a mystery and a burden on the family. But that all changes after her father dies, and she discovers what he left for her.
Sam has inherited a real elf.
Piv is his name, and he is far older than his boyish face and personality would imply. But he's also wise, and as an elf he is gifted with a preternatural proclivity for making things. Sam's father taught Piv everything he knows about making watches, and he works faster than human hands could ever move. Sam, being much more enterprising than her father, sees opportunity in Piv's talents. Soon Piv is not the only elf working for Sam as she goes about building a luxury watch empire powered by secret elf labor.
But the elves have remained hidden from humans for good reason, and it's not easy to keep a factory full of territorial elves secret in the middle of a metropolis. One night when someone attempts to break into the factory, the elves take matters into their own hands. The incident gives Sam a glimpse of a dark and twisted side of elves that no fairy tales ever mentioned. Samantha will soon discover that great ambition often comes with great risk, and although her elf partners have agreed to work without pay, there are other costly consequences involved in striking a deal with elves.
As someone who has loved reading fairy tales all of her life, I really looked forward to reading Ramsey Isler’s Clockworkers, a modern day tale featuring elves. Mr. Isler’s tale blends a modern day city setting, a young woman who likes to tinker with watches, and the age old battle between good and evil. Reminding us “to be careful what you wish for”, I found Clockworkers to be a delightful tale and one I’d happily recommend.
A “tinker” by trade, Samantha Chablon runs “Better Timepieces”, a specialty watch shop with Samuel, her father. Worried about her father’s declining health, and his obsession with elves, Samantha fears the inevitable, the day she becomes an orphan. She never planned on meeting an elf or on finding herself involved with a lot of them.
Mr. Isler does a good job developing Samantha’s character; she’s practical, doesn’t believe in what she can’t see and turns out to be more ambitious than her father. When she meets Piv, the elf her father “captured”, she realizes he was the “special repairman” who fixed the watches she couldn’t fix herself. Given an opportunity to get “free” labor, Samantha makes a deal with Piv, and the rest of the elves, and sets up a factory where they’ll live and work.
Incorporating folk tales and myths from different parts of the world, Mr. Isler develops the elves, or “Kith” in a way that makes them seem very real. Neither good, nor evil, they have their own rules and look at their interactions with humans as somewhat of a game. A game with a winner and a loser.
Reminding us that fairy tales were never written for children, Mr. Isler’s story incorporates just the right amount of darkness, death and even a little romance making us wonder who will be the victor at the very end. Will Samantha learn that everything has a price? Will she get a chance at a happy ending? You’ll have to read Clockworkers to find out. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of Mr. Isler’s work.
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Crowns
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Ramsey Isler
Ramsey Isler is an author, software developer, and designer
who lives in Los Angeles. He currently writes feature articles and media
reviews at IGN.com, an entertainment site that focuses on TV, movies, and video
games. Ramsey loves books, anything with circuits and wires, and cats.
For fiction, Ramsey usually writes urban fantasy that blends
elements of science fiction and suspense. His stories feature young
protagonists that are often unsure of themselves, but they find the strength to
persevere when faced with extreme circumstances. Ramsey does not write
traditional "evil" villains or black-and-white morality tales; he
instead opts for antagonists and anti-heroes who have viewpoints and ideals
that pose difficult moral challenges for the protagonists, and the worlds they
inhabit.
Website: http://www.ramseyisler.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ramsey_isler
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