Gwendolyn ClareRecensioni

In the City of Time by Gwendolyn Clare, with its plot about three geeky young scientists and time travel, should be a novel I adore because I love it when stories get all nerdy and scientific. Unfortunately, I do not love when authors make up entirely new laws of science to explain their science fiction, which is precisely what Ms. Clare does in this latest novel. Her explanations of time travel are so far from scientific that I could not even begin to understand what she was trying to say. Sadly, her scientific explanations were not the only issues I had with the novel. Her use of polyamory feels a little opportunistic; it feels like Ms. Clare jumped onto the inclusive bandwagon without considering whether it is the right thing for the characters. That particular relationship doesn’t even feel like a romantic relationship to me but rather more like best friends with occasional benefits. And I don’t believe that someone from the 1800s would be 100 percent okay with polyamorous relationships and willingly enter into one after only a few minutes of thought. The lack of science alone made me hesitant to pick up In the City of Time every day. Add in the questionable inclusion choices, and it all made for a novel that was a slog to read.

I so wanted to love this book. The premise was intriguing and I had heard good things. Unfortunately, this book is not for me.

1) The omniscient point of view doesn’t work here. I typically love it, but the characters didn’t seem fully developed because the POV kept bouncing around. I think a first person POV would allow the author to more thoroughly explore one character to create depth.

2) The writing itself seemed mechanical. All the plot points were there, but there wasn’t enough description between the main points.

3) The relationships were forced. Her friendships seemed stilted even after she had apparently learned to have friends. Her “feelings” for Leo came out of left field. There was no build-up, no subtlety.

4) I know this is set in another time period, but the teenage characters spoke like they had college degrees. Even their banter was too academic most of the time.

TL;DR: The writing and characters were not believable.

This is a very different story from the string of "I am a princess and must save the world" books I've been reading recently. It has a touch of "chosen one" but I enjoyed it anyway. It's a totally different world that I will happily read more of

Summary:
Elsa is a conjured person created from a powerful book that can affect the worlds both inside and outside its pages. Elsa is a scriptotolgist, a person with the ability to write anything into existence. When Elsa’s mother was kidnapped from their created world of Veldana, Elsa followed into the Earth realm where she met other people with skills like her own (called pazzerellone). With their help, Elsa was able to stop a nefarious plot only to be betrayed by Leo, a fellow pazzerellone and member of the Order.
Now Elsa and the remaining members of the Order (other pazzerellone) must stop Leo from giving the editbook to his estranged father and head of the Carbonari, a group that wants to use the book’s power to literally change the Earth and all other worlds into whatever is desired by the holder of the book. Elsa will have to infiltrate the Carbonari and convince Leo’s father that she is one of them if she is to retrieve the editbook. Will she be able to stop the oncoming apocalypse and maybe save her troubled friend Leo as well? The whole of creation depends on Elsa and the decisions she makes. One mistake and all could be lost.

Evaluation:
This rollicking read picks right up where “Ink, Iron, and Glass” ended and it keeps moving. This is a highly inventive and well thought out universe for the characters to traverse. The main themes of love, loyalty, and faith are well represented throughout the story. The characters and the various powers they wield are logical and well developed. Several different points of view give the reader a richer experience. This is a wonderful sequel and is best read with its predecessor to truly get the most out of both stories. Recommended for fans of action and adventure who love great world building and multidimensional characters. For grades 7-11.

It feels like Clare had a general idea of what she wanted to write in Ink, Iron and Glass. Perhaps even a set of rough character sketches, since the characters are fairly well fleshed out. It just didn't feel like it was ever hammered into anything solid. There were a lot of fabulous concepts in this story but, truth be told, they didn't follow a cohesive path. For instance, worldbooks were a really cool concept to me. The ability to create an entire functioning world, simply by scribing it into one of these, sounded like something I'd normally fall in love with. The problem was that the descriptions of this process only skimmed the surface through the whole story. I never saw deeper than the idea itself, and that was the case for most of what would have normally caught my interest.

The pace feels maddeningly slow for most of the book, and then picks up in a mad rush to the end. It was really hard to feel invested in the story. Each time that I thought something was starting to peak my interest, the book would meander away on a tangent and my questions went unanswered. I was left holding a handful of story threads, rather than the tapestry that I know they were trying so hard to weave.

So 2 stars to this book, because I only 1 star books I didn't finish. I finished this, but it was a rough road.

I desperately wanted to love this book, but it's hard to love a book that meets none of your expectations. Steampunk and I already have a mixed history, but I really thought that the worldbuilding in this one was going to steal my heart.

Except... it didn't.

The worldbuilding is light at best, and for a book that boasts people who can write worlds into existence, there was a whole lot of "And she climbed on the train and sat across from him" and nearly enough, "She squished into the poorly repaired letter seat, the clack-clack-clack of the rails underneath worsening her headache while outside the train window, a rainy landscape rushed by." ... Okay, I made both those up, but see my point? It's really easy to skate atop the surface of this one rather than to be wrapped up and enjoy it.

The same for the character - tropes and cliches with a lot of characterization in conversation rather than facial features or fidgeting with dress skirts. I wanted more from this, and I didn't get it.

ALL THAT SAID. This feels like something that a lot of other readers, the ones who aren't looking for deeply involved fantasy, will enjoy. I think that for a debut author, there's a lot of potential with Gwendolyn Clare even though this books really wasn't for me, and I'll be keeping an eye out for future releases outside this series.

This is a somewhat strange storyline. It's almost steampunky in its strangeness, but somehow works. It kinda makes me think of Inkheart in some ways - especially the literal power related to texts part, though it's definitely exercised in a very different fashion.

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Good
Recommended: Yes
Level: High school

Review:
For the most part, Ink Iron and Glass is a unique spin on science fiction. It takes place in the late 1800s and is largely based on Italian history (according to the Author’s Note at the end), but also includes that science fiction aspect that almost feels like magic. It takes a while to understand how these worlds work, but eventually the reader comes to understand that there are three types of science that “mad people” are able to wield -- alchemy, scriptology, and mechanics. There is the real world of Earth, but scriptologists also have the ability to create other worlds. Created in one of these worlds, Elsa is the protagonist of the novel, and she is one of the rare polymaths: someone who has talent in all three areas. Elsa’s mother has been abducted, and this first book in the series focuses on her adventures trying to get her mother back. While trying to accomplish this task, she befriends three other mad people her age and they work together to navigate the tricky worlds.

Overall, the book was interesting enough that I will likely read the second novel in the series when it comes out. However, I never felt myself very invested in the characters for some reason and found the writing a bit forced.