Group read: The watchmaker of Filigree Street

Hello!

I'm starting this thread because a number of us seem to have The watchmaker of Filigree Street on our tbr piles, and I suggested that we might try and read it together when it came up in conversation on someone's journal thread. A couple of you liked the idea so I thought we could decide when we might want to start, and how to manage the read.

I'm not likely to have time to start the book until February as I'm still in the middle of some tomes, and want to read City of blades as soon as my copy arrives (later this week, I hope!). Does February suit people? Or would later be better?

And would people like to read at their own pace, posting comments with spoilers hidden, as in sandstone78's group read threads, or take a more managed approach where we read an agreed number of chapters at a time? Personally I prefer the former but am happy to go along with what people prefer.

I'm looking forward to reading this novel as I've heard lots of good reports, and hope that we'll be able to have some interesting discussions.

>1 Sakerfalcon: Hm, I hadn't heard of this one, but I'm interested and my library owns it! February would be good! I think that the own pace style of my group reads was nice, but I felt like it sort of ended up resulting in a lack of structure, so maybe at least some kind of target date (most of the way through February maybe) would be good? :)

I actually read this during my winter break, and really enjoyed it. I will say it's one that you want to be careful of spoilers about - the plotline is such that it's very difficult to comment on anything in detail without possibly giving something away.

That said, I'd love to read a book club thread about it - I am very interested in what other people think about it.

I just read this and would be happy to be part of a discussion.

Not sure about the group read--I can't seem to get the hang of those. But it sounds like a book bullet, at least.

I just got a copy of this from the library so February would be good for me too.

I have a copy too! Are we doing a group read?

I can switch some things and get to it in February. I hope. Although I've been teaching poll workers all month and will be doing more of that in February. That said, I'll do my best to join in.

I could do February! I'm in.

I picked this up as an Amazon Kindle special a few weeks ago, so I could do February too.

I've actually just finished reading it. And I've never done a group read before. But if you'll have me I'd love to lurk and see what you talk about... maybe put in my tuppence.

>11 eclecticdodo: Lurk away! But we hope you'll be brave and speak up as the discussion goes on!

I read this back in the fall but would be interested in seeing the discussion.

Oh hooray, it's great that so many people want to read this!

Okay, let's set February 1st as the official start date, but if you can't resist starting early that is fine! If you can't fit it in in February, or if you've already read the book, please do join in with your thoughts whenever it's convenient for you.

Let's try and bear in mind rowantribe's comment in >3 RowanTribe: about potential spoilers and use the tags where necessary when posting our thoughts as we go along.

I don't want to suggest reading a set number of chapters per week, but let's check in every now and then so we have an idea of how people are progressing.

I'm really looking forward to reading the book and to discussing it together!

The library just sent me the ebook today, so I'm starting to read it.

Excellent! I will start it this evening (my copy is a hardback so too heavy to bring to work).

I started last night and put it down reluctantly, slightly past my bedtime. The Kindle says I am 25% of the way through. So far we are following three distinct POVs that haven't come together yet, but I was drawn into each very easily.

I found the first three chapters good, but not enthralling, then suddenly it grabbed me. I'm also about 1/4 way in.

I've read a little over 100 pages (about 1/3 of the book). I find the premise intriguing, and I like the character of Nathaniel, who so far seems to be pretty original. I've noticed some very good lines; for example, of a reluctant character being induced to attend a social event:

Her own reserves of bonhomie ran low after twenty minutes.

Spoken like a true introvert.

There are also some things that bother me, though, including two or three remarks that I find incomprehensible. It's the author's first novel, but most novels published by traditional book publishers are not the author's first try at writing, so it isn't simply inexperience. As usual, I'm going to cast a hard glance toward the editor's desk.

I started it but frankly am way too captivated by Abaddon's Gate to try to read the Watchmaker until I finish this one.

I've started the audiobook- I'm interested, but since I have it on while I'm working I occasionally have to go back and re-listen to part. I found out today that there are non-straight characters who get a happy ending in this book so I'm looking forward to that too :)

I'm a little over halfway. I have to say, there are times where I'm a bit confused. But I've kept reading. I think it's going to start getting really good now.

>19 Meredy: That line spoke to me too! I've also noticed a couple of oddities that I put down to sloppy editing; I'm not as far along as you are though.

I like Thaniel and Grace, though I hope Grace learns to think more highly of her fellow women. I've only just met Mori, and the clockwork octopus, but am looking forward to spending more time with them.

Someone should add this book to the Green Dragon Book Discussion wiki. I'm going to ignore it for now because I don't want to read the book at this time, but may want to in the future. It would be good to be able to easily find this thread. The link to the wiki is on the home page of the group. Enjoy!

>24 MrsLee: Done! It's under Other book discussions, at the bottom. I wasn't sure how to make a fancy heading like most of the others have, but hopefully people will be able to find it in future.

>24 MrsLee: >25 Sakerfalcon: I never knew that was there. Cool.

What if you open one of the sections already posted there and copy the styling? Won't that make the fancy head, etc.? I also saw a link for editing help. I tried copying the styling here, but it doesn't work on this page.

== Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass ==
''May 2008''
*http://www.librarything.com/topic/36481 Book Discussion: Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass SPOILER FREE
*http://www.librarything.com/topic/36482 Book Discussion: Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass CONTAINS SPOILERS

I finished it in the small hours of the morning. The copy I read was a library e-book, and I plan to get my own copy, because I will definitely want to read it again. It is not the book to read if you're looking for lots of action scenes, but I liked it for the characters and relationships. I loved the characters of Thaniel and Mori, very different from one another, but each with his own hidden depths. Their relationship was beautifully written.At the start, I thought Grace seemed like a promising character, but she became too narrowly focussed, and the motivation around some of her actions didn't really make sense to me. I would like to have seen more of Matsumoto, who seemed intriguing.

I read this book just a couple months ago and loved it! I was so excited to see that you're all reading it now. I felt pretty much the same way about everything SylviaC said, including the spoilery things. I want to own a copy because it's a visually beautiful book, as well as one of my favorites that I read last year.

Finished! I really enjoyed it. I thought Mori and Thaniel's relationship was sweet. I would say more but can't remember how to block spoilers. But now I can read the spoilers that are on here. :)

Just type <spoiler> at the beginning of the text that you want to hide, and </spoiler> at the end.

>30 SylviaC: And how did you make it show the spoiler tag as text in your message instead of converting it into the tag itself?

>31 Meredy: Instead of the less than and greater than signs, I typed & lt; and & gt; with no spaces after the ampersands.

>32 SylviaC: Ah. Clever. Thank you.

I've finished the book, and I enjoyed the ride, but--oh, dear, I'm going to have to read the last fifty pages again, and especially the last three chapters, if I want to have a clear picture of what happened.

At least, I'm hoping that the clear picture is there and that I was inattentive somehow, so I'll be able to figure it out. Right now, to me, it is mostly mud--sparkly, entertaining mud, with nice blasts of noise and light amid the relationship stuff--but mud nonetheless. Everything from the wedding onward wants clarity in my mind.

I'm not sure if I ought to write my review now, and say this, or give it another shot first. I don't think I've had to do this before. Any spoiler-free (or spoiler-masked) advice from others who've finished it?

>34 Meredy: I don't think rereading it will help. It simply didn't make any sense, and I've just accepted that as a huge plot hole.

>35 SylviaC: Hmm. Well, that's reassuring somehow. A lot like real life, isn't it?

I found a few areas of the book confusing. I thought maybe it was because my copy is an Advanced Reader and the editing was bad. And the editing was really bad. I don't think I've ever read an advanced reader with as many missing words. That said, I still enjoyed the book. Mostly because I liked Thaniel and his getting to know Mori. I do think Grace could've been more developed and didn't like it when she decided to make a bomb. I didn't see her character as the jealous type, but I guess she started to actually like Thaniel so she didn't want to lose him to Mori. I would like to think Mori and Thaniel were together for a long time after the book ended.

>37 catzteach: Does it really say "Advanced"? If so, even the editing of that was bad. It should be "advance" (ahead of some certain time) and not "advanced" (requiring a higher level of skill).

>37 catzteach: Yeah, the bomb thing didn't fit in any way with her personality. And the Grace/Mori chase scene was incoherent. I'm willing to overlook the plot holes, though, because I love a good romance. I liked the way the author played around with the concept of memory, too.

>39 SylviaC: I'm willing to overlook the holes as well because Thaniel and Mori were intriguing. I also liked the memory thing and the idea of ether.

I finished reading the book this weekend, and have many of the same reactions as Meredy, Sylvia and catzteach. I loved Thaniel and Mori - the end of chapter 19 wrenched at my heartstrings. By comparison, Grace was less sympathetic or convincing, though I wanted her to be both. Like Sylvia, I felt that her motivations at the climax were inconsistent with her character, but that the author needed her to act that way for there to be a plot. I think we were meant to empathise with her to an extent, because the author gave her a happy ending in spite of her actions, but I for one can't forgive her for destroying Katsu :-( I do think Pulley was clever in how, having got me to like and root for Mori, she managed to make me question his goodness in the last third of the book, as revelations about his past and his possible motives are revealed.

I had a finished copy and while there weren't the missing words that catzteach mentions, or any really egregious errrors, I do think it could have done with a final edit. Lots of times I had to reread a passage to work out who was referred to as "he", because it wasn't always clear, and there were some sentences and phrasing that seemed a bit odd. I can see why Meredy feels the need to reread the ending; I may do that too in case it becomes clearer. But on the whole, I think the book's strengths outweigh its weaknesses. I certainly don't regret reading it and will certainly return to it in future, as well as investigating anything else by the author.

>41 Sakerfalcon: I kept hoping that Katsu would come crawling home. Everyone else got a happy ending. And since Katsu seemed like an extension of Mori's personality, it seemed like part of him was missing.
I agree about the cleverness of the presentation of the complexities of Mori's character and motivations. He did a lot of really scary stuff in the past, yet we still end up rooting for him.

I also finished the book this weekend - really enjoyed it, especially the relationship between Thaniel and Mori, but as others have said, I was a little bemused by Grace's actions towards the end of the book which didn't really seem consistent with her character.

>41 Sakerfalcon: & >42 SylviaC: I was very sad about Katsu too :-(

>41 Sakerfalcon: & >42 SylviaC: I liked the complexity of Mori's character but wasn't sure if I was supposed to read his actions in the final section of the book more ambiguously. Were we supposed to consider Grace's point of view more seriously? I didn't. I decided that I trusted Thaniel's judgement much more than Grace's but given that no-one seems to find Grace very convincing, I wonder if the author's intention was for readers to be more uncertain about Mori's character and motives?

There were a few passages I found a bit confusing and needed to reread but not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the book.

Finished the book this weekend. I put it down and my husband look at the cover and asked what it was about. I had a hard time explaining it to him. I kind of said to myself, what did I just read!! I was invested in Mori and Thaniel but I never felt much for Grace. Saying all that I did stay up late to finish and find out the ending. I also hoped for Katsu to show up. So is this book a romance, sci-if, mystery? I can't make up my mind! I might have to reread at some point.

I thought the same thing about Grace's part in the second half of the book. It didn't fit her character at all; felt like Pulley needed a villain where she didn't have one, so she threw Grace under the bus and turned her into the "conniving woman" cliche. Normally that would bother me more than it did, but I think I was so happy about Thaniel and Mori that I would've accepted a lot worse. I was already heartbroken throughout most of the book because I was sure it couldn't work out for them, and then after that crazy climax scene, it was almost too easy when it did.

Also finished the book this weekend and have to concur with the rest of you re: the characters and the ambiguity of the final section.

I feel much better knowing I wasn't the only one who found the final portion bewildering. The Grace business was so out of character (at least, to the extent that I thought I knew the character) that I kept thinking I must be reading it wrong.

Unlike others, though, I was not anticipating anything other than ordinary friendship between Thaniel and Mori, and I thought it came totally out of left field. For that reason, I didn't like it. That was in the immediate aftermath of the wedding and one of the first of a long series of things that just made me think the plot had gone off the rails. I kept writing "What?" in my notebook.

It would be nice if the author were on LT and could see our questions (although maybe they wouldn't please her much). I never look at published or posted reviews before I write my own, but it seems almost a given that professional reviewers would have noted some of the same things we have--unless we're all terrible readers, and I doubt that.

Maybe the Katsu part was a hook for a sequel and he'll be back. I'd follow that.

>43 souloftherose: I think it was less Grace's actions that made me doubt Mori and more the revelations by Ito. I think you are right that Pulley intended us to second guess ourselves regarding Mori's goodness but like you, I felt Thaniel had the right of it.

>45 mirikayla: I don't think we were meant to see Grace as a villain, just misguided - after all, she is trying to protect Thaniel even though she must realise her actions could destroy the security she has gained for herself. And from their first meeting she was prepared to like Mori, but his coldness and clear distrust eventually turned her away - his vision of the future was a self-fulfilling prophecy. The main reason though that I think we are supposed to have some sympathy for Grace is that she was given something of a happy ending, with Matsumoto's offer, rather than being punished for her actions. Like everyone else, I just don't think the author succeeded in making Grace's development natural or realistic.

>47 Meredy: I could see little signs along the way which made me wonder if the Thaniel/Mori relationship was going to move beyond friendship, even though nothing I'd heard about the book in reviews had led me to expect it. So their intimacy didn't come as a shock to me, although it was a nice surprise that my hunches had proved correct. (Usually I'm pretty dense about things like that, in books and real life!) I didn't like that it happened on the wedding night, but I suppose that might have been what pushed Thaniel to act on his feelings. And re: Katsu I do hope so!

>48 Sakerfalcon: I agree, I don't really mean a true villain, just the catalyst for conflict.

Hi there, LT gods of function and features, if you're listening: we sure are making use of the spoiler tag. Thank you for creating and adding this feature. I'm not sure how we ever got along without it.

I guess I'm the only one who quit reading this. I just couldn't get into it. Maybe another time.

When I started it, I felt like it was a little slow rolling, and wasn't entirely sold on the setting, and when it got to the Grace at Oxford section I put it down for a looooooong time.

I don't recall what made me pick it back up, but it felt like I was in a better place for it, or the pace picked up after that or something.

I managed to finish and post my review:

http://www.librarything.com/work/15681910/reviews/126141823

Writing it was a bit of a struggle, but seeing that others on this thread had run into some of the same stumbles that I had helped me go ahead and just say it.

Great review! You've got 4 thumbs already--look for it on the Hot Reviews list! Although I liked The Night Circus more than you.

I was surprised when 3/4ths of the way through I realized that nowhere in the book had any scenes been from the point of view of Mori, the central character of the book, and was true all the way to the end. So it seems that the author really does want the true motivation of Mori to remain ambiguous.

>55 jjwilson61: I thought that aspect was really well done. I was sort of forced into making a judgement about whether or not to trust him. Fortunately, I wasn't disappointed.