13 Followers
30 Following
mylibraryinthemaking

My Library in the Making

I just read anything and everything that I find interesting.

Currently reading

When the World Was Flat (and we were in love)
Ingrid Jonach

Untimed

Untimed - Andy Gavin Actual rating: 3.5(This review was originally posted at My Library in the Making.)Charlie Horologe had been ignored his whole life. Worse than shunned, he was always being forgotten. Even his own mother couldn't remember his name. One day, he snuck out of a boring museum field trip—no worries, his teachers would notice the missing student but wouldn't even think of him—and got attacked by a man who ran on clockwork, gears, wheels and all. That alone was weird, but falling into a hole that brought them back in time sure took the cake.Untimed is the book that all the 'How to Write a Novel' guides I've read were talking about. Immediate conflict? Check. Interesting main character? Check. Memorable setting? Well, Untimed had more than one and, in the characters' perspectives, it changed from 1725 London to new-modern Philadelphia to altered China in less than a minute. It couldn't get more memorable than that.Reading Untimed was like going on one crazy adventure. Remember when Harry and Hermione had to go back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius? It was like that, but with the future of the entire world at stake and more than one Time-Turner because in here, there were whole generations of time travelers, thanks to the time-travel gene being hereditary.Like I mentioned above, Charlie was an interesting main character, but he wasn't just that; he was also endearing. I couldn't help but root for him to succeed against his numerous adversaries because he had a kind heart and a sharp mind. He was sometimes rash and impatient like most kids his age, but he always had good intentions behind every action.The one thing I didn't like was the bit of insta-love that Charlie had for Yvaine—just a bit, because she didn't reciprocate his feelings at first, which made Charlie even more like a lovesick puppy. He thought she was special because having been used to being constantly unseen, she saw him, when he knew very well that that was a time traveler thing. But don't worry, it got better soon enough.The writing was atmospheric and straight-to-the-point, making the book descriptive yet fast-paced. I loved how the author put a lot of unique twists to time travel while keeping his historical facts straight as much as possible. And although harsh and action-packed, Untimed also had me laughing with its humor.Yvaine stands. "The first time is the hardest." She points right at my crotch.I glance down. Truth be told, I'm pretty sore—She punches my shoulder. "Openin' a time-hole, you dolt."And did I mention it's quite sexy, too?Between this real page-turner, there were several lovely illustrations that solidified the visualizations in my head and gave more life to the story. But damn, I would've loved to see Charlie's face during the ending, which was satisfying but left me wanting more.MY FAVORITE PART was, hmm, this is hard... but I'll go with the ending just because it really surprised me!