Timekeeper

Let me start off by saying my biggest problem with this book is Time. This book gave me the same headache that time travel usually does. How can clocks control how time works? What about the unexplored areas of the world? Do they not have time or are there clocks there randomly? So many questions...
But, if you can just roll with it, put those questions aside and ignore them, then this book is really entertaining.

I really liked Danny, even if he did some things to irk me, but he is a good person, just trying his best. He is also out, which causes some problems since it is only newly legal for people to be lgbt+ or at least in a relationship with the same-sex (I can't exactly recall which it was in the book). His bestie is cool too and I love how they made her a mechanic who is also fighting against the system (i.e. mechanic over looking for a husband).
We also get to see people dealing with grief and trauma in different ways and how it shapes the way people can see them. I think having a main character who potentially has PTSD is really important and helps give people another character to reflect themselves.

There is also Daphne who is a WOC in Victorian England. Her father is Indian during the time when GB is controlling India. I think this shows just how deep this story goes and how complex the setting is. Not because there is a woman of color, but because America has been introduced in one light, we see India in another with characters actively thinking differently about the colonization all while it isn't even part of the main story (yet? I think the sequel is in India, maybe?).

So, the setting, the world-building– I think it was brilliant. Like I said previously, my biggest problem was still not truly understanding the clock situation. Did the Native Americans have clock towers before the British came? How else could their time have moved without the British having to build them a clock which is something they haven't done in a very long time?

I did think the book could be long-winded and I felt bad for Colton all the time :( but I will definitely be reading the second book sooner or later. Another book I will be recommending to people who like Steampunk, don't think too deeply about the concept of time, and are looking for a little adventure in their life.