Book Review

The Clocks of London by Lyn Brittan

The Clocks of London is a fun steampunky mystery romance set in the weirdest alternate-London that I have come across yet. It’s not the most well written book ever, but it has some fun elements to it.

This book assumes that England, including London, was covered with water at some point in our history (and the book’s past). I’m calling it steampunk for lack of a better word – it’s a very Victorian style setting, with submarines. Other than that, there aren’t many steampunk elements. People travel through tunnels on foot and across the city by submarine, and the richer families have access to the surface. The heroine, Moira, fondly recalls a time when her family had access to enough land to plant a small garden. I loved this concept, but it was sadly lacking in detail and development. For crying out loud, if you’re going to come up with such an interesting idea, roll with it! Where does energy for lights come from? What was the transition from earth to sea like? What do people eat? What does everything look like? I wanted so much more of the underwater London stuff.

Moira, the heroine, is a woman from a formerly well-to-do family that has fallen on hard times. She’s an excellent artist and wants to use her skills as a private investigator, but her family does not take her seriously because she is a woman. Moira falls in with Patrick Clock, who, along with his brother Kennerick, runs the most famous private detective agency in the city. Patrick is investigating a missing adult, and Moira is investigating several missing children, and their investigations seem to overlap. Patrick quickly discovers that nothing is sexier than a competent woman, and Moira discovers that nothing is sexier than a man who believes in her.

I had a hard time getting invested emotionally in this book, for reasons I’ll describe below, so I can’t say that the romance made me swoon with bliss. But I did enjoy the romance at a non-swooning level, especially Moira’s place in it. I love how direct and pragmatic she is – and her friendship with Anastasia is laugh-out-loud funny, sexy, and sweet at the same time. As much as I liked Patrick (he’s a smart, hard-working, decent guy, what’s not to like?) I was much more interested in the Moira/Anastasia friendship than the Patrick/Moira romance.

I also liked the crazy neighbor. I won’t spoil it except to say that I sort of hope that in the sequels the three women will form a crack crime-fighting team, because they were very different but also all very fun. Moira is practical and straightforward but also pretty naive, and it’s an interesting combination of traits. Watching her come into her own is intensely satisfying.

Another thing I enjoyed about the book was its completely casual use of two dark-skinned protagonists. Even if the book had been set in the real Victorian London, the author could have had two black protagonists, because there was a reasonably large population of people of color in London at the time. But by setting the story in an alternate version of Victorian England, the author is able to jettison a lot of baggage and just matter-of-factly have a very diverse set of characters. In this London, gender and class are issues. Race is not. It was refreshing to see a book in which the two main characters are black without their color being the focal point of the story.

My problem with the book was basically that it seemed pretty thrown together. So many characters needed more development, especially Patrick. It’s the first book in a series, so I’m sure there’s further development to come, but this book seemed pretty sketchy. That sketchy quality extended to the world building. Great concept, no details. The central mystery had poignancy because it involved murdered children, but most of the characters and the setting were so under-developed that I just wasn’t that invested in the plot. A story about murdered kids should have sent me screaming for the hills, because I can’t stand children-in-peril stories, but I never really believed in anything I was reading.

What I did believe in was the character of Moira – and strangely enough I believed utterly in her friendship with Anastasia, despite them having very little time together. The book stayed entertaining because I was always rooting for Moira. Patrick seemed decent and admirable, but not as engaging. I felt like I knew Moira (and Anastasia and the crazy neighbor) in a way that I did not know the other characters. While I ended up being completely un-invested in the plot, I was totally invested in Moira throughout, and that kept me going. This was an ambitious book that fell short of it’s promise but was still a fun, light read.

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The Clocks of London by Lyn Brittan

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  1. Darlynne says:

    Such potential, unrealized. All the elements are there, surely a book I should love for the reasons you spelled out, but it sounds like it needs work.

    I just realized: Clock and Gear. Maybe I should take a look after all. Thanks!

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