Thursday 14 February 2013

SCIENCE FICTION STEAMPUNK REVIEW: The Emperor of All Things - Paul Witcover

Release Date: 14/02/13

SYNOPSIS:

"Tempus Rerum Imperator: Time, Emperor of All Things" 1758. England is embroiled in a globe-spanning conflict that stretches from her North American colonies to Europe and beyond. Across the Channel, the French prepare for an invasion - an invasion rumored to be led by none other than Bonnie Prince Charlie. It seems the map of Europe is about to be redrawn. Yet behind these dramatic scenes, another war is raging - a war that will determine not just the fate of nations but of humanity itself...Daniel Quare is a journeyman in an ancient guild, The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. He is also a Regulator, part of an elite network within the guild devoted to searching out and claiming for England's exclusive use any horological innovation that could give them an upperhand, whether in business or in war. Just such a mission has brought Quare to the London townhouse of eccentric collector, Lord Wichcote. He seeks a pocket watch rumoured to possess seemingly impossible properties that are more to do with magic than with any science familiar to Quare or to his superiors. And the strange timepiece has attracted the attention of others as well: the mysterious masked thief known only as Grimalkin, and a deadly French spy who stop at nothing to bring the prize back to his masters. Soon Quare finds himself on a dangerous trail of intrigue and murder that leads far from the world he knows into an otherwhere of dragons and demigods, in which nothing is as it seems...time least of all.


REVIEW:

I love a book that blends big plotlines, cracking prose and rounds it all off with a principle character that you just can’t help but get behind. What Paul Witcover produces in this book is nothing short of miraculous considering the influences and hype behind it, but when you blend top notch action with a new take on peril, all round really generates a lot of interest.

Yet for all the praise I give this, readers have to be aware that this is a little of a slow starter leaving the reader wondering what they’re in for. But please, trust me, stick with it. Its definitely worth your time and when you reach that final page, you’ll be clamouring for more. All in a right little cracker.



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