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The Clockwork Three
Three ordinary children are brought together by extraordinary events...
Giuseppe is an orphaned street musician from Italy, who was sold by his uncle to work as a slave for an evil padrone in the U.S. But when a mysterious green violin enters his life he begins to imagine a life of freedom. Hannah is a soft-hearted, strong-willed girl from the tenements, who supports her family as a hotel maid when tragedy strikes and her father can no longer work. She learns about a hidden treasure, which she knows will save her family — if she can find it. And Frederick, the talented and intense clockmaker's apprentice, seeks to learn the truth about his mother while trying to forget the nightmares of the orphanage where she left him. He is determined to build an automaton and enter the clockmakers' guild — if only he can create a working head.
Together, the three discover they have phenomenal power when they team up as friends, and that they can overcome even the darkest of fears.
Giuseppe is an orphaned street musician from Italy, who was sold by his uncle to work as a slave for an evil padrone in the U.S. But when a mysterious green violin enters his life he begins to imagine a life of freedom. Hannah is a soft-hearted, strong-willed girl from the tenements, who supports her family as a hotel maid when tragedy strikes and her father can no longer work. She learns about a hidden treasure, which she knows will save her family — if she can find it. And Frederick, the talented and intense clockmaker's apprentice, seeks to learn the truth about his mother while trying to forget the nightmares of the orphanage where she left him. He is determined to build an automaton and enter the clockmakers' guild — if only he can create a working head.
Together, the three discover they have phenomenal power when they team up as friends, and that they can overcome even the darkest of fears.
395 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2010
260 people are currently reading
5295 people want to read
About the author
Matthew J. Kirby
24 books464 followersMatthew Kirby was born in Utah, and grew up in Maryland, California, and Hawaii. As an undergraduate he majored in history, and then went on to pursue an M.S. in school psychology. For ten months out of the year he works with students, and during the rest of the year he writes. He and his wife currently live in northern Utah.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,154 reviews
September 9, 2015
I’m in a weird position. I’m tired of Steampunk, and yet if I say that word to most kids that walk into my library they’ll give me a blank stare followed by an immediate, “What’s Steampunk?” I’d explain to them that it’s this strange amalgamation of historical fiction plus futuristic gear-based clockwork technology but I know that this would not cause the blank stares to cease. They'd simply grow blanker. I’m tired of Steampunk, you see, but even then I have a confession to make. I’m only really tired of hearing about it. I'm tired of being told it's the next big thing and that we should all be reading it. And yet . . . a good novel that involves clockwork and gears is right up my alley. Particularly when the writing is so good that you’d happily read the whole thing even if there weren’t some gearlike mechanical whoozitz element to the tale. It took a while, but I started hearing some low buzz surrounding debut author Matthew Kirby’s novel The Clockwork Three. Dividing his narrative between three different characters, the book has more action, adventure, heart, music, good food, natural beauty, and strange underworld dealings than you could ever hope to find. From proto-robots to golems and séances, it also manages to be packed with exciting elements without ever feeling overdone.
Three kids discover three different secrets that may change their lives forever. In a seaside city where rich and poor are sharply divided, Giuseppe the Italian street busker discovers a green violin that may be the secret to his escape from this dirty old city back to his home across the ocean. Hannah, in turn, discovers in the hotel where she works to support her ailing father and family, that one of its old residents once had a treasure, long since lost. And Frederick, the clockworker’s apprentice discovers the existence of a mechanical head that may be just what he needs to complete the mechanical body he’s been building in secret. Slowly but surely the needs and wants of these three characters begin to intertwine, until it becomes clear that none of them will get what they desire unless they take a chance and trust one another, come what may.
The city where this book takes place is interesting. We know that it’s in America, and that kids like Giuseppe have come to it from Italy. Beyond that, however, it has all the characteristics of a made up metropolis. Too small to be New York, it’s nonetheless on the ocean, and is a large bustling area with rich and poor neighborhoods. There’s also a large park somewhere near the center. This all sounds like New York, but Kirby has freed himself up with the option of giving his city new street names, new park names, and new buildings to populate. Sure there are museums, but there are also Guilds of clockworkers and organized street urchins who busk for their bread. To the author’s credit, there was only a very brief moment at the story’s start when I thought that maybe this book was set in NYC. It passed quickly. As for the era of the book, it's definitely during a kind of early Industrialized era, but no definitive year.
The trick to the book (and it couldn’t have been easy) was to have three kids with three different narratives and (most importantly of all) three different points in time all intersect at just the right moments. What happens to be a day for Giuseppe might be three days for Hannah or a month for Frederick. So Mr. Kirby has to manage to even out the time, to a certain extent. He’s hemmed in by the fact that if he leaves Frederick in a dire situation and then cuts to Hannah, she’s going to have to not experience so much time that the reader is thrown off when they return to Frederick once again. And while he’s doing all of that, Kirby has to also make these three kids like one another. He doesn’t make it easy on himself by allowing them to be little charmers, either. Frederick is uppity and cold at the start, a front that slowly melts as the other two get to know him. Giuseppe and Hannah are both pretty instantly likable, so that takes a little pressure off of the author. If all three were prickly pears we’d have a hard time reading about them.
That’s one difficulty the author must overcome. Another is the whole Clockwork Man aspect. About 296 pages into the story or so the book suddenly turns from a pretty piece of fairly realistic fiction (albeit in a fantasy world) into an out and out fantasy or science fiction piece (you can determine for yourself which of the two designations fit better). This marks a bit of a shift in tone, though fortunately we’ve had enough small surreal moments before now to go along with what the author is doing. In a more herky-jerky novel this moment would change everything and the book would end up being something like Cornelia Funke’s The Thief Lord. Which is to say, a fun rollicking adventure that suddenly produces a weird fantasy element and ends up weakening the novel as a whole. The Clockwork Three avoids this trap, resulting in a stronger book.
When I talk with kids about the books they read, they’ll sometimes point out to me whether or not a book has “a one on its spine”. I run a bookgroup for kids and though they’re huge series readers, they actually do not much care for the idea of new series. They speak with distain of books that don’t stand alone and have to have more than one book in their series to be interesting. When I get them to read The Clockwork Three I’ll show them the lack of a spinal “one” and they will coolly approve. That said, I’m certain that Kirby could write a sequel to this book if he so desired. The ending is deeply satisfying, with at least two of the characters in positions that are still not where they would have hoped to be at the story’s beginning, yet are still satisfying. The third kid, however, appears to be off to a life of grand adventure and possible danger. This kid, I want to follow, wherever they may go. So while Kirby doesn’t commit himself to future tales, neither does he completely shut the door.
As it stands, The Clockwork Three satisfies the needs of any kid looking for adventure, really awful villains (each child has at least one that they must personally confront), and the details that distinguish a book from being merely okay to being downright great. A lovely debut and an author clearly worth watching in the future.
For ages 9-12.
Three kids discover three different secrets that may change their lives forever. In a seaside city where rich and poor are sharply divided, Giuseppe the Italian street busker discovers a green violin that may be the secret to his escape from this dirty old city back to his home across the ocean. Hannah, in turn, discovers in the hotel where she works to support her ailing father and family, that one of its old residents once had a treasure, long since lost. And Frederick, the clockworker’s apprentice discovers the existence of a mechanical head that may be just what he needs to complete the mechanical body he’s been building in secret. Slowly but surely the needs and wants of these three characters begin to intertwine, until it becomes clear that none of them will get what they desire unless they take a chance and trust one another, come what may.
The city where this book takes place is interesting. We know that it’s in America, and that kids like Giuseppe have come to it from Italy. Beyond that, however, it has all the characteristics of a made up metropolis. Too small to be New York, it’s nonetheless on the ocean, and is a large bustling area with rich and poor neighborhoods. There’s also a large park somewhere near the center. This all sounds like New York, but Kirby has freed himself up with the option of giving his city new street names, new park names, and new buildings to populate. Sure there are museums, but there are also Guilds of clockworkers and organized street urchins who busk for their bread. To the author’s credit, there was only a very brief moment at the story’s start when I thought that maybe this book was set in NYC. It passed quickly. As for the era of the book, it's definitely during a kind of early Industrialized era, but no definitive year.
The trick to the book (and it couldn’t have been easy) was to have three kids with three different narratives and (most importantly of all) three different points in time all intersect at just the right moments. What happens to be a day for Giuseppe might be three days for Hannah or a month for Frederick. So Mr. Kirby has to manage to even out the time, to a certain extent. He’s hemmed in by the fact that if he leaves Frederick in a dire situation and then cuts to Hannah, she’s going to have to not experience so much time that the reader is thrown off when they return to Frederick once again. And while he’s doing all of that, Kirby has to also make these three kids like one another. He doesn’t make it easy on himself by allowing them to be little charmers, either. Frederick is uppity and cold at the start, a front that slowly melts as the other two get to know him. Giuseppe and Hannah are both pretty instantly likable, so that takes a little pressure off of the author. If all three were prickly pears we’d have a hard time reading about them.
That’s one difficulty the author must overcome. Another is the whole Clockwork Man aspect. About 296 pages into the story or so the book suddenly turns from a pretty piece of fairly realistic fiction (albeit in a fantasy world) into an out and out fantasy or science fiction piece (you can determine for yourself which of the two designations fit better). This marks a bit of a shift in tone, though fortunately we’ve had enough small surreal moments before now to go along with what the author is doing. In a more herky-jerky novel this moment would change everything and the book would end up being something like Cornelia Funke’s The Thief Lord. Which is to say, a fun rollicking adventure that suddenly produces a weird fantasy element and ends up weakening the novel as a whole. The Clockwork Three avoids this trap, resulting in a stronger book.
When I talk with kids about the books they read, they’ll sometimes point out to me whether or not a book has “a one on its spine”. I run a bookgroup for kids and though they’re huge series readers, they actually do not much care for the idea of new series. They speak with distain of books that don’t stand alone and have to have more than one book in their series to be interesting. When I get them to read The Clockwork Three I’ll show them the lack of a spinal “one” and they will coolly approve. That said, I’m certain that Kirby could write a sequel to this book if he so desired. The ending is deeply satisfying, with at least two of the characters in positions that are still not where they would have hoped to be at the story’s beginning, yet are still satisfying. The third kid, however, appears to be off to a life of grand adventure and possible danger. This kid, I want to follow, wherever they may go. So while Kirby doesn’t commit himself to future tales, neither does he completely shut the door.
As it stands, The Clockwork Three satisfies the needs of any kid looking for adventure, really awful villains (each child has at least one that they must personally confront), and the details that distinguish a book from being merely okay to being downright great. A lovely debut and an author clearly worth watching in the future.
For ages 9-12.
October 1, 2010
Every boy or girl, no matter how old, should read this book. I'll try to tell you why.
I believe at some time every child, no matter who or where they are, feels at least once and maybe several times like a slave of sorts, even in the best of times and in the most favorable of conditions. I know I did, and most of the people I've talked to enough about it to know, did also. Even though I was raised in pleasant circumstances with everything I needed, I did. Nonetheless, I had red hair and freckles, and my skin burned like the dickens. Ginger hair and abundant freckles that multiplied like crazy when I stayed out too long in the sun didn't appeal to me, not at all. Neither did the painful blisters from my sunburns. And that is putting it mildly. I felt like my light complexion made me a slave to it. I knew that my red hair made me an object of ridicule and bullying, and there were times when I utterly hated it and thought almost no one else, except perhaps another redhead, could ever understand.
THE CLOCKWORK THREE is the title of Matthew J. Kirby's novel about three young people that every person can identify with who is in or has experienced similar circumstances of crises, big or small: Giuseppe, Hannah, and Frederick. It is set on the eastern seaboard in a bustling city of the United States around 1900. Those three young characters provide ample opportunity for every young reader to find a friend to identify with relative to feelings of enslavement to something, whether it's freckles and red hair or something else much more or less serious.
Take as a mentor either the orphaned Giuseppe, who must play his violin in the streets for money and turn over all the earnings from doing so to an evil master, or the lovely and tender Hannah, who must work her fingers to the bone with little opportunity or future as a maid in a high-class hotel in order to provide for her impoverished family, or the handsome and strong Frederick, the young apprentice to a clockmaker who can't remember what happened to him earlier in his life so that he lost his mother and ended up in an orphanage. Because, if you do, you'll find more than the magic in Giuseppe's green violin found as flotsam in the bay, or in the automaton Frederick has long dreamed of bringing to life, or in the treasure in the park Hannah hopes to find to deliver her family from poverty and worse. You will find the magic of friendship, of sacrificing yourself for someone else, and of loyalty to both people you love and to principles.
This is Matthew's debut novel and what a grand one it is. You will love his tight storylines that will carry you away into the world of the three children; you'll marvel in the way he weaves his prose together so flawlessly, and you'll find satisfaction in the ease with which he employs metaphors and other literary devices. And characters! Oh my, the characters. Awesomeness.
Steampunk, fantasy, history, it has it all, subtly. But most of all, it has heart, in abundance.
I believe at some time every child, no matter who or where they are, feels at least once and maybe several times like a slave of sorts, even in the best of times and in the most favorable of conditions. I know I did, and most of the people I've talked to enough about it to know, did also. Even though I was raised in pleasant circumstances with everything I needed, I did. Nonetheless, I had red hair and freckles, and my skin burned like the dickens. Ginger hair and abundant freckles that multiplied like crazy when I stayed out too long in the sun didn't appeal to me, not at all. Neither did the painful blisters from my sunburns. And that is putting it mildly. I felt like my light complexion made me a slave to it. I knew that my red hair made me an object of ridicule and bullying, and there were times when I utterly hated it and thought almost no one else, except perhaps another redhead, could ever understand.
THE CLOCKWORK THREE is the title of Matthew J. Kirby's novel about three young people that every person can identify with who is in or has experienced similar circumstances of crises, big or small: Giuseppe, Hannah, and Frederick. It is set on the eastern seaboard in a bustling city of the United States around 1900. Those three young characters provide ample opportunity for every young reader to find a friend to identify with relative to feelings of enslavement to something, whether it's freckles and red hair or something else much more or less serious.
Take as a mentor either the orphaned Giuseppe, who must play his violin in the streets for money and turn over all the earnings from doing so to an evil master, or the lovely and tender Hannah, who must work her fingers to the bone with little opportunity or future as a maid in a high-class hotel in order to provide for her impoverished family, or the handsome and strong Frederick, the young apprentice to a clockmaker who can't remember what happened to him earlier in his life so that he lost his mother and ended up in an orphanage. Because, if you do, you'll find more than the magic in Giuseppe's green violin found as flotsam in the bay, or in the automaton Frederick has long dreamed of bringing to life, or in the treasure in the park Hannah hopes to find to deliver her family from poverty and worse. You will find the magic of friendship, of sacrificing yourself for someone else, and of loyalty to both people you love and to principles.
This is Matthew's debut novel and what a grand one it is. You will love his tight storylines that will carry you away into the world of the three children; you'll marvel in the way he weaves his prose together so flawlessly, and you'll find satisfaction in the ease with which he employs metaphors and other literary devices. And characters! Oh my, the characters. Awesomeness.
Steampunk, fantasy, history, it has it all, subtly. But most of all, it has heart, in abundance.
December 15, 2018
4,8 Stars
This is quite an amazing book and so beautifully written. Almost every turn of page was a great time for me. It's sweet, funny, sad and heartwarming. I doubted about the time setting of this book since there was no exact mention about it (I guess). But I'm pretty positive it was set in a very long time ago, when clock was still something so precious and very artistic. To my limited knowledge, I don't think this kind of clocks still exist nowadays. Watch is a different story. But I'll be very happy to know if they still do.
What stops me from giving it a full 5 stars is the background story of Madame Pomeroy. Who is she, actually, except she's a medium? Who's her enemy and why is he after her? I think this part wasn't well explained even until the story ended. She's not a main character, but she played a very important role to the three main characters. So, I think she deserved a better story. And, even though the title is The Clockwork Three, I think it's not a main story of this book. Despite it's what connects the three, I don't find the clock was so "important". The best part about this book is how unpredictable the story is. I knew from the very beginning that somehow they're gonna meet and need each other's help, but after that, it's a surprise. A very very nice surprise.
This is quite an amazing book and so beautifully written. Almost every turn of page was a great time for me. It's sweet, funny, sad and heartwarming. I doubted about the time setting of this book since there was no exact mention about it (I guess). But I'm pretty positive it was set in a very long time ago, when clock was still something so precious and very artistic. To my limited knowledge, I don't think this kind of clocks still exist nowadays. Watch is a different story. But I'll be very happy to know if they still do.
What stops me from giving it a full 5 stars is the background story of Madame Pomeroy. Who is she, actually, except she's a medium? Who's her enemy and why is he after her? I think this part wasn't well explained even until the story ended. She's not a main character, but she played a very important role to the three main characters. So, I think she deserved a better story. And, even though the title is The Clockwork Three, I think it's not a main story of this book. Despite it's what connects the three, I don't find the clock was so "important". The best part about this book is how unpredictable the story is. I knew from the very beginning that somehow they're gonna meet and need each other's help, but after that, it's a surprise. A very very nice surprise.
December 5, 2010
ATOS Book Level: 4.5
Interest Level: Middle Grades (MG 4-8)
AR Points: 15.0
Lexile: 680
Word Count: 100530
The cover flap describes this story as "a dose of fantasy, (and) a hint of magic". My problem with the book, for me, is that it would work better if this was a fantasy. In fantasy there is a suspension of beliefs, a stepping away from what "you know to be true" with/in this world. Giuseppe's fiddle playing has a "hint of magic", why not give it some real magic, or at least let us set aside our preconceptions of the world and believe in the magic. Is it possible, in this time period, to make a machine that can move and analyze data? What is a green violin, what's it made of, is it magical (well if we're in this world...how could it be)? Is McCauley Park somehow magical?
This is a good story, set in this world, but I believe it could be a very good story if it was set in another world, one in which we could set aside our beliefs, one in which we could embrace the magic, ponder the wonder of the bronze head, and wonder at what other such things there could be in this world.
Enough about me...I think that most young adult readers won't give this book enough time to develop.
Interest Level: Middle Grades (MG 4-8)
AR Points: 15.0
Lexile: 680
Word Count: 100530
The cover flap describes this story as "a dose of fantasy, (and) a hint of magic". My problem with the book, for me, is that it would work better if this was a fantasy. In fantasy there is a suspension of beliefs, a stepping away from what "you know to be true" with/in this world. Giuseppe's fiddle playing has a "hint of magic", why not give it some real magic, or at least let us set aside our preconceptions of the world and believe in the magic. Is it possible, in this time period, to make a machine that can move and analyze data? What is a green violin, what's it made of, is it magical (well if we're in this world...how could it be)? Is McCauley Park somehow magical?
This is a good story, set in this world, but I believe it could be a very good story if it was set in another world, one in which we could set aside our beliefs, one in which we could embrace the magic, ponder the wonder of the bronze head, and wonder at what other such things there could be in this world.
Enough about me...I think that most young adult readers won't give this book enough time to develop.
December 15, 2010
Reviewed by Rusty Key Writer: Jordan B. Nielsen
Recommended for: Your guess is as good as mine. It’s far too immature and sentimental for teens, but it’s so dense, and the plot so meandering I can’t imagine younger children staying engaged with it. Let’s say ages 11 to 13.
One Word Summary: Mawkish
I hardly know where to begin. How about with a compliment? Matthew Kirby is a solid constructor of prose, and a very skilled selector of words. His descriptive abilities (though overused…editors, I’m glaring at you here) are enough to give a reader pause over the effecting way he paints a scene, from the longest of cityscapes to the tiniest of baubles. For that reason, should Kirby produce another book, I’ll be willing to pretend that The Clockwork Three, his debut novel, never happened.
Set approximately in the late nineteenth century, in an invented city in the northeast region of America (that smacks heavily of industrial-era London, one rather suspects Jack the Ripper lurking in the alleys), The Clockwork Three follows three woebegone children of little means. Two are orphans, one is forced into labor to provide for her failing family. Cue the sad violins. Conveniently, one is handy.
After his parent were killed in an accident in his home town in Italy, Giuseppe was sold by his cruel uncle to an even crueler, Fagin-like man who wrangles poor, bedraggled children from all over the globe and forces them into slavery back in America. Giuseppe saws away on his crumby fiddle for change to pay his Padrone, or risk a beating. In the same city, Fredrick’s fate after the death of his parents (treacherous days for parents, these were) wasn’t quite as bleak. After escaping the horrific orphanage cum child-run textile factory he grew up in, Fredrick landed in the hands of a kindly clockmaker who made the boy his apprentice. Fredrick became consumed with the work, aspiring to become a full-fledged journeyman by creating a clockwork man of unparalleled sophistication. Hannah’s fortune splits the difference between the two. While both her parents are alive, her father, a stonemason, suffered a catastrophic stroke in the recent past, sending Hannah’s mother into a state of grief-induced uselessness. To help keep a roof over the heads of her parents and two younger sisters, Hannah dropped out of school and took up work at a hotel as a chambermaid, under a pinched and shrill Mrs. Wool, who in later books might go on to become the great grandmother of Ms. Hannigan.
Fredrick needs a head to complete his automaton, Giuseppe needs a ticket home, Hannah needs money to keep her family afloat. While their paths do eventually meet, the union isn’t so much like the fluid movement of a well-crafted clock (as Kirby perpetually, and seemingly desperately insists), but more akin to the labored and painful grinding of gears being forced together.
What might have helped this book is if Kirby had not attempted to base the story in any sort of familiar reality. Though the city in which the story takes place never existed, the world is recognizable, and for the great bulk of the story the rules of this place seem to be that of our own. Yes, it’s winkingly suggested that Giuseppe’s violin playing is ‘magical’, but that’s taken as hyperbole. Doves don’t spring from the strings. Yet somehow Fredrick’s clockwork man, made from scrap metal, cogs and a lump of stone, when complete, bears an artificial intelligence that would leave any of today’s robotics in the dust. See, that lump of stone came from a ‘Gollem’, a protective totem, and the automaton’s head was actually created by a legendary craftsman, who may or may not have been a ‘magician’. All of that is fine, but the problem is this: when you go through 250 pages of a magic-free world and then suddenly something extraordinary happens, the reaction of the characters who witness it needs to match appropriately. But when Fredrick’s automaton sits up from the workbench, speaks Latin, then bolts up the stairs and out the front door, the reaction is less ‘By jove, how did the dickens did that just happen? Could it be that magic is real?’ than ‘Quick, run, it’s getting away’. As the automaton goes on to rescue fraught children, exhibits a sense of justice, a knack for problem solving, and the ability to pick up new languages nearly instantaneously, all without the use of circuit boards or an Intel chip, it falls to the reader to gape at the implausibility.
Some might argue that this work falls into the ‘Steam Punk’ genre (Stories set during the industrial revolution, where the brass and steam machines are taken to a level beyond what the Victorians themselves imagined) but to that I’d say, it’s all in or all out, and the same goes for magic. If the story had been littered with fantastic creations and whispers of the existence of magic, not only would it have leant some joy to this otherwise dreary story, but some groundwork would have been laid for the remarkable events of the climax.
However, the greater crimes of Clockwork come from the overwrought sentimentality, and the role of adults as infinitely powerful wish fulfillers and problem-righters, or flat out evil villains. There is an awful lot of weeping in this book, and silent tears, and stinging eyes, and tearful smiles and restrained sobs. Kirby leans so heavily on the misfortunes of his characters to win the reader’s sympathy that there really isn’t much time left to grow to like them. Though the age of the characters isn’t expressly specified they each seem to possess a remarkable ability at self analysis that reads far more like a writer cramming adult intentions into the heads of his child characters, than organic feeling. It would have been nice to give them a break from all the internal emotional revelations and allow them to just be themselves.
But for all the hand wringing and street chases, the problems of the children come to very tidy ends, solved easily by grown ups with money and influence, which aught to be punishable as literary treason. There is no faster way to disempower young characters than by robbing them of the chance to make their own resolutions. As the fairy-godmother like solutions are applied to every trouble, we’re left to stew in a (I’m sorry) nauseating bath of a Hallmark Card level emotion that had me meanly wishing that at least one of them had died in the end.
For more reviews from The Rusty Key, visit us at www.therustykey.com
Recommended for: Your guess is as good as mine. It’s far too immature and sentimental for teens, but it’s so dense, and the plot so meandering I can’t imagine younger children staying engaged with it. Let’s say ages 11 to 13.
One Word Summary: Mawkish
I hardly know where to begin. How about with a compliment? Matthew Kirby is a solid constructor of prose, and a very skilled selector of words. His descriptive abilities (though overused…editors, I’m glaring at you here) are enough to give a reader pause over the effecting way he paints a scene, from the longest of cityscapes to the tiniest of baubles. For that reason, should Kirby produce another book, I’ll be willing to pretend that The Clockwork Three, his debut novel, never happened.
Set approximately in the late nineteenth century, in an invented city in the northeast region of America (that smacks heavily of industrial-era London, one rather suspects Jack the Ripper lurking in the alleys), The Clockwork Three follows three woebegone children of little means. Two are orphans, one is forced into labor to provide for her failing family. Cue the sad violins. Conveniently, one is handy.
After his parent were killed in an accident in his home town in Italy, Giuseppe was sold by his cruel uncle to an even crueler, Fagin-like man who wrangles poor, bedraggled children from all over the globe and forces them into slavery back in America. Giuseppe saws away on his crumby fiddle for change to pay his Padrone, or risk a beating. In the same city, Fredrick’s fate after the death of his parents (treacherous days for parents, these were) wasn’t quite as bleak. After escaping the horrific orphanage cum child-run textile factory he grew up in, Fredrick landed in the hands of a kindly clockmaker who made the boy his apprentice. Fredrick became consumed with the work, aspiring to become a full-fledged journeyman by creating a clockwork man of unparalleled sophistication. Hannah’s fortune splits the difference between the two. While both her parents are alive, her father, a stonemason, suffered a catastrophic stroke in the recent past, sending Hannah’s mother into a state of grief-induced uselessness. To help keep a roof over the heads of her parents and two younger sisters, Hannah dropped out of school and took up work at a hotel as a chambermaid, under a pinched and shrill Mrs. Wool, who in later books might go on to become the great grandmother of Ms. Hannigan.
Fredrick needs a head to complete his automaton, Giuseppe needs a ticket home, Hannah needs money to keep her family afloat. While their paths do eventually meet, the union isn’t so much like the fluid movement of a well-crafted clock (as Kirby perpetually, and seemingly desperately insists), but more akin to the labored and painful grinding of gears being forced together.
What might have helped this book is if Kirby had not attempted to base the story in any sort of familiar reality. Though the city in which the story takes place never existed, the world is recognizable, and for the great bulk of the story the rules of this place seem to be that of our own. Yes, it’s winkingly suggested that Giuseppe’s violin playing is ‘magical’, but that’s taken as hyperbole. Doves don’t spring from the strings. Yet somehow Fredrick’s clockwork man, made from scrap metal, cogs and a lump of stone, when complete, bears an artificial intelligence that would leave any of today’s robotics in the dust. See, that lump of stone came from a ‘Gollem’, a protective totem, and the automaton’s head was actually created by a legendary craftsman, who may or may not have been a ‘magician’. All of that is fine, but the problem is this: when you go through 250 pages of a magic-free world and then suddenly something extraordinary happens, the reaction of the characters who witness it needs to match appropriately. But when Fredrick’s automaton sits up from the workbench, speaks Latin, then bolts up the stairs and out the front door, the reaction is less ‘By jove, how did the dickens did that just happen? Could it be that magic is real?’ than ‘Quick, run, it’s getting away’. As the automaton goes on to rescue fraught children, exhibits a sense of justice, a knack for problem solving, and the ability to pick up new languages nearly instantaneously, all without the use of circuit boards or an Intel chip, it falls to the reader to gape at the implausibility.
Some might argue that this work falls into the ‘Steam Punk’ genre (Stories set during the industrial revolution, where the brass and steam machines are taken to a level beyond what the Victorians themselves imagined) but to that I’d say, it’s all in or all out, and the same goes for magic. If the story had been littered with fantastic creations and whispers of the existence of magic, not only would it have leant some joy to this otherwise dreary story, but some groundwork would have been laid for the remarkable events of the climax.
However, the greater crimes of Clockwork come from the overwrought sentimentality, and the role of adults as infinitely powerful wish fulfillers and problem-righters, or flat out evil villains. There is an awful lot of weeping in this book, and silent tears, and stinging eyes, and tearful smiles and restrained sobs. Kirby leans so heavily on the misfortunes of his characters to win the reader’s sympathy that there really isn’t much time left to grow to like them. Though the age of the characters isn’t expressly specified they each seem to possess a remarkable ability at self analysis that reads far more like a writer cramming adult intentions into the heads of his child characters, than organic feeling. It would have been nice to give them a break from all the internal emotional revelations and allow them to just be themselves.
But for all the hand wringing and street chases, the problems of the children come to very tidy ends, solved easily by grown ups with money and influence, which aught to be punishable as literary treason. There is no faster way to disempower young characters than by robbing them of the chance to make their own resolutions. As the fairy-godmother like solutions are applied to every trouble, we’re left to stew in a (I’m sorry) nauseating bath of a Hallmark Card level emotion that had me meanly wishing that at least one of them had died in the end.
For more reviews from The Rusty Key, visit us at www.therustykey.com
September 7, 2018
The Clockwork Three is aptly named as this is really three separate stories that occasionally intersect but never quite become one tale. I enjoyed it but never particularly felt moved by it. Partially because all the character are rather...flat. Villains are extremely villainous for no apparent reason. Good guys help the three like they are on some magical quest and then disappear into the story to never return again. The three main characters themselves behaved as one might expect. I suppose in credit to them, they act "badly." However, their acting out never made much sense to me. I suppose it fit within the emotional box the author put them in, but I usually responded to their new, dangerous situation with, "Well, you did that to yourself, idiot."
It was, however, a creative story and well-imagined. So there is that going for it.
It was, however, a creative story and well-imagined. So there is that going for it.
June 11, 2014
Reading books can be like "chasing butterflies over hills." So often, I want to capture the beautiful turn of phrases or word combinations like I borrowed the author's "butterfly" simile from this book. For a "steam-driven" person that moves fast, cooks fast, and reads fast, I'm amazed when a writer can slow me down from a boiling to simmering temperature. Believe me, it rarely happens. This book did just that. I was caught up in the beautiful descriptions, setting, characters, and similes. What starts out as a fairly realistic story turns into an interesting fantasy. Some of the steampunk novels come across as surreal and I liked this Dickens-like setting, although it isn't really any particular city. Sometimes I felt like I was in Europe and others times in New York. The old time sounds of cobblestone streets and coal chutes along with child slave labor flavor the imaginary world with industrialization characteristics from the 1800's. Guiseppe is an orphan that works for a padrone, playing his fiddle on the streets for pennies. His is a harsh life where beatings and stealing are everyday occurrences. Hannah is a maid at a hotel who is now the breadwinner after her father had a stroke. Frederick is an orphan who lives with a clockmaker as his apprentice after he discovered his talent for gears. When circumstances bring the three together, they become friends helping each to improve their lot in life.
The plot has the three characters points of view that are separate before their paths criss-cross. The author does a nice job keeping the action going and weaving the plot together. I do think that some of my less patient readers might find the pacing slow. While I found the author's word choices delightful, others might be impatient for the action to move along at a quicker pace. Some writer's are wordier than others so I will just have to make sure I let them know that when booktalking its qualities. In the beginning and most of the middle everything seems to be going wrong for the characters, but it wraps up well at the end. The automaton's voice is distinct and there are hints that a fantastical element will kick in which is does around the last third of the book. The magical green violin, the mysterious Madame Pomeroy and her bodyguard, along with the golem clay foreshadow what is to come.
The characters have distinct arcs. Guisseppe must decide how to live free of a life of enslavement. Hannah must face her anger over her circumstances. Frederick has to learn to trust others and let go of his fear of abandonment. I did want some more background information on Madame Pomeroy. She was an interesting character. She sure could reappear in a sequel if the author decides to go that route. Some nice themes have Hannah having to take responsibility for her actions and learning how to make momentous decisions. She seems to face more critical choices than the others and needs to think through her actions based on character. She must decide between good choices and bad choices. She makes both, creating an authentic character. She also has to deal with shallow characters such as Walter, just as Guiseppe has to determine how to react to a betrayal by his friend. Many of the situations show characters having empathy for others and being slow to anger.
Here is Kirby's full description: "She leaned close to the pages, chin resting on her folded arms, eyes racing over words, like chasing butterflies over the hills, to catch as many as she could before going to work. She wondered at how such tales of magic could be contained by mere paper and ink for her to read again and again. Which she had." Add this one to your shelf.
The plot has the three characters points of view that are separate before their paths criss-cross. The author does a nice job keeping the action going and weaving the plot together. I do think that some of my less patient readers might find the pacing slow. While I found the author's word choices delightful, others might be impatient for the action to move along at a quicker pace. Some writer's are wordier than others so I will just have to make sure I let them know that when booktalking its qualities. In the beginning and most of the middle everything seems to be going wrong for the characters, but it wraps up well at the end. The automaton's voice is distinct and there are hints that a fantastical element will kick in which is does around the last third of the book. The magical green violin, the mysterious Madame Pomeroy and her bodyguard, along with the golem clay foreshadow what is to come.
The characters have distinct arcs. Guisseppe must decide how to live free of a life of enslavement. Hannah must face her anger over her circumstances. Frederick has to learn to trust others and let go of his fear of abandonment. I did want some more background information on Madame Pomeroy. She was an interesting character. She sure could reappear in a sequel if the author decides to go that route. Some nice themes have Hannah having to take responsibility for her actions and learning how to make momentous decisions. She seems to face more critical choices than the others and needs to think through her actions based on character. She must decide between good choices and bad choices. She makes both, creating an authentic character. She also has to deal with shallow characters such as Walter, just as Guiseppe has to determine how to react to a betrayal by his friend. Many of the situations show characters having empathy for others and being slow to anger.
Here is Kirby's full description: "She leaned close to the pages, chin resting on her folded arms, eyes racing over words, like chasing butterflies over the hills, to catch as many as she could before going to work. She wondered at how such tales of magic could be contained by mere paper and ink for her to read again and again. Which she had." Add this one to your shelf.
February 21, 2019
Agak berbeda dengan dugaanku saat beli. Kukira ini akan banyak fiksi ilmiahnya. Ternyata, nggak. Steampunk sebagai setting kehidupan mereka. Teknologi masih mengandalkan mesin uap dan belum kenal listrik. Juga ada pembuatan automaton.
Tiga anak, tiga masalah masing-masing, tiga harapan. Buku ini menceritakan itu.
Giu (akan kupanggil itu karena nama asli dia spell-nya agak susah buatku 😂) anak 11 tahun yang menjadi budak jalanan. Disuruh ngamen dan disiksa. Giu menemuka biola ajaib dan datanglah harapan untuk dia bisa kabur pulang ke Italia. Tapi... tidak semudah itu, pemirsa 😂
Fred (14 tahun, nama pendek) hanya ingin menjadi seorang journeyman. Dia ingin pengakuan. Fred diam-diam membuat automaton dan menemukan masalah saat itu. Duh automaton ini paling bikin aku kepooo.
Terakhir, Hannah (13 tahun) yang butuh uang untuk banyak hal: ayahnya sakit, keluarganya miskin, ibunya kelelahan, dan adik-adiknya butuh sekolah. Ketika ada kabar tentang harta karun, Hannah langsung ingin mencari itu.
Di buku inilah ketiga anak ini dipertemukan takdir yang ternyata saling berkaitan satu sama lain.
......
Well, mataku siwer ketika baca buku ini karenaaa FONT-NYA KECIL AMAT OI 😂 sempet takut malas baca dan kena reading slump, eeeh ternyata nggak.
Buku ini asyik buat diikuti. Nyesek dan bikin miris dengan kehidupan mereka. Cuma kehidupan Fred yang menurutku paling beruntung.
Agak bosenin di 1/4 awal, tapi biasa sih... kadang kita perlu masuk dulu ke ceritanya sampai kemudian bacanya enak /halah. Aku ngga bisa berhenti baca di 150 halaman terakhir karena penasaran 😂
Tiga anak, tiga masalah masing-masing, tiga harapan. Buku ini menceritakan itu.
Giu (akan kupanggil itu karena nama asli dia spell-nya agak susah buatku 😂) anak 11 tahun yang menjadi budak jalanan. Disuruh ngamen dan disiksa. Giu menemuka biola ajaib dan datanglah harapan untuk dia bisa kabur pulang ke Italia. Tapi... tidak semudah itu, pemirsa 😂
Fred (14 tahun, nama pendek) hanya ingin menjadi seorang journeyman. Dia ingin pengakuan. Fred diam-diam membuat automaton dan menemukan masalah saat itu. Duh automaton ini paling bikin aku kepooo.
Terakhir, Hannah (13 tahun) yang butuh uang untuk banyak hal: ayahnya sakit, keluarganya miskin, ibunya kelelahan, dan adik-adiknya butuh sekolah. Ketika ada kabar tentang harta karun, Hannah langsung ingin mencari itu.
Di buku inilah ketiga anak ini dipertemukan takdir yang ternyata saling berkaitan satu sama lain.
......
Well, mataku siwer ketika baca buku ini karenaaa FONT-NYA KECIL AMAT OI 😂 sempet takut malas baca dan kena reading slump, eeeh ternyata nggak.
Buku ini asyik buat diikuti. Nyesek dan bikin miris dengan kehidupan mereka. Cuma kehidupan Fred yang menurutku paling beruntung.
Agak bosenin di 1/4 awal, tapi biasa sih... kadang kita perlu masuk dulu ke ceritanya sampai kemudian bacanya enak /halah. Aku ngga bisa berhenti baca di 150 halaman terakhir karena penasaran 😂
December 7, 2012
First of all, let me say that this book should have a subtitle: THE GREEN VIOLIN, for it is this very object which brings the three main characters together in the first place. Without that, and some genius musical talent behind it, this story would not need to be told, let alone would it even exist.
Each character introduced to us in this story, Giuseppe, Hannah, and Frederick, has some sort of background or past haunting them. One was taken from his homeland by his menacing padrone to play for change in the streets of another, one's father became desperately ill and disabled causing her to stop schooling and work to help her family, and the other lived in an orphanage with a terrible woman named Mrs. Treeless who cared for no one but herself and her own well-being.
These characters' pasts play some sort of part for what they do throughout the book. They at times reflect on their pasts in the story, and their goodness and kindness is influenced by their reflections on what has been and what they hope will be.
The story is written very well. It keeps the reader engaged throughout the reading, and I, personally, could not put it down. There were a few twists and turns, and I became excited at times to find out, along with the characters, certain bits of information not known before in the storyline. I was definitely intrigued by how the characters lives kind of became intertwined with one another's.
This story is one of friendship, of dreams of the past, and of people helping one another to reach eachother's goals. It is a magical ride of treasure, holly leaves, music, nature, and clockwork men. It becomes very Hugo-esque near the ending, or so it reminded me. I love the incorporation of automatons in the book. It fits well and flows neatly with the storyline.
This book is not just for readers with a 4.5 reading level. (That's what it says in the book sitting by my side,) It is a book that I wholeheartedly believe any age group would enjoy. You just have to be willing to open the cover and listen to the characters inside. That is what I did, and this book definitely did not disappoint.
For more reviews by me go to:
http://attackofthebookworms.blogspot....
Each character introduced to us in this story, Giuseppe, Hannah, and Frederick, has some sort of background or past haunting them. One was taken from his homeland by his menacing padrone to play for change in the streets of another, one's father became desperately ill and disabled causing her to stop schooling and work to help her family, and the other lived in an orphanage with a terrible woman named Mrs. Treeless who cared for no one but herself and her own well-being.
These characters' pasts play some sort of part for what they do throughout the book. They at times reflect on their pasts in the story, and their goodness and kindness is influenced by their reflections on what has been and what they hope will be.
The story is written very well. It keeps the reader engaged throughout the reading, and I, personally, could not put it down. There were a few twists and turns, and I became excited at times to find out, along with the characters, certain bits of information not known before in the storyline. I was definitely intrigued by how the characters lives kind of became intertwined with one another's.
This story is one of friendship, of dreams of the past, and of people helping one another to reach eachother's goals. It is a magical ride of treasure, holly leaves, music, nature, and clockwork men. It becomes very Hugo-esque near the ending, or so it reminded me. I love the incorporation of automatons in the book. It fits well and flows neatly with the storyline.
This book is not just for readers with a 4.5 reading level. (That's what it says in the book sitting by my side,) It is a book that I wholeheartedly believe any age group would enjoy. You just have to be willing to open the cover and listen to the characters inside. That is what I did, and this book definitely did not disappoint.
For more reviews by me go to:
http://attackofthebookworms.blogspot....
December 19, 2011
This middle-grade read was given to me by my mom as a senior in college gift. The writing is geared towards middle grade, so no lavish descriptions or large words, but it is just as lyrical as some young adult books. Throughout this book, I was reminded of The Thief Lord with the whimsical characters and action.
This book is more of a suspense book. Nothing huge, but each chapter alternates between the three main characters and the chapters more often than not end in cliffhangers. I had to resist the impulse to flip ahead and see what happened. It was sweet and innocent, with some violence and a little technical jargon with the clockwork pieces, but it was also mysterious and fascinating. The hotel, for example, holds many secrets with boarded up rooms and odd guests. I love exploring old houses, so I was very excited when I came upon the old hotel. However, since it is geared toward middle-grade readers, there were plot strings that were never resolved. It felt a little like there was only one purpose of this book, and the plot threads that were on the side were largely ignored once they had played their parts. This didn't detract from the book, but just indicated it was not like a young adult book I'm used to reading.
Light-hearted and fun, it was long for a lower level book but definitely an easy read for a day or so. I would recommend it as a breath of fresh air for your brain. It was a very nice break from dismal and gritty novels I've been reading.
This book is more of a suspense book. Nothing huge, but each chapter alternates between the three main characters and the chapters more often than not end in cliffhangers. I had to resist the impulse to flip ahead and see what happened. It was sweet and innocent, with some violence and a little technical jargon with the clockwork pieces, but it was also mysterious and fascinating. The hotel, for example, holds many secrets with boarded up rooms and odd guests. I love exploring old houses, so I was very excited when I came upon the old hotel. However, since it is geared toward middle-grade readers, there were plot strings that were never resolved. It felt a little like there was only one purpose of this book, and the plot threads that were on the side were largely ignored once they had played their parts. This didn't detract from the book, but just indicated it was not like a young adult book I'm used to reading.
Light-hearted and fun, it was long for a lower level book but definitely an easy read for a day or so. I would recommend it as a breath of fresh air for your brain. It was a very nice break from dismal and gritty novels I've been reading.
September 13, 2025
Wowww, cool book!
November 21, 2023
lumayan di luar ekspektasi. aku ambil buku ini karena butuh bacaan di luar comfort zone-ku, dan buku ini udah mengendap 5 tahun lamanya di rak. sinopsisnya terlihat meyakinkan, so I'd like to give it a try.
The Clockwork Three menceritakan 3 tokoh utama dengan masing-masing struggle dan kepahitan di hidup yang mereka perjuangkan. Giuseppe bisa dibilang seorang budak anak yang dijual sama pamannya ke tuan yang kejam, harus mengamen setiap hari dan mengirim hasil uangnya untuk tetap bertahan hidup. Hannah, di sisi lain, terpaksa putus sekolah dan bekerja jadi pelayan di hotel karena ayahnya stroke. Terakhir ada Federick, seorang magangers di toko jam yang ditebus sama pemilik toko jam dari panti asuhan tempat dia ditinggalkan ibunya. Semua tokoh punya pergelutan masing-masing, semua punya ambisi masing-masing. Tapi ketiganya unexpectedly bertemu, jadi sahabat dan saling membantu.
agak bingung nentuin genrenya. ada yang bilang steampunk, tapi ada sedikit unsur magicnya juga. seperti yang udah kukeluhkan di reading update, tulisan di bukunya kecil-kecil banget dan rapet. terjemahannya juga kurang luwes dan kaku. untuk buku setebal hampil 450 halaman, hal-hal kaya gini bisa bikin males baca. untung bukunya cukup page turning jadi bisa kuselesaikan dalam 5 setengah jam.
awalnya agak ngebosenin karena ngga langsung konflik dan terlalu panjang jelasin background masing-masing tokoh. tapi setelah itu aku nyadar kalo itu penting buat development cerita. yang aku suka di buku ini, pertemuan ketiganya kaya effortless dan ga terlalu maksa, semua berjalan sesuai pace masing-masing. jalan cerita juga ga predictable, awalnya kukira nanti mereka bakal bersatu dan punya petualangan yang sama. tapi ternyata mereka tetep punya tujuan dan musuhnya sendiri. kebersamaan mereka itu perannya untuk saling membantu dan menyelamatkan satu sama lain. meskipun ceritanya agak komikal, so far I enjoyed this.
oh iya, meskipun ini ditujukan buat middle grade, ada beberapa issues yang menurutku agak berat karena selain petualangan, buku ini juga mention perbudakan, kekerasan, kecacatan hukum, keserakahan, perebutan lahan, dan ketidakacuhan kebanyakan penduduk kota. tapi delivery ceritanya bagus jadi aku ngerasa buku ini worth to try.
The Clockwork Three menceritakan 3 tokoh utama dengan masing-masing struggle dan kepahitan di hidup yang mereka perjuangkan. Giuseppe bisa dibilang seorang budak anak yang dijual sama pamannya ke tuan yang kejam, harus mengamen setiap hari dan mengirim hasil uangnya untuk tetap bertahan hidup. Hannah, di sisi lain, terpaksa putus sekolah dan bekerja jadi pelayan di hotel karena ayahnya stroke. Terakhir ada Federick, seorang magangers di toko jam yang ditebus sama pemilik toko jam dari panti asuhan tempat dia ditinggalkan ibunya. Semua tokoh punya pergelutan masing-masing, semua punya ambisi masing-masing. Tapi ketiganya unexpectedly bertemu, jadi sahabat dan saling membantu.
agak bingung nentuin genrenya. ada yang bilang steampunk, tapi ada sedikit unsur magicnya juga. seperti yang udah kukeluhkan di reading update, tulisan di bukunya kecil-kecil banget dan rapet. terjemahannya juga kurang luwes dan kaku. untuk buku setebal hampil 450 halaman, hal-hal kaya gini bisa bikin males baca. untung bukunya cukup page turning jadi bisa kuselesaikan dalam 5 setengah jam.
awalnya agak ngebosenin karena ngga langsung konflik dan terlalu panjang jelasin background masing-masing tokoh. tapi setelah itu aku nyadar kalo itu penting buat development cerita. yang aku suka di buku ini, pertemuan ketiganya kaya effortless dan ga terlalu maksa, semua berjalan sesuai pace masing-masing. jalan cerita juga ga predictable, awalnya kukira nanti mereka bakal bersatu dan punya petualangan yang sama. tapi ternyata mereka tetep punya tujuan dan musuhnya sendiri. kebersamaan mereka itu perannya untuk saling membantu dan menyelamatkan satu sama lain. meskipun ceritanya agak komikal, so far I enjoyed this.
oh iya, meskipun ini ditujukan buat middle grade, ada beberapa issues yang menurutku agak berat karena selain petualangan, buku ini juga mention perbudakan, kekerasan, kecacatan hukum, keserakahan, perebutan lahan, dan ketidakacuhan kebanyakan penduduk kota. tapi delivery ceritanya bagus jadi aku ngerasa buku ini worth to try.
April 3, 2025
Torn between a 4 and a 4.5--it feels like this book was written for people like me to enjoy!!!
The finale slowed down a little bit (granted, that could have also been me getting tired after doing a lot of reading lol) but man, I could have wandered the streets of Gilbert City with Hannah, Giuseppe, and Frederick for ages. I loved how their stories intertwined and how memorable they each felt, with their own backgrounds and plights. I loved the different types of family situations woven through the whole novel.
One thing I think Kirby does really well (among many others!) is payoff for seemingly innocuous events throughout the novel. And tying all loose threads together. I'm so glad I picked up Icefall a couple years ago, because that inspired me to read this.
Literally such a hidden gem. I would pick up another novel of Kirby's any day, easily!!!
The finale slowed down a little bit (granted, that could have also been me getting tired after doing a lot of reading lol) but man, I could have wandered the streets of Gilbert City with Hannah, Giuseppe, and Frederick for ages. I loved how their stories intertwined and how memorable they each felt, with their own backgrounds and plights. I loved the different types of family situations woven through the whole novel.
One thing I think Kirby does really well (among many others!) is payoff for seemingly innocuous events throughout the novel. And tying all loose threads together. I'm so glad I picked up Icefall a couple years ago, because that inspired me to read this.
Literally such a hidden gem. I would pick up another novel of Kirby's any day, easily!!!
July 30, 2010
Why I read this: Steampunk, and a debut author? - I couldn't resist!
Plot: This book follows three young people in 19th century America. The first is a street performer named Giuseppe who dreams of returning to Italy, back to his family. Hannah is a maid trying to help her family while her father hopefully recovers from his illness. The last is Frederick, the apprentice of a clockmaker who is trying to complete his own automaton. All of their lives become intertwined and they end up relying on one another to solve their individual problems.
A fantastic story full of adventure, passion, and friendship.
Characters: Out of the three, Giuseppe is my favorite character. I love the stories of street performers or thieves that are forced to work by padrones and find a way to get free. The whole book had a Dickens vibe and Giuseppe's story reminded me of my favorite book - Oliver Twist. The other two have their own quirks and strengths and I felt like they made quite an odd assortment of comrades.
Relatability: Anyone who likes rags to riches stories, Dickens, or steampunk will enjoy this book.
Cover Commentary: Love how steampunk-y it feels.
Plot: This book follows three young people in 19th century America. The first is a street performer named Giuseppe who dreams of returning to Italy, back to his family. Hannah is a maid trying to help her family while her father hopefully recovers from his illness. The last is Frederick, the apprentice of a clockmaker who is trying to complete his own automaton. All of their lives become intertwined and they end up relying on one another to solve their individual problems.
A fantastic story full of adventure, passion, and friendship.
Characters: Out of the three, Giuseppe is my favorite character. I love the stories of street performers or thieves that are forced to work by padrones and find a way to get free. The whole book had a Dickens vibe and Giuseppe's story reminded me of my favorite book - Oliver Twist. The other two have their own quirks and strengths and I felt like they made quite an odd assortment of comrades.
Relatability: Anyone who likes rags to riches stories, Dickens, or steampunk will enjoy this book.
Cover Commentary: Love how steampunk-y it feels.
September 24, 2011
The jacket cover description alone drew me to this book and I had high expectations. As it turned out, the story was not the cleverly designed, enigmatic puzzle I had imagined. Nevertheless, it was a tremendously enjoyable read and ranks among my favorites.
Though it takes place in the United States, the setting is positively dickensian: a class-stratified port city in the latter 19th century. Each of the three main characters are children who have been in indigent or even abusive circumstances. They struggle day to day simply to live, with spark of hope for something better. Their stories begin separately then become intertwined. Though the children cross paths with other walks of life and their own situations are interesting enough, it is when they run into each other and begin to support one another that their stories gain real momentum. Unlike Dickens, there is a touch of magic here and there. But it is relatively short-lived and doesn't detract from the novel at all.
Kirby's writing is poetic and rich, overflowing with metaphor. I was drawn in by the masterful storytelling, forgetting myself as I felt present in each scene, my heart beating with anxiety or warm with relief. The characters are so real, so lifelike. I felt connected to them, as if I shared their experiences and their fates were mine. The narrative is so eloquent, it almost feels like you're reading one of the greats from an earlier century, though much more accessible.
I happily recommend The Clockwork Three to, well, anyone!
Though it takes place in the United States, the setting is positively dickensian: a class-stratified port city in the latter 19th century. Each of the three main characters are children who have been in indigent or even abusive circumstances. They struggle day to day simply to live, with spark of hope for something better. Their stories begin separately then become intertwined. Though the children cross paths with other walks of life and their own situations are interesting enough, it is when they run into each other and begin to support one another that their stories gain real momentum. Unlike Dickens, there is a touch of magic here and there. But it is relatively short-lived and doesn't detract from the novel at all.
Kirby's writing is poetic and rich, overflowing with metaphor. I was drawn in by the masterful storytelling, forgetting myself as I felt present in each scene, my heart beating with anxiety or warm with relief. The characters are so real, so lifelike. I felt connected to them, as if I shared their experiences and their fates were mine. The narrative is so eloquent, it almost feels like you're reading one of the greats from an earlier century, though much more accessible.
I happily recommend The Clockwork Three to, well, anyone!
September 3, 2014
My first impressions of the book were a bit negative. I, being judgmental whenever it came to books, thought that the book would be something I would have to slave though. Looking at the cover, I also questioned the positive ratings the book had gotten initially. However, I began reading the book and frankly, in the beginning, it seemed pretty random and far off. Three children, different in every which way, different areas of the city, different personalities, different. One trait they all shared, however, was the fact that they were all going through troubles, wondering how they were going to be able to survive another day. I kept on reading, new characters were introduced, new conflicts created and before i knew it, I had to stop reading and think about what I had just read. It was almost like 3 authors had combined their books to make one superbook. My opinions of the book changed about halfway through, when all of these plot lines began to converge on this unread climax. Every chapter, all three main characters were brought a little bit closer until the climax when all three came together to be in the final battle. The beauty was that after I finished the book, all of the randomness made sense. I actually read the book again and it was so satisfying being able to know why everything was what it was. Enjoyed the book, recommend to anyone. -Rhys
January 2, 2016
Slowest moving book EVER. While this might have been a great book I was very very disappointed in it. I believe this has to do with the fact that the book cover mentions magic and there really isn't much mention of it. Yeah there is a little bit and it's referenced but this book was just overall misleading, infodump heavy and really not what I thought it would be at all.
I do have to say I cannot stand books where all the adults are just incompotent and stupid. I felt there really wasn't one adult that was "normal". I'm not sure if this is done to make children like the book but I cannot stand when books do that.
I do have to say I cannot stand books where all the adults are just incompotent and stupid. I felt there really wasn't one adult that was "normal". I'm not sure if this is done to make children like the book but I cannot stand when books do that.
January 24, 2015
Dibuka plastiknya kemarin pagi di Stasiun Tebet, dibaca di KRL dalam perjalanan ke Depok Baru. Dilanjut dibaca malamnya dlm KRL kembali ke.Stasiun Tebet, dilanjutkan baca di rumah sampai ngantuk, dan selesai pagi ini.
Nah, ini cuma pengalaman membaca. Jangan ada yang mengira sebagai review ya *kegeeran
Makasih kirimannya, Bu Dokter Ratu Mia :-)
*ga berani lirik ke bibi Ika alias Buzenk, karena saya belum kirim pesanan beliau
*fastfastgo
Nah, ini cuma pengalaman membaca. Jangan ada yang mengira sebagai review ya *kegeeran
Makasih kirimannya, Bu Dokter Ratu Mia :-)
*ga berani lirik ke bibi Ika alias Buzenk, karena saya belum kirim pesanan beliau
*fastfastgo
September 14, 2016
I loved it! I liked how everything flowed together and was all connected. There was only some minor flaws for me personally with the plot. But otherwise, it was a fantastic book.
April 29, 2023
Aku barusan nyelesaiin novel ini. Sejak 22 April, seusai baca The Death Cure, dan langsung kulanjut ke sini. Aku inget sempat berhenti sekitar sehari-dua hari karena males, nggak mood baca, dan bikin targetku nyelesaiin novel ini dalam tiga hari nggak kesampaian. Sekarang udah 27 April, dan aku tetep bersyukur bisa nyelesaiinnya.
Sejak awal lihat novel ini di toko buku, aku tahu aku bakal suka banget sama ceritanya. Ada sesuatu di dalamnya yang menarik aku, yang bikin aku pengin—sampe butuh—beli dan harus bisa ngelahap ceritanya bulat-bulat.
Banyak yang pengin aku ceritain di sini. Dan aku takut aku bakal keceplosan ngasih bocoran. Tapi, aku nggak punya pilihan. Godaannya terlalu kuat. >w<
Pertama, kata yang muncul di awal bab adalah nama Giuseppe, di bab dua nama Frederick, dan bab ketiga nama Hannah. Begitu seterusnya, gantian, tapi di bab 22 diawali “Ketika Giuseppe” sih. Tapi nggak pa-pa, menurutku boleh-boleh aja karena itu emang bagiannya Giuseppe.
Aku suka cara Matthew Kirby bisa membagi porsi cerita mereka satu-satu gitu, dan yang paling bikin aku terkesima, ceritanya tetep maju. Walaupun mereka awalnya diceritain sendiri-sendiri, ternyata mereka udah saling ketemu, dan tanpa aku sadari, udah ada benang merah di antara mereka sejak awal sampe akhir cerita. Setiap kejadian dan pengalaman yang mereka jalani menuntun mereka ke dalam suatu masalah yang kelihatannya beda tapi ternyata bisa menyatu kalo dihubungkan dan masalah kompleks mereka bisa diselesaiin.
Konsepnya emang mereka harus berteman biar bisa saling membantu sih.
Deskripsi Matthew Kirby juga meninggalkan jejak tersendiri di ingatanku. Kosakatanya kaya, dan imbasnya ada di macam-macam metafora yang dia aplikasikan di setiap penjelasan. Entah nama tempat, suasana, dan segala macem hal yang berhubungan dengan narasi. Aku bisa ngerti gimana benda mati bisa hidup dan benda hidup jadi mati lewat kata-kata Matthew. Entah gimana beliau bisa nyusun kalimat sememukau itu. Aku yakin versi aslinya nggak kalah top dari terjemahannya.
Risetnya juga dalem banget. ASDFGHJKL. Matthew Kirby seolah ngerti segala macem hal atau unsur yang dia masukkan ke dalem cerita, mulai dari setting tempat, pekerjaan, seluk-beluk alam maupun hutan, onderdil-onderdil di mesin jam, automaton, asosiasi, hukum tentang pengasuhan anak. Dan semua itu bisa diracik jadi satu tanpa menimbulkan kesan berlebihan. Apalagi ngeraciknya pake metafora dan diksi yang ajaib tapi mudah dipahami. Semua kerasa pas.
Karakternya... ugh. Nggak kuat nahan histeria dan euforia dalam diri. Biasa, penyakit fangirling-an.
Pertama, Giuseppe. Aku awalnya kurang naruh perhatian sih sama dia. Dia berani nyuri barang, karena penghasilannya ngamen terbatas. Aku cukup bersimpati sama dia. Giuseppe nggak gampang percaya orang, menurutku, tapi waktu dia tahu apa yang orang bilang bener, dia mulai marah-marah. Nggak peduli sekeliling. Cenderung impulsif. Risikonya dipikir belakangan. Tapi, dia berani. Plus baik hati. Kalo emang ada yang butuh pertolongannya, dia nggak bakal ragu untuk maju dan beraksi.
Kedua, Frederick. Nah, dia adalah cowok paling tua di antara dua temannya yang lain. Dia cowok genius, cerdas, dan cekatan kalo udah berurusan sama mesin. Keahliannya jelas langka kalo dibandingkan dengan anak-anak lain yang seumuran sama dia. Aku berterima kasih sama Master Branch yang mau nampung dia jadi pemagang jam. Frederick bisa langsung ngerti apa yang salah sama jam yang rusak dan dalam waktu singkat jam itu udah sembuh lagi, kayak nggak pernah kena penyakit apa pun. Sayang, dia kayaknya nggak jago berantem. Dan gampang banget salah tingkah di depan cewek cantik—terutama yang udah menarik perhatiannya dan menjerat hatinya erat-erat. Pas cemburu juga nggak kira-kira, tapi kalo cuek juga nyebelin. Hah. Yang nggak kalah penting, dia nggak peka. Akhirnya terungkap juga kalo dia cenderung menutup diri.Sampe-sampe nggak lihat kalo gebetannya udah ngasih lampu hijau.
Ketiga, Hannah. Cewek yang tabah, tegar, dan bisa ngasih semangat ke orang-orang di sekitarnya. Dia tipe cewek penyabar yang nggak pernah ngeluh. Barangkali tipe yang gampang bersyukur juga, entahlah. Kecantikannya udah ngalahin putri kerajaan. Bahkan Giuseppe pun mengakui pesonanya. Tujuannya mulia, meski caranya tercela (ini dari dialog di novel, kalo kusebutin siapa yang ngomong, nanti jadi bocoran, hehe). Pada dasarnya Hannah patuh sih, dan rendah diri juga. Dia mulai terkesan lucu kalo udah merona di depan Frederick, tapi dia agresif juga sih. Seingetku, dia duluan yang megang tangan Frederick. Dan dari awal sampe akhir, sikap Frederick yang jarang-mulai-duluan ini konsisten. Padahal tuh cowok duluan deh kayaknya yang naksir.... Kelemahan Hannah? Nekat. Ceroboh. Sembrono. Tapi aku paling suka kalo dia jatuh terus Frederick udah ada di sampingnya buat nolong! >w< #fangirlmodeon
Waktu sampe di bagian character development, aku hampir nangis. Kebetulan bacanya sambil dengerin lagu Baby Don’t Cry-nya EXO. Aku nggak nyangka kalo beban mereka emang seberat itu. Aku sampe percaya banget. Aku mulai ngerti alasan mereka melakukan hal-hal kayak gitu. Aku juga lega karena akhirnya mereka ngerti apa yang terbaik buat mereka. Dan yang paling penting, mereka bisa nerima keadaan dengan lapang dada, berhenti lari dari kenyataan, dan mulai menghadapi apa yang perlu mereka selesaikan. Ah, aku mau jadi kayak mereka yang udah berkembang....
Amanatnya di sini jelas banget. Meskipun tokoh-tokohnya merasa kurang mampu, entah di bidang karier atau cita-cita yang mereka pengen raih, mereka tetep gigih dan eksplor keadaan sekitar. Ini bikin aku jadi sadar kalo apa pun yang manusia miliki, harus disyukuri. Sesusah dan sesesengsara apa pun hidup mereka, kalo mereka mau menjalaninya dengan lapang dada dan terus percaya, di masa depan nanti hidup mereka bakal lebih baik kok. Jauh lebih baik, malah. Pokoknya pantang menyerah. Aku mulai ngerasa kalo novel ini ngasih sepaket hal seputar kehidupan yang perlu diresapi dan direnungi, dan diambil sisi kebijaksanaannya.
Sayang, ada beberapa salah ketik di sini. Entah McCauley jadi Mc Cauley, Master Branch yang kurang satu huruf di bagian Branch-nya, Mister Slang atau Mister Slag (sampe sekarang aku nggak ngerti siapa nama dia sebenernya), tanda petik yang nggak dikasih spasi setelah narasi, inkonsistensi penggunaan “...” atau “...“ atau “..." (padahal biasnaya GPU pake tanda kutip gini ”...”) dan tanda (’) yang kadang tanda petiknya melengkung kadang lurus, dan entah apa lagi karena aku terlalu terjerat sama ceritanya. Nggak mengganggu sih. Cuma ya itu, sayang aja harga novelnya lumayan tinggi tapi isinya kurang ditata gini. Kan... sayang uang, hehe.
Yah, secara keseluruhan, aku sukaaaa banget sama cerita ini. Lima bintang buat cerita Matthew Kirby, dan bukan untuk beberapa kesalahan kecil terjemahannya! >3<
Oh ya, lupa nambahin. Steampunk-nya keren. Banget. Bikin aku makin tergila-gila sama steampunk dan pengin baca banyak novel dengan tema serupa lagi. Dan, tentu aja, makin cinta samaFrederick The Clockwork Three.
Sejak awal lihat novel ini di toko buku, aku tahu aku bakal suka banget sama ceritanya. Ada sesuatu di dalamnya yang menarik aku, yang bikin aku pengin—sampe butuh—beli dan harus bisa ngelahap ceritanya bulat-bulat.
Banyak yang pengin aku ceritain di sini. Dan aku takut aku bakal keceplosan ngasih bocoran. Tapi, aku nggak punya pilihan. Godaannya terlalu kuat. >w<
Pertama, kata yang muncul di awal bab adalah nama Giuseppe, di bab dua nama Frederick, dan bab ketiga nama Hannah. Begitu seterusnya, gantian, tapi di bab 22 diawali “Ketika Giuseppe” sih. Tapi nggak pa-pa, menurutku boleh-boleh aja karena itu emang bagiannya Giuseppe.
Aku suka cara Matthew Kirby bisa membagi porsi cerita mereka satu-satu gitu, dan yang paling bikin aku terkesima, ceritanya tetep maju. Walaupun mereka awalnya diceritain sendiri-sendiri, ternyata mereka udah saling ketemu, dan tanpa aku sadari, udah ada benang merah di antara mereka sejak awal sampe akhir cerita. Setiap kejadian dan pengalaman yang mereka jalani menuntun mereka ke dalam suatu masalah yang kelihatannya beda tapi ternyata bisa menyatu kalo dihubungkan dan masalah kompleks mereka bisa diselesaiin.
Konsepnya emang mereka harus berteman biar bisa saling membantu sih.
Deskripsi Matthew Kirby juga meninggalkan jejak tersendiri di ingatanku. Kosakatanya kaya, dan imbasnya ada di macam-macam metafora yang dia aplikasikan di setiap penjelasan. Entah nama tempat, suasana, dan segala macem hal yang berhubungan dengan narasi. Aku bisa ngerti gimana benda mati bisa hidup dan benda hidup jadi mati lewat kata-kata Matthew. Entah gimana beliau bisa nyusun kalimat sememukau itu. Aku yakin versi aslinya nggak kalah top dari terjemahannya.
Risetnya juga dalem banget. ASDFGHJKL. Matthew Kirby seolah ngerti segala macem hal atau unsur yang dia masukkan ke dalem cerita, mulai dari setting tempat, pekerjaan, seluk-beluk alam maupun hutan, onderdil-onderdil di mesin jam, automaton, asosiasi, hukum tentang pengasuhan anak. Dan semua itu bisa diracik jadi satu tanpa menimbulkan kesan berlebihan. Apalagi ngeraciknya pake metafora dan diksi yang ajaib tapi mudah dipahami. Semua kerasa pas.
Karakternya... ugh. Nggak kuat nahan histeria dan euforia dalam diri. Biasa, penyakit fangirling-an.
Pertama, Giuseppe. Aku awalnya kurang naruh perhatian sih sama dia. Dia berani nyuri barang, karena penghasilannya ngamen terbatas. Aku cukup bersimpati sama dia. Giuseppe nggak gampang percaya orang, menurutku, tapi waktu dia tahu apa yang orang bilang bener, dia mulai marah-marah. Nggak peduli sekeliling. Cenderung impulsif. Risikonya dipikir belakangan. Tapi, dia berani. Plus baik hati. Kalo emang ada yang butuh pertolongannya, dia nggak bakal ragu untuk maju dan beraksi.
Kedua, Frederick. Nah, dia adalah cowok paling tua di antara dua temannya yang lain. Dia cowok genius, cerdas, dan cekatan kalo udah berurusan sama mesin. Keahliannya jelas langka kalo dibandingkan dengan anak-anak lain yang seumuran sama dia. Aku berterima kasih sama Master Branch yang mau nampung dia jadi pemagang jam. Frederick bisa langsung ngerti apa yang salah sama jam yang rusak dan dalam waktu singkat jam itu udah sembuh lagi, kayak nggak pernah kena penyakit apa pun. Sayang, dia kayaknya nggak jago berantem. Dan gampang banget salah tingkah di depan cewek cantik—terutama yang udah menarik perhatiannya dan menjerat hatinya erat-erat. Pas cemburu juga nggak kira-kira, tapi kalo cuek juga nyebelin. Hah. Yang nggak kalah penting, dia nggak peka. Akhirnya terungkap juga kalo dia cenderung menutup diri.
Ketiga, Hannah. Cewek yang tabah, tegar, dan bisa ngasih semangat ke orang-orang di sekitarnya. Dia tipe cewek penyabar yang nggak pernah ngeluh. Barangkali tipe yang gampang bersyukur juga, entahlah. Kecantikannya udah ngalahin putri kerajaan. Bahkan Giuseppe pun mengakui pesonanya. Tujuannya mulia, meski caranya tercela (ini dari dialog di novel, kalo kusebutin siapa yang ngomong, nanti jadi bocoran, hehe). Pada dasarnya Hannah patuh sih, dan rendah diri juga. Dia mulai terkesan lucu kalo udah merona di depan Frederick, tapi dia agresif juga sih. Seingetku, dia duluan yang megang tangan Frederick. Dan dari awal sampe akhir, sikap Frederick yang jarang-mulai-duluan ini konsisten. Padahal tuh cowok duluan deh kayaknya yang naksir.... Kelemahan Hannah? Nekat. Ceroboh. Sembrono. Tapi aku paling suka kalo dia jatuh terus Frederick udah ada di sampingnya buat nolong! >w< #fangirlmodeon
Waktu sampe di bagian character development, aku hampir nangis. Kebetulan bacanya sambil dengerin lagu Baby Don’t Cry-nya EXO. Aku nggak nyangka kalo beban mereka emang seberat itu. Aku sampe percaya banget. Aku mulai ngerti alasan mereka melakukan hal-hal kayak gitu. Aku juga lega karena akhirnya mereka ngerti apa yang terbaik buat mereka. Dan yang paling penting, mereka bisa nerima keadaan dengan lapang dada, berhenti lari dari kenyataan, dan mulai menghadapi apa yang perlu mereka selesaikan. Ah, aku mau jadi kayak mereka yang udah berkembang....
Amanatnya di sini jelas banget. Meskipun tokoh-tokohnya merasa kurang mampu, entah di bidang karier atau cita-cita yang mereka pengen raih, mereka tetep gigih dan eksplor keadaan sekitar. Ini bikin aku jadi sadar kalo apa pun yang manusia miliki, harus disyukuri. Sesusah dan sesesengsara apa pun hidup mereka, kalo mereka mau menjalaninya dengan lapang dada dan terus percaya, di masa depan nanti hidup mereka bakal lebih baik kok. Jauh lebih baik, malah. Pokoknya pantang menyerah. Aku mulai ngerasa kalo novel ini ngasih sepaket hal seputar kehidupan yang perlu diresapi dan direnungi, dan diambil sisi kebijaksanaannya.
Sayang, ada beberapa salah ketik di sini. Entah McCauley jadi Mc Cauley, Master Branch yang kurang satu huruf di bagian Branch-nya, Mister Slang atau Mister Slag (sampe sekarang aku nggak ngerti siapa nama dia sebenernya), tanda petik yang nggak dikasih spasi setelah narasi, inkonsistensi penggunaan “...” atau “...“ atau “..." (padahal biasnaya GPU pake tanda kutip gini ”...”) dan tanda (’) yang kadang tanda petiknya melengkung kadang lurus, dan entah apa lagi karena aku terlalu terjerat sama ceritanya. Nggak mengganggu sih. Cuma ya itu, sayang aja harga novelnya lumayan tinggi tapi isinya kurang ditata gini. Kan... sayang uang, hehe.
Yah, secara keseluruhan, aku sukaaaa banget sama cerita ini. Lima bintang buat cerita Matthew Kirby, dan bukan untuk beberapa kesalahan kecil terjemahannya! >3<
Oh ya, lupa nambahin. Steampunk-nya keren. Banget. Bikin aku makin tergila-gila sama steampunk dan pengin baca banyak novel dengan tema serupa lagi. Dan, tentu aja, makin cinta sama
March 9, 2024
I can't remember when or where I picked this one up, but it's been on my shelf for awhile. I decided to pluck it off and read it and wasn't sorry that I did so. I don't know exactly how I'd classify this one: a bit dystopian, fantasy, science fiction, middle grade fun?
Warnings to conservative readers:
- There is a hint of romance, but nothing remotely explicit. I'm never a fan of romance between teens in books and I didn't see a need for it here. But it was minor so I'll give it a pass with a disclaimer.
- There is a seance run by a character who is a fortune teller. This was also a minor aside in the story and didn't take over as a major plot point. Decide your comfort levels, but do know that it exists.
Kirby's writing style was fairly smooth and enjoyable. He had an appropriate build-up to get you into the characters and their stories, but in my opinion, he wrapped everything up more tightly and quickly than I think he ought to have. That's my biggest complaint. Otherwise, it was a fun diverting read and I handed it over to my kids for reading upon finishing it up.
Warnings to conservative readers:
- There is a hint of romance, but nothing remotely explicit. I'm never a fan of romance between teens in books and I didn't see a need for it here. But it was minor so I'll give it a pass with a disclaimer.
- There is a seance run by a character who is a fortune teller. This was also a minor aside in the story and didn't take over as a major plot point. Decide your comfort levels, but do know that it exists.
Kirby's writing style was fairly smooth and enjoyable. He had an appropriate build-up to get you into the characters and their stories, but in my opinion, he wrapped everything up more tightly and quickly than I think he ought to have. That's my biggest complaint. Otherwise, it was a fun diverting read and I handed it over to my kids for reading upon finishing it up.
September 29, 2018
This book starts out right in the thick of things, you almost feel like you missed something. But then you realize you are just learning about each character on their own terms. Their lives intertwine and they don't even know it. I enjoyed seeing those moments, when I as the reader knew what was going on but they didn't yet.
There is a mystery in the book and a treasure to find. The characters have to work together in order to find it and they learn that friendship is really important to have in life. I love how the minor characters play a bigger role than what they usually do. Hannah's relationship with Alice and Madame Pomroy are really sweet and more important than she realizes.
I love the secret passages and the connection to Hannah's life and how each character can bring something out in the other that they didn't feel or know they needed before.
The book really picks up and keeps you interested the more you read. This book was pretty great and full of adventure.
There is a mystery in the book and a treasure to find. The characters have to work together in order to find it and they learn that friendship is really important to have in life. I love how the minor characters play a bigger role than what they usually do. Hannah's relationship with Alice and Madame Pomroy are really sweet and more important than she realizes.
I love the secret passages and the connection to Hannah's life and how each character can bring something out in the other that they didn't feel or know they needed before.
The book really picks up and keeps you interested the more you read. This book was pretty great and full of adventure.
March 8, 2025
Start date: Many years ago
End date: Many years ago
As a child this was my favorite book, and wow! The fact that 10 year old me devoured this thing shocks me. I would love to read it again, though. All I could tell you about this book is that it changed my life.
End date: Many years ago
As a child this was my favorite book, and wow! The fact that 10 year old me devoured this thing shocks me. I would love to read it again, though. All I could tell you about this book is that it changed my life.
January 25, 2020
rating: 3.5
When Giuseppe found the green violin, he did not think it would help him escape. He did not think it would play at all when he spotted it floating in the harbor.
With those two sentences, Kirby entices the reader to continue turning pages. And those two sentences are typical of Kirby's writing -- unexpected, inviting, and promising a brisk pace. The style and storyline called to mind Funke's Thief Lord.
Kirby insists that the setting is America, and if that's the case it would have to be NYC, and yet it isn't. London, or Paris, or Rome ... maybe, but not America.
Call it fantasy or steampunk, either way, it's there from the onset but in such small doses that the events are borderline realistic. The cast of characters is fairly long and many of the details in the first chapters are important, so it helps to pay attention to what otherwise might be skimmed over.
At first I was fighting the story, wanting more development of setting and character, but once I gave in and let Kirby tell his story, I enjoyed it. I can see why my nephew suggested that I give it a try.
When Giuseppe found the green violin, he did not think it would help him escape. He did not think it would play at all when he spotted it floating in the harbor.
With those two sentences, Kirby entices the reader to continue turning pages. And those two sentences are typical of Kirby's writing -- unexpected, inviting, and promising a brisk pace. The style and storyline called to mind Funke's Thief Lord.
Kirby insists that the setting is America, and if that's the case it would have to be NYC, and yet it isn't. London, or Paris, or Rome ... maybe, but not America.
Call it fantasy or steampunk, either way, it's there from the onset but in such small doses that the events are borderline realistic. The cast of characters is fairly long and many of the details in the first chapters are important, so it helps to pay attention to what otherwise might be skimmed over.
At first I was fighting the story, wanting more development of setting and character, but once I gave in and let Kirby tell his story, I enjoyed it. I can see why my nephew suggested that I give it a try.
April 16, 2018
Steampunk—
Hmm heard it was a thing so I am trying to get into it for my readers..I have attempted a foray in this genre with Hugo Cabret, a large YA illustrated novel about clocks and gears and creating your own life and freedoms..This one is another Scholastic read and it is a long one, I mean it is almost four hundred page book (386) and entirely too much to really sustain kid readers..I had to try and finish it though as I stopped another book for being too complex and wanted to take my bias out and complete a thrilling adventure for my school library..(Side note: this was a rescue book from the Maryland Book Bank for absolutely free, ah love that I can fill my library without begging my school for money I know is hard to come by).
Alright so you get interchanging storylines from three kids in need of new lives:
Giuseppe-an orphan who works for the evil Stephano who finds an abandoned green violin that plays amazing music and offers him a glimpse of making enough to be free
Frederick-another orphan who is an apprentice clockmaker to an old man who demands a lot of him while he secretly works on making a clockwork man to astound the world.
Hannah-perhaps my favorite character is also poor and in need of more in life; her father is struck ill and handicapped leaving her mother to take care of him without working and so to care for her parents, herself and two twin sisters she has to quit school and work as a hotel maid.
These three unfortunate children meet somewhere on page 138 or so (their intro stories were entirely too long LOL) and they are introduced to Frederick’s clockwork man and the three plot to make this automaton come alive..
Sneaking into the museum the trio find a large bronze head and a piece of a golem which makes their large automaton animated and real around page 315—a lot of bonding and backstory happen but not a lot of action..As the book nears a close the three work on solving their problems together with Hannah receiving a better job with more money for her family and her father improving drastically; Frederick becoming the long hoped for Journeyman and creating more automatons after witnessing the noble and tragic death of his beloved clockwork man while saving his friend Giuseppe; and Giuseppe and his little friend Pietro also end up with their dreams of going back to Italy being fulfilled traveling with the rich Madame Pomeroy playing his green violin for royalty…
Overall this wasn’t a bad story, way too long and drawn out but engaging and different for serious readers to get into steampunk, automation, early 1900s, creativity and innovation to create a new future..walking, talking clockwork men..hmm maybe I will read more LOL……
Hmm heard it was a thing so I am trying to get into it for my readers..I have attempted a foray in this genre with Hugo Cabret, a large YA illustrated novel about clocks and gears and creating your own life and freedoms..This one is another Scholastic read and it is a long one, I mean it is almost four hundred page book (386) and entirely too much to really sustain kid readers..I had to try and finish it though as I stopped another book for being too complex and wanted to take my bias out and complete a thrilling adventure for my school library..(Side note: this was a rescue book from the Maryland Book Bank for absolutely free, ah love that I can fill my library without begging my school for money I know is hard to come by).
Alright so you get interchanging storylines from three kids in need of new lives:
Giuseppe-an orphan who works for the evil Stephano who finds an abandoned green violin that plays amazing music and offers him a glimpse of making enough to be free
Frederick-another orphan who is an apprentice clockmaker to an old man who demands a lot of him while he secretly works on making a clockwork man to astound the world.
Hannah-perhaps my favorite character is also poor and in need of more in life; her father is struck ill and handicapped leaving her mother to take care of him without working and so to care for her parents, herself and two twin sisters she has to quit school and work as a hotel maid.
These three unfortunate children meet somewhere on page 138 or so (their intro stories were entirely too long LOL) and they are introduced to Frederick’s clockwork man and the three plot to make this automaton come alive..
Sneaking into the museum the trio find a large bronze head and a piece of a golem which makes their large automaton animated and real around page 315—a lot of bonding and backstory happen but not a lot of action..As the book nears a close the three work on solving their problems together with Hannah receiving a better job with more money for her family and her father improving drastically; Frederick becoming the long hoped for Journeyman and creating more automatons after witnessing the noble and tragic death of his beloved clockwork man while saving his friend Giuseppe; and Giuseppe and his little friend Pietro also end up with their dreams of going back to Italy being fulfilled traveling with the rich Madame Pomeroy playing his green violin for royalty…
Overall this wasn’t a bad story, way too long and drawn out but engaging and different for serious readers to get into steampunk, automation, early 1900s, creativity and innovation to create a new future..walking, talking clockwork men..hmm maybe I will read more LOL……
January 23, 2020
I loved this book. It may be for 11-13 year-olds, but I loved it. 100% recommend.
The writing is fantastic & so very lyrical. Kirby really engaged all 5 senses to paint a full picture, and it was amazing. He included a bunch of these really little details to truly make the story come alive. He used a lot of similes though, which I personally enjoyed, but if that's a pet peeve of yours, you might fell a little different.
All of the characters were fully developed, realistic, and had strong personalities & motivations. I cared about all three of the main characters equally, and I never found myself skimming through one character's chapter to get to someone else's (which I am prone to do...) Even the adults were very well-rounded, which isn't often the case in children's/teen media. The three villainous adults were kind of two-dimensional, but they were the kids' abusers, so of course they won't get redeeming qualities in a kid's book. Some other antagonists were pretty well-rounded too, so I'm gonna go ahead and say that it balances out.
(Side note: how is Frederick, this 13-year-old boy, better as a character than any other YA 16+ guy who embodies the jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold/tragic-past trope? Seriously, step up your game, guys)
However, I would've liked to know more about Madame Pomeroy. I get that she's supposed to be a mysterious figure and all that, but by the end of the book... she really isn't. I loved her character a lot, and she became an important piece of the story, so I think she deserves a little bit more background. Like, who is she? Who are her enemies? What's the deal with Yakov? All these questions about her, when most of the questions about other characters are answered.
There were so many moving pieces and parts to the plot, it felt like the inner workings of a clock (guess that's why they call it The Clockwork Three, amirite?). All of the threads stitched together to create a really cohesive story, and it was never boring. It was quite fast-paced, but that's how I like my stories, so I can't really complain. Plus, it helps to keep younger readers' attention.
By far, my favorite part of the book was the magic. Unlike most magic systems, it wasn't the central focus of the world itself. On the surface, it was a relatively realistic depiction of 1880's/1890's America, and pulsing beneath it were these fantastical elements that sometimes seeped out through cracks in the pavement. It wasn't overdone. It wasn't underdone. Somehow, Kirby made it so easy to accept the impossible in an otherwise plausible setting. A golem will just show up and you're like, "alright, cool." I'm pretty sure Alice is a witch, and I'm totally down with that. The magic just has this "it is what it is" vibe to it that I immensely enjoyed.
The writing is fantastic & so very lyrical. Kirby really engaged all 5 senses to paint a full picture, and it was amazing. He included a bunch of these really little details to truly make the story come alive. He used a lot of similes though, which I personally enjoyed, but if that's a pet peeve of yours, you might fell a little different.
All of the characters were fully developed, realistic, and had strong personalities & motivations. I cared about all three of the main characters equally, and I never found myself skimming through one character's chapter to get to someone else's (which I am prone to do...) Even the adults were very well-rounded, which isn't often the case in children's/teen media. The three villainous adults were kind of two-dimensional, but they were the kids' abusers, so of course they won't get redeeming qualities in a kid's book. Some other antagonists were pretty well-rounded too, so I'm gonna go ahead and say that it balances out.
(Side note: how is Frederick, this 13-year-old boy, better as a character than any other YA 16+ guy who embodies the jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold/tragic-past trope? Seriously, step up your game, guys)
However, I would've liked to know more about Madame Pomeroy. I get that she's supposed to be a mysterious figure and all that, but by the end of the book... she really isn't. I loved her character a lot, and she became an important piece of the story, so I think she deserves a little bit more background. Like, who is she? Who are her enemies? What's the deal with Yakov? All these questions about her, when most of the questions about other characters are answered.
There were so many moving pieces and parts to the plot, it felt like the inner workings of a clock (guess that's why they call it The Clockwork Three, amirite?). All of the threads stitched together to create a really cohesive story, and it was never boring. It was quite fast-paced, but that's how I like my stories, so I can't really complain. Plus, it helps to keep younger readers' attention.
By far, my favorite part of the book was the magic. Unlike most magic systems, it wasn't the central focus of the world itself. On the surface, it was a relatively realistic depiction of 1880's/1890's America, and pulsing beneath it were these fantastical elements that sometimes seeped out through cracks in the pavement. It wasn't overdone. It wasn't underdone. Somehow, Kirby made it so easy to accept the impossible in an otherwise plausible setting. A golem will just show up and you're like, "alright, cool." I'm pretty sure Alice is a witch, and I'm totally down with that. The magic just has this "it is what it is" vibe to it that I immensely enjoyed.
November 14, 2012
Reviewed by Kira M for TeensReadToo.com
Desperate to escape from his cruel master and make his way back to his home in Italy, Giuseppe is excited to find a green violin that is like new. Playing it every day in the streets, he is able to make large amounts of money for his escape. Storing it in a crypt of a man by the name of Stroop, he dreams of the day he will be able to buy his passage home. However, his cruel master, Stephano, grows suspicious of Giuseppe and begins watching him like a hawk.
Once a great stonemanson, Hannah's father has become an invalid after suffering a bad stroke. Her mother must stay home and care for him as well as the two youngest children. Forced to work in a hotel as a maid, Hannah longs to be able to go back to school and move out of the tenement housing they live in. When her father falls seriously ill from a bedsore, Hannah's desperate attempts to get money for the medicine her father needs all fail. Her only hope is to find the missing treasure of Mr. Stroop, a once wealthy, prominent, living person in society.
Apprenticed to a clockmaker, Frederick was lucky enough to escape the orphanage life. Curious to a fault, Frederick seeks unique ways to becoming a journeyman in his field. When he gets the idea to make a clockwork man, he begins saving pieces of scrap metal from around the shop and starts creating them into the form of a man. All he needs is a head.
Their lives spun together like clockwork, these three's paths become entwined for better or for worse. Working together to try and meet all three of their goals, they are able to find a way into Mr. Stroop's old hidden room above the hotel, find a clockwork head for Frederick, and help Giuseppe get out from under his oppression. Their plans, however, soon backfire and make matters worse.
Now, Giuseppe is on the run for his life from his cruel master, Frederick has mysterious men from the town museum after him for stealing their clockwork head, and Hannah is on the run from the police for theft and burglary from the hotel she was working at. Their only hope is to find the treasure. Will they succeed?
An amazing adventure filled with excitement, action, and friendship. The characters are well-developed. The plot is unique, well-done, and does a great job of holding the reader's interest. Those who like fantasy, adventure, and mystery will all enjoy reading THE CLOCKWORK THREE.
Desperate to escape from his cruel master and make his way back to his home in Italy, Giuseppe is excited to find a green violin that is like new. Playing it every day in the streets, he is able to make large amounts of money for his escape. Storing it in a crypt of a man by the name of Stroop, he dreams of the day he will be able to buy his passage home. However, his cruel master, Stephano, grows suspicious of Giuseppe and begins watching him like a hawk.
Once a great stonemanson, Hannah's father has become an invalid after suffering a bad stroke. Her mother must stay home and care for him as well as the two youngest children. Forced to work in a hotel as a maid, Hannah longs to be able to go back to school and move out of the tenement housing they live in. When her father falls seriously ill from a bedsore, Hannah's desperate attempts to get money for the medicine her father needs all fail. Her only hope is to find the missing treasure of Mr. Stroop, a once wealthy, prominent, living person in society.
Apprenticed to a clockmaker, Frederick was lucky enough to escape the orphanage life. Curious to a fault, Frederick seeks unique ways to becoming a journeyman in his field. When he gets the idea to make a clockwork man, he begins saving pieces of scrap metal from around the shop and starts creating them into the form of a man. All he needs is a head.
Their lives spun together like clockwork, these three's paths become entwined for better or for worse. Working together to try and meet all three of their goals, they are able to find a way into Mr. Stroop's old hidden room above the hotel, find a clockwork head for Frederick, and help Giuseppe get out from under his oppression. Their plans, however, soon backfire and make matters worse.
Now, Giuseppe is on the run for his life from his cruel master, Frederick has mysterious men from the town museum after him for stealing their clockwork head, and Hannah is on the run from the police for theft and burglary from the hotel she was working at. Their only hope is to find the treasure. Will they succeed?
An amazing adventure filled with excitement, action, and friendship. The characters are well-developed. The plot is unique, well-done, and does a great job of holding the reader's interest. Those who like fantasy, adventure, and mystery will all enjoy reading THE CLOCKWORK THREE.
November 17, 2015
I have to start by mentioning the cover because it is gorgeous, and probably 90% of why I picked this book in the first place. However, while there IS a clockwork man in the story, he's definitely not central to it. The title and cover, imho, are a little misleading.
The story is about three children: two boys, who both happen to be orphans, and a girl who has had to become the breadwinner for her family because her father is so ill. Giuseppe is a busker--a street musician who works for a horrible man that abuses all the boys he "owns," and all he wants is to return to his family in Italy. Frederick is an apprentice clock maker to a very kind man, and he wishes nothing more than to become journeyman and someday own his own shop. Hannah works as a maid at a hotel, where she discovers a former patron left a legacy, a treasure somewhere that could be what saves her family from starvation if she can only find it.
In the first half of the novel, the children happen upon each other here and there, but their storylines don't really begin to intersect and join together until the halfway point. I do with they had truly met each other earlier. That is probably my biggest complaint about the novel.
The writing itself is beautiful (even if the author overuses metaphor here and there). The descriptions are so vivid, and the characters distinctive. But because of the three storylines being so separate in the beginning, I felt like it took too long for the plot to gel. However, once it did, and all those threads joined, the plot became solid.
The ending tied up nicely, even if some things were predictable. I cared about the characters, though, so if ending were different I likely would have been disappointed. Truly, I was glad to see that this was a stand-alone! For a while, I was thinking it was going to be yet the beginning of another series, but this story stands completely on its own, which was refreshing.
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book 1
book 2
The story is about three children: two boys, who both happen to be orphans, and a girl who has had to become the breadwinner for her family because her father is so ill. Giuseppe is a busker--a street musician who works for a horrible man that abuses all the boys he "owns," and all he wants is to return to his family in Italy. Frederick is an apprentice clock maker to a very kind man, and he wishes nothing more than to become journeyman and someday own his own shop. Hannah works as a maid at a hotel, where she discovers a former patron left a legacy, a treasure somewhere that could be what saves her family from starvation if she can only find it.
In the first half of the novel, the children happen upon each other here and there, but their storylines don't really begin to intersect and join together until the halfway point. I do with they had truly met each other earlier. That is probably my biggest complaint about the novel.
The writing itself is beautiful (even if the author overuses metaphor here and there). The descriptions are so vivid, and the characters distinctive. But because of the three storylines being so separate in the beginning, I felt like it took too long for the plot to gel. However, once it did, and all those threads joined, the plot became solid.
The ending tied up nicely, even if some things were predictable. I cared about the characters, though, so if ending were different I likely would have been disappointed. Truly, I was glad to see that this was a stand-alone! For a while, I was thinking it was going to be yet the beginning of another series, but this story stands completely on its own, which was refreshing.
My Website
Find me on Facebook
My YA fantasy series:
book 1
book 2
January 14, 2018
There may be spoilers. just a warning.
In the Clockwork Three, Giuseppe, Hannah, and Fredrick are children, all facing problems and dangers along the road of life. Giuseppe was taken as a child across the sea from his home, and is used by an evil Padrone, for his musical talents with the violin to bring in money, in exchange for food, and a creaky old shelter. Hannah is the only one left in her family with the ability to work, and has to bring in all of the family money for food, coal, and rent. She soon faces her father getting very ill, and the issue of possibly getting fired from the job sustaining her family. Fredrick is an orphan, who was taken on as an apprentice by an old clockmaker, and is working on a special project. When he comes up with an idea, he'll need help to go through with his plans. Matthew J. Kirby writes this book in a spectacular way, from the perspectives of these three young people. A chain of events throws these children into each others paths, starting the day Giuseppe finds a magical green violin and its a good thing, because each of them has something the other needs, so by meeting, becoming friends, and working together they strive to fix all of their lives, and some of the lives around them. Together they face danger, and can't seem to catch a break, until things start to change.
I encourage anyone who is into adventure and mystery to read this magnificent book.
In the Clockwork Three, Giuseppe, Hannah, and Fredrick are children, all facing problems and dangers along the road of life. Giuseppe was taken as a child across the sea from his home, and is used by an evil Padrone, for his musical talents with the violin to bring in money, in exchange for food, and a creaky old shelter. Hannah is the only one left in her family with the ability to work, and has to bring in all of the family money for food, coal, and rent. She soon faces her father getting very ill, and the issue of possibly getting fired from the job sustaining her family. Fredrick is an orphan, who was taken on as an apprentice by an old clockmaker, and is working on a special project. When he comes up with an idea, he'll need help to go through with his plans. Matthew J. Kirby writes this book in a spectacular way, from the perspectives of these three young people. A chain of events throws these children into each others paths, starting the day Giuseppe finds a magical green violin and its a good thing, because each of them has something the other needs, so by meeting, becoming friends, and working together they strive to fix all of their lives, and some of the lives around them. Together they face danger, and can't seem to catch a break, until things start to change.
I encourage anyone who is into adventure and mystery to read this magnificent book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 13, 2010
I loved this book! It has actually not been released yet, but because the author is in my ward, I was lucky enough to be able to read the uncorrected proof. This is Matthew's debut novel and I thought it was the perfect blend of fantasy (just a hint), and courage and trust in kids who, unfortunately, are in the midst of experiencing difficult childhoods. There was also some great history included that I previously knew nothing about. I loved that the story was uplifting with the main characters helping those around them, despite their difficult circumstances. There is a sequel to this book that I am excited to read!
This book is being released by scholastic in October--you won't want to miss it!
This book is being released by scholastic in October--you won't want to miss it!
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