Fascinating story that makes me want more of the backstory of the avtomats.

"robots" or (avtomatons) with a side of ancient and not so ancient history...an inspired tale of past and current adventures especially for steampunk lovers. Well written, easily read..

Book Title:  The Clockwork Dynasty
Author:  Daniel H Wilson
Series:  Stand-Alone
Genre:  Steampunk
Publisher:  Doubleday
Setting:  Past and present; including Oregon, London, Russia, and China
Source:  I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
 
 
 
⇝Add to Goodreads⇜
 
 
 
 
 
⇝Book Theme Song⇜
(link will take you to my tumblr post with video)
Fake it by Seether  --It's so perfect for Peter & the other avtomats…it's also one of my all time favs.
♫Who's to know if your soul will fade at all
The one you sold to fool the world
You lost your self-esteem along the way
Yeah
And just fake it if your out of direction
Fake it if you don't belong
Fake it if you feel like a infection
Woah your such a f*ckin' hypocrite♫
 
 
 
OVERALL RATING:  3.7/5 STARS GRADE=B
 
⇝My Thoughts⇜
 
 
The idea behind The Clockwork Dynasty is an ingenious one, but the execution fell a little short for me.  I just couldn't stay focused when reading this, I had to reread some passages again and again.  I feel like this could have been because it was not my usual type of read.  But…Idk???
 

 
I also never felt like I was invested in the characters, especially June…why does June seem so inconsequential.  I wanted more depth from them.  So, maybe I might have wanted to cheer them on.  So…overall this is a imaginative story, it just didn't have enough heart for me.  The cover, though, is absolutely spectacular. 
 
⇝Ratings Breakdown⇜
 
Plot:  4.2/5
Main Characters:  3.5/5
Secondary Characters:  3.5/5
The Feels:  3.5/5
Addictiveness:  3.5/5
Theme or Tone:  4/5
Flow (Writing Style):  3/5
Backdrop (World Building):  4.3/5
Originality:  5/5
Book Cover:  5/5
Ending:  4/5  Cliffhanger:  Kind of does, actually.
 
 
Will I continue this series?  Maybe…if it continues, and it seems like it should.

I really liked the premise of this book, as my son put it, "Ancient Robots?! Awesome!!!" I've already preordered this book for him, he's super excited about it! This is a very well written story, fairly well researched, and well detailed. I'm not usually a fan of switching back and forth between present and past, but it worked really well, and honestly was crucial for the story development! I love a story that makes me think, and this certainly qualified! Very enjoyable, and any story that gets my child to read enthusiastically is a huge winner!

Fun, intriguing and nearly impossible to put down! I loved reading this book. It's creative, well written and something new. I'm always on the look-out for fresh ideas in books and this definitely fits the bill. I'll be telling lots of people to read this one!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I thought the premise of this book was really interesting, but it got off to a slow start. I felt like I kept reading it and I wasn't getting anywhere, I'm glad I kept with it though. It picked up at about the halfway point, and kept a great pace through the end. The story is told with the chapters alternating between past and present. The present time chapters are told from the first person perspective of main character June while the chapters of the past are told from the perspective of our other main character Peter. The alternating times and perspectives took a bit of getting used to, but the writing was excellent. The ending left me wanting more and wanting to check out more of Wilson’s work. His attention to detail in both the technical and historical areas is fantastic.

June is a mechanician, a scientist who has devoted her life to the study of clockwork artifacts. She's been inspired by an artifact that she wears around her neck and has yet to discover all of its secrets. It was given to her by her grandfather. He found the artifact in 1942 in Stalingrad after an encounter with an invincible man, an avenging angel, who saved his life. Peter is that avenging angel who June's grandfather saw, and the artifact is a relic he lost that day. Peter is an avtomat or a clockwork man, who is much older than anyone knows. His story begins in Moscow 1709 when he is awakened from a long slumber by another mechanician of Peter the Great’s court. Peter and his clockwork sister Elena embark many journeys together. Each avtomat must serve their “word” to fulfill a deeper purpose and trying to uncover the purpose of their creation. As time passes Peter finds himself unable to fulfill his word which is essentially justice, and Elena longs for companionship of other of their kind, logical and strategic challenges. They both find themselves in a clockwork war with an enemy they can’t remember, hiding from her as well as humans. June finds herself drawn into the avtomat war and the only one who can figure out their mechanical secrets and save them all.

What a book! Really enjoyed! Highly recommend. Perfect book club pick!

The Clockwork Dynasty is a mix of science fiction, steampunk, and historical fiction. The author presents a truly unique approach to artificial intelligence/robotics, not only builds a world around this idea, but presents the reader with a history of this world. The book is told in the past and present and is treated in such a way that a reader won't get too lost in all the back and forth. I absolutely devoured this book and highly recommend it for a variety of reasons. The writing is amazing - pace is steady, just the right balance of technology and plot (especially considering the author has a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon), and action scenes are well thought out. The technological aspects of the story were very creative and supported some interesting world building. It was apparent to me that the author really respects the world of robotics. The robotic characters exhibit realistic human behaviors and emotions that come with being immortal beings living in a world of mortals. The writing would convey how lonely these characters were at times and how complicated their lives were. It really was some of the more beautiful writing that I have read in a while. I am really looking forward to reading more by this author.

The Clockwork Dynasty a fantastically different take on mechanical beings in which we are constantly moving forward through an action-packed story. I especially loved the mysterious overtones. While we never learn the true creation story of the avtomats, we have the opportunity to look back at Peter and Elena's lives as far as they can remember. The pacing is spot-on, and the story moved forward easily without moments that could potentially draw a reader out of the main plot. I would recommend this to readers looking for a unique and adventurous page-turner.

I was drawn in immediately by the cover and title, because I knew it just screamed steampunk and that's one of my favorite subgenres in fiction. I was definitely not disappointed in this case.

It's a story about humanity and purpose and the true meaning of "Truth" and "Justice" told with mostly inhuman characters. Juxtaposition like that allows us to reflect on what it really means to be human.

The writing was very engaging and incredibly easy to read. Sometimes I find that switching between time periods makes it hard for me keep up with the main story, but in this case it was like you couldn't really get the whole story without each part, because it was woven so well.

In my opinion, a good fantasy book requires a key element that makes it different from any other and allows us to imagine ourselves in that system. In this case the unique "anima" and "Word" that each avtomat has is this key feature. Though we are only shown a few different "Word"s I love imagining what others would have been given to other avtomats in the past or different interpretations each avtomat could have even if they had the same "Word". It's elements like this that allow the reader to continue to reminisce on a world long after the book has ended. It's especially important for standalones like this (I believe it is a standalone) where there may not be anymore canon installments.

All of the characters were very interesting to follow and I loved that June wasn't a helpless damsel who just happened to have the key to what the others wanted with no other redeeming qualities.

I'm sure this was a bit rambling, but I try to review books as soon as I finish them. So, I basically throw all my thoughts down to avoid losing it. All in all, very good book and I will probably pick up other books by this author.

Think of Interview with a Vampire but instead of vampires you have ancient robots. I must say this was a very good book. The story never drags, always keeps you on the edge of the seat and you cannot put the book down.

The story follows two ancient machines, their 'creation,' struggles and coming to terms with humanity. Opposite their story is a story of a young woman who has been obsessed with ancient artifacts since the story from her grandfather of an 'angel.'

What I really loved about this book was the travel through time. You got to experience the old Rys with Catherine the Great and her husband Peter the Great, then see how Helsinki was born, onto London and then the new colonies in the New World. What I did not expect was how far back Mr. Wilson went when he introduced the story-line of ancient Chinese civilizations, but it really works!

If you enjoy sci-fi, history, fast paced action and a lot of fight scenes - this is a book for you. I promise - you will not be able to put it down!

Wow! I loved this book . I liked Wilson's other books but this one is superb. Part historical fiction part sci -fi this book is filled with adventure , history,robotics with a side of steampunk. Filled with extremely likeable characters this book had it all for me. brilliant book from the first page to the last.

Smartly written with fascinating characters and a interesting premise. Robots, adventure, history, science, gadgets and famial love. Fast paced a real page turner, I hope there is a sequel.

Excellent book. If you like steampunk stories, you willow this. Even if you don't, it's still a well written and interesting story.

This was just an OK book.

The story sounded really interesting, but the pace was just a little too slow for me. I think the pace could of picked up a little bit more and it would of been a fantastic tale.

I am glad I had a chance to read it, but didn't find anything particularly standing out to me.

The premise of Daniel H. Wilson's The Clockwork Dynasty sucked me in enough to want to try the book. I enjoyed it in so far as it was a well paced and decently plotted thriller story. I was hoping for it be more steampunk based on the cover than the actual writing turned out to be. Wilson is in his comfort zone writing an action thriller that involves some sort of robotics. In this case it's an ancient sort that includes fantastical elements and pulls in an 'expert' of the field who has a personal connection to all that is going on.

There was, however, something surface about much of it for me. The balance of plot and character background never quite worked, in part because I felt the two people narrating in alternate chapters had voices that were too similar to each other when they should have been quite different in my estimation. If not for the settings I may not have easily distinguished them when I wasn't reading the chapter headings close enough. But as a fun book, this has some merit, some history, and plenty of action. Maybe too much action for my tastes. When paired with my lack of connection to the main characters this just didn't work for me in the end. I enjoyed, just never connected, and was thus left feeling slightly unsatisfied. That said, The Clockwork Dynasty would make a great action thriller film.

There are many authors and many novels that try to send you to the past, bring you back to the present, and have every page be a different moment in the timeline, and few do this well; this is one of those books that does it perfectly! Without the use of flashbacks the story probably wouldn't have tied together so well. The combination of landscape description, development of characters, the accuracy of the history, and the utter insanity of the plot combine beautifully to wrap you in this potentially different version of your actual world. Also, the intensity and utter realism of the Avtomat will screw with your head, in a terrifyingly good way. As I finished this book I found myself hoping for a sequel or a series or a never ending epilogue because I could not give this book up easily. I read every single word on every single page, not in the fear of missing something but rather in the desperation that I wasn't ready for this story to end.

This book was enjoyable, you just feel in love with it and couldn't get enough.

Wow just wow. I try to make my reviews as straight forward as possible but it is really hard with this one. I want to just off on so many tangents… But alas I will restrain myself. And for the record the Wow is wow as in WHOLLY SKITTLES THIS IS AWESOME OSCAR!
Heres a quick low down Past- Present -Past- Present -Past- Present -Past- Present -Past- Present -Past- Present -Past and Present COLLIDE. Only much more epic.
Flashbacks to past events can either be a great thing for a story line or completely kill it. In this case it made the plot as a whole so much more substantial. Everything from the past and the present all came together and made for an amazing adventure.
The characters are captivating and the Avtomat are enticingly real and also frighteningly so. I was left wanting more of the secret history and looking at the world around me in new light.