Disclaimers:
I received this book from Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review.
This review is late due to lack of wifi connectivity for over a month.

While well written, I wasn't a fan of this book. There's too much negative, not enough positive. Considering I watch crime shows, both true and fictional, this seems strange, even to me. I suppose, however, that I like more positivity in my fantasy novels. I did like the clockwork elements. It wasn't really steampunk as I originally thought, at least not in the way I imagine steampunk. Still, it was a very nice aspect.

I thought it was a little too busy; too many things mixed together which culminated into a somewhat mediocre ending. I suppose I didn't enjoy this particular mix of domestic and fantasy. Just not my cup of tea.

The only character I really liked was Nora, and that's probably because I identify with her a little bit. Other characters were okay, but forgettable. Also, I want her sweater (you'll know what I mean if you choose to read this story). Overall, I think a lot of people would enjoy this book. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.

TL;DR - It's a good book, but not something I particularly enjoyed. ( )

Though there were some nice ideas in this book, overall I found it quite flat. A lot of it boiled down to the characterisation - though the twins were reasonably well rounded, everyone else, especially the non-human characters, was noticeably one dimensional. The plot suffered as a result, becoming predictable and unengaging. The twins had a particular talent for making precisely the right deductions about skills/objects/people which meant there was very little tension. A lot of the world building could have been better explored, since the concepts were fun, and some deeper PoVs (and some more nuanced characterisation) would have lifted this into the kind of YA with a dedicated fanbase and adaptations in other mediums. Alas, it's not so.

I received the second in the series for free as well, and I do intend to read it, but I'm going to take a break after this one so my bias doesn't affect the sequel. If I hadn't received it for free, this book wouldn't compell me to pick it up. ( )

Once again, I tried to read something from an unfamiliar genre and failed miserably. I started out enjoying this book and the story of the kids. Somewhere it became convoluted and I had to give up. The clockwork parts didn't really seem to be an integral part of the story and was unnecessary. ( )

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I don't read a lot of younger-young adult (I guess "new adult" is probably closer to my usual reading?), but I was impressed by the amount of character development and the overall plot that went into this story. The protagonists were well-written and interesting. The overall plot was great and I enjoyed the melding of fantastical with mundane, the real world with the fairy kingdom. I absolutely loved how the kind of magic the protagonists possessed was related to crafty things! The only problem I had with the plot was that it seemed a little disjointed; it all fit together overall, but it could have been smoothed out a little better.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and will definitely be reading more by this author. ( )

I was a little underwhelmed by this book. The characterization was good, I really liked the twins and really was sketchy on the fairy queen, but the plot stumbled through quite a bit in my opinion. The pieces weren't quite moving in sync even though you could still carry the through-line. I also felt like the clockwork aspect seemed a little gimmicky and not really delved into quite enough. Overall enjoyable and I'm glad I read it, but I'm not eagerly anticipating the sequels.