Timekeeper

Timekeeper was first published in 2016 and is Tara Sim’s debut novel. It is a steampunk fantasy which focus on the relationship between a young mechanic and the spirit possessing a clock tower. The book is the first part of a planned series, though at the time of writing no other instalments have been announced.

For as long as anyone can remember, the clock towers have regulated the flow of time. People live in fear of them ever becoming damaged as if a clock tower ever stops, the surrounding area also becomes frozen in time and completely cut off from the outside world. To prevent this from happening, the towers are maintained by a guild of mechanics, each blessed with the ability to sense and manipulate the threads of time.

Danny Hart is a prodigy. At the age of seventeen, he is the youngest person to ever graduate as a mechanic. That is, until his accident. Although Danny manages to survive an explosion at a clock tower that he has been sent to repair, he’s left traumatised and unable to perform even the most basic of duties. This is a problem. The guild has commenced work on the first brand-new clock tower in centuries and he needs to be part of the construction team. His father’s life could depend on it.

To prove that he is fit to work, Danny accepts an assignment to repair a damaged tower. Yet the apprentice who is assigned to help him quickly proves to know next to nothing about mechanics. It’s not long before Danny realises why. Colton isn’t an apprentice at all, but the guardian spirit of the clock tower. It’s not long before Danny and Colton start to fall in love. Yet it’s expressly forbidden for a mechanic to develop feelings for a clock spirit. Danny knows that their bond can only end in disaster. At best, it could cost him his job. At worst, it could endanger the lives of everyone living in the town…