Untimed By Andy Gavin
Charlie's the kind of boy that no one notices. Hell, his own mother can't remember his name. So when a mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don't take him seriously. Still, this isn't all bad. Who needs school when you can learn about history first hand, like from Ben Franklin himself. And there's this girl... Yvaine... another time traveler. All good. Except for the rules: boys only travel into the past and girls only into the future. And the baggage: Yvaine's got a baby boy and more than her share of ex-boyfriends. Still, even if they screw up history -- like accidentally let the founding father be killed -- they can just time travel and fix it, right? But the future they return to is nothing like Charlie remembers. To set things right, he and his scrappy new girlfriend will have to race across the centuries, battling murderous machines from the future, jealous lovers, reluctant parents, and time itself.My thoughts:
This book is a little bit of everything rolled into one wonderfully written story filled with a host of creative characters - not all of whom you will fall in love with. I enjoyed the combination of genres in this tale; you get history, romance, mystery, science fiction - time travel, fantasy, adventure and steampunk - - - all working really well together.
In this story we follow Charlie as he learns about time travelers, Tocks, decision making, taking responsibility, falling in love and becoming a grown up.
The characters are interesting, the story line is original and the plot is twisting and entertaining. I was thrilled with the way things worked out - or sort of worked out - and can't wait until the next book.
(I received this book in exchange for an honest review).
