Actual rating 3.5 stars. 
 I received this in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. Thank you to the author, Tara Sim, and the publisher, Sky Pony Press, for this opportunity. 
 Alternative historical fiction? Mythological retelling? LGBTQIA main character and prominent theme? Check, check and check! 
 This book is a thrilling journey into a Victorian-era world, where time is magic and the clock towers that measure it are under threat from a mysterious source. Without the steady beat of time, life will stall and entire communities of people will cease to exist. This is the daily anxiety that clock mechanic, Danny Hart, finds himself under. 
 This was an utterly thrilling and original story that had great individuality, world-building and plot. The characters, especially main character Danny Hart, felt real and were memorable, and the twists and turns the story took the reader on were unprecedented. 
 Despite this, there was a little too much focus paid to the romantic aspects of the plot, and I felt these sections elongated with declarations of romantic intent and descriptions of burgeoning feelings. I found the budding relationship incredibley sweet, but I would have preferred the primary focus of the plot to eventually shift away from these aspects and back onto the plight of the people. The plot lines did converge and the romance had a place in the story, but, for me, I didn't fully gel with the prominence of it. 
 This was the only negative I could muster concerning this innovative book, but, alas, it was a major one for me, making this not exactly suited to my preferences.