SpoilerI had guessed for latter half of the book that a relationship would develop between Thaniel and Mori (there are only a few characters and the book is tagged LGBTQ+). I might read another book from this author, but I’m really hesitant considering a lot of the troubling perspectives or politics that went unchallenged - it just made it frustrating to read. The writing itself was fine, if not a little slow with slightly under-developed characters - though both elements picked up a lot in the last quarter or so. It was so often that it felt like it bordered on fetishizing - Thaniel was constantly thinking about how small Mori (and other Asian characters) was compared to him. It was written/referenced/implied constantly that Asian people are smaller than white people. I felt uncomfortable with some of the (probably period-appropriate) racism and East-Asian tokenizing that went unchallenged by the narrative. Thaniel felt very undeveloped until the end of the book. I really disliked Grace and the distasteful/bigoted things she’d say or think that went unchallenged by the narrative (weird anti-Asian stuff, being misogynistic towards suffragists). I liked the concept and I like Mori (the watchmaker) as a character. I’m not completely sure how I feel about this book.
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