Timepiece

I want to be fair in this review of Myra McEntire's sequel to Hourglass, Timepiece: It's been quite a few months since I read Hourglass and it took several pages of "refreshing" before I was back into the storyline. I think this was not helped by the fact that this entry was told from a different point of view; this time we are treated to seeing the story from Kaleb's eyes. Not that that is a bad thing at all; once I got my feet under me, I think I prefer Kaleb telling the story. At least he's highly entertaining and his flirtatious "relationship" with Lily was perfect (and more believable than the one with Emerson and Michael).

Timepiece begins with another appearance by the time-traveling Jack, and ripples in time that are becoming stronger. Kaleb's father is back from the dead, but their relationship is strained. When Jack delivers an ultimatum (and Poe does something truly shocking), the Hourglass kids take off to Memphis to try to track down clues to a possibly real Infinityglass. Along the way, they run into Kaleb's father's former partners, Dr. Turner and Teague, and it's a race to see who can establish the authenticity of an item that would allow Jack to change history all on his own.

I really enjoyed this novel at times, and at others, I felt the plot was rushed or just didn't flow. Specifically, any time Kaleb and Lily were front and center, I loved everything going on. Their voices are real and they just leap into life from the pages, even when it feels as though very little got resolved. It's when Michael and Emerson come into the story that I felt everything slowed and became wooden; there is a very unsatisfying resolution to those two toward the end that really feels out of place.

Overall, this is a fun story that has a lot of twists and turns and definitely reminds me of a Doctor Who episode. As a Tennessean, I totally love all the accurate references to Memphis and Nashville, and I'm intrigued to see where all this ends up. If at times events seem to be a little conveniently tied up, it's excusable for the fun I'm having. Rounding up from 3.5 stars for the fun factor.

~taminator40