The Night Clock
Paul Meloy
Rating: 3.5/5
From the moment I first read the description I had such high hopes for The Night Clock. It sounded like a crazy novel with a cerebral and intense plot.
After several of Phil Trevana’s patients die, he is informed by an insane man that he needs to seek out Daniel to find the answers.
“Drawn together, Trevena and Daniel embark on an extraordinary journey of discovery, encountering The Firmament Surgeons in the Dark Time – the flux above our reality. Whoever controls Dark Time controls the minds of humanity. The Firmament Surgeons, aware of the approach of limitless hostility and darkness, are gathered to bring an end to the war with the Autoscopes, before they tear our reality apart.” (Goodreads.com)
That sounds awesome, right? It was a fantastic idea, however the novel kept switching between so many characters with so many flashbacks. I felt like this was Trevana’s journey, his discovery, his character arc, yet he appeared so little within the narrative.
No one was ‘leading’ the story so it was hard to form attachments to any of the characters or plot lines due to the overwhelming amount and the number of new ones kept who got introduced so late into the story. The amount of characters to keep track of flashbacks to experience made it difficult to fully immerse myself into Meloy’s world.
However, despite the overload of characters and their POVs, The Night Clock was wonderfully written. Meloy composes his sentences smoothly and with ease, but I believe he needed to refine his plot threads to really showcase his talent here.
Everything came together nicely at the conclusion so I finished this book on a satisfying note.
The Night Clock is released on November 10. You can pick up your own copy (Amazon, Book Depository, or Indigo)
I received an advance reading copy from NetGalley for an honest review.