Ticker by Lisa Mantchev

Ticker

by Lisa Mantchev

A girl with a clockwork heart makes every second count.When Penny Farthing nearly died, the brilliant surgeon Calvin Warwick managed to implant a brass “Ticker,” transforming her into “the first of the Augmented!” But soon it was discovered that Warwick kidnapped and killed dozens of people striving to perfect another Ticker for Penny. The last day of Warwick’s trial, the Farthing factory is bombed, Warwick disappears, and Penny and her brother, Nic, receive a ransom demand for all of their Augmentation notes if they want to see their parents again. Who is trying to stop their work? Or to control it? Or is the motive more sinister?Determined to solve the mystery and reunite their family, the Farthings recruit their closest friends: fiery baker Violet Nesselrode and gentleman-about-town Sebastian Stirling. Unexpectedly leading the charge is Marcus Kingsley, the young army general who has his own reasons for wanting to lift the veil between this world and the next. Wagers are placed, friends are lost, romance stages an ambush, and time is running out for the girl with the clockwork heart.

Reviewed by Joséphine on

3 of 5 stars

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Audiobook rating: 3 stars
Book rating: 2.5 stars

Initial thoughts: You'd think a book about a girl with a clockwork heart would be memorable. Alas, I can't say that is the case for Ticker. Thinking about what happened in the book, my memory's already hazy about the plot, as though I had read it months ago instead of the past couple of days. I attribute this to the technology overload that outweighed the actual plot and character developments. Gadgets peppered the book from back to front to the point that instead of building up the world, I felt they were there merely to remind us that Ticker falls into the steampunk genre. The prose wasn't particularly strong either. It was simply a medium to convey the story; nothing more.

In the end, I'd say Ticker is a bland book. It's fairly entertaining to while away the time, especially with the pleasant narration of the audiobook. Nothing upset me or made me dislike the book while I was reading it. But now that I'm done, I walk away without being impacted in any way. Since I neither like nor hate the book, I'm giving it the middle ground rating of 2.5 stars, simply because I'm indifferent.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 6 June, 2015: Finished reading
  • 6 June, 2015: Reviewed