The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby, 2010

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Three ordinary children are brought together by extraordinary events. . . .
Giuseppe is an orphaned street musician who sees no way to escape from his ruthless master, until the day he finds an enchanted violin.
Frederick is an apprentice clockmaker with a past he cannot remember, who secretly works to build the most magnificent clockwork man the world has ever seen.
Hannah is a maid in a grand hotel, whose life is one of endless drudgery, until she encounters a mystifying new guest and learns of a hidden treasure.
As mysterious circumstances bring them together, the lives of these three children soon interlock, and they realize that each one holds the key to the others’ puzzles. Together, the three discover they have phenomenal power when they team up as friends, and that they can overcome even the darkest of fears.

(395 pages)

This was the first book by Matthew J. Kirby that I ever read, and it introduced me to an author whose books I've been adoring ever since. This was his debut novel, which is just so incredible because it's such an amazing book.

Yeah, okay, so you can probably see where this review is headed. Yes, I love Clockwork Three to pieces - which is why I bought it on sale at my library, and immediately re-read it, and am now reviewing it. This was the first time I'd read it since my first time, and it was really interesting to see how the book held up on closer inspection.

Reading it for the second time, with a little more perspective because I knew more or less how it ended (barring all of the twists I'd completely forgotten), I still really enjoyed The Clockwork Three - though I perhaps have a few more believability issues with it this time than I did the first time I read it. The characters are a tad too . . . I don't know. Predictable, maybe? Or familiar? I feel like Kirby did a really great job reinventing the wheel here, but it's still the same old wheel. This was his first novel, though, and his later books have really amazing characterizations, so I can forgive his debut for having good instead of great characters.

Also, the plot is really cool. It's weird, but it's cool, and I'm really glad I bought a copy of The Clockwork Three because now I can re-read it whenever I'm in the mood. Kirby's prose is also amazing, and the entire book just feels so classic and beautiful that it makes a wonderful comfort read. A steampunk science fiction comfort read, granted, but still a great one. Let me know what your favorite comfort read is in the comments section down below!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this Bible through the BookLook Bloggers program in exchange for an honest review.

The Arctic Code by Matthew J. Kirby, 2015

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on Goodreads 

It is the near future, and the earth has entered a new ice age. Eleanor Perry lives in Tucson, one of the most popular destinations for refugees of the Freeze. She is the daughter of a climatologist who is trying to find new ways to preserve human life on the planet. Dr. Perry believes that a series of oil deposits she has found in the Arctic may hold the key to our survival. That's when she disappears—but not before sending Eleanor a series of cryptic messages that point to a significant and mysterious discovery. Now it's up to Eleanor to go find her.
This search will launch Eleanor on a breathless race to unlock the mysteries of what has happened to our planet, solving the riddle of the cold that could be humanity's end—and uncovering a threat to the earth that may not be of this world.

(336 pages)

I'm a huge fan of Kirby's, and have been since I first read his beautiful The Clockwork Three. I've been devouring each and every one of his books as they came out, and enjoying every one of them. He is a wonderful writer, with a writing style that draws me in even when he's writing about topics I'm really not inherently interested in (case in point: The Lost Kingdom). I was very excited about The Arctic Code, especially because it was the start of a series and had an alluring premise (I mean, global cooling instead of global warming? How could that not be good?!).

After finishing The Arctic Code I'm . . . well, I'm rather befuddled. What on Earth did I just read? Between the global cooling, the "ley lines," the missing people, the reluctantly kind pilot, the bullying electricity company, and the very (and  I mean very!) disobedient girl, not to mention the discovery that I can't talk about without spoilers, this is a very . . . full book. And I think that's good. But the more I think about it, the more trouble I have untangling all the different topics that are broached in the first book of the new Dark Gravity Sequence. What on Earth is Kirby going to  do with the later books in the series? That is the million dollar question, and one that I am definitely looking forward to seeing answered.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of Eleanor's as of yet - actually, she kind of annoys me. She is so "different" from everyone she knows, mostly because she takes lots of daredevil risks everyone else is smart enough to avoid. And she goes to such crazy extremes to save her mother (like actually traveling to the Arctic, just for starters!) that in real life would just get her killed. That's why Luke is my favorite character, and I'm totally hoping he evolves into a father figure for her as the series goes on. He's the voice of sanity that everyone ignores, and I honestly wish Eleanor, Julian and Finn had listened to him a bit more often.

I'm not completely giving up on Eleanor, though, because I have hope for the later books. If anyone can make me like her, it's Matthew J. Kirby. And if he doesn't? Well, I still really like Luke, Julian, Finn, and X.* And I'm definitely sticking around to see where on Earth Kirby will take them.

*X stands for all the people I can't name for fear of spoilers.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Arctic Code by Matthew J. Kirby (June 30)

Okay, so for those of you who are new to this meme, here's how it works:

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My current read is The Arctic Code by Matthew J. Kirby.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

It is the near future, and the earth has entered a new ice age. Eleanor Perry lives in Tucson, one of the most popular destinations for refugees of the Freeze. She is the daughter of a climatologist who is trying to find new ways to preserve human life on the planet. Dr. Perry believes that a series of oil deposits she has found in the Arctic may hold the key to our survival. That's when she disappears—but not before sending Eleanor a series of cryptic messages that point to a significant and mysterious discovery. Now it's up to Eleanor to go find her.
This search will launch Eleanor on a breathless race to unlock the mysteries of what has happened to our planet, solving the riddle of the cold that could be humanity's end—and uncovering a threat to the earth that may not be of this world.

Here's this week's teaser, from page 33:

"We have something no other species in the history of the planet has ever had." He brought the index finger down and laid it against his temple. "Our brain. The human mind is an ingenious thing, and we will find a way to survive in an age when so many other animals go extinct. 

Let me know what you think of the book, and check back on Friday for my review!

Five Authors I Want to Meet (and Five I Already Have)

Note: Okay, so this week's prompt is actually for upcoming releases we're excited about. I have no idea why I thought it was authors we want to meet - the only excuse I can offer is that I put this post together the evening before I took the SAT. I guess I was a little distracted, huh?

I have met many fabulous authors in my life, and there are many more I am dying to meet. This week's Top Ten prompt asks for ten authors I want to meet, but I've met a lot of the authors I really wanted to, so I'm dividing this into five authors I have already met and five I want to meet sometime in the future. Here we go:

First, here are five authors I am dying to meet:

1. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books
This one is obvious. Who doesn't want to meet JK Rowling?! Maybe if I do decide to go to college in the UK, my chances of meeting her will increase. Hey, I should go add that to my college decision notebook!

2. Angie Sage, author of the Septimus Heap books
She also lives in the UK, so I guess this one goes under "reasons to move to Great Britain" along with potentially meeting JK Rowling. I have talked to her on Twitter a few times, but I would love to meet her and get her to sign my books.

3. Jennifer A. Nielsen, author of the Ascendance trilogy (my review)
I have been trying to get Jennifer Nielsen to visit Maryland for years, and I even contacted her publicist once about it - but I've never been able to meet her. I do have an autographed ARC of Mark of the Thief, and I've talked to her on Twitter a handful of times, but it's not the same as meeting her in person.

4. Wendy Mass, author of the Willow Falls books (and many more!)
I'm not exactly sure where Wendy Mass lives, but I'm pretty sure it's in America. I'd love to meet her and get her to autograph at least some of the half a dozen books I own by her.

5. Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series, the Kane Chronicles, and the Heroes of Olympus books
Any event with Rick Riordan attending sells out in like five minutes flat, so the odds of my ever meeting him face-to-face are extremely small. If I could meet him, though, I would love to have him autograph my copy of The Lightning Thief, which began my journey with Riordan's books almost 5 years ago.

Next, these are some of my favorite authors who I have already met:

1. Margaret Peterson Haddix, author of more books than I can list here (including Double Identity)
Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I am a massive fan of Margaret Peterson Haddix's. My parents also know this. That's why my mother went two hours out of her way to drive me to a middle school where Haddix was doing an author visit. With the school's permission, not only did I get to see Haddix and hear her presentation, but I also got to spend 5 to 10 minutes with her before the presentation, chatting with her about her books as she signed her way through the four I'd brought in. It was awesome!

2. Gordon Korman, author of many wonderful books including No More Dead Dogs
He was actually the first author I ever met. It was at a book fair, and I was one of a long line of people signing up to get books autographed after his presentation. I spent the entire 30 seconds it took him to sign my books grinning like a maniac and bobbing up and down like an excitable puppy.

3. Shannon Hale, author of the Princess Academy trilogy
I met her during her book tour for Palace of Stone, the second Princess Academy book. She was on a panel with Jessica Day George (see #4), and it was very surreal to me to meet the author of the book I've loved since before I understood that there were people who wrote the books I read. I got my childhood copy of Princess Academy autographed, so now it's even more special to me than it was before.

4. Jessica Day George, author of the Dragon trilogy (plus a lot of other great books!)
As I said above, I met her at the same time I met Shannon Hale. There on a panel together at a book Festival, and I was really lucky they're sitting next to each other because I only had to sit through one line to get books by both of them signed. As soon as I saw Jessica Day George during the panel, I knew that she was someone I would love to talk to. Now that I follow her on Twitter, I'm sure of it!

5. Matthew J. Kirby, author of The Clockwork Three (and more)
my family was late to Kirby's session, but we caught him just as he was walking off to get in his car. He was very kind to me even though I was making him go off schedule, and he signed the brochure for the festival (which was all I had with me at the time). He sat and chatted for a moment before going on his way, and I was really struck with how nice he was as a person, on top of being a fantastic author.

Have you met at any of the authors on either of these lists, or any other authors? If you could pick any author in the world, who would you want to meet?

The Quantum League book 1: Spell Robbers by Matthew J. Kirby, 2014

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
After Ben Warner is recruited to join a “science camp” led by the eccentric quantum physicist Dr. Madeleine Hughes, he quickly realizes it’s no regular science camp. Along with his new friend, Peter, Ben discovers the secret, powerful art of Actuation—the ability to change reality by simply imagining it differently.
When a mysterious group of men invade Dr. Hughes’s laboratory, abducting her and stealing her precious equipment, Ben and Peter are suddenly caught up in a turf war between dangerous actuators desperate for Dr. Hughes’s innovative technology. And as Ben and Peter are pulled into a perilous, hidden world full of impossibilities now made possible, will their combined powers be enough to save Dr. Hughes and vanquish their enemies before it’s too late?

This one will be a short review, because I already turned my copy of the book back into the library. I basically got this one solely because I am a huge fan of Kirby's other books (two of which rank in my all-time favorites), and I was ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. I guess I'm glad I did, but I wasn't exactly blown away by this book. It reminded me a lot of Gordon Korman's The Hypnotists but was, with all due respect to another amazing author, better than it. It was less convoluted, more compelling, and provided a more realistic (relatively, okay?) storyline.

But enough about comparisons. Ranked on its own, this was an okay book. I think I would rate it a lot higher if I was a twelve-year-old boy (or frankly, even a twelve-year-old girl). It's leagues above most trash I've read in the genre, and is much better than the cover suggests. I doubt I'll re-read it anytime soon, but I might read the sequel if I can get hold of it without much trouble.

The characterizations, while strong, left no real impression on me. Ben is the kind of hero you admire and whom you can easily envision yourself being. He's like a braver, stronger version of the reader.

Okay, I really have nothing else to say. I wasn't going to review this so I turned it back in, and then I changed my mind because I realized there are a lot of people out there looking for just this sort of book to give to their middle schoolers. If you're one of those people, or if you've got an hour or two to kill, go ahead and check this book out. It's not exactly a break-out novel, but there isn't really anything I can say against it, either. In fact, I had quite a bit of fun reading it!