I received an eARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Adventure
Age Range: MG
Star Rating: 5 stars
Series: first in series
Blurb:
Aspiring inventor Isaac Turner lives with his dad, the Chief Horologist in charge of Big Ben. But when his father vanishes from the belfry on the night the clocks go back, leaving behind only a smashed pocket watch and a cryptic message, Isaac determines to find him.
Hunting a trail of clues through London’s landmarks, Isaac uncovers a sinister plot in the gears of government and embarks on a race against time to save his father – and time itself.
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
THE CLOCKWORK CONSPIRACY was absolutely amazing. It’s a thrilling adventure with lots of fun facts about clocks, puzzles, and also introduces readers to the important of international measurement standards.
The story was so engaging – I sped through this on under an hour because I had to know what was happening next and how they were going to get out of the bind they were in. It’s fast paced and keeps you on your toes as you try to solve the puzzles alongside Isaac and Harrie.
Also the settings were amazing – the Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament) is the centre piece of the book, giving readers an insight into the heart of UK democracy, both the landmark people are so familiar woth and the system of government ticking away inside.
It’s also jam packed with facts about clocks and how they work, both analogue and the cutting edge atomic clocks. I love books packed with science and technology.
Something I loved was how this book demonstrates the importance of standards and international measurement systems. It’s not something many people know about (I certainly didn’t appreciate how important it is and all the work that goes into maintaining standards and researching improvements until I started my PhD there!) so the fact this book introduces readers to it in such a fun and exciting story is amazing.
I am based at the National Physical Laboratory (the home of UK measurement standards, and as this book shows, the home of UK Time) so I was very excited to see it featured in this book. The book is absolutely spot on about the role the UK and NPL plays in world time, and also the importance of the French equivalent (though you may be glad to know there are a lot more back ups and safeguards than in the book so you physically couldn’t override the international time systems as happens in this book!) The book is also spot on about atomic clocks. The one thing is was wrong about what how it looks – this version is far more swish and impressive looking. Also it has far fewer wires in the lab than there should be.
Read my reviews of other books by Sam Sedgman:
With M. G. Leonard:
Adventures on Trains:
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 
I’m currently working my way through the Adventures on Trains series and I’ll have to add this to my TBR for when I’m done!
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AoT is such a good series – and this is a really nice follow on (also highly recommend the twitchers series by M. G. Leonard!)
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