I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. Wow! What an amazing time travel adventure! Charlie chases a "Tick Tock" down a hole, suddenly he's in the 1700s. What a way to learn you're a time traveler. He changes the future accidentally, and now, with the help of Yvaine, tries to undo what occurred and also get a crash course in time travel. This was a fun science fiction book for me, many times I was in awe of how one incident could affect the world. The adventure gets even crazier when he tries to figure out how to undo his mistake. This was a mix of Great Expectations meets The Time Machine, a fantastic combination if you ask me. The cast of characters are amazingly creative, I was drawn in immediately and thoroughly enjoyed this novel. ( )

Fun read. ( )

Untimed is like no other novel I have read before. I have actually never read a steampunk novel, but from everything I have seen and heard, this thoroughly fits that description and falls within the realm of "outside of my comfort zone." But, I am really glad that I read it.

Charlie gets the ultimate gift that any teen history buff would love to get his hands on. And along the way, he meets this...spirited young woman who further helps to turn his life upside down. Want to know what it is? Read the book.

The writing in this novel was clean, and I really enjoyed the spins on the historical facts. I have a 9 year old history buff in my house, so it was interesting to me to see how the author spun some of the critical events of our American history.

The novel is packed with action, adventure, romance, and a bit of clockwork. This was a great starter for me to the steampunk era, and I would highly recommend it for older teens and adults.

My usual disclaimer here, of course, is that I would use discretion in offering this book to younger teens. While the content is appropriate to the era depicted in the novel, some younger readers may not be mature enough for the content. My suggestion always is to read things you are presenting to your children to read and use it to pivot a discussion about sensitive topics.
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Time travel with MANY a twist.
The basic breakdown is this...young lad, son of a time traveler and a norm reaches his "prime", follows a Tick Tock back to yesteryear, falls in love, and makes a mess of both the past and the future while discovering who he really is both by blood and by heart. How's that? Oh, but wait...there's still so much more!

First off, the restrictions! There's a cool down period between when they can travel and when they need to build up their magical-type mojo to time jump again. Then the fact that skillful jumping has nothing to do with age. Follow that up with the fact that you can't actually kill anyone, no one will remember your name and above all you must remember NOT TO CHANGE ANYTHING. Yeah, too bad Charlie didn't know that before he accidentally jumped after a Tick Tock, found and fell in love with Yvaine and had to race through time to not only save their own necks but the lives of those he loves and the world in general. Yes...it's a fun, fast, wonderful romp through the pages of history as we know it and as it might have (or still could if they are not successful) be!

Recommended for teens through adults for all the reasons mentioned. It was an exciting read that really kept you glued to the pages, even as history turned itself on its ear! Can't wait to see what's in store for our young friends in book two....



**this review was part of a blog tour post in which a copy of the book was received in exchange for an HONEST review; the full post can be seen on my site** ( )

Untimed What an extremely interesting twist on time travel! I have to admit that, even though this book took some time for me to get into, once I was in it was hard to stop reading. Charlie is a boy who is utterly forgettable. Even his mother needs a reminder to call him by the correct name. I think this is really what drew me in the most. Watching young Charlie, a boy who has no idea that a fantastic adventure is in store for him.
 
That being said, the time travel part of this book is done very well. While the back story to Charlie's ability isn't really explained in detail, enough is given to let you know that there is one very big problem. Charlie can only travel backwards. Lucky for him he meets a girl traveler who can go forwards! Or is it luck? What ensues is a fast paced, rather dark romp through a story set in a much different time from our own.
 
Now it's important for me to let you know that Charlie's story is fairly gritty. I understood that by going back in time he was experiencing things that really happened. Of course he would be surrounded by drinks, loose women and even violence. Still, it turned me off a bit at first. I'm not against things like this in YA. In fact, I think it made it easier to accept because it was a different time period. Some of the things Charlie did and went through really bothered me though. I'm not certain how I'd feel giving this to a reader under the age of 16.
 
More than anything I think that my rating of this book was affected by the immense amount of history poured into it. I loved the steampunk addition, liked the time travel pieces, but felt so bogged down by trying to remember what these two had affected and were trying to fix that sometimes I had to go back and reread pages. It may well be that this isn't my genre, but I'm glad I gave it a shot nonetheless. Read this if you are a fan of historical fiction with a twist. ( )