Home
  • Home
  • Latest Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Authors & Artists
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Forums
  • Search

The Starlight Watchmaker

  • View
  • Rearrange

Digital version – browse, print or download

Can't see the preview?
Click here!

How to print the digital edition of Books for Keeps: click on this PDF file link - click on the printer icon in the top right of the screen to print.

BfK Newsletter

Receive the latest news & reviews direct to your inbox!

BfK No. 237 - July 2019
BfK 237 July 2019

This issue’s cover illustration is from Grumpycorn by Sarah McIntyre, designed by Strawberrie Donnelly. Thanks to Scholastic UK for their help with this July cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 237 July 2019.

  • PDFPDF
  • Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version
  • Send to friendSend to friend

The Starlight Watchmaker

Lauren James
(Barrington Stoke)
136pp, FICTION, 978-1781128954, RRP £7.99, Paperback
14+ Secondary/Adult
Buy "The Starlight Watchmaker" on Amazon

Hugo is a watchmaker, but not quite like any watchmaker the reader has met before. He works at an academy on a planet far from Earth. The purpose of the academy is to train future leaders from many alien civilisations. Hugo is impoverished and lowly regarded. He is allowed to remain on the academy campus after his master’s departure only because he does a worthwhile job making and repairing watches.

Hugo meets Dorian, a green-skinned alien from a very elite planet. Dorian is severely distressed. He has an examination coming in a few days. His time travel watch, essential for the exam, is broken. He issues an imperious demand to Hugo to repair his watch. Hugo opens the watch, only to make a disturbing discovery. The watch is powered by quantum energy. The unit that generates this energy is simply missing. The watch cannot be repaired.

Hugo explains that without its energy generator the watch is not just useless but also dangerous. Dorian believes he knows what has happened. The unit has been stolen by Lady De Winter. This female alien has interesting gifts. She is made of rock and she can split fragments of herself off when she wishes. Dorian and Hugo find and confront Lady De Winter. But they are in for a surprise. Her watch is also lacking its power source. Together the three of them must address this question. Who is stealing these power units and how can they be recovered?

This book is a parable. At the start of their relationship Dorian and Hugo are simply master and servant. But as the book progresses and their shared difficulties emerge, they become friends. The underlying moral precept is that once formal distinctions are set aside, different people with different abilities and limitations can create friendships and provide mutually valued practical assistance.

This reviewer found one weakness in this otherwise excellent book. When the resolution comes it is valid and convincing. But it is delivered in too hasty a manner. It could have been more powerful if it was presented at a more considered pace.

Reviewer: 
Rebecca Butler
4
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Help/FAQ
  • My Account