Timepiece, by Myra McEntire

- Hourglass #2
Release date: June 12th 2012
Published by: EgmontUSA
Genre: Young Adult
Find it on: Goodreads, Amazon 

A threat from the past could destroy the future. And the clock is ticking...

Kaleb Ballard's relentless flirting is interrupted when Jack Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, timeslips in and attacks before disappearing just as quickly. But Kaleb has never before been able to see time travelers, unlike many of his friends associated with the mysterious Hourglass organization. Are Kaleb's powers expanding, or is something very wrong?

Then the Hourglass is issued an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he's stolen on the time gene, or time will be altered with devastating results.

Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Jack. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough...

Hourglass proved to be the most refreshing time-travel novel I read in 2011. When the cover for Timepiece came out, I was excited to see more of Emerson and Michael... and then I read the synopsis, and I found out that the story was going to be narrated by Kaleb. Well, that didn't go well. It took me a month to be brave enough to read it. It's not that I don't like Kaleb, but his POV wasn't exactly welcoming, either.

Surprisingly, though, seeing things through Kaleb's eyes was a hell of a ride. This character has a lot more depth than Emerson lets on, people, and that really showed on this novel. I related to Kaleb's - and Em's - fragile state of mind a lot more than I thought I would, and that fit the tense setting in which Timepiece takes place. The Hourglass is issued an ultimatum, and a single decision can either save everyone's lives, or destroy them. It's up for Kaleb and the rest of the gang to solve everything, and it'd be unrealistic if there wasn't some personal drama thrown in the middle. Myra McEntire delivered this well enough, and I got a pretty good sense of all the characters, including Lily, Em's best friend.

However - and that's where the negative points of this review start - the writing worked only when it came to the subjective. When Kaleb was suffering, or using his power, or thinking something over, the writing was smooth, and very thoughtful. When it came to dialogues, and action scenes, everything fell apart. Things appeared out of nowhere without a good reason, and disappeared just as abruptly. For example: Kaleb would be talking to Lily, and Michael would suddenly appear. I could've used a lot more details - how did he appear? Did he just materialized out of thin air, or he just came around the corner, too slow or careful for you to notice? It may look a little weird, but those things bothered me. I never got a really clear picture of what was happening in my head, because there wasn't enough description. 

That's possibly a consequence of the writing, but the plot was also never even. There wasn't a slow beginning, an engaging "middle", and a climax scene. Everything was blend in, thrown together with random action scenes, and slow dialogues that took forever to end. Because of that, Timepiece didn't give me a sense of finality - but then, neither did Hourglass, so that was... fine. The romance was greatly developed, though, and that was a relief, something I could hold on to as the writing ironically got worse. Kaleb and Lily's witty remarks and banters felt natural, and that really added up to the story as a whole.

Timepiece was an enjoyable read, but not a flawless one. I could probably point a few more things that bothered me, but frankly, I think I've done enough. I won't rant, and I tried not to be harsh, because despite these aforementioned flaws, Kaleb's story was great... just not as good as I was hoping. If you have read - and liked - Hourglass, then this is definitely a must-read.