The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley

Firstly, this book is not badly written. The prose is competently put together, but it just was not for me. I failed to engage with the characters, found the plot meandered in ways that just did not work for me and ultimately it all fell a bit flat.

Chess playing automatons in the 18th century seem to have been a bit of a theme in recent historical fantasy stories. I am not sure what to make of this - I presume it is related to an increase in interest in chess recently as it is a somewhat esoteric trend. Anyway, I digress a bit. The main theme of the story follows the story of a clockmaker somewhat beset by tragedy. The earnestness is a bit overbearing and exhausting. The familial relationships are all a bit strained in weird ways, which jarred me somewhat. Ultimately the characters were not ones that I could relate to, their eccentricities very much on the extreme end of the scale. YMMV, but this one was not for me.