Ticker

Ticker by Lisa Mantchev

Age: Young Adult
Category: Science fiction
Rating: 4 stars

Helen Thinks: Having lost both her sisters to a hereditary heart disease, Penelope ‘Penny’ Farthing was saved by Doctor Calvin Warwick – who was engaged to Penny’s older sister – when he implanted a brass ‘ticker’ into her chest to replace her heart. The success of this operation made Penny the first person to become augmented. However, it soon came to light that for Warwick to be so successful he had practiced on unwilling patients and was arrested for mass murder. On the final day of Warwick’s trial, everything starts to go wrong for Penny and her brother, Nic – their factory is bombed, Warwick escapes, and their parents kidnapped, a ransom note sent demanding their notes on the augmentation trials if they ever want to see their parents again. Ticker sees Penny, Nic and their friends (Violet, a baker, and Sebastian, a rich gentleman) working alongside a young Army general as they try to stop Warwick once and for all.

Ticker had been on my to-read list for many months; due to the beautiful cover art catching my eye on Amazon; before I eventually got around to reading it and I can honestly say that Mantchev did not fail to deliver! Despite there being many characters to trip over (and each one having their own set of individual quirks and ways that could have easily got a writer confused!), Mantchev did not lose control of the characters once. There were many relationships between the characters; familial, romantic and traitorous; and they all developed perfectly along with the plot. The characters were written that well I even developed a tiny crush on the young Army general, Marcus Kingsley!

This was my first time reading Steampunk fiction but it definitely won’t be my last! It was a great look into science fiction with Penny’s ‘Ticker’ being the focal point and the idea that we can create stronger human beings through having mechanical organs and body parts. However, Warwick’s methods of practicing on unwilling participants had the characters divided. Penny, despite it saving her life, believed it was murder and wrong whereas her brother, Nic, thought it was for the greater good, especially seeing as it will allow him to grow old with at least one of his sister’s.

With a plot filled with adventure, Ticker was a novel that I couldn’t put down and read in one entire sitting because I was just dying to know what happened. I hope you’ll all feel the same if you give it a try!