The author follows Hugo as he embarks on his journey, starting as an orphaned and alone boy who keeps the clocks running in the station and ending as something much greater. At the time Hugo had one mission in life: fix the mechanical man left behind after his father's passing and uncover the message constrained in its gears. It is only after being caught stealing that his life takes a turn, and he runs into a girl named Isabell. They work together to fix the automaton, and with the help of the key on her necklace, Hugo finally achieves what he had always dreamed of. However, the message written by the man is far from what either of them expected, and it leads to a length turn of events and developments for all of the characters, showing how they are all intertwined in one story. This book is written in an interesting style, probably aimed towards children, as probably about a third of the pages are charcoal drawings. It allows the author to create interesting effects while not sacrificing on description, and this is one of the things that never fails to keep the reader interested in the book.

This book was pretty fun to read, especially for choice reading, and I would have never expected a book that seems to be so simple to have an invigorating plot and deep storyline. I think that the choice to weave pictures into the text was a good one, and it created an experience that I had never had before. It not only allowed the reader to get an even more involved image of what was going on but the author didn't sacrifice on detail in his own writing and use the images as a crutch. It all added up to a great descriptive experience, and while maybe not up to John Steinbeck level, it was still pretty good. This book didn't really evoke any strong emotions or change my world views, but I'm totally fine with that. Some books don't need to be earth-shatteringly informative or inspire drastic action from the reader, they just need to be an entertaining piece of literature that the reader can get lost in, and that is what this book truly excels at.

Overall, I would say this is a great read. It's not too long, has a great plot and story, and gives you an interesting look at a style that is very unique. If you're looking for a casual read that isn't too deep but will still be entertaining and interesting, this is a perfect choice.

Nick Brady
4/26/20
~Rating: ***** 5/5