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A Footstep Echo #2

The Clock's Knell

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Someone is Hunting the Mystery Girl.

Once a brilliant scientist, Reagan MacKay now hides from the government she once served. Having renounced her ties to the Mossback eco-terrorist group, she spends her days hiding across time, pausing only to visit Bernard Abbey, the elderly man she befriended two years ago.

After finding several other former Mossbacks brutally murdered, Reagan fears she may be next. Now her only hope for survival lies in the hands of those she once betrayed.

It's a race against time as Reagan rushes to earn back the trust of her ex-team members at the Department of Sciences while protecting those who matter most.

"It's no surprise this series spans centuries and countries; Sanderson's mind couldn't be contained in any smaller of a box. The Clock's Knell picks up where A Footstep Echo left off, with a faster pace and higher stakes. Fans of both hard and soft science fiction, and masters like Crichton and Asimov, will find a new home in this series - I did." - Sam Hendricks, Managing Editor at Kyanite Publishing and author of What They Deserve.

258 pages, Paperback

Published November 22, 2019

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J.D. Sanderson

8 books52 followers

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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for S  Anthony.
29 reviews1 follower
April 26, 2020
Definitely as good as the first book! The Clock's Knell finishes off where A Footstep Echo began. With some new and interesting characters, the story comes full circle with a beautiful ending.
Profile Image for W.A. Edwards.
Author 1 book65 followers
March 30, 2023
A great conclusion to the story.
I really enjoyed A Footstep Echo and The Clock's Knell.
Great characters, great story and lots of jumping through time.
I highly recommend this series.
2 reviews
January 28, 2020
The Clock's Knell is the follow-up to A Footstep Echo. Here we see a new author hitting his stride. The book is engrossing from start to finish. The characters we came to know in 'Echo' are further developed and fleshed out. In 'Knell', Sanderson humanizes them even further, making you feel like you know these people, want to spend time with them.

Conflict arises in the persona of a truly bad man, intent upon doing great harm. Added to that are some plot twists that are nearly impossible to see coming, and new characters, mysterious, that kept me turning pages long after my light should have been out.

The Clock's Knell has everything in it that a good story needs. If you enjoyed 'Echo', you're going to love this. I have a small stack of books that I'm going to reread. 'Knell' is in that stack.
Profile Image for S.E. Crawford.
Author 4 books10 followers
February 5, 2020
“He deserved better. He deserved you.”

I came into this series late. Totally skipped the first book and soared myself into the second one feet first. I gotta say, time travel is fun. And I want one of those jackets, please.

Since characters died in the first book, I don’t feel like this is too much of a spoiler. Characters die in the second book too. But some of the deaths felt glossed over; like they were mainly dying for plot advancement. Reagan never had the chance to mourn these deaths, and since she didn’t, I didn’t either. I kinda felt bad about it!

There are a couple fun twists, because like I said, TIME TRAVEL. And I know of a few people who would point out paradoxes, but really, sit back and enjoy it. We all wish we could jump through time and space. This story lets you do it from the comfort of your own home!
Profile Image for Jeff.
21 reviews
August 7, 2022
I thought this book was a considerable improvement on the first installment of author J.D. Sanderson's duology - and I enjoyed the first one!

I felt 'Clock's Knell' had a better plot structure and flow relative the first book, and (arguably) did a better job with characterization. I also really liked how the connections between the two books were handled - this is obviously a sequel, but it walked the line on recalling events from the previous book and building something new really well.

All in all a fun sci-fi/time travel story, well worth picking up!
Profile Image for Jay Cannon.
Author 11 books5 followers
December 29, 2019
I read the first book in the series, A Footstep Echo, and enjoyed it very much. Couldn't wait for the sequel. Bought it right away and enjoyed the story immensely. The characters moved across time and space effortlessly while JD maintained continuity throughout his writing. There were some editing issues with the manuscript, but not enough to take away from the entertaining writing.
Profile Image for Michael Nadeau.
Author 26 books34 followers
December 8, 2019
This charming tale, a sequel to a footstep echo, was beautifully written to develop the pressure great characters. The book keeps you guessing throughout the pages of twists and turns and it all ties in masterfully! Great story!
Profile Image for N.J. Gallegos.
Author 35 books112 followers
November 21, 2022
great sequel

The second part of this story is better than the first! Love the cast of characters. This would make an amazing series on TV!
Profile Image for Bob Young.
Author 2 books2 followers
December 14, 2019
The Clock’s Knell – A Review
By Bob Young

This is J.D. Sanderson’s second book in the ‘Reagan’ series. The first book was ‘A Footstep Echo.’
Sanderson thrills us with breathtaking vistas far beyond earth and 2019. He ably takes his characters on this time travel thriller into ever increasing technological sophistication requiring the reader to keep their wits about them. Deftly signaling how far into the future – or the past- we have gone, you will be able to keep up with the variety of ‘worlds’ to which you will be exposed.
Even more thrilling for a romance writer like me, you will be thrilled by the humanity of his characters and the violence with which they are met by their enemies. There may be moments when you aren’t sure who the protagonist is and who the antagonist might be. Everything is resolved in good time.
Be prepared for the vision of the future and the quality of J.D.’s characters to soar. I encourage you not to miss this one.
Profile Image for M.E. Aster.
Author 4 books50 followers
July 26, 2022
This was an amazing read that any sci-fi fan or truly any fan of a good story can enjoy. A sequel to A Footsteps Echo, this book picks up with the lovable cast of characters we left behind as well as a few additions.
The author does a great job of making each character important in their own way. Everyone had a story you were involved in, making for a great book.
Besides a few spelling errors and formatting issues, this was a huge thumbs up from me and I would highly recommend this series to anyone.
76 reviews13 followers
December 13, 2022
“You don’t need a huge education to want to crack the world. You just need believe in something.”

The Clock's Knell by J.D. Sanderson is the sequel to his time travelling first novel, The Footstep Echo. Back is disgraced scientist Reagan MacKay (a woman with a huge education) along with her former colleagues Tal, Calev, Razlin, and Adelaide. This time our interepid time travelers are trying not only trying to keep Reagan from being killed but also to help Keln, an aging simulant.

Sanderson delivers a satisfying sequel to Echo. Echo's mystery of Reagan's identity is replaced by the mystery of who is trying to kill her. In Echo we identified with Bernard, a present-day everyman who is thrust into a world of intrigue and danger. In Knell, it is hard not to identify with the simulant Keln, an artificial intelligence who also finds himself a being from a different time but for very different reasons.

Knell is a much more sophisticated story than it's predecessor that shows much more depth. It is clear that Sanderson is continuing to evolve and grow as a writer. He demonstrated continued growth in his next book, Around The Dark Dial, a collection of eleven short stories that touch upon similar themes as his first two novels.

I highly recommend this book!
Profile Image for Joe Pranaitis.
Author 23 books87 followers
April 5, 2020
Author J.D. Sanderson brings us the last book in his doxology with Reagan ( Mystery Girl) coming to head with a killer who wants her to suffer like she made him suffer. As the book opens up we see Reagan and Bernie on a space station and he is having the time of his life since this is what he's been dreaming about since he read his first science fiction book. But the phase device that she had created started to act up so she sent him home while she staid and turned herself in. As this is going on the killer marks his first victim with bashing their head in and leaving a large red M in his wake. It isn't until the killer targets one of her friends that she is able to check in on that they come head to head and thus the chase through time beings. As this is going on Tal meets someone who shows her what it was like at the beginning of the creation of A.I.'s that in habit a humanoid body. And that A.I. asks for her help. The second half of the book introduces us to someone who came out of left field but is a great addition to cast of characters. This is a great book and I highly recommend both in this series.
Profile Image for Michael Nadeau.
Author 26 books34 followers
December 8, 2019
This charming tale, a sequel to a footstep echo, was beautifully written to develop the well defined characters. The book keeps you guessing throughout the pages of twists and turns and it all ties in masterfully! Great story!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews