A Review of Daria Song's coloring book, The Time Chamber:

I'm doing this review a little bit differently; I'll start off with the rating, and go from there. I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. Because I don't actually recommend that you buy this book. Not unless you personally inspect it, love the pictures, and want those specific pictures.

This may sound odd, since I, myself, am considering eventually purchasing its prequel.

And it may sound odd since the artwork is fairly gorgeous.

So let's talk about it.

I was super excited about this book, and longed to try it out. I saw its prequel, The Time Garden, reviewed on a blog and thought it looked amazing. So it's been at the top of my Amazon wishlist for a little while now along with a huge pack of gel pens, because this book just seems to cry out for metallic colors.

Here's my experience:

What did I like?

I like the pictures. There is a range from super detailed to plenty of white space. There is a range between highly geometrical to very fluid and organic. The pictures all loosely tie together. Some of the pages have a pretty kaleidoscope feel to them. Fair warning, there are a lot of repeated images and motifs - like that cover image? You're going to be seeing those cogs a lot.

I liked spending some art time with my kids. At first, I was feeling all Gollum about the book, and I didn't want my very young children to be scribbling outside the lines on my grown-up coloring book. Then I decided that it was more important to spend time together. So if you can stomach all the scribbles on your pretty picture, I recommend it. It has the benefit of being detailed enough to be more engaging to an adult than coloring a teddy bear with a balloon (although I still recommend that on occasion), and fun for baby too.

I like that it's cheaper than going to a show, and provides hours of entertainment. And I do mean hours, but we'll get to that.

It's fun. That's the whole point of these books. Stress relief.

I didn't end up with the huge selection of gel pens. I went with an 8 pk of metallic pens. I'm going to say that 8 colors of pen is inadequate for this book. Maybe if you were to use colored pencils and could play with the shading it would work to limit yourself, but I didn't want to bother with sharpening my pencils all the time - call me lazy. This book needs color. It needs shades.

The textual story is whimsical but negligible. It furthers the pictures rather than the pictures furthering the text.

So what didn't I like?

I don't like not being able to color all of the picture. There comes a point reaching into the crevices of the binding where it's just not worth the color. But it's annoying. I did see one book on Amazon with tear-out pages, so that's something to think about, but this problem would happen with pretty much any book, so it isn't book specific complaint.

I didn't like when it wasn't obvious what part I was coloring. I really hate when you're coloring something, with one color, only to discover you're actually coloring a completely different thing. Like you're coloring what you think is a horse's leg, but really it's the grass behind, or, in this specific case, you think you're coloring sky, but really it was supposed to be a leaf or vice versa. A small thing, but a pet peeve, nonetheless.

I didn't like how long it takes to do the pages. I've done one full page, and a smattering of things on other pages. This actually amounts to many hours of coloring. The time you have to put into the pages does take away from the continuity of the book, but you can read it when you're done. The thing is, sometimes, I just want to color and finish something in one sitting.

"But wait," you say, "these are really minor things. Why aren't you recommending the book?" I am not recommending this book because in the course of my coloring I saw at least five grown-up coloring books that were cheaper, had pretty pictures, and also had the added benefit of having smaller sections that you could color quickly, for those de-stress quick fix moments when you're still boycotting the bear and the balloon.

A final thought:

I didn't recommend the book. Does this mean I'm anti-recommending this book? Absolutely not. If you glance through it, love the pictures, think it looks fun, then go for it. It costs less than some of the salads I've seen at fast food joints; I don't think you're going to be crippled by buyer's remorse.

Want to look before you buy?

http://www.readitforward.com/time-garden-time-chamber/

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my review. This is my honest opinion about the book.