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colorcrystals's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Colonisation, Misogyny, Racism, Homophobia, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Confinement and War
monniebiloney's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I enjoyed this book over all more then the first book, but I disliked how it ended in a cliffhanger.
In the books defense, it HAD to end in a cliffy or the book would be way longer the the first book.
I liked how I guessed correctly about things forshadwed in the first book (how Clockspirits are made)
And I was a little sad that my guesses of what was going on in this book didn't come true. I do think that it's not really possible to guess what's going on, as we don't have enough information inorder to make any real guesses, but I also skimmed most of Daphnes chapters so...I could be wrong, lol 😂 maybe they did foreshadow what the water could mean, who knows
I think our main couple is a lot better, and Corten gets lots of development.
The historical elements from our real world felt pretty weird to me, but Idk
In the books defense, it HAD to end in a cliffy or the book would be way longer the the first book.
I liked how I guessed correctly about things forshadwed in the first book (how Clockspirits are made)
And I was a little sad that my guesses of what was going on in this book didn't come true. I do think that it's not really possible to guess what's going on, as we don't have enough information inorder to make any real guesses, but I also skimmed most of Daphnes chapters so...I could be wrong, lol 😂 maybe they did foreshadow what the water could mean, who knows
I think our main couple is a lot better, and Corten gets lots of development.
The historical elements from our real world felt pretty weird to me, but Idk
Content Warnings
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Outing, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Racism, and Torture
maggiefae's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: War, Racism, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and Sexism
Minor: Homophobia, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment
thebakersbooks's review
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Gotta admit, I wasn't expecting so much both-sidesing of the British occupation of India from a half-Indian author. Ninety percent of the book does a solid job of acknowledging the atrocities of British colonialism, but the entire climax consists of the (British) main character being horrified at Indian people around him trying to free their country. A direct quote: "There's no black or white here. You think one side is the villain and one is the hero, but that's not the case. It's more complicated than that." Maybe one can ascribe this to the MC being deliberately written as flawed, but because this issue comes to the forefront at the very end of the book, there's no time to unpack or counter it.
I also dislike that, while the author made the deliberate choice to make gayness/same-sex relationships accepted (or at least tolerated) in Britain, she made it so they were outlawed in India. This is frustrating because in real life, queer people had a place in precolonial Indian culture and that only changed with the imposition of western morays as a result of imperialism.
Besides these considerable flaws, the book was also poorly paced. The first book was told from main character Danny's perspective, while this one was split between Danny, Daphne, and Colton; I suspect attempting to juggle three POVs is a large part of what weighed the pacing down for the first half of the book. In my opinion, steampunk worldbuilding and an interesting story concept do not make up for the above, and as such, I do not recommend this book and I likely will not finish the series.
content warnings: several mentions of colonial violence, some systemic; anti-Indian racism throughout; killing an animal for sport (by antagonistic character); homophobia and threats of forced outing of gay characters
I also dislike that, while the author made the deliberate choice to make gayness/same-sex relationships accepted (or at least tolerated) in Britain, she made it so they were outlawed in India. This is frustrating because in real life, queer people had a place in precolonial Indian culture and that only changed with the imposition of western morays as a result of imperialism.
Besides these considerable flaws, the book was also poorly paced. The first book was told from main character Danny's perspective, while this one was split between Danny, Daphne, and Colton; I suspect attempting to juggle three POVs is a large part of what weighed the pacing down for the first half of the book. In my opinion, steampunk worldbuilding and an interesting story concept do not make up for the above, and as such, I do not recommend this book and I likely will not finish the series.
content warnings: several mentions of colonial violence, some systemic; anti-Indian racism throughout; killing an animal for sport (by antagonistic character); homophobia and threats of forced outing of gay characters
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Colonisation
Minor: Homophobia
silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Colonisation, Terminal illness, and Confinement
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexism
booksthatburn's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
CHAINBREAKER by Tara Sim is a historical sci-fi/fantasy story about gay boys in love across what feels like an impossible distance. It features clocktower terrorists, the complexity of colonial rebellion, and what Danny believes are too many zeppelins.
I love this book, I loved every minute of reading it, and I'm just so happy about it. I love the way Danny and Colton's relationship has changed subtly and feels more established than when they first got together. Because of plot reasons they don't actually spend much time in scenes together, but this means we get to see Colton on his own, as his own person, which I love. I'd guessed the general shape of his origins and I was right in a manner more horrifying than what I'd vaguely anticipated, the reveal scene is well-written and emotionally devastating in all the best ways. I like Daphne much better here now that she's one of the main narrators, and I appreciate that her heritage is relevant without tokenizing her. The antagonists are genuinely scary, and the mystery of what's going on with the attacks and bombings is very compelling. The reveals in the last few chapters were shocking in a satisfying way, they were consistent with the narrative while also being a surprise during this first reading.
I liked India as a setting and I liked how there are several named Indian characters who are featured and important to the plot. Because a large part of the story revolves around a fictional version of Indian rebellion under British rule and occupation, the variety of Indian perspectives helped keep any one character from appearing to speak for the whole country, especially when part of the point is that it's complicated and there's no one clear answer but the characters have to decide how they will live and act anyway.
This doesn't really wrap up anything left hanging from the first book, but that's more a feature of how self-contained the main plot of the first book is, it didn't leave much hanging. It continues some interpersonal relationships that were established there, but it doesn't close out anything I can think of, exactly. The main storyline starts here and wasn't present in the first book, and some of what it introduces is resolved, but this kind of feels like book one could have stood alone, and then this is the first half of something that will be resolved in the final book of the trilogy. That's a really common (and generally good) structure for trilogies, and it works really well for this series. There's a lot of stuff for the third book to pick up and address (like the cliffhanger ending!), so I'm very eager to read that conclusion. Danny returns as a narrator, and some more minor characters from the first book get to narrate their own experiences here. Their voices are distinct and tend to match their portrayals from the first book really well. This might make sense if someone picked it up at random and didn't know about the series as a whole, especially since a lot of the world-building is devoted to showing India and their version of the clocktowers.
I feel strange saying this, but I'm impressed with how the homophobia was handled. It was established in TIMEKEEPER that Danny is gay, and there's a pretty clear implication that it's discouraged or possibly actively despised in England, but it kind of takes a backseat to the "greater issue" that his lover is a clocktower spirit (who aren't supposed to exist). CHAINBREAKER, the homophobia intersects with racism in what I understand to be an historically accurate way, but its depiction on the page is as minimal as possible while still clearly conveying what's going on. It revolves around characters dealing with the potentiality of homophobia and racism, and shows how that affects their lives, but doesn't give much focus to the characters who have been established as bigoted, since the main characters do their best to avoid them. That said, homophobia, various forms of bigotry, and othering of a main character are major themes in this series, so check out the CWs if you're not sure whether you want that right now.
This is great and I'm looking forward to FIRESTARTER!
I love this book, I loved every minute of reading it, and I'm just so happy about it. I love the way Danny and Colton's relationship has changed subtly and feels more established than when they first got together. Because of plot reasons they don't actually spend much time in scenes together, but this means we get to see Colton on his own, as his own person, which I love. I'd guessed the general shape of his origins and I was right in a manner more horrifying than what I'd vaguely anticipated, the reveal scene is well-written and emotionally devastating in all the best ways. I like Daphne much better here now that she's one of the main narrators, and I appreciate that her heritage is relevant without tokenizing her. The antagonists are genuinely scary, and the mystery of what's going on with the attacks and bombings is very compelling. The reveals in the last few chapters were shocking in a satisfying way, they were consistent with the narrative while also being a surprise during this first reading.
I liked India as a setting and I liked how there are several named Indian characters who are featured and important to the plot. Because a large part of the story revolves around a fictional version of Indian rebellion under British rule and occupation, the variety of Indian perspectives helped keep any one character from appearing to speak for the whole country, especially when part of the point is that it's complicated and there's no one clear answer but the characters have to decide how they will live and act anyway.
This doesn't really wrap up anything left hanging from the first book, but that's more a feature of how self-contained the main plot of the first book is, it didn't leave much hanging. It continues some interpersonal relationships that were established there, but it doesn't close out anything I can think of, exactly. The main storyline starts here and wasn't present in the first book, and some of what it introduces is resolved, but this kind of feels like book one could have stood alone, and then this is the first half of something that will be resolved in the final book of the trilogy. That's a really common (and generally good) structure for trilogies, and it works really well for this series. There's a lot of stuff for the third book to pick up and address (like the cliffhanger ending!), so I'm very eager to read that conclusion. Danny returns as a narrator, and some more minor characters from the first book get to narrate their own experiences here. Their voices are distinct and tend to match their portrayals from the first book really well. This might make sense if someone picked it up at random and didn't know about the series as a whole, especially since a lot of the world-building is devoted to showing India and their version of the clocktowers.
I feel strange saying this, but I'm impressed with how the homophobia was handled. It was established in TIMEKEEPER that Danny is gay, and there's a pretty clear implication that it's discouraged or possibly actively despised in England, but it kind of takes a backseat to the "greater issue" that his lover is a clocktower spirit (who aren't supposed to exist). CHAINBREAKER, the homophobia intersects with racism in what I understand to be an historically accurate way, but its depiction on the page is as minimal as possible while still clearly conveying what's going on. It revolves around characters dealing with the potentiality of homophobia and racism, and shows how that affects their lives, but doesn't give much focus to the characters who have been established as bigoted, since the main characters do their best to avoid them. That said, homophobia, various forms of bigotry, and othering of a main character are major themes in this series, so check out the CWs if you're not sure whether you want that right now.
This is great and I'm looking forward to FIRESTARTER!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Grief, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Animal death
Minor: Death of parent
CW for major character death (graphic).
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