Book Review – Chainbreaker

Book: Chainbreaker (Timekeeper 2) by Tara Sim
Release Date: January 2nd 2018
Tags: Young Adult / Sci-Fi / Time Control / Fantasy / Mythology / India / Steampunk
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Other books in this series I reviewed
Timekeeper

Goodreads

Possible spoilers for the previous books in the series

Synopsis

Clock mechanic Danny Hart knows he’s being watched. But by whom, or what, remains a mystery. To make matters worse, clock towers have begun falling in India, though time hasn’t Stopped yet. He’d hoped after reuniting with his father and exploring his relationship with Colton, he’d have some time to settle into his new life. Instead, he’s asked to investigate the attacks.

After inspecting some of the fallen Indian towers, he realizes the British occupation may be sparking more than just attacks. And as Danny and Colton unravel more secrets about their past, they find themselves on a dark and dangerous path–one from which they may never return.

Review

If you knew me at the end of 2016 you will know that Timekeeper was one of my favorite new releases of that year. Which is why I was so sad when the release of the sequel got pushed back to January of this year. There were also some changes in the cover that I am entirely unsure of. Not that it isn’t pretty because it is.  Onto the book though. Chainbreaker is an enjoyable read but really can’t live up to Timekeeper.

Chainbreaker is only a 100 pages longer than Timekeeper but it felt as if it was 200 pages. The pacing was a lot slower, maybe a bit too slow in places. Two things slowed things down. In this book Colton and Danny have their own storylines and as such they are rarely on the page together. Added to that is Daphne’s point of view who comes forward more. And secondly Colton’s story line has various flashbacks. Flashbacks do tend to take the speed out of things as its looking back at things that already happened.

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Having said that I did enjoy looking into Colton’s past and seeing where he comes from. Where the clock spirits come from. It answers  quite a few questions we had in the first book. But in Danny’s storyline we get a whole lot more in the form of if some of the mythology is real or not? In those regards I really can’t wait on the next book and get those answers.

Near the end the book picked up a lot of pace and then it was done. There was such an abrupt ending that I was just sitting there with an empty page, wondering where the rest was. It left me feeling very, very dissatisfied. It didn’t feel like there was a real wrap to this book.

A big portion of this book is set in India. Daphne is of mixed heritage, British and Indian. She was raised in Britain but has always been stared at. She struggles with a lot of conflict about being Indian but not being seen as Indian and whether or not she belongs there. It is very interesting to see this with in the back drop an India that is conflicted itself between wanting control of their own land and the control of the Brish. Even more so knowing that Tara Sim herself is half-Indian. There are a lot of morality questions that come forward in this book. From Daphne, Danny, Akash.

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Romance wise there isn’t a huge amount in this book. For most of it Danny and Colton are separated and while they obviously think about each other a lot it does not take over the plot. And they are separated by continents so that makes it even harder to take over the plot with smooching. There is a bit of a side story of romance with Daphne. No matter how hard I wanted her to go for him, I didn’t really feel the chemistry on the page when it happened. Maybe she holds herself back to much still. And I think I missed something deeper between them. But that might be still to come.

14 thoughts on “Book Review – Chainbreaker

  1. I LOVE the covers of these books, especially when they’re together. ❤ I skimmed this one a bit since I haven't read book 1, and I'm feeling like I should. I'm worried about that cliffhanger you're talking about though. Maybe I'll wait for the next book in the series (if there is one) to come out before I start the first!

    – Aimee @ Aimee, Always

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, despite the cover change they still somehow match.
      Right now it says that the next one should be out this November but I think that might be early next year. With that cliffhanger it would be good to have the next one ready. 😉

      Like

  2. So many people are a fan of this series, I feel like I desperately need to read it because I hate being out of the loop! Timekeeper definitely sounds like something I’d like, I’ll pick it up soon to give it a go!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Hmm… too funny, I was meh about reading Chainbreaker after reading Timekeeper because there was a bit more time spent on romance than I like (you know me) and I wanted to know more about the characters than I was getting, so this sounds like I might like it better. Thanks for sharing your thoughts because now I want to read it. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

  4. It’s a shame that this one didn’t quite live up to Timekeeper! I did rate TK 5 stars and this 4 stars simply because I felt like some of the magic from the first book was missing. Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy Chainbreaker because I did, but it was just so very different from TK in a lot of ways. I definitely missed the page time of Danny and Colton together. I really love how sweet they are with each other, and it was sad not to have that as much as TK did!

    I really did like the setting though, and I thought that Sim’s descriptions were really lovely! And the added POV chapters of Daphne’s were enjoyable, as well 😀

    I really hope we get all the answers in Firestarter!

    Liked by 1 person

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