1) Timekeeper ★★★★★

content warnings: homophobia, racism, violence, death
representation: main gay character, side bi/pan character, main m/m relationship, side biracial (indian-english) character, side indian characters, side sikh characters, side hindu characters, side, side black characters, side m/m relationships

I read Timekeeper January last year and loved it, but I was kind of apprehensive about the sequel because in the time between reading each book I had become a much more critical reader and was worried I wouldn't like the sequel as much. Of course, I forgot how fantastic Tara Sim is and ended up loving this.

Chainbreaker takes place a few months after the events of the first book, and things are just starting to get normal again for Danny (or, as normal as it can be when you're illegally dating a clock spirit) when clock towers start falling in India. Strangely, though, time is somehow not stopping when the towers fall, and Danny and Daphne are both sent to India to investigate.

I loved the way that Tara Sim explored the British rule over India in this book, particularly through Daphne. Similarly to Tara Sim herself, Daphne is half-Indian, half-white, and is white passing, which means that when she goes to India everyone thinks that she's white. There are also several Indian characters introduced throughout the novel, and I loved their interactions with our English characters and their views on the upcoming crowning of Queen Victoria as 'Queen Empress of India'. The look at religion in this book, while not a major part, was also lovely to read about.

The characters were just as fantastic as in last past. Some characters, such as Cassie and Brandon, don't get very much page-time in this book but I found myself not minding it too much because of all the other characters we had. The new characters were great additions and I'm really excited to (hopefully) see them in the next book, and I loved my disaster gay son Danny Hart, but the real stand-outs of this book to me were Colton and Daphne.

One criticism I've seen of this book is that Colton and Danny are seperate for the majority of it, and while I understand that I actually loved it because it meant that Colton was given so much great development throughout the book. You get a lot more information on clock spirits and Colton's past as you read more from his perspective, and his interactions with characters were some of my favourites.

Then, Daphne. Oh my god, what a woman. I would die for Daphne, I love her so damn much. A lot of this book is told in her perspective and I loved seeing her develop more as you begin to understand her past and motivations. She gets a romantic subplot in this which I surprisingly really enjoyed, and I loved seeing her and Danny's friendship continue to grow.

The antagonists of this book were so damn good. They're the kind of antagonists where you agree with their ideology, but not necessarily their methods. I'm really excited to see where they go in the third and final book.

This book ends on a cliffhanger and I feel personally attacked. It's right up there with Mark of Athena as one of the most gut-wrenching cliffhangers I ever read, except I had the next two Heroes of Olympus books to read after MoA; we're not getting the third book until next year and I genuinely don't think I can last that long before I just die of feels.

This review feels really messy, but if you loved Timekeeper, then you'll probably love this one just as much, if not more.