Review: The Timeseer's Gambit by Kate McIntyre

Title: The Timeseer's Gambit

Author: Kate McIntyre

Series: The Faraday Files #2

Genre: Science Fiction/Mystery/Steampunk

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

Publication Date: August, 4th 2016

Edition: ebook, 401 pages

Source: Received copy from publisher for review

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository |  BAM

Synopsis:

     It’s been three months since mild-mannered Christopher Buckley began working with Olivia Faraday, the eccentric Deathsniffer. They’ve hunted killers, solved murders, and learned to work together. But their greatest challenges are yet to come…

     As a brutal heat wave wracks an increasingly unstable Darrington City, someone is killing young priests. Worse, they are using bound elementals to do it. As Chris and Olivia contend with rogue spiritbinders and a church under siege, the clock ticks down toward the trial of Doctor Francis Livingstone, accused of orchestrating the fall of the Floating Castle and the death of thousands. Chris believes the doctor is innocent, but the tide of the conspiracy aligned against him is strong enough to wash away anyone who would stand for him.

     How far is Chris willing to go to save the doctor? Can Darrington city survive the rival forces tearing it apart? And can Olivia find her first serial killer before another body drops?

Review:

I love, love this series.

I was really lucky to get an ARC of this book, but it just has taken me so long to get through it. Well, longer than I would've liked. 

I love the dynamic that Chris and Olivia have developed during their time as partners.

There were a lot more twists in this book than the first, and you can really see the improvement the author has had in her writing. I loved getting to know these characters better.

This book felt a little less focused on the murder, and more on Chris's personal life, the struggle he's going through with sending his little sister so far away, feeling and being alone for the first since his parents died, and the attraction he has for both his new friend Will and his sister's governess and what could mean.

While I did like getting to know him better as a character, I felt the pages of him moping about, slowed down the book a little at times. It was not boring, just not quite as interesting to me as the mystery of the murders, and the Livingstone case.

If you are looking for a different kind of steampunk, or a different kind of Murder Mystery, I highly recommend this series.