This series started off solid and keeps getting better. In the world of the Chronos Chronicles, people can make deals with certain entities to gain access to their power, which makes for really interesting possibilities where magic is concerned. Of the various entities one could make a pact with, nobody has ever made one with Chronos, God of Time…except Adair Finch.
Meet the main character. He can manipulate time in unique ways, namely marking a specific place in time that acts as a reset button for his life. He’s had this power for a while, but it didn’t stop his brother from being killed on a dangerous mission years ago, and Adair’s been a mess over it ever since. The wonderful thing about being able to stick yourself in an infinite time loop is having the time to heal.
At the start of this story, Adair’s still coming out of his funk. He and his brother were a powerful, magic-weilding duo, and his brother’s death hit hard. While Adair is no longer curled into the fetal position over it, he’s still only barely functional and not really ready to deal with the world at large and all the BS that comes with it. Then a child bangs on his door in the wee hours of the morning. Adair being Adair, he marks the time before he even gets out of bed. (He does this any time he suspects something out of the ordinary is about to go down.) Then he answers the door.
What does the child want? Her mother was killed a short time ago, and she needs help from the infamous warlock, Adair Finch—powers unknown—to find the killer while keeping the kid safe in the meantime. What follows is a Groundhog-Day style investigation where Adair blunders into situations, consequences be damned. When things go too far sideways, Adair can wake back up, safe in bed, with a little girl pounding on his door, asking for help with her mother’s murder.
This sounds like it could get mundane in a hurry. Believe me, it doesn’t. I’ve read every book in the series so far and love every one of them. The character development is superb. The magic system is unique. The use of such a repetitive magic trick is used in new and unexpected ways at every turn, and the side quests are hilarious. Adair and his makeshift gang of misfits, including a trickster-spirit-turned-famous-social-media-influencer (book 2), are a hoot.
For fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl, the voice of Adair Finch is performed by none other than Jeff Hays, which is perfect because Adair’s personality matches up to what Carl would be like in a completely different universe. He’s quietly frustrated at the chaos that seems to follow him, but it’s just the kick in the butt he needs to get past the mourning stage and start living again. This book is full of found family done so artfully I want to be adopted as part of it. Give this book a try to see what I mean.
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