The Chainbreakers

by Julian Randall

In this action-packed fantasy, thirteen-year-old Violent Moon must rescue her father and save her enchanted underwater world—perfect for fans of The Marvellers and Tristan Strong series.All Violet Moon has ever wanted is to be a Reaper captain like her father. Born on the Tides of the Lost, a magical world beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, Violet has spent her life at her father’s side rescuing souls lost in the water.But when a rescue mission turns to disaster after the arrival of the dreaded Children of the Shark, weaponized ghost-sharks who steal the souls for themselves, her father is seized and pulled down into the darkness of the Depths. With no choice for Violet but to inherit the captain's powers and helm the ship as the next in line, it'll be up to her to save her father—if he even still lives—and stop the Children of the Shark before they devour the world.

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Audiobook, Adventure

Unknown Binding

First published September 3, 2024

About the author

Julian Randall is a Living Queer Black author from Chicago. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, CantoMundo, Callaloo, and the Watering Hole. Julian is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and the winner of the 2019 Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award from the Publishing Triangle.

His writing has been published in New York Times Magazine, Ploughshares, and POETRY, and anthologized in Black Boy Joy (which debuted at #1 on the NYT Best Seller list), Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, and Furious Flower. Julian has essays in The Atlantic, Vibe Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books and other venues. They hold an MFA in poetry from University of Mississippi.

Julian is the author of five books across three genres. For adults Refuse (Pitt, 2018), winner of the 2017 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and a finalist for a 2019 NAACP Image Award and the forthcoming The Dead Don’t Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi and Black TV Nerd Shit (Bold Type Books, May 2024). For younger readers: the Pilar Ramirez duology and the forthcoming middle grade novel The Chainbreakers (all from Holt Books for Young Readers).

Reviews

[Samm | Sassenach the Book Wizard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can I explain the world/magic?
No but it was good.

[K-la Hugie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an action-packed and inspired book! When you enter the fantastical world that Julian Randall creates in The Chainbreakers, you also get a glimpse into the horrible history of the slave trade. History and fantasy come together to present these necessary realities to a young audience.

Overall, I really enjoyed how the author presented this story and weaved in the magical elements. There was so much engrained into this book that it easily could have been a series. At times during the story I was completely lost though, there were many pivotal points in the story where something that happened was not well explained and justified by either being a legend among the people or a story told. I was lost for a lot of the second half of the book because of this.

While I loved the intent behind this book, I really struggled with the execution. This really would have been better as a series. There was so much amazing mythology and symbolism that really could have used better development and presentation. I love the idea and themes of this book, even the fantastical representations, but it was just very difficult to follow at times. Overall, I would recommend this book to others, but probably not to young readers unless they had a certain amount of emotional maturity that they could understand the themes and representations.

[Hal Schrieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounding up since not many reviews yet. Reading for a committee at my library. There's lots of Capitalized Words in this one (Reapers, Ropers, Heavens, Children of the Shark, Tidewatcher) which does tend to grate after a while, but here is another pretty lively, self-serious Riordanesque fantasy full of action and drama and set in a Rivers Solomon-esque (but elementary-age-targeted) world targeted at Black kids and centering on a magical group of Reapers whose task it is to rescue lost souls from the waves of the cosmic Atlantic Passage and restore them to one of five heavens. After Violet's father, a big, pretty macho cookie cutter sea captain guy, vanishes into the depths after an encounter with some ghost-white-guy -shark-head beings that aren't supposed to be able to touch the living, Violet sets off on a quest with, in my opinion, a few too many stops along the way and a little too much telling rather than showing...still, there's a lot of assertive, girl-power dialogue and she grows appreciably into her new role as leader, cool purple Captain Tattoo and all, which is going to get eaten up. I know some kids who would love this-- and some who wouldn't, mainly because there is a lot of lore, fight scenes, and dialogue, and not a lot of glimpses into everyday life in the magical world. Not a lot of comedy-- more action packed and epic questy in tone, but meeting that real need. Fantastic cover works in its favor-- kids do want things that look this badass and will pick it up. Characterization is a tad thin, though I love Zay and Dirge; it's because the self-insert-style heroine, Violet Moon, will be the chief preoccupation of young fantasists, and there's no reason that this pan-african drama shouldn't widely appeal to kids. Written by a queer poet, and it shows in the zest for opaque, intricate imagery.

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe more like 3.5…but I was really distracted when listening and I had to keep re-listening to parts…and the world went crazy and fell apart recently…so maybe it was me?

I enjoyed the premise and I liked the backstory, but it was a little complicated for me. I just went with it and the story had a rapid but pleasing conclusion.

The mythology of the chainmakers and the chainbreakers is sadly not going to resonate with kids the same way it does with grownups…because they probably haven’t been taught that part of history yet. Ain’t that the joke! No- we don’t learn about the slave trade until high school. Or we only cover up to the revolutionary war in elementary school. Hence why we are reliving the terrible recent past right now! So soon! Because we gutted education! But I digress…

The concept of their world was hard for me to understand- waves below and waves above? But it was a fun story with a plucky MC who just needs her adults to believe in her and give her a chance! And all the hero’s are teenage girls!

For fantasy lovers and kids who can follow a complex world scheme…or for surface readers who just like action and can get to the end!

Really enjoyed the narrator FWIW!

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story opens with the female main character helping her father, the captain of a ship who rescues "passengers." The captain has immense magical powers in a world built on a world spawned from a successful slave uprising on a ship in the middle passage. All the different parts of this world fit so well together in one of the most cohesive fantastical worlds I have seen inspired by this shameful age of history. (Granted, with humans running the show, it's difficult to find any history free of horrific acts.) While not overly descriptive and while managing to avoid info-dumping, Randall establishes the mythos of this world through the prologue told as if by a griot. I really enjoyed this story and think that middle school students would as well even if some of the deeply embedded allusions may go over their heads. The only thing that brings my rating down a notch is the break-neck pace of the plot. Occasionally, things moved just a tad too quickly, leaving the reader with a bit of proverbial whiplash as well as not leaving time for some of the well-crafted illusions to sink in and have full effect.

[Glenna Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Violet lost her mother years before, and since that day has sailed with her father, captain of the Moony, and the ship's crew, as a Reaper, helping save Passengers from the Children of the Shark. Now, her father is captured by the Children of the Shark, for who knows what purpose, and Violet is Captain. Not everyone, though, believes Violet's father is still alive, so Violet and her friend Moss go on a voyage to find the one person who can help, the legendary Dirge. With The Chainbreakers, Randall has created an alternate reality, a place where the souls of those lost on the Middle Passage have the possibility of a life of safety and where the once-enslaved people not only broke their chains, but triumphed over their oppressors and with the help of the ancient gods, created a world on their own terms. Unfortunately, the slavers were cursed and tied to the Reapers of souls. I really wish the author had made this book into a two- or even three-part story in order to more fully explore the riches and hope of the world he created.

[Karen Reeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no doubt that Julian Randall is also a poet when you get reading his beautiful works of fiction. I love the language. It’s not all flowery or anything like that, I mean we’re talking war between those who were involved in slavery with those who are trying to save the souls of those captured. Randall’s language describing the events is concise yet powerful!
Violet is the daughter of the captain of one of the five ships who sail to save the souls who were lost during slave trade. The slave traders themselves were cursed and now try to reclaim these souls to devour them before the reapers can bring these souls to a heaven.
The world building is incredible. There is a wide array of characters that provide moments of compassion, humor, and excitement. Young readers who enjoy fantasy and adventure will love taking part in Violet’s intense undertaking to defy the evils of the deep.

[Rae the Reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a super action-packed adventure steeped in magic. I love the way this novel worked as an allegory for saving enslaved people. The characters felt like pirates on a race against the evil Chainmakers. The magic system was fun and used quite frequently.

My only qualms were that there were, at times, a lot of characters to follow. I also think the world of different Heavens was really cool and I wish that was explored more. I hope this ends up being a series so it can be expanded.

I'd recommend this one for upper elementary (mainly 5th grade) and lower middle school.

(I was between a 4 and 5 so I rounded up)

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Violet Moon's father is a ship captain. He works with the captains from the other 4 worlds to rescue souls but on one trip he is captured and taken underwater. Violet is now the captain but she is convinced her father is still alive and just needs to be saved from his captors.

There's a lot to unpack in this book relating to enslaved people even if this is a fantasy novel. There is a strong female character and a message of hope. Personally, there were times that I could not follow the plot as ChainMakers and ChainBreakers were too close and my brain kept confusing them. There were a few other things about the world building that my brain did not track well.

[Lisa Nocita · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF
I wanted to like it but I am so confused by the setting and the characters. Are they all dead or just the passengers? Picture the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean when Jack Sparrow goes to visit Davey Jones locker. And yet, that seems like a glib comparison when I suspect it is so much more as a treatise on enslavement. I could not get past a 12 year old captain with a ghost (?) companion. Honestly, I don't know what he was exactly. So many questions...

[Emily]

From the rights report: "Thirteen-year-old grim reaper Violet Moon must unexpectedly captain her father's otherworldly crew and harness the ship's magic to rescue him after he's taken overboard, but to save him she must also save the souls trapped beneath the waves in a world created centuries ago after an uprising led by the enslaved on a ship in the Middle Passage."

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

This had some really interesting inclusions of history, from the author of the Pilar Ramirez series. Violet Moon is an engaging character, and her adventures will resonate with fans of Baptiste's The Jumbies and Okorafor's Ikenga.

[Erica Schimmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action packed fantasy story.