That was another long-awaited and long-anticipated sequel! A fun, entertaining, and gripping read in the graphic novel format, with wild art and awesome text.

Another one of the sequels I was keeping an eye out for was Issaka Galadima and Fredrick L. Jones’ second volume of Clock Strikers. The series opening was one of my favorite manga releases of 2023, and I have been eagerly awaiting its sequel since.

Titled, The Sharing Society, the story charges right ahead and quickly picked up where the last volume left off. It combined a couple of humorous moments with plenty of action, while also continuing to explore some of the darker and far more complex themes present in the series. It had echoes of the conflict that took place in the first volume, but while the core was similar, this time around it was under vastly different circumstances—which kept the volume interesting as well as moving at a good pace. I flew through this one, and enjoyed every second of it.

This volume was story heavy and threw the characters into a number of perilous situations. Klaus is in a bind. He’s back in Altar and at the mercy of his father. However, there’s trouble in paradise for the Demon Bandits who were his captors, but it seemed like it was a deal/exchange that was always destined to go sideways. On the other side, our Striker and Smith duo, Philomena Clock and Cast, are in pursuit—while also being pursued. Some of the most unexpected twists arrived while the majority of the cast was in Altar, the supposed “sharing society.” The story peeled back the layers of that society and delved into the underlying darkness of the situation, and those were among the most compelling areas of the volume.

And, while a lot of ground was covered, the last chapter ends on a cliffhanger with the beginning of another mystery. However, that nicely set up the potential for the next volume.

Overall, Jones and Galadima have hit it out of the park with the second volume of Clock Striker.

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Rockport Publishers/ Quarto Publishing) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

**reviewed from uncorrected eARC via netgalley**

graphic fiction series (rated T for 13 and up -- definitely read #1 first to get a good intro to the characters); action-packed steampunk dystopian adventure involving cyborgs, mechahorses, demons, tricksy, trash-talking bad guys and tricksy, trash-talking good guys.

I like the manga-similar format (reads left-to-right, but the style is very similar to manga layouts otherwise) though I'm not very practiced at following action scenes in general--I'll just skim over the whams and bams and then try to figure out the aftermath. I really liked the coding elements, the way that any skilled kid could hack or debug various tech objects they come across, and that this world leans more heavily on science than a lot of other fictional places.

I think some kids would really love this, but as I mentioned before I'm not really used to following details in this format. From what I managed to glean, it did seem like a cool world with strong characters, so I hope this does well.

A story that relates to science instead of magic, though in some aspects I wonder if it's magic too. They are working towards finding their friend that asked for their help. Things get really crazy in this story. It has some fascinating characters and world building.

This is my new favourite manga series. The first volume establishes the setting and the characters well, and the action resumes and never stops in this one. It is rare to be engaged every panel/second/page/paragraph of a title, yet this was engaging and the art style is very detailed, clean and beautiful for such a high-paced, action-packed series.

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group, Rockport Publishers, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this awesome book. The action continues in volume 2 of the Clock Striker series which starts off right where volume 1 ends. Same great characters, wonderful, fast-moving plot, sci-fi elements, and non-stop action make this a fast and enjoyable read. I would gladly recommend it to any teen who enjoys fast paced action with elements of sci-fi and can’t wait for the next volume.