2015; 383 pages. Book 4 (out of 13) in the series “The Chronicles of St. Mary’s”. New Author? : No. Genres: Time Travel; Humorous Fantasy; Historical
Fiction, Romance. Overall Rating: 9*/10.
Awww. Madeleine
“Max” Maxwell is back together again with her lover, Leon Farrell. Kinda.
Except Max’s Leon was killed, so this Leon is a slightly different
one. And Leon’s Max was killed, so our
Max is sort of a substitute. Hopping
around parallel universes can get to be confusing.
Still, there’s enough
similarities between the two Leons and the two Max’s that this arrangement
might just work out. It’s just a matter
of taking things slow and easy, and getting to know each other all over
again. With enough time, they’ll do just
fine.
Alas, the Time Police are hot
on their trail, vowing to bring both of them to justice for the unforgivable
sin of altering History. They are accused of bringing a boy named Helios from the ancient past back to the present world. The Time Police are known to be relentless and merciless.
That means Time is something
Max and Leon no longer have.
What’s To Like...
A Trail Through
Time is the fourth book in Jodi Taylor’s fantastic Time Travel series which
is now up to thirteen books. I’m reading
these in chronological order, which is advisable since Max now is jumping around through both Time and Multiverses.
Those who are reading the
series for its Time Travel elements (and I’m one of
them) are in for a treat – the whole first third of the book is one long
chase scene as our two heroes chrono-hop time after time (pun intended) in a desperate attempt to stay
one step ahead of the baddies. Major stops include 17th-century
England, 18th Dynasty Egypt, and Pompeii right before Mt. Vesuvius blows its top.
If you’re reading this series
for the Romance angle, you’ll be happy to know that it seemed like that genre got
greater attention here than in the previous books. And finally, if you’re
just reading these books for the thrills-&-spills, guess what? – the action
starts immediately and never lets up.
We get to meet some new bad guys here: the Time Police. Their goal is to nullify anything and anyone
who befuddles the original timeline.
Max’s dimension-jumping certainly qualifies for that (hey, it wasn’t her
fault!), and so does the transporting of a doomed Trojan youth to present-day
England, which has occurred in at both Max’s and Leon’s home dimensions.
Jodi Taylor is an English
author, so we get learn all sorts of British vocabulary, including some
great slang phrases, a few of which are listed below. I chuckled at seeing “wheelie bin” used; this was the second book
in a row I came across that phrase, after a lifetime of never hearing of
it. And it was delight to go to a 1683
London event called a “Frost Fair”, a
celebration that takes place out on the frozen Thames River. Sadly, I don’t think those are held anymore.
The storyline builds to an
exciting fight scene, the outcome being both a surprising and inevitable
climax. The Max/Leon love angle plot
thread also end in a climax. The book
closes with a coin-toss, but its result is not revealed, which serves as a great teaser for the sequel, No Time Like the Past.
Kewlest New Word ...
Water Butt
(n.) : a large container for
collecting or storing a liquid, such as rainwater. (a Britishism)
Others: Todger (n., British, slang); Bint (n., British, derogatory), Buttie
(n., British,
slang).
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.7*/5, based on 2,241 ratings
and 591 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.32*/5,
based on 11,719
ratings and 750 reviews.
Excerpts...
Swans!
Coming in at eye-height, in attack
formation with necks outstretched, wings extended and some very nasty looks in
their eyes, was what seemed like every swan in the county, or possibly all of
England. A whole battalion of them. I had no idea we had so many. I know they can be nasty, and God knows these
had good reason. Over the years St.
Mary’s swans have been blown up, terrorised by Plesiosaur look-alikes, had a
Renault 5 engine mistakenly flung at them by a Roman trebuchet, and been dyed
blue. These were swans that had had
enough. (pg. 149)
“Okay people, listen up. This is it.
We all know what to do. If we
remember our training then we’ll be fine.
Our job is to hold the front doors and stairs for as long as
possible. There will be some noise and
chaos and you’ll be scared, but that’s OK because we’re St. Mary’s and no one
does noise and chaos as well as us.
Major Guthrie estimates we’ll be outnumbered about six to one …”
Around me, heads bobbed up sharply and
Peterson said, “Um …”
“So what I’m saying is, the first one to
shoot their six nips back and puts the kettle on.” (pg. 315)
We’re St.
Mary’s. We can fashion a heat-seeking
missile out of two toilet rolls and an elastic band. (pg. 338)
It’s hard to find
something to gripe about in A Trail Through Time. Those who dislike cussing in their
sci-fi/fantasy tales should note that I counted ten instances in the first 20%
of the book, albeit none of them are f-bombs.
There’s also one roll-in-the-hay, already alluded to, but this is a Time
Travel Romance story, so that’s to be expected.
The overall tone of the book
seemed a bit darker than what I remember of the first three volumes, but that’s
not necessarily a bad thing. Some good guys die, but none of them are major characters, and hey, when you can hop across
and around the multiverse, is death really an absolute finality for anyone?
I thoroughly
enjoyed A Trail Through Time. As has been true thus far for all the books I've read in this series, it was
a well-written and clever combination of action-adventure, historical fiction, and Time Travel
Romance, with a healthy helping of wit and humor blended in to keep it a
fun read. I think I’m getting hooked
on this series.
9 Stars. Jodi Taylor started a spinoff series from this, beginning in 2019, and focusing on the Time Police. To date, there are four books in it, the first of which, Doing Time, resides on my Kindle. Perhaps it’s time to check that out.
No comments:
Post a Comment