A Count of Five - Erin L. Snyder

   2015; 259 pages.  Book 1 (out of 9) in the series “The Citadel of the Last Gathering”.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres: Time Travel; Fantasy; Alternate Timelines.  Overall Rating: 5½*/10.

 

    Alaji has learned a new spell!

 

    Actually, that’s not such a big deal, since magic, at least on a limited basis, is a common ability among her people.  Men learn spells to help them in combat.  Women, including Alaji, are taught household magic, such as self-weaving thread and fire-starting spells to instantly light torches.

 

    However, Alaji has figured out how to do a decidedly more powerful spell, one that allows her to travel through time.  So far, all she can do is skip back a couple seconds at a time, not a very useful talent unless, say, someone is trying to punch you.  There must be some way to make bigger time-jumps, transport others through time with her, and jump forward in time.  Alaji plans to keep experimenting with the spell until she discovers how to do these things.

 

    There is a catch in all of this.  Time-travel is considered to be “a spell of the gods”, reserved solely for deities, and forbidden to humans.  If any of Alaji’s fellow tribesmen find out she’s learned how to cast this spell, they will kill her without any hesitation.  The gods demand it.

 

What’s To Like...

    A Count of Five is the first book in Erin L. Snyder’s sword-&-sorcery/time-travel series “The Citadel of the Last Gathering”.  The book’s title references the Alaji's people’s counting system, based on 5 digits, instead of our 10-digit system.  Surprisingly, that allows them to quickly do complex additions via their fingers, and presumably their toes if whatever they’re counting are numerous enough.

 

    I liked the character-building of our protagonist, Alaji.  Yes, she has the usual heroic qualities, but she is also capable of cold-blooded murder if need be.  Her on-again/off-again sidekick Yemerik is equally “gray”; he will quickly switch allegiances if the situation calls for it, and his past is shrouded in mystery, both as to where he comes from, and when.

 

    For now, the fantasy angle takes a back seat to the time-travel element.  The only otherworldly creatures I noted were goblins and dragons.  Both species can be a threat if you’re wandering around in the wilds, but they don’t have a major impact on the plotline here.  However this is only Book One.

 

    There’s much greater emphasis on the time-traveling.  It has a huge impact on the main storylines: Alaji wants to get back home and “revive” her dead brother by altering the timeline; Yemerik wants to get to the titular Citadel of the Last Gathering and (from his viewpoint) restore the timeline to its original and proper sequence of events.  Along the way, they will make use of a huge Time Portal door, which, if you have trouble envisaging it, is depicted on the book’s cover.

 

    The ending is more of a stopping point than the culmination of a tale.  Alaji is still honing her chrono-hopping skills, her traveling companions change frequently, and both Yemerik’s and her quests are a long way from being completed.  The book closes with some helpful background information about time-magic and what I presume is a teaser for the next book.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.0/5 based on 26 ratings and 12 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.14/5 based on 22 ratings and 7 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “The words may be different or have altered meanings.  Even the syntax could have changed.  I have a pendant that will equalize my speech, but it might take time to adjust.  Until it does, I’ll have to make do with body language and tone.  It will be awkward until then.  Even after that, you won’t understand much of what we’re saying, if you understand any of it.”

    “And if they attack us?”

    “Then forget everything I just said and kill as many as you can, starting with the leaders.”  (loc. 1546)

 

    “Well.  I think that should do it, more or less.  I hope.  We’ve got several thousand years leeway, so there’s reason to be optimistic, anyway.”

    “The gate is . . . open?”

    “No.  It’s primed to be opened.”

    “Then . . . what?  It opens when we go through?”

    “Yes,” Yemerik replied, somewhat surprised she’d figured that out.  “When we go through with the fragments, the gate will open.”  He cleared his throat then corrected himself.  “Should open.  I’m still working more from theory than experience.”  (loc. 1951)

 

Kindle Details…

    A Count of Five is presently priced at $2.99 at Amazon, as are the other eight books in this series.  Erin L. Snyder also offers three standalone novels for your Kindle; they too cost $2.99.  The most recent e-book by this author, the closing volume in this series, was published in 2020.

 

“I’m a constructive historian, not a thaumaturgist.”  (loc. 1515)

    There are some things to quibble about.  First the good news: there’s amazingly little cussing in the book.  I noted just five instances in the first 40%, one excretory mention and four references to cosmic condemnation.  I’m always impressed when an author doesn’t rely on an overuse of cusswords to set the tone in a book.  That's what adjectives and a thesaurus are for.

 

    I found the pacing of the story to be slow and, for most of the book, not a lot of action to keep the reader turning the pages.  To be fair though, the ending does include an exciting and unanticipated calamity.  Still, I expected more thrills-and-spills given the presence of dragons, goblin, magic, and time-traveling.

 

    A map would have come in handy, although admittedly that would be a challenge since landmarks change over the course of centuries when centuries of time leaps occur. There are no page numbers in the Kindle format, but to be fair, the reader can use the "percentage read" figure to estimate how much more he has to go.

 

    Last, and nit-pickiest, syncing the “time remaining” estimates to the 70 “Sections” instead of just the five “Parts” would have been far more useful.

 

    Overall, I greatly enjoyed the time-traveling aspects in A Count of Five.  Erin L. Snyder is not afraid delve into the realms of Time Paradoxes and Timeline Manipulating, and I was impressed with that.  A few readers found that confusing, but I like it when a storyteller isn't afraid to tackle thins like "what happens if I go back in time and meet myself?"

 

    For me, the main issues were the shortage of action and lack of any of the plot threads being tied up in the ending.  This is a nine-volume saga, and I have to wonder if other books in the series have the same drawbacks.  Luckily, Book Two, A Tide of Ice, is on my Kindle, and perhaps reading it will give me a better idea of where this series is heading.

 

    5½ Stars.  Yemerik is an enigmatic character.  He is aware of things like tuning forks, coins and other historical anachronisms.  I found myself wondering if he’s actually from our present time and world, and can't wait to learn more of his backstory.