More Books than Time

Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg, Sequel to Paper Magician Set in Retro England

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Charlie Holmberg’s The Paper Magician (reviewed here) surprised me with its fresh take on elemental magic and the two main characters, Ceomy and her mentor Thane.  Holmberg follow up novel, The Glass Magician, is set immediately after the first book and introduces new heroic side kicks and new villains.  While The Glass Magician is good, it is not in the same league as The Paper Magician, primarily because it has more YA elements than the first.

In Paper Ceomy is brave and prudent and takes independent action only to save Thane’s life, and only when there is nothing else to do.  In The Glass Magician, Ceomy makes one dumb move after another, tries to go after Grath – unsuccessfully – despite being told not to, and gets her good friend into the mess.  The Ceomy vs. Villains situations comprise the bulk of the plot, something more typical of YA fantasy than stories aimed at adults.

Also typical of YA novels, Ceomy spends too much of the book worrying whether Thane loves her.  The romance was a nice plus in Paper, but it’s overdone in Glass, reducing mature, likable Ceomy to a silly girl.

I still enjoyed The Glass Magician, still liked Ceomy, Thane and the magic system.  I just didn’t enjoy it quite as much as The Paper Magician.

3-4 Stars

Mini Reviews – Fantasy Books from So-So to Really Bad

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Scattered Seasons (The Season Avatars Book 2) by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

Author Almazan tries to combine Regency-style romance with fantasy in Scattered Seasons, similar to Patricia Wrede in her Mairelon the Magician but doesn’t quite work.  Gwen is a noblewoman, betrothed to neighbor William (whose mother fits all the mother-in-law stereotypes) and also the Avatar of Spring in waiting.  She is infected by a cursed pottery shard that renders her unable to remember how to use her healing magic.

The characters are not too bad but the plot is far thinner than it needs to be.  Their ancient enemy is attacking the four season avatars in hopes of disabling their sponsoring “gods”.  In the bulk of the novel Gwen chases from one end of the country to the other to find her other three co-avatars in waiting, all while dodging her disapproving fiance and family; the actual action is at the end.

I ended up skimming the book, curious whether anyone was ever going to do something or we were just running around.  (I have had quite enough novels that waste hundreds of pages tromping from place to place.)  Also there was no map and the book had only hints of the enmity and world building.

The Afterword mentioned that book 1 in the series used the same characters as young people.

2-3 Stars

Death by Advertising by J. R. Kruz, Interesting Short Story that Just…Ends

Death by Advertising could have been, should have been good.  Tess’s longtime friend and business partner Judy is supposedly dead.  She announced it with a beautiful ad for the funeral home, an ad that had the funeral attendees sign up for their final packages in droves.  Judy was a marketing genius who worked with artificial intelligence to design unbelievably effective ads – as witness her funeral home copy.

Supposedly Judy has been cremated and her ashes scattered, but the doctor who signed the death certificate died the year before and the whole thing makes no sense.  Unless, of course, Judy is alive.  Or the AI cooked the whole thing up.

I was drawn in and curious what was going on.  Instead of getting more information, author J. R. Kruz simply ends the book.  Instead of an interesting novella we have a truncated short story that left me feeling gypped.

2 Stars because it has so much promise, 1 Star for the ending.

One Way Ticket by Alia Hess, Freebie Novella for the Travelers Series

One Way Ticket isn’t bad but it isn’t very good.  Protagonist Sasha is a ne’er-do-well who just lost the grandmother that he loved and who kept him more or less straightened out.  Sasha finds an website that claims to be able offer a semi-effective vaccine against North American Hemorrhagic Fever, the disease that killed 99% of the people in North America and is still deadly years later.

Sasha decides to go, even though he must leave the cat he loves, everything and everyone he knows, and despite knowing the vaccine has some unpredictable bad side effects or partial effectiveness.  It was interesting to watch a young man decide to take a huge leap into the unknown, away from the heavy government surveillance, drinking, scummy friends.

I might try reading one of the longer books in the Traveler Series as One Way Ticket has promise.  Author Alia Hess gives this away to entice readers to her longer novels and mentions the second book, Chromeheart, reintroduces Sasha.

3 Stars

Showdown (Wyrd West Chronicles Book 1) by Diane Morrison, “Weird West” Fantasy/Western/Cattlepunk Novelette

The author tries something new, combining post apocalyptic story with westerns with fantasy, and it’s interesting enough to read but not enough that I want to read any more.

Kudos to the author for making her setting feel real, a cross between the OK Corral and hell spawn attacks in a barren, dry Canada sometime after a Cataclysm destroyed our civilization and unleashed magic and evil galore.  She embeds her otherwise stock characters (think Luke Skywalker as the sherrif out to stop the evil gunman) with some feeling, making them a notch above cardboard.

I just don’t like the story or premise or characters and won’t read any more in what is now a series of six novellas.  Writing is decent,using flashbacks to show us the young boy and setting.

2 Stars

Spinning Time Preview by D. F. Jones  Teenagers, Lust, Jealousy, Didn’t Get to the Time Travel Part

I received a preview of Spinning Time via Instafreebies and won’t be buying the full novel.  It is billed as time travel but the preview showed a bunch of teenagers drinking and partying.  Rich Julia decides to date the local weirdo Phillip and her former boyfriend decides he is jealous and picks a fight.

The Amazon blurb for the full novel mentions Julia gets tossed 70 years into the future and must find a way back to Phillip.  Sorry, no.

1 Star

Winter Wren by Miranda Honfleur, Blade and Rose Short Story

Winter Wren is a short story designed to introduce us to Miranda Honfleur’s Blade and Rose series.  The story was pretty good although the ending and some of the character interactions were unappetizing.  I may buy the full novel, Blade and Rose, although it sounds a little melodramatic in the Amazon blurb:  “A kingdom in turmoil or the love of her life. Which one will she save?”

Edgehill (The Kingdom of Shadows Book 1) by Thomas Rouxville.

The cover on Edgehill is great.  The novel is really, really bad.  Our heroine Athena learns she is a Guardian of the Kingdom.  The kingdom is threatened by shadow that its king has invited in and all the men are called to the army.

Sadly, we never learn what a Guardian is.  Is Athena supposed to have magic?  Wisdom and diplomacy beyond her years?  What does a Guardian do?  74 Pages and we never ever get to this rather crucial point.

Of course the ladies left in town have no idea whatsoever how to act with their husbands gone; they are unable to run a farm or a mill or bakery or shop.  Not to worry, Athena will show them!  Not at all clear how ladies who stood beside their husbands for years would not have learned pretty much everything the man did, nor how an 18 year old girl will be able to teach anything.

I finished this only because I was sure we’d finally learn just what is going on with the Guardian business, but nope, no answers here.  Luckily it was a freebie.

1 Star

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg – New Twist on Fantasy Magic

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I borrowed the first book in Charlie Holmberg’s Paper Magician YA fantasy series, The Paper Magician, from the library and found it surprisingly good.  About the only concession to YA is the book is short and a very fast read that could have been more developed.

After main character Ceomy used her scholarship to magic school to cram two years into one and graduate top of her class.  She expected to choose the element she would bond with – paper, metal, plastic, glass, rubber – but instead was assigned to paper, the least favored, unpopular substance.  Once she bonds with paper she can never reach her dream be a Smelter, bonded to metal.

The magic system is intriguing and I hope author Holmberg explores it more in future novels.  Basically paper magicians can do anything that paper can do.  For example, if one folds a basic fan then one can use that fan to create a massive windstorm. Or one can read anything written on paper and produce illusions that illustrate the story.

I got all sorts of ideas from this second notion, especially once Ceomy found that not everything she produced was an illusion; at least one was real and lasting.  Could one print a story about housework, read it and get the dishes done by magic?   Or build a house by reading about it?  Or win a war by writing about collapsing the enemy’s walls?

Ceomy herself was a far better character than I expected.  She makes the most of her opportunities, even when thrust into the least glamorous magic world.  She is resourceful, determined, smart, loyal.  When a dark magician attacks her mentor Thane, Ceomy risks everything to save him.  She learns as much paper magic as she can and, more important, learns how to think of new paper spells, new uses for paper.

The Paper Magician is set in a London around the early 1900s, with automobiles and carriages, trains but no planes.  Holmberg doesn’t elaborate the setting more than needed, creating a small problem that those unfamiliar with London may not be familiar with the locations she uses.

Ceomy’s magic school oversees her apprentice years; while she is assigned to a single magician she is still bound by the rules and Thane grades her on performance.  I found this part interesting and the school structure adds some ease to the plot; it gives Thane legitimate reasons to test Ceomy and stretch her skills.

Overall The Paper Magician is a most enjoyable book.  I would prefer a more complex novel that develops the magic system more intensely and a plot that has more layers.  The characters are well done and the dialogue and interactions feel real.

4 Stars

Marked – Book 9 in Alex Verus Series by Benedict Jacka – Magic in London

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Adventure writers can go two ways with their series:  They can either entangle their hero in a series of adventures, loosely linked but not necessarily sequential, or the hero can adventure while striving towards a goal.  Wizard series tend towards the second, where the hero perhaps gets himself in a mess in an early story, then works to resolve the knotty problem in books 2-N.  Think of Harry Dresden or Simon & Montague or Harry Potter or the Iron Druid.  Or Alex Verus in Benedict Jacka’s excellent series.

Marked, book 9 in Jacka’s series, starts with Alex seated (rather precariously) on the junior council of Light Mages in Britain.  In the first two books Alex is refreshingly honest, with simple goals:  Stay alive and keep his friends healthy and alive.  Sadly for him, Alex apprenticed to a Dark Mage before leaving in revulsion.  Also he is a very skilled diviner and lots of people want to use him.  Other people want to use him to get to the Dark Mage leadership – a place Alex vehemently rejects and fled for his life to avoid a few books ago in Burned.  Now he is trapped as the aide to the one Dark Mage with a seat on the Council.  His boss is in mage jail so Alex temporarily holds the seat.

Marked picks up with the same grim feeling we saw first in Burned, then Bound.  Alex has too many enemies and is too well known to simply slide off into obscurity.  He lost that choice a few books back when he tried to throw his lot in with the Light Mages.  Now Alex believes his only hope is to get so powerful that no one wants to go after him and he can choose what he does.  This opens the story up for many plot threads but we lost the charming young mage we met in the first few books.

Jacka brings a few new twists to the story.  Earlier Alex implied that young mages didn’t have a lot of choice.  They could apprentice with a Light or a Dark, they could attend the Light apprentice program, or they could remain adepts who are at everyone’s mercy.  This time Alex muses that the declared Light and Dark mages are a fraction of the total; he says the majority are neutral, independents.  It isn’t clear how one becomes (or stays) independent, and we’re left to wonder whether Alex could have lost the target on his back if he had not made waves, had been independent.  Apparently it is too late for that and Alex will move forward.

Characters

As you can see from the discussion about Alex’s choices, Jacka makes his characters into real people that we care about.  We identify with and root for Alex as he threads between morality and survival.  I’m not sure I’d have made the same choice he did, but I care that he did make it and want him to succeed.  (Of course, if your primary goal is survival then eventually you will lose.)

Alex is a thinker who is growing into a deadly doer; in fact he isn’t always thinking as well as he should.  He goes to ask the dragon under Arachne’s home some questions but doesn’t seem to absorb what he learns.  (Typical of dragon foretelling, the answers are cryptic to useless.)

Alex has matured considerably in the nine books.  He’s gained and lost friends, gained power, gained cynicism and gained too many enemies.  He always has good reason for what he does but it doesn’t always work and other people end up holding the bag – and holding a grudge against Alex.

Marked spends as much time on Anne as on Alex.  Anne is both the hero and the villain; Alex relies on her, saves her; she saves him.  Anne is enigmatic and it will be interesting to see how her character develops.

Anne wants to be a mage and live a normal life, to have a family, friends.  She got abducted and trained to kill as a teen and from that experience developed all sorts of deadly skills.  She shoved the immoral parts of her personality into a fortress, walled it off and threw away the key because she didn’t want to kill.  Alex encounters this non-Anne a few times and so far Anne is unwilling to integrate her two sides.  That may be book 10.

Back Story

The Light Mage council and its adherents are a typical bunch of academics/middle managers/PTA bosses.  They like to play games about dominance and face and will bicker and debate endlessly before taking action.  And when they do take action they aren’t too concerned about things like other people or truth or morality.  Yet Jacka made this believable – in fact it’s more believable than the benevolent, altruistic Council that some books about wizards and magic have.  People are people whether mages or not, and that’s how people act.

These mage leaders, both light and dark, seem motivated by power and greed for more power.  The revelation that the council is actually a minority of mages makes this more believable.  Most people do not dedicate their lives to power.  In Marked we see that is true for most mages too.

Even so, the endless threats that Alex faces seem a bit over the top.  He doesn’t seem to know how to gain a power base of people, aside from his friends, and is the obvious scapegoat for everything that goes wrong.  I hope he learns to expand his definition of “power” to include influence based on wisdom, credibility, helpfulness and not just raw magical power.

Overall

Jacka writes well and Marked has good dialogue, interesting, likable characters.  Marked has more action and a little less reflection than prior novels in the series, that combined with Alex’s declared intention to amass as much power as possible to ensure he and his friends survive makes the story a little less appealing than the prior novels.  I like Alex but I liked him a little more when he was the earnest want-to-do-good guy.  He still wants to do good and he still does good but he’s harder edged now, not as pleasant a chap.

My rating here would be 4+ or just under 5.  Marked is solid, excellent story and characters, but I don’t feel like it is quite a 5 star novel.

My thanks to the publishers who provided an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Darker Shade of Magic – V. E. Schwab – A Gathering of Shadows, Disappointing Fantasy

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A Darker Shade of Magic

A Darker Shade of Magic is the first of three novels in a universe where there are four Londons – Grey London which is ours, Red London full of magic and life, White London where magic is dying and Black London where magic destroyed everything.  Black London is closed off and barred to keep the other worlds safe.  Such a fascinating premise, full of opportunity for good story telling!

Author V. E. Schwab tells the story through Red London’s prince Rhy and his foster brother Kell, and their dynamics with the kings in Red, White and Grey London.  Kell is actually an Antari, a powerful magician able to use blood magic to pass from one London to another and chafes at being confined to London, to the forced fosterage with the the king and queen.  Kell and Rhy are close as brothers, as best friends, and this love combines with a sense of duty to keep Kell in line.

Kell (and the other Antari, Holland from White London, possibly an enemy) are forbidden to bring people or items across from one London to another, and are forbidden to do more than pass letters from one monarch to another.  Kell rebels and secretly takes small collectibles across for himself and sometimes others.  Unfortunately the last item he takes, supposedly a letter, is actually a powerful artifact from Black London, sent to corrupt and destroy Red London.

Had Schwab stayed within this boundary she would have had a powerful, compelling story.  What will Kell and Rhy do?  How will Holland revitalize his world of White London?  Can that world even be saved?  How do they push the Black London artifact back where it belongs?

Kell, Rhy and Holland aren’t complete, 3-dimensional characters, but they are close, with a reasonable shot to develop into real people that we readers care about.  Unfortunately Schwab introduces Lila Bard from Grey London, orphaned thief and wanna-be adventurer and the story and characters go downhill from here.  I don’t like Lila.  She’s the character that we are supposed to identify with and root for but she’s shallow, foolish, selfish, uncaring.  She is tolerable in the first book, probably because she remains a stock character and plays a secondary role.

A Gathering of Shadows

I liked the story well enough to read most of the second novel in the series, A Gathering of Shadows, but finally gave up with about 50 pages to go in this second novel, skipped to the ending, then read only the ending of the third novel, A Conjuring of Light.  Lila is the main character in A Gathering of Shadows and I couldn’t stand her, and the other characters do not carry the story.

The writing is OK, nothing great, with semi-decent dialogue and slow pacing.  Schwab spends most of A Gathering of Shadows with Lila on a privateer ship before she, her ship’s captain and Kell, all compete in magic games with the other three empires in the Red London world.  The real story is with Holland and his struggle in White London, which gets comparatively few pages.

There are plot holes of course.  Normally if the story is good or the characters are real people we readers whiz right by the holes, notice but suspend disbelief.  This series isn’t that good and the plot holes stand out.  The most obvious is the difference between Grey and White London.

Grey London never had much magic and now has virtually none, yet manages to thrive (more or less).  White London used to have magic which is fading and dwindling and the entire world is dying.  Why the difference?  Holland manages to bring some magic back to White London which regains some color and life, but the end of A Conjuring of Light suggests this too will fade, with only a whisper of hope for life.

The series has overall high ratings on Amazon although several negative reviewers shared my dislike for Lila and the overall wooden writing.

Overall I would rate Book 1, A Darker Shade of Magic, as 3+ stars.
Book 2, A Gathering of Shadows, is 2 Stars and I didn’t read enough of Book 3 to rate it.

 

Carpet Diem by Justin Lee Anderson: Averting the Apocalypse One Step at a Time

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I found Justin Lee Anderson on Hoopla Digital which recommended him as an author similar to Jodi Taylor, who writes the excellent Chronicles of St. Mary’s novels.  Sadly this novel, Carpet Diem, just misses.  Carpet Diem is meant to be a humorous take on “How We Averted the Apocalypse”, much like Good Omens or Tom Holt’s novels.  It has funny moments and the hero postpones the Apocalypse, but it isn’t overall a winner.

Characters

Writing a humorous book is hard work!  Authors need characters that carry the load, characters that we readers engage with, care about, people with senses of humor.  The whole time I read Carpet Diem I kept wondering why the book wasn’t better, and I think it is because the author created characters he thought were funny in themselves, and didn’t write dialogue or events that were funny.

None of the character was very interesting.  We have the drunken great aunt, the extraordinarily people-averse hero (because he has too-good a sense of smell), an angel or two, a demon or two, a few oddball, never explained magic characters, and assorted side kicks.  The only one with any personality is the hero, Simon, who must face his immense dislike of crowds (even tiny crowds, as in one or two people) to retrieve his carpet and gift it to the apocalyptic force of his choice.  Simon was moderately interesting.

Overall

I think part of the problem is the characters go through truly harrowing, deathly events that do not feel real.  Simon faces death and we readers just go along with the story, not really feeling any terror or anything more than a vague anxiety.  The story reads like a story, not like anything that characters or we readers experience.

Perhaps part of my negative feeling for Carpet Diem is that I felt gypped.  The story is not compelling and not the quality of Chronicles of St. Mary’s novels or Good Omens.  I expected something with plenty of plot, great characters and dialogue and funny moments in between terror.  Carpet Diem is not these things.

3 Stars

Wizard Undercover – Rogue Agent Book 4 Fantasy by K. E. Mills

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Wizard Undercover is the latest novel in K. E. Mills’ excellent fantasy series, Rogue Agent, about wizard Gerald Dunwoody, and his friends Reg the bird, Monk Markam, Emerabiblia (Bibie) Markam and Melissande.  In the first three novels, The Accidental Sorcerer, Witches Incorporated and Wizard Squared, Gerald changes from semi-talented to very powerful and very unpredictable, a rogue wizard, conscripted into his country’s service.

Gerald’s boss, Sir Alec in this world’s version of the CIA/NSA/etc., sees potential in having a very powerful wizard chock full of unorthodox spells, and prevents Gerald from removing the dark magic he consumed in the prior novels.  This leaves Gerald on his own, terrified of the grimoire spells, desperate to control himself, to not follow his alter ego in a parallel universe who reveled in evil and killed anyone who got in his way.

Wizard Undercover picks up right after book three ends, with Gerald heartsick at what happened and frightened of hia magic.  He grieves for Reg – his Reg – wants to get to know the new Reg, wants to love Bibbie but fears he will hurt her.

The main conflict in the novel is Gerald’s internal struggle.  Can he control his magic, can he use it without contaminating himself?  Can he and Bibbie find each other?   The external conflicts set the backdrop and secondary action:  Can Gerald prevent an international disaster and can Princess Melisande and Bibbie jump into the heretofore all male world of international espionage.  Author Mills deftly braids all three plots into a solid novel.

Wizard Undercover is not as compelling a read as the earlier three books in the series.  Good as the story is, interesting as the characters are, I find my attention drifting, reading 50-100 pages at a time.  The espionage backdrop is the weakest part of the story and Wizard Undercover needs a strong plot to hold all the emotional tensions.  In the prior novels Gerald and friends fought for their lives; the threat in Wizard Undercover is more diffuse, impersonal for most of the story.  I think the interpersonal tensions work best with a stronger plot and existential threat.

Author K. E. Mills has written a good book, one I recommend.  Like the other novels in the Rogue Agents series Wizard Undercover has a true ending, no cliff hangers.  Read the books in sequence because the characters continue and the plots reference previous events.  I look forward to a fifth book with Gerald, Reg and the rest.

4+ Stars

And the Rest Is History: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book Eight by Jodi Taylor

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And the Rest Is History: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book Eight has all the vivid descriptions we expect from Jodi Taylor with a bonus.  Taylor always shows us history and the people involved in colorful, loving detail, but she has tiptoed through on Max’s and others’ feelings.  This time Max and Tim, Dr. Bairstow and Leon come alive just as does history.

The result is wonderful.  Like every other reader I am horrified at Ronan’s cold cruelty, share Max’s broken heart and lonely soul.  I felt especially torn for Tim Peterson, losing happiness not just once but twice.

In the other St. Mary’s books I don’t notice plot holes because we sweep on by so fast, but this novel slows the action to include more loss and hope, moving slowly enough that the holes are easier to spot.  For example, why do the Time Police remove Greta and Matthew from their time? Why is Leon, Ian’s and Greta’s pod pre-programmed to go to a hellhole like Constantinople during the massacre?  The Police tell Max Constantinople was the last jump the team made; was Ronan trying to lose them in the chaos of the 4th Crusade?

Ronan must have a source at St. Mary’s and help.  He stays on the loose for years, yet we know that pods take constant maintenance, plus he needs to get money and food and clothing just to sell Matthew and buy him back.  He knows to go to Sick Bay to kidnap Matthew; he stays ahead of the Time Police.

The biggest hole is Matthew.  No one with a grain of sense kidnaps a baby and expects to have an easy time of it.  Babies take work.  I’m curious how Ronan found a sucker someone to not only care for Baby Matthew but actually pay him.  I am even more surprised that Max doesn’t bring Matthew back to St. Mary’s when she returns with the rest.  She is not a quitter yet she is ready to give up on establishing a relationship with her son after only a few months.  We know from the short “Christmas Past” that Matthew stays in the future and rarely sees Max.  That doesn’t feel right.

s usual the historical sections are great.  We watch Harold vs. William for the future of England unfold from Guy of Ponthieu entertaining Harold and William to Edyth Swanneck retrieving Harold’s body.   This is a fascinating time for England and one I’ve always enjoyed reading about.  Taylor brings the events to life.  We read about Harold’s blue and William’s red, about the deception around the relics Harold swears upon, about the back and forth at the bridge over the river Ouse, about the Saxon wings fatally venturing out beyond their pikes and ditch.

Overall And The Rest Is History is excellent.  Yes, it is sad, yes it has plot holes, but the emotional depth and maturation along with Taylor’s normal excellent history make this one of the most intense and rewarding books in the series.  It is not as much fun as the others, but it is an outstanding novel.

5 Stars

Emissary – Strong Fantasy, Romance and Coming of Age by Thomas Locke

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The main character in Emissary is Hyam, just turned 21, who honor’s his mother’s last request to visit the Long Hall, home of wizards, home of his father, and his despised home for five years as a young teen.  The Mistress of the Hall tells Hyam very disturbing facts and hints about his ancestry.

The novel could have taken several paths, pure fantasy with quests and wars, coming of age as Hyam learns about himself, quasi-medieval romance adventure.  Author Thomas Locke did an excellent job at merging all of these into a novel with plenty of magic and fantasy elements that centers on a young man who must put aside his frustrations at wanting to know who and what he is in order that he can protect his land and people from sorcery.

This theme of self-sacrifice recurs throughout the novel in subtle ways.  Hyam’s wife puts aside her worries to present him with a serene and happy face while he recovers from a magical attack.  The current Oberon lord puts aside his claim to the throne in order to prevent war, then retires to a small fortress and lets his name slide into obscurity.  The wizard master Trace gives up his leader role to follow Hyam.  The elves and Ashanta give up their seclusion to aid the people fighting the sorcerers.

This undercurrent of sacrifice and adult decisions makes Emissary a serious novel, an excellent, enjoyable story  about magic, yearning, romance, and war, meant for adults.

4+ Stars

 

Lies, Damned Lies, and History: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book Seven

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Max is in trouble.  Deep, deep trouble.  She is also pregnant, very, very pregnant.  Which will come first?  Absolution or the baby?

Book 7, Lies, Damned Lies and History, opens with Max learning that she gets the booby prize for jumps, witnessing Caroline of Brunswick chase around Westminster Abbey seeking entrance to her husband’s coronation.  Her next assignment, likewise supposed to be a yawn, checking a hill fort in Wales, turns wildly exciting as her group is pressed into service alongside Arthur (yes, that Arthur) to hold off the Saxons.  Here’s where trouble starts.

Max manages to get herself and St. Mary’s in trouble, nearly ending the unit, then out of trouble, reinstate herself and her friends until real trouble, Clive Ronan trouble, strikes.

The Good Stuff

As usual the plot just keeps going.  It’s like watching Niagara Falls, the action sucks us readers in and we tumble helplessly along.  In fact I had to go back and re-read the book a second time so I could pull myself to the shore long enough to check a few things – and read a few recipes.  (We American’s know nothing about jam’s premiere place in dessert trays.)

Max is as always a lot of fun.  She is in a hard place, knowing that the right thing to do is the wrong thing (and vice versa no matter which way she goes) and she won’t trust anyone enough to just go ask for what is needed.  I love how she throws herself into her job, whether it’s history, fund raising or mom.

I am glad that Leon gets more personality.  As Max says, he is husband and hero, and immensely patient with her.  He is quiet and easy to underestimate but no one should mistake quiet for soft or meek.

As usual Jodi Taylor gets the history just so.  She takes the facts we know and dresses them up in gorgeous costumes that make the scene and the people involved come to life.  I always end up looking up people and events, even ones I’m fairly familiar with.

Mrs. Mack serves all sorts of food that St. Mary’s loves, most of which is new to me.  I learned about jam tarts, jam roly poly (apparently England uses a lot of jam), toad in the hole and more.  It seems every book introduces yet another culinary item (usually requiring suet, but not the type we feed to birds), and I enjoy looking up the recipes.

The book is just plain fun with lots of good dialogue, funny events, serious events and great characters.  The scene where Max and Professor Rapson spring Sykes, Bashford and Ingloss out of jail is priceless.

The Could-Be-Better Stuff

I decided way back in Book 1 not to worry about the whole time travel thing.  Jodi Taylor treats time travel as though events are happening in parallel, not in sequence, and frankly, I’m having too much fun to worry about the technical accuracy or even complete consistency.  (Example:  Why can the Time Police find her in the middle of nowhere and no when but not find Ronan?  How does the tag work across time and space? See?  That’s why it’s best to just smile, jump on and enjoy the ride.)

Max’s disgrace doesn’t have a resolution.  Max agrees with Dr. Bairstow that she learned her lesson but it’s not at all clear exactly what the lesson is.  I do not expect she will become meek and rule-abiding, nor that she will cease to hurl herself and her friends into trouble to do the necessary thing.  Perhaps she learned that it is wise to start with asking for permission, that other people may share similar insights and agree to help.

Overall

Lies, Damned Lies and History is too much fun to be critical.  The story line is serious, characters develop, plot is harrowing, scenery is great.

5 Stars