2014 science fiction, third in the Chronicles of St Mary's series.
The St Mary's team of time-travelling historians continue their highly
dangerous observations of historical events, this time visiting Troy
and Agincourt among other places.
This series is weird. I now know that Taylor can write a
novel-length narrative that makes a cohesive whole, because she did
just that in A Bachelor Establishment; but in these books she
doesn't. Instead, several short episodes are strung together, with
little connection between them (though there are a couple of
"feel-good" missions in between the real grinds).
And yeah, all right, Max has another fight with the love of her life…
but at least there's an actual justification for it, a genuine moral
difference of opinion. Everybody is clearly desperately stressed, no
surprise given the casualty rate. And lots of people die.
Character quality varies, from well-drawn principals to very cardboard
supporting cast; the quality of the story is similarly uneven, though
the writing is always good.
I still don't know how I feel about these books, but once in quite a
lot of months I find myself in the mood for one. Followed by A Trail
Through Time.
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.