2020 science fiction, twelfth in the Chronicles of St Mary's series
(time travel). There's a new head of St Mary's, and things are going
wrong faster than ever.
Maybe it's my mood, but this is the first of the St Mary's books
that really didn't work for me. Part of that is because the main thing
that's going on is that the shadowy enemies of Our Heroes have managed
to put in the new chief, and the whole thing is being slowly and
deliberately torn apart for profit; and that's a theme I don't need to
read about just at the moment.
But I put up with that, and with Max being sacked and taking up a new
career, until it turns out that…
Rirelguvat jnf orvat bepurfgengrq ol gur (fhccbfrqyl qrnq) sbezre
puvrs va beqre gb oevat gubfr rarzvrf bhg vagb gur bcra, znal bs gur
bgure nccnerag fhobeqvangr ivyynvaf jrer jbexvat jvgu uvz gb qb vg,
naq va erfphvat uvz Znk unf eraqrerq gur jubyr bcrengvba cbvagyrff.
Rira gung'f abg fb onq, ohg orpnhfr gur ernqre vf va Znk'f ivrjcbvag,
gur fnzr gevpx unf orra cynlrq ba hf. Naq nf jvgu n onqyl-bepurfgengrq
pncre svyz (V'z guvaxvat bs Bprna'f Gjryir va cnegvphyne), gur
srryvat V pnzr bhg jvgu jnf "jryy, jul qvq V jnfgr nyy zl gvzr ernqvat
nobhg gur qrprcgvba bcrengvba naq trggvat tebhaq qbja ol nyy gur tebg,
jura V pbhyq unir orra ernqvat nobhg gur npghnyyl vagrerfgvat guvatf
unccravat ryfrjurer?".
I was feeling not entirely happy about the way this series treats time
travel, where sometimes you can take weeks to prepare and then jump
back an hour after you left, and sometimes it has to have been weeks…
but I'd been enjoying the character-based humour and emotional angles
enough to put up with that. Now I feel as though the rug has been
pulled out from under me and I'm out of humour with the whole setup.
"I hesitate to say there's nothing actually wrong with you when
there is obviously a very great deal wrong with you, so let's just
say you are unharmed."
Goodreads reviewers mostly love this book. Maybe if you've made it
this far you'll love it too. I shall have a hard decision to make when
the next book in this setting comes up in my reading rotation.