A Trail Through Time (The Chronicles of St Mary’s #4)

I was on the fence for this series books 1-3

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On the one hand I liked all the history stuff and visiting different moments in history to see what it was really like. On the other hand the drama llama would always rear its ugly head in the relationship aspect and Max and Leon just could not get their shit together enough emotionally to have a grown up conversation for a moment. Then there were the shenanigans at the end of book 3 that I liked and hated all at the same time. It was confusing.

Well no more I liked this book so much that Im glad I gave this series another try. Again we hurtle through history and Im surprised by how much I enjoy the little snippets that we get to see of different times. I also am loving the new Max/Leon dynamic and change up of the bad guy situation.

Max and Leon 2.0 are so much more well adjusted and better for each other and I finally feel some of the heat/chemistry between them on a deeper level that just the sleeping together aspect. Plus they had adult conversations, some of them rather silly and fun, but the drama was never due to some stupid fight between them.

Im not a surgeon.
You dont have to be. Youre an engineer. Thats almost the same thing.
Your ignorance is frightening.

The new threat to St. Marys seems very real and getting to know the new St. Marys 2.0 took a little getting used to but overall it seemed like it was going to be a lot of fun.

Now this is time travel with a multiverse so I had to let some logic go. Because some of he things that have happened up to this point didnt happen in both places but people still ended up about the same place. Did that sentence make any sense probably not, but that was half the point. I had to let go that Max/Leon 2.0 didnt have some of the same experiences together that Max/Leon 1.0 did and so a few things dont match up but overall they still ended up together and had the same overall experiences. Anyway I just gave up said sod it and moved on with the story without trying to put real world logic into it.

So Im glad I continued the series because it is a lot of fun overall and the big showdown at the end had some sad moments but also some really great ones, condoms full of flour being one of them.

Im looking forward into seeing what other kinds of trouble Max/Leon and Peterson can get into going forward.

Where to begin with this series? It was advertised (at least the first book was) as “laugh out loud” funny, but in reality it is gruesome and grim. Yes, there are some witty lines, but most of the wackiness seems forced, and I don’t associate a “laugh out loud” book with one in which the main character has an attempted rape against her. Twice. Then there was the WTF reveal at the end of the first book that still confuses me. But the time travel stories were engaging, so I kept reading.

But this book. The biggest plot point of the last book and this book is a character getting taken out of their own timeline. Which is apparently a huge no-no. Except that Leon and the Director are living outside of their own timelines, so it’s fine for them, apparently. And they rescued some dodos, so it’s ok for animals. Just not certain people? It is literally never explained why this is such a big deal. They time travel all the time, sometimes staying months or even years outside their timelines. There were zero negative effects to taking this character out of his timeline, and leaving him in it would have doomed him. But taking him out of it was bad. For reasons.

But what really killed this book for me was the huge battle against the time police. There is literally no reason for this battle to take place. They have moved all the time machines, information, equipment, etc. Why are they defending an empty building? But, then, it turns out that they removed all the information except for the absolute most important piece, which they kept on site. Guys! Hide that somewhere that you know isn’t going to be attacked by your enemies!

And several times the book refers to how underarmed they are. Yet they know the attack is coming for weeks. Get some more weapons! I know in England, unlike the US, you can’t simply waltz in Walmart and buy military-grade weaponry, but they have time machines! Go to a place and time where you can obtain weapons easily, and obtain some. OK, so you can only take things that are about to be destroyed? Do you know how many times, through how many wars, huge caches of weapons have exploded or been otherwise destroyed?

What put me off the most, though, was the treatment of the Isabella Barclay character. Maxwell knows this lady is evil. In her other timeline, she had to kill her right before Barclay was going to kill her boyfriend. In this timeline, Barclay has admitted to trying to have Max killed by turning her into the Time Police. So Max knows that this woman is a traitor, but just… doesn’t mention it or really even think about it at all? Even when she figures out that Barclay murdered her in this universe, she just… doesn’t mention it. Barclay is allowed to have full access to all their planning for the attack. Then when she turns traitor, OMG, what a shock! Max even has a line to the effect of “I had completely forgotten about her.” How do you forget the woman who is constantly trying to kill you and people you love!?? Then she forgets about her AGAIN as soon as she isn’t an immediate threat, allowing her to escape. There’s another line to the effect of, “I had forgotten about her again. How stupid am I?” Pretty darn stupid!

In fact, everyone who works at this organization seems to be idiotic. It turns out the director knew Barclay was a traitor for years, but just… kept letting her work there? It is no shock that so many of them die. They are literally too stupid to live.

You know, Somebody–like the folks over at Torchwood, seeing as they’re done with that series, or HBO (they sooo need to drop that dreadful True Blood series) reeeeeeally should take a look at these books and run with ’em. Seriously, y’all, let’s not even worry about telling Amazondom & Ms. Taylor how BRILLIANT this book is and get down to brass tacks, hmm? Who should play Max? Ooooo, how about Rose “You-know-nothing-Jon-Snow” Leslie? Or Leon? Mrs. Partridge? Dr. Bairstow? I know, I know, GOT & Outlander were out forever before they were wisely developed for the small screen, but I don’t want to wait that long! HA! Again, my heartfelt thanks, Ms. Taylor, for the incredible ride.

This was the best for me of the whole series. Leon and Max took over the first half of the book and it was absolutely fantastic. Jodi Taylor completely redeemed herself after the upset of Book 3 and gave me such a high with this one. I loved it. This relationship – up to now so problematic – really took off in this book. The dialogue between these two is always crisp, clever, witty and heart-warming. And of course I’m madly in love with Leon Farrell!

It’s a brilliant piece of fiction that simply drags you along in its wake. I adore this series, and this book is totally my favourite. After reading book five, I turned straight round and read this one all over again. I can’t praise the series enough. It’s clever, funny, full of highs and lows, and completely mad throughout, but you get so involved, it feels like you’re there. Love the characters, familiar and not so much, love the history, love the crazy goings-on.

I’ve said it before, this series is the best thing since Harry Potter.

I have really enjoyed this series: the writing style is superb, the characters are well drawn and engaging, the premise is ludicrous but hey! that’s what fiction is for.

But I’m stopping at number four: to me, this seems to be a natural end, they’ve had lots of adventures, Max and Leon have found each other, had monster sex, lost each other, found each other again, and will hopefully continue to have monster sex.

Why am I stopping here? The names are getting a bit cutsie: Polly Perkins could have been just a nod to Terry Pratchett; Rosie Lee could possibly have been coincidence (although I think the Author is slyly sharp in her writing, and despite claiming to have lived in Gloucs, seems to have some London in her roots) but Mavis Enderby! Please! (“The almost-completely-forgotten girlfriend from your distant past for whom your wife has a completely irrational jealousy and hatred.” from The Meaning of Liff)

I also think this series is suffering from “gradual destruction of central character” which is where the hero gets beaten up/injured time and time again, to the point where it either gets unrealistic that the character is able to even walk, and has turned into an indestructable superhero who can take any amount of physical harm and still bounce back from it: or we have to listen to a catalogue of aches and pains, and I don’t read fiction to listen to other people’s pain.

So with grateful thanks to the Author for inventing this series, and for getting it published, I’m stopping at number four. (…and the review went white….)

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