Synopsis:

What if saving the future meant rewriting the past?

In a dying world overrun by microdrones, humanity’s last survivors cling to life inside the Eden-17 biodome. Isabelle Sanborn knows her time is running out, but one desperate plan might give humanity a second chance. With the help of Madders, an enigmatic AI built from the memories of a brilliant physicist, Isabelle sends Diego Nadales—the love of her life—35 years into the past. His mission? To change the course of history and prevent their world’s collapse.

When Diego arrives in the vibrant yet fragile Main Timeline, he’s forced to confront ghosts of the past, including a younger, ambitious version of Isabelle. As he battles to shape a better future, Diego must navigate a delicate web of relationships and events without destroying the very fabric of time.

Brimming with suspense, heart-pounding action, and a poignant love story that transcends time, Madders of Time – Book One is a breathtaking science fiction adventure. Award-winning author DL Orton weaves a tale that explores sacrifice, resilience, and the timeless power of love.

Fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Dark Matter will find themselves captivated by this unforgettable journey through parallel worlds and intertwining destinies.

The clock is ticking. Can love survive the collapse of time itself?Prepare to lose yourself in the first installment of the Madders of Time series—a story that will keep you turning pages and leave you hungry for more.

Review:

Back in the mid-80’s Marty McFly traveled to 30 years into the past thanks to Doc Brown’s souped-up Delorian and science fiction was never the same. Frankly, I’ve always been fascinated by time travel and when I saw the opportunity to read Hive by D.L. Orton, I was thrilled to dive in. 

Time travel, of course, is purely theoretical at this time. But, in recent years the arguments have been ongoing about how time travel would work IF it actually was a possibility. Would it work like in Back to the Future where Marty could potentially erase his own future by bumbling around in the past? Or would it create branches and new timelines like what we saw in Avengers: Endgame? 

In Hive, Orton seems to indicate that for her, time travel involves different timelines. At the beginning of Hive, we see a world that is about to end. Humanity is on the verge of extinction and only a few people are left. Isabelle decides there is one hope to change the past — to use the A.I. named Madders to send Diego to before the world was too far gone. 

I enjoyed Hive, partly because it didn’t go perfectly. In every time travel story, the shenanigans are some of my favorite parts. So when Diego goes back into his past, the well-laid plans they had don’t quite go off without a hitch. Not to say it happens with comedic effect, but seeing how the past changes or doesn’t with certain decisions is a key part of Hive. 

I will say that Orton uses characters from previous books of hers. I would say that reading her previous books would probably really help understand what is happening, especially as the book starts basically in media res, seemingly with the understanding that the audience knows the characters already. However, I was able to enjoy the book without all the background context. Perhaps I would have rated it slightly higher, but as a time travel novel and the first in a new trilogy, Hive works all on its own. 

I’m glad I read Hive and am looking forward to the second book in the trilogy, Jump, which is slated to release on November 4 later this year. 

In late 1944, the American Flying Fortress, “Dangerous Dolly”, plunges into an electrical storm to escape destruction by a Nazi jet fighter. Captain Jack Ronan and her aircrew emerge over wartime England in the year 1915. There, they make a forced landing on the estate of an outcast politician named Winston Churchill. Desperate to restore his political career, the erstwhile First Lord of the Admiralty launches Dolly on a one-plane air war against Kaiser Wilhelm. Neither the American aircrew nor the British government know that Churchill is playing a deeper and more dangerous game than he admits.

Churchill and the Americans are unaware of an adversary that could easily destroy Dolly—the jet that pursued her was also drawn into the space-time rift. Ambitious Luftwaffe pilot Fritz Wernher wants to become Imperial Germany’s greatest ace, but instead, is ordered to assist designer Anton Fokker to reverse-engineer the jet. If Fokker succeeds, with overwhelming aerial supremacy, the Central Powers will win the war.

After the American bomber attacks his war industry and humiliates his fleet, the irate Kaiser orders Wernher to destroy the elusive nemesis. When Churchill attacks the infamous Paris Gun, Wernher’s hunt climaxes in a savage air battle. The outcome will change the future of a continent and history as we know it.

Review

Goodbye Dolly is a story of sacrifice, endurance, and determination. It illustrates the complexity of egos in two world wars that cost European lives in both theatres. However, instead of going into a unique perspective on an alternate history of WWII, we have instead travelled to WW1. Captain Jack and his merry crew of the Dangerous Dolly become mired in the events of a tumultuous conflict. What transpires is technological upheaval, a reversal of history, and an excellent display of writing when depicting the naval battles between the Imperial German Navy and the Royal Navy.

The naval aspect of WWI is often not covered in popular media as it deserves. EJ Lake did a ton of research, and it shows from depicting historical figures such as Prime Minister Asquith Churchill with his brand of whiskey he so often likes to consume and the enigmatic Kaiser Wilhelm I. The wide variety of historical characters and their personalities spill onto their page as if Ken Follet had written this novel entirely. That’s how good the writing is! I loved characters like Churchill, Jack, his crew, and many others. The dialogue is rich in historical detail, and no characters feel one-dimensional; instead, they feel like three-dimensional characters. The description makes you feel as if you are in this world. And Dolly the Bomber Airplane? She’s a fantastic plane carrying a brave crew daring to fight against the might of WW1, Germany.

Each character is a testament to the brave men who sacrificed themselves in both world wars. To fight against fierce enemies while defending the right to freedom and democracy against expansionist and imperialist beliefs is not a simple thing to do. That said, the novel does not shy away from depicting the carnage of warfare and the devastating destruction that bombing cities can bring. At some points, I’ve noticed that alternate history novels focus more on the technical details of what has changed than on the story.

At some points, the book often tries to balance between contrasting what changes and what the story should be. I would like to see more alternate history novels focus on the story rather than being hung up on explaining everything that changes. I love books like this, with people from different periods travelling into other areas of history. I once read a story in Quora about Napoleon and his army time travelling back to the Ancient Roman Era. What a story that would be! I want more stuff like this. Where different civilisations meet each other that would never have met. I urge more authors to do this. This is a fantastic novel that I thoroughly recommend you to read!

Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling comics series that was the inspiration for The Umbrella Academy on Netflix!

In an inexplicable worldwide event, forty-three extraordinary children were spontaneously born to women who’d previously shown no signs of pregnancy. Millionaire inventor Reginald Hargreeves adopted seven of the children; when asked why, his only explanation was, “To save the world.”

These seven children form the Umbrella Academy, a dysfunctional family of superheroes with bizarre powers. Their first adventure at the age of ten pits them against an erratic and deadly Eiffel Tower, piloted by the fearsome zombie-robot Gustave Eiffel. Nearly a decade later, the team disbands, but when Hargreeves unexpectedly dies, these disgruntled siblings reunite just in time to save the world once again.

• This volume collects the first six-issue series, as well as out-of-print short stories and an expanded sketchbook section featuring work by Gabriel Bá, James Jean, and Gerard Way.

• “Flawless…stylish, imaginative.”—Newsarama

Review

Finally popped open my box set of Vol1-3. After finishing the show, I knew it was time to get to the source material finally. 

If anything, this comic is more off the rails than the show! Which does make sense, but the show was pretty out there to begin with. A group of babies are all born at the same time, mostly to women that were not noticeably pregnant beforehand. For some reason, Reginald Hargreaves sets out to adopt as many of them as he can, eventually succeeding with 7. As he raises them, it’s apparent that he doesn’t do so out of the kindness of his heart, as each child is only bestowed with a number as a name. And eventually he launching them as their own children led superhero group. It’s apparent that they have their own rogues gallery, as well as some serious successes (and losses, aka Ben) but this is focusing on the adult versions of them. 

00.05 has been stuck in the future, desperately trying to solve how to return. When he finally does, something wrong happens, and he is stuck inside his body from boyhood. His return is nothing if not timely, as they have just days to stop the end of the world. 

While much of this is like season 1 of the show, it differs in some subtle ways, and in some major ways when it comes to 00.07. There are some absolutely explosive and brutal panels in this, with blood and gore that surprised even me, and it was really cool to see them in full color (reading through TWD had the volumes’ covers in color, but the panels in black and white). The main thing that stood out to me was how much more of the characters you get in the show. There beats and banter is clearly taken from the source material, but its format doesn’t allow for them to open up as much, and that’s where the show really shone for me. But that is the necessary differences when you are reading short form, so I cannot wait to get into vol2 so that I can get into more of who they are. It’s such a fun read.

Synopsis

An inspired, sweeping, historical epic tracing the remarkable life story of a baby girl born on leap year day who grows one year older every four years. The Leap Year Gene imagines the fascinating life of Kit McKinley from WWI up to the present day, told through the voices of Kit and her family members, whose lives are forever altered by her secret.

Review

Poignant speculative fiction can make you think of things you might otherwise have never imagined. But when it’s mixed with just the right quantity of emotional richness, it makes you feel those same impossible things, and it creates a sense of wonder. It’s this type of wonder that abounds in The Leap Year Gene Of Kit McKinley.

I’m a sucker for stories that play around with time, and this one does it in a fresh and unique way by altering the main character’s biological clock. Instead of time being relative, it’s the process of ageing itself that’s slowed down, and the story speculates over what it would be like if someone born on on a leap day aged at a different rate to everyone else around them.

It’s an intriguing hook that raises all sorts of questions. How would your relationship with your parents be affected if you aged four times slower? What would it be like to experience puberty for decades? How close do you let yourself get to people? But the way these questions are explored evokes a sense of depth and danger, and makes for a compelling and compulsive read. 

The genius of this story is the way it approaches Kit McKinley. We don’t get introduced to her right away. Instead, we see her life through four different lenses, and through four different periods of history.

We’re first shown Kit through the voice of her step-father in the early 1900s. He feels a burgeoning need to protect Kit as her slow rate of development becomes increasingly difficult to hide. After all, a baby can only remain a baby for so long before people start asking questions. I really identified with the way parenthood is presented through his perspective, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the book was spent with Kit as a child. No stretch of her life is rushed or glossed over.

Next, the narrative switches to Kit’s mother — a scientist who wants nothing more than to understand what is happening to her daughter. She becomes involved with genetic research in the build-up to World War II, when a great deal of time and energy was placed on the betterment of a race through genetic tinkering. Don’t expect this section to read like a war novel. The personal stakes are ever-present, and the story doesn’t deviate from the relationships that form the heart of this book. But let’s just say that my heart was in my mouth so much, I could practically taste it!

The third part takes a look at Kit’s younger (or older, depending on how you measure their ages) half-sister. The contrast and the tensions between them is so rich and is explored so brilliantly against the backdrop of huge sociological changes in the decades that follow. 

And finally, we meet Kit. Now a woman, we get to see the world through her eyes, and this last act beautifully resolves all the threads that the book weaves through its different parts. I was stunned by it in all the best ways. 

It would have been so easy to write this as four short stories, or to have serialised it and drawn out proceedings over multiple books. But I’m so glad that the author decided to tell this one story as a standalone, and to examine this one life. Like all other lives, Kit’s is a search for answers and meaning, profoundly honest in the way family shapes us and what time can do to a family. There is hope to be found beyond the pain of loss. There is identity to be discovered in the differences between us. There is more in this world to be explored than there is to be feared. If any of those themes resonate with you, then you need this book in your life. 

Overall, it’s both warm and cerebral, charming and terrifying, but always a delight to read and a real page-turner. Each character is so diverse, and you’ll fall for each of them in turn. But the focus is never far from Kit. And she deserves it. She’s a fantastic character, and by the end of the book, you’ll feel as though you know her completely. 

I can’t recommend this story highly enough. It’s more speculative than historical fiction, but it’s a perfect slice of an extraordinary life that fans of Matt Haig’s How To Stop Time will devour. This book is one for the ages. Literally. 

Synopsis

“The differences between worlds — they’re like two tapestries, one made of silk and the other of wool. But this door is a needle that sends me between them, and I’m what stitches them together.” 

A future where memory is currency; a land of dinosaurs seeking the refuge of outer space; a city where events in the present can change the past; a family of colonists escaping grief on a distant planet; a dragon breathing fire on the bourgeoisie; an astronaut craving the power of flight.

Across the many Earths, change is the only constant. Every new tomorrow is a new beginning, whether you’re a superhero trying to hide your power from your boss, or an alien invasion has made you the richest person in the universe. Collected in this short story omnibus from Frasier Armitage are a catalogue of beginnings that stretch beyond the seams of our world. Step through a door to this unique multiverse of science fiction and fantasy in the first volume of short stories from the acclaimed author of New Yesterday and Time’s Ellipse, and travel to places that are only bound together by A Stitch Between Worlds.

Review

Thanks to the author for the e-ARC! This short story collection was a lot of fun. Glad I can finally review it!

Investation is the story of a man that invested his inheritance into purchasing a solar system. One way out of the way, but with the hopes of wealth sometime in the future. That sometime happens to come up much faster for them than expected, and with wealth comes problems. This felt kind of like Childhood’s End, just somewhat flipped, and taken to its extreme. 

Rememory is a futuristic story, taking place in what felt like a Blade Runner-esque Japan, where memory has become the only form of currency. And just like with dollars and cents, where there’s profit, there’s always someone wanting more. The rich covet, investing in people who are referred to as Hard-Drivers, aka those kept safe like a piggy bank of others memories. This has some thriller notes that were reminiscent of the film In Time, and some of the more scifi notes involving memory recall/replay that are hit upon in the movie of the same name, Rememory. 

The Hunter Remains reminded me of The Land Before Time or the book Hunted, in that the author here has personified dinosaurs. Their is still a hierarchy of hunters and pray, but they have thought throughout. Unlike the two examples though, this is kind of an adult, violent, dinosaur-fueled Noah’s Ark. 

Good As Gold features the city, New Yesterday, which is also the name of one of the author’s novels. So I can only assume this is related, which is exciting, as this was an awesome concept. A city where anything can be ‘retrograded’, any past can be rewritten. This is a bank robbery gone wrong in a shifting personal perspective that felt very a la Inception. 

Dragonpiercer is an interesting one. A man and his helping lover create, at long last, a potion with the power to change him into dragon. It’s a dream he’s been chasing since birth. It’s somehow both super scifi and fantasy as one. Both castle Dracula vibes and monster Frankenstein. 

The Forgotten Melody is a real quick one. A musician and a beautician seek to awaken statues with a partially stolen song. 

Postcards From Another World was one of my favorites! It reminded me of my friend’s release, I Tried Calling, in that it features a story entirely told through transcriptions. This was a quick scifi read, but it dealt with parenthood, loss, grief, and finding peace again. 

Hear No Evil is a fantastic supernatural/superpower story that meshes with detective crime! An officer that can collect evidence through unusual means is caught in the web of the wrong person. All I can say is that I want a full novel of this asap. 

The Caretaker is the story of a silicon based copy of military persons given to their families to help with the distance. The story has the war taking place off world, so assumably quite far. Very reminiscent of The Black Mirror episode, Be Right Back, with notes of Detroit Become Human and A Sorrow Named Joy by Sarah Chorn. With an ending that made me wish it was only the beginning. 

Skybound is another story that’s more than likely novelette length. It is an eco-scifi/horror that’s a little too near-future for me. The destruction of the planet is worse than ever, and by 2030, weather is uncontrollable. Kind of like the scientists of today, they look to space as the answer. Reminiscent of statements made by Elon Musk, and the film Interstellar. 

A Stitch Between Worlds isn’t exactly a sequel story to Rememory, but it is kind of an adjacent one. An agent is pulled off of investigating Felix and Jock to work a new case. This case involves a man that can seemingly create dreamscapes that appear to be real. The only problem is, they just might me. This was a really awesome way to wrap up the entire collection, interlocking each. 

All in all, I absolutely loved every single story included in this collection. Strong writing, well thought out concepts, and super fast paces. This might be one of my favorite collections I’ve ever read.

TL;DR Review: A detective thriller that feels instantly familiar but isn’t afraid to go in bold, unique directions with setting and character.

Synopsis:

A noir story, set in an alternate New York City.

After years of being a cop, and now a private investigator, there’s little that surprises Cole Blackstone. But when someone working for Karl Dolman, the most notorious crime boss in the city asks for his help, Cole is caught off guard, and more than a little afraid.

Dolman’s daughter, Selina, has gone missing. To prevent a gang war that will tear the city apart, Cole must find her. But the job is being made more difficult as everyone is interfering, cops and criminals, and no one wants him to succeed.

Together with his childhood friend, Bracken Hart, the two men must navigate the depths of the city’s underworld for answers.In a race against the clock, Cole needs to find out what happened to Selina, and who is responsible, before the streets run red.

Full Review:

New York Minute takes the familiar New York City detective noir trope and does something utterly unique with it: it hurls us forward into a post-apocalyptic yet somehow pre-industrialized Big Apple that feels right at home but still has so much fresh and unique to discover.

The story follows Cole Blackstone, former NYPD turned PI (the why is only hinted at, promising more dramatic discoveries in future stories) hired by the “Big Bad Kingpin” of New York to track down his missing daughter. Only there are a lot of people interested in her not being found—from rival gangs to the police department itself.

We join Cole Blackstone and his faithful, taciturn companion and friend Bracken on their investigation. From the beginning, we feel like we’re right along with them with worn boots, tired feet, pounding headaches, and a growing sense of dread that something isn’t right with all of this.

Everything about New York Minute was instantly familiar. If you’ve read any detective thriller, you’ll be right at home from the first page. The narrative voice was wonderfully strong and gives such excellent insight into the character while also painting a colorful (and often unpleasant) picture of the underworld through which he has to swim.

The era seems futuristic, following some great apocalyptic event (or slow decline) that has led to the world returning to a pre-electricity era. The remnants of our “modern” world are still utilized to masterful effect to show the decline and tarnish of one of the greatest cities in the world, but it’s once again a world where people walk instead of hop a train or ride horse-drawn trolleys rather than jumping on a flight. Where neon street lights shine on seedy back alleys where drug-dealers fight with swords, daggers, clubs, and crossbows rather than assault rifles.

Though it’s short—just a novella—it sets up an entire world and gives the depth of a full-length novel, with all the dramatic twists and turns to be expected. I was absolutely sucked into the setting, character, and tone, and was so glad when I reached the end to discover there would be more coming in this world.

It’s everything I enjoy in a good detective noir novel, paired with a fascinating and singular flavor off alt-history or historical fantasy. Give yourself a treat by diving into this novella—you’ll come for the mystery and stay for the gripping characters and New York City painted in a whole new palette.

Synopsis

“An impressive collection…with a surprising number of pieces that feel just prescient enough to worry about.” —Rebecca E. Treasure, author and Managing Editor of Apex Magazine

Limelight is a collection of over twenty high-concept dark science fiction tales from near and far futures.

The title novelette—about a young woman brought back from near death by experimental tech, only to find her parents had her altered before she woke—anchors this collection which features five new exclusive stories alongside popular past works.

Lyndsey’s work explores the bright potential and the dark reality of our near and far futures through the lenses of connection and loneliness, love and heartbreak, autonomy and exploitation, desire and greed, wonder and despair. If you’ve ever imagined alternate futures, craved answers to the mysteries of the universe, or feared what might be lurking just beyond our reach, then you need this collection.

Review

Huge thanks to ShortWave for the physical ARC. I love this cover!

This is a science fiction short story collection, and I loved that the stories varied in length from flash fiction to novelette. I also really enjoyed the mixture of sub genres this goes through, from dystopian to horror. There’s some really incredible concepts being played with here, and the distinction the author draws between loss, love, grief, and affection in such a short amount of words is a huge win. 

The title novelette, Limelight, is the real highlight for me. Experimental treatments allow for those dearly departed to come back. Would you make that decision? Could you leave them alone if there were options to tweak things, enhance things? For the parents in this heart breaking story, they’re split right up the street. But when one wins out over the other, they may find they get more than they bargained for. 

The idea of changing, or even enhancing someone that you loved and lost, is in my opinion, directly besmirching their memory. But if your intentions were pure, what then? Or, do you really believe that that could ever be pure? For me this hit notes of Black Mirror, Ex Machina and Sarah Chorn’s A Sorrow Named Joy. A dystopian world where something like this could exist, but never fully be accepted. As a high schooler, she is ridiculed and insulted for being brought back, for living. A choice that was never truly hers. To me that made this the most horror based story in the collection. 

As her mother continues to grasp for more and more control over her, all in the name of giving her daughter the life she ‘deserves’, her father does his best to stay away, ashamed of what he’s allowed. The juxtaposition of the two’s feelings were really well done. The split between obsession story and self guilt really drove home the theme. Personally, right as this one ends, I’d love to see it open up into an entire novel, but I’m blown away with how well it worked as it stands. 

From scifi stories that seem near future, to those that seem out of reach, the thing this collection drives home is that Croal knows exactly how to make believable, and heart wrenching short stories. Body enhancing/manipulating mixed with various angles of corporate greed, make this its own kind of new body horror that I frankly want nothing to do with!

Check out Ed’s review!

Synopsis

The New York Times and USA Today bestselling series

They dive so humanity survives. Now they take to the sea.

In the fourth installment of the Hell Divers series, the Sea Wolf sets out to search for the Metal Islands. Leading the expedition is legendary Hell Diver Xavier Rodriguez. After enduring for a decade on the poisoned surface, his survival skills will be put to the test on the dangerous open seas.

But storms, sea monsters, and the cannibalistic Cazadores aren’t the only threat to X and his small crew. Their mission will uncover hard truths about the history of the war that left humankind stranded in the air for centuries. And the fate of those still living on the airships might very well rest on this fragile and perilous journey to find a new home.

Review

Grabbed up a whole bunch of these on a wild audible sale, and I’m finally getting back to it. R.C. Bray does yet another fantastic narration for the series. 

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but these have such a breakneck pace with so much action that they’re just so fun. I also realized during this one that I listen to my audiobooks fast, which means there’s hardly a breath between action beats. 

Xavier takes to the sea, finally in sight of the paradise they so desperately seek. But sea monsters, radiation, and crazy storms aren’t the only thing that he’ll have to overcome. Tin, and the new captain will take on a different mission, this time in Cuba. The stakes are higher than ever, but the payoff is information for the reader! 

Is finally finding a home in the sun worth entering an all-out war? Not to mention a war that they’re not even sure they can win…

And folks, we’ve finally got it! The full explanation as to why the world is the way it is! Remember this is an alt history scifi, where radiation is so high that the remnants of humanity have been forced to live in airships above the crazy weather patterns to survive. The need for repairs, supplies and answers, drives those willing to dive down to the surface for the sake of everyone else…the hell divers. For spoilers-sake, I won’t discuss the reason the world fell apart, but it brought to mind notes Horizon Zero Dawn and Terminator. 

With new enemies and horrors, the suspense was at an all-time high, and I was just surprised to not have another run in with the sirens (at least for me, a favorite enemy). This one did feel kind of like the cliffhanger came out of nowhere I will say, kind of like we got half a climax, but I’m certainly on the edge of my seat for more. And finally we got the sea…and with it, SHARKS.

Rating: 8.2/10

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK

“This summer’s hottest debut.” —Cosmopolitan • “Witty, sexy escapist fiction [that] packs a substantial punch…It’s a smart, gripping work that’s also a feast for the senses…Fresh and thrilling.” —Los Angeles Times • “Electric…I loved every second.” —Emily Henry

“Utterly winning…Imagine if The Time Traveler’s Wife had an affair with A Gentleman in Moscow…Readers, I envy you: There’s a smart, witty novel in your future.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.

Review

The Ministry of Time is an odd novel for me; for it has all the right elements of time travel and includes a modern ministry to deal with time travel issues. At the same time, it cleverly connects to the ongoing climate change crisis that the world is being gripped in and foreshadows future wars and how the earth will become terrible to live in. As someone who studied politics at the University of Portsmouth from 2015 to 2019, I witnessed the rise of the Far Right in American Politics and how it spread to European shores. And the reason is simple: People want more. People want to feel safe, and they will follow the rules without saying a word. Yet, when the characters from the past are transported into the 21st century it is an overwhelming transformation from their old pasts.

At the same time, I didn’t feel I was a part of the Ministry, nor did we get much perspective on different Ministry agents or how they dealt with time travel. I watched the original El Ministerio Del Timepio on Netflix set in Spain, which I felt was a better version. The reason is that the agents were recruited from the past, and they were dealing with the past itself. I find that format much better. I would say that the British version adopts a modern approach, in fact, more similar to Sky’s The Lazarus Project. This is a crossover between the Lazarus Project and Doctor Who, except more serious sci-fi. The characters within this novel have bubbling personalities, that resonate with their pasts and have some serious contrasts to the 21st century. Plenty of romance and chemistry between the vast and vibrant cast of characters pulls you into the story.

In the end, I would say that some parts of the story didn’t win me over when it came to the modern-day section. The pacing was slow in some areas, and some prose could have been improved rather it felt more like raw prose that hadn’t been rewritten. But still, I want to see more different formats of Time Travel Ministries being adapted to different cultures. The British version is another adaptation of this brilliant format. But I wish we would stop going into the modern day, and explore history. History is far superior to explaining the problems of the past. After all, the 21st century is the most comfortable period we live in, with fewer wars, and fewer famines, but human greed and politics always play a role because we always want more. Despite this, this novel is 100% worth a read. I would recommend picking it up.

Synopsis

A young emperor’s life hangs in the balance in ancient Constantinople, and only the Brotherhood of Assassins can save him, in this action-packed historical adventure from the award-winning Assassin’s Creeduniverse

Constantinople, 867 – A murderous plot is afoot. Assisted by the Order of the Ancients, the emperor schemes to assassinate his son and throw the city into chaos. In response, the Hidden Ones have dispatched Assassin acolyte Hytham to join his mentor, Basim Ibn Ishaq, to infiltrate the palace and foil the emperor’s plan. But that is not his only mission… Hytham’s brotherhood have entrusted him with uncovering where Basim’s true loyalties lie and whether the master Assassin’s personal obsessions outweigh his sense of duty. For Hytham to succeed, he must tread carefully, for Constantinople is a city of shadows, and danger hides in all of them.

Review

I received this from NetGalley and as a huge fan of the series, I was stoked. 

Some checks for the game fans:
Leap of Faith: Yes, but they didn’t name it!
Assassinations: Yes, but not a huge amount!
Stealth: Yes, but only for small bits or mentioned outside of the main character’s movements. 

This novel follows Hytham and Basim before the events of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. They are sent as representatives of The Hidden Ones to Constantinople in hopes of disrupting the Order of the Ancients grab for control. The Emperor, Basil I, has recently found reason to distrust his son Leo’s lineage. The problem is that he’s already announced him to be his co-emperor. So, what is there to do but try to have him killed? 

As a huge fan of Roman history, and the Roman Empire, I was excited for the setting. The story gives lush descriptions of an ancient place we could never visit. As with recent works from Ubisoft, the story felt very historic in its setting with big names from people that actually lived. 

I enjoyed that this book sought to make a more realistic approach to the assassins, as we know with the games that the 1vs30 odds are never really a problem. Where that fell flat for me though, was a scene where Hytham is almost overcome in a fight that only features two enemies. I know he’s an initiate in this, but he is a trained assassin, and not for nothing, you play an initial in 90% of the games. Failing against two enemies seemed too few for me. Otherwise, the minimal gripes I have is that Basim was not the main, and as the master, he ended up pulling a lot of the strings from the background. Which in turn ended up feeling a little cheapened. 

Loads of fun still, but I was a bit surprised there was nothing modern day/animus wise!

I have since also finished AC: Mirage, which acts as a kind of prequel to this prequel novel. Ancient Baghdad looked incredible, and the return to stealth was something I had a lot of desire for. But, the game suffered from being much of the same as all the others, where climbing and fighting still has clunkiness. It needs a serious top-to-bottom rebuild. 6.5/10