Library Staff Recommendation
The British military has a top-secret unit that has discovered the secret of time travel, but they don’t know if it is safe or not. Rather than risking their own people, they instead snatch people out of history who they knew were about to die anyway. They then observe these people to discover what the hazards of time travel are, if anything. The story is told from the perspective of an unnamed woman who is assigned one of these time-displaced people, Commander Graham Gore, to help him to acclimatise to the 21st Century. Commander Gore was a real-world 19th Century sailor who died on an Arctic exploration mission (or did he?).
The book has a good blend of humour alongside more serious themes. The humour mostly comes from Commander Gore learning about modern technology, medicine, and society. On the other hand, the book explores topics such as PTSD/mental health, identity, and colonialism. The themes the novel explores are done in a way that makes the reader think, while the humour is sprinkled around to keep the book from being too bogged down in these topics. The last act is action heavy. While I did predict some of the twists at the end, the final conclusion still managed to subvert my expectations (though, if I had picked up on the subtle hint I could have foreseen it!).
I found myself gripped very quickly by this book, with its engaging characters and the mysteries that the plot naturally offers. I continued to be gripped through the middle of the book and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I found parts of the final act a little disappointing and was slightly disappointed by the ending, but the negatives did not outweigh my overall positive view of the book.
4/5 Stars
Reviewed by Rebecca.