Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "time-travel"

Summon the Queen by Jodi McIsaac

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Once a member of the paramilitary Provisional Irish Republican Army, Nora O’Reilly wishes she could go back and change the past. That way her brother might still live, rather than be caught up in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. She gets her wish with the help of Brigid, both an ancient goddess and a Catholic saint, after she dreams of a man calling out for help.

Cursed with eternal life, Fionn mac Cumhaill has wandered through time for centuries. Once a legendary warrior, he is now just a man, who lives with the agony of watching those he loves grow old and die while he remains forever young. The only way to break the curse is to free Ireland from her enemies – a task he’s attempted over and over again without success. Now Nora offers him hope that he might achieve this goal and, in the process, restore her brother to life and reunite with his loved ones who have passed.

But their first attempt during the Irish Civil War failed, and now they find themselves traveling back to 1592 to find the pirate queen Granuaile. But things never go quite according to plan, and they arrive five years too early and a long way from her home in County Mayo. They also “land” amidst the ruins of a church and a band of men, returning from a raid on the English. Nora shoots one rebel in a confrontation, but his partner recognizes Fionn as a friend and they are left alone to continue their arduous journey.

After a brief respite in Fionn’s home – the one in which his 16th century persona, Robert O’Hanlon, lived – they ride to Dublin to find a ship willing to take them to Galway. Gold assuages the sea captain’s qualms about putting to sea with a woman aboard. Just as Fionn and Nora kiss, Spanish pirates attack and he hastily disguises her as a man to protect her. After the pirates leave with their booty, the crew blames Nora for their bad luck. The only way to save herself is to keep the wounded captain from dying as Fionn and the crew try to reach Cork to repair the damaged ship.

Any hope of finding assistance there proves fruitless since the plague has struck the town. It’s a four-day ride to Galway, but Fionn and Nora have little choice. To remain is more dangerous than venturing through a burned-and-slashed countryside populated by desperate, starving people. Once they reach the city, Fionn goes to the docks to learn what he can about where Granuaile might be. But Galway is a dangerous place, and Nora’s innocent questions soon get her arrested. Sir Richard Bingham, the Governor of Connacht, believes her to be in league with Granuaile, his arch enemy, and Nora is imprisoned just as Granuaile is being taken to the gallows. Then Nora is whisked away to an Irish castle whose earl has been raised in the English court, and his methods of finding out the truth are far more subtle and dangerous than Bingham’s. Nora’s only hope is to escape, but how? Once free, how will she ever find Fionn so they can convince the distrusting clans to unite against their common enemy, the English?

Summon the Queen is the second book in Jodi McIsaac’s The Revolution series, and ’tis a grand tale indeed. Nora’s feistiness, determination, and caring heart make her a character readers easily connect with, although she has the annoying habit of often saying “ta” when answering questions. Deftly portrayed as a legendary-hero-turned-ordinary-man, Fionn is equally captivating and his reticence to form attachments that will only cause more heartache is a trait with which most of us can identify. Granuaile steps from the curtains of history to come to life and her exploits are dramatically portrayed, be it when she tells a story about her favorite son or risks everything to meet Queen Elizabeth herself. Whether depicting a starving woman or the banded corpse of a pirate on display as a warning to others, McIsaac vividly recreates sixteenth-century Ireland. Her skill at interweaving history with romance is reminiscent of Irish bards who mesmerized listeners with adventurous stories fraught with danger and intrigue, where each peril is more heart-stopping than the last.




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Two Times a Traitor by Karen Bass

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Being uprooted from your home and moving to a new country can ruin your life. At least that’s how twelve-year-old Lazare Berenger sees it and he blames his dad for doing so without any discussion. They’ve been arguing now for seven months, but Laz wildly lashes out while vacationing in Halifax, Canada. Out of control he runs off to explore the Citadel alone and let his anger ebb. Deep inside a tunnel under the fort that an ancestor once guarded during the American Revolution, he trips, falls, and blacks out.

When Laz awakens and emerges from the tunnel, Halifax has disappeared. Instead of a fort, there are only silhouettes of old sailing ships and an English sentry pointing a long-barreled rifle at him. Laz assumes this is an elaborately staged trick of his father’s to make him cease rebelling and behave. During his confrontation with British Captain Elijah Hawkins, however, he painfully discovers this is not a charade. The year is 1745 and Captain Hawkins believes him to be a French spy, not only because of how Laz pronounces his name and his ability to speak both French and English, but also because he wears a St. Christopher’s medal – a decoration only a Catholic would wear and the English are not Papists.

Laz believes his medal holds the key to getting back home, but Hawkins confiscates it. If Laz’s purpose is to learn more about the upcoming invasion of Louisbourg and take that information back to the French, he will hang as a spy. But there is one way to earn Hawkins’ trust and regain his medal – sneak into the fortified city of Louisbourg, cause mischief, and return to the ship. On the journey closer to where he will disembark, he makes both friends and enemies, one of whom will do his utmost to kill Laz simply because he’s French.

Sneaking ashore where the French will easily find him, getting to Louisbourg, and convincing the French that the English plan to attack turns out to be more difficult than Laz imagines. Only one officer takes him seriously. Port Commander Pierre Morpain not only listens and asks questions, he provides Laz with food, a place to shelter, and new clothes. Laz becomes his confidential messenger – a job that teaches him how to get around and introduces him to many citizens and soldiers. Before long, he can come and go as he pleases without arousing anyone’s curiosity. But the longer he’s among the French, the more he feels like he’s found a new home among friends the harder it becomes to betray them and Morpain, who treats him like a son.

Two Times a Traitor is a riveting time-slip adventure. From first page to last you are caught in the vortex that whisks him from the present back to the past. When the sword slices his hand or musket balls whiz by, you feel and hear both. His emotions become yours as he wends his way through dangerous actions and foreign places where he doesn’t know the rules, yet his life depends on knowing them. Bass vividly recreates past places and times and her characters, both good and bad, compel you to discover how Laz resolves the conflicts he faces as he matures from an immature youth to a teenager wise beyond his years. Beware: Putting the book down is near impossible. Nor is this book just for older children and young adults; adults will equally be enthralled with this historical novel that explores a period in Canadian history of which few Americans are aware. Once you begin to read, you soon discover why this highly recommended book was chosen as a 2017 Junior Library Guild selection and one of the Best Books for Kids & Teens for 2017.




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Savage Winds by Michelle C. Reilly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ana Salvatore, a marine biologist, and her uncle return to his boat after scuba diving off the coast of Grand Bahama only to confront two armed strangers. Born into one of the leading mob families, she has tried hard to distance herself from the unsavory ties that eventually killed her parents, but now they are after her beloved Uncle Louis, who raised her. In the ensuing struggle, an explosion flings Ana into the depths of the Caribbean. When she comes to, she finds herself in a captain’s cabin, although not aboard her uncle’s vessel. This is a ship of wood and sails where the captain has a strange English accent and he and his men wear outfits from the past. At first, she assumes they are re-enactors, but soon discovers that she has traveled back in time to the early nineteenth century.

Jacen Stirling has little time to deal with the beautiful woman whose unfamiliar words and skimpy outfit puzzle him. His country is in the midst of a war with Great Britain, and he must determine whether Jean Laffite’s offer of assistance is real – a pursuit that requires him to infiltrate the pirate enclave at Barataria. To gain Laffite’s trust, Jacen pretends to be a fellow buccaneer and must arrive at the pre-arranged rendezvous before time runs out. Rescuing Ana and having her aboard a ship full of men is a complication he doesn’t need, yet he cannot spare the time to see her safely ashore and still make his appointed destination.

A brief stop at Nassau to take on supplies adds to the urgency of his mission. Amassing in the harbor is a fleet of many Royal Navy ships, most certainly the invasion fleet bound for New Orleans. Jacen assigns Ana the duties of a ship’s surgeon, which leads to some comical situations when twenty-first-century medical practices clash with nineteenth-century proprieties.

Wary of being on her own in a time where she doesn’t belong, Ana insists on going with Jacen when they arrive off the coast of New Orleans. To earn Laffite’s trust, he agrees to do the pirate’s bidding, and to ensure that Jacen obeys, Laffite keeps Ana as collateral. Should Jacen fail, she will be delivered back to his ship . . . dead. In his absence, she ministers to the slaves on a nearby plantation. She also befriends both their children and the master’s rebellious daughter, as well as engaging in risky business of her own – teaching slave children to read.

Savage Winds introduces Reilly’s new series, Savage Times – time-travel romances where heroes and heroines forge bonds while confronting dangerous situations in unaccustomed surroundings and historical periods. Her intriguing portrayal of Jean Laffite combines dangerous and deadly with charismatic and courteous, differing from the usual impression of the descriptor “gentleman pirate.” She also adheres to the belief that Dominique You was one of the Laffite brothers, although the Jean Laffite journal and Stanley Arthur Clisby’s biography state that You was the oldest, rather than the youngest, of them. There are several historical inaccuracies. Tricorn hats were not part of American military uniforms of this period; holystones – used to scrub the decks of wooden ships – were blocks of sandstone, rather than bristle brushes; and in 1814, William Claiborne was governor of the state of Louisiana, not the territorial governor.

For the most part, these are minor slips when examined from the perspective of the entire story. Ana’s unfamiliarity with society and history provides both comic relief and grim awakenings between the world she knows and the new one in which she finds herself. Getting back to her own time period never seems a priority, perhaps because there is no simple answer of how one travels through time when disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle and she has no family left to go back to. This makes for a more believable story. For me, the second time-slip is much stronger, fantastically portrayed in a way that makes us look anew at our own world and the technology we take for granted.

This spicy romance successfully intertwines humor and drama to spin a web of intrigue and danger. Aside from the historical aspects of the story, I was drawn to the sketches that Jacen draws. The reason for their inclusion remains unclear until the final pages, which then makes perfect sense but kept me guessing (not an easy feat to achieve). As the historical events of the War of 1812 unfold, disparate forces must work together to protect the fledgling United States, while Ana and Jacen struggle to keep both themselves and their burgeoning love alive.




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The Second Gate by Brian Wyvill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Crossing a secluded area at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Sarah Malette notices a man following her. He is the spitting image from a childhood nightmare. The experience rattles her, but she chalks it up to his being homeless and hurries on her way. Instead of finding Professor Duncan in his office, she encounters his teaching assistant. (Annette is like a sister, since she and Sarah grew up together after Annette’s mother disappeared.) Together they marvel at the nautical artifacts decorating Duncan’s office. They all date from the late eighteenth century, which makes sense because of his fascination with the Napoleonic wars; what is odd is that they look brand new, even though it’s 2015. They also discover a door, hidden behind a coat rack, leading to an empty room.

Annette, who is French Canadian, also has a keen interest in the same time period. Her focus and thesis are on the year 1798, particularly on a single event: the Battle of the Nile. She believes that had Admiral Brueys won the engagement, rather than Admiral Nelson, all of Canada might be French, rather than just Quebec. When Sarah mentions the homeless man, Annette is also troubled. Could this be the same man who terrorized her and her mother when she was younger? Is he looking for her?

Ken DiPalo, a friend and fellow classmate of Sarah’s, is infatuated with Annette, who thinks he’s more of a class clown, who’s always shirking his schoolwork. To demonstrate otherwise, he shares charts and maps stored his smart phone with Annette and Sarah, who are also working on the same 1798 project. He also mentions that one 1720 resource discusses a man named Masthead Duncan – the same name as their professor. Sarah reveals that she has also come across a Royal Navy lieutenant with the same name in 1757. Another source places Duncan in 1798 on Malta. The unusual first name puzzles them because they can’t possibly be the same man given the activities mentioned and the ages of each man. It’s a coincidence they might query their professor about, but no one has seen or heard from him since he turned up at a local hospital with a knife wound.

Further discussion reveals several other oddities, one of which involves the hidden room in Duncan’s office. Ken comes up with a theory based on the evidence, which seems almost impossible to believe – time travel. The answer may be in the professor’s office and Ken just happens to have a key. Sarah is reluctant to break into the office, but Annette believes this may be her only chance to find her mother and perhaps provide Admiral Brueys with the necessary information to change the outcome of the battle. After acquiring the key and Ken’s smart phone containing the maps, she eludes the others to locate the gateway that will take her to Malta in 1798. Having a duplicate key, Ken and Sarah attempt to stop her, but she’s vanished by the time they get to the office. The only thing they can do now is follow her through the gateway to find Masthead Duncan and stop Annette from changing history.

Going back in time may sound like fun, but it’s fraught with danger. Aside from stability issues with the gateway, their adventures include encounters with Barbary pirates, mutineers, kidnappers, galley slaves, and a sheik seeking a new bride. Rock climbing, safeguarding treasure, trekking across the desert, and participating in sea battles add further excitement to entice and engage readers. The love scene between two of the characters lacks the smooth flow that is present throughout the rest of the story. There are a few places that may puzzle readers – the delay between the time the French officers find the phone and confront Annette, for example – but Wyvill crafts a believable and compelling time travel that provides startling answers to the questions of what if France had won the battle at Aboukir Bay and how does a single misstep in the past affect the future. The Second Gate is the first book in a new series and promises some intriguing future adventures for the characters we meet within this volume.




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A Turn of the Tide by Kelley Armstrong

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Adventure is Miranda Hastings’s middle name. Unfortunately, she lives in a time when nineteenth-century women are supposed to be prim and proper, not crave dangerous undertakings, which is why her novels are published under a man’s name. She has long desired one particular experience – to pass through the secret time stitch in Thorne Manor, an estate near the Yorkshire fishing village of Hood’s Bay. Her intent is to travel into the future; instead, she finds herself in 1790, where she confronts a man whose ghost has long haunted her visions.

Nicholas “Nico” Dupuis never intended to become a legend. Circumstances just aligned to make him one. He left his Caribbean home to study medicine in France, but the British Royal Navy stopped his ship and pressed him into service. He escaped and joined a band of privateers/smugglers. He was ashore tending sick villagers during an epidemic when his captain and crew were seized, charged with piracy, found guilty, and hanged. With a warrant out for Nico’s arrest, the townspeople keep him safe despite the danger to themselves. In return, Nico abets the smuggling that helps them survive from the nefarious local lord. Nico’s efforts become legendary, earning him the alias Robin Hood of the Bay.

Ever since Nico first appeared to her, Miranda has witnessed his death over and over. Clues tell her that she has arrived on the exact day of his imminent demise, but he neither believes her nor wants her assistance. Tricked into thinking otherwise, she changes into male attire only to discover that he has locked her in the room and gone to his secret rendezvous. It seems the only way to prove that he is walking into an ambush is to escape and prevent it herself. She just never considers what that good deed might cost – her life and her heart.

This treasure trove of betrayal, corruption, secrets, prejudice, malice, and murder is the third entry in Armstrong’s A Stitch in Time series. It is rife with double entendres and unexpected twists. Ghosts add a bit of spice to the mix. Several tense and poignant scenes take place aboard a ship that soon becomes a dangerous shipwreck. Readers will delight in this romantic adventure that is reminiscent of swashbuckling tales of yore.

(This review was originally posted at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/Armstrong....)



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