A Trail Through Time (The Chronicles of St. Mary's Series): 4 Paperback – 24 Sept. 2015

Jodi Taylor has hit upon a brilliant concept with her 'Chronicles of St Mary's'. With the whole of world history - and world future - to play with, she isn't likely to run out of ideas soon. But she does have to keep coming up with ways to shake things up and differentiate each novel from the next. Otherwise it's just a series of (well written) escapades with protagonist Max running away from things and endless getting into seeming irrevocable relationship problems with partner Leon.And to her credit she has managed that well in this novel. At the end of third book, both Max and Leon were dead - until Max got pulled out of her own timeline and placed into a different one where Leon lived but she had died. Suddenly a host of characters killed off in earlier books were back, both villains and heroes. However Max has no time to enjoy her 'second chance' as she and Leon are almost immediately forced to flee the frighteningly effective Time Police. Their flight takes them to ancient Egypt, medieval London and finally to Pompeii during the eruption.Because most of the first half of the novel is focussed on Max and Leon's on-the-run experiences, there is less page time for the many memorable supporting characters and less interaction between the St Mary's personnel. This is a bit of a shame, but in such a long series there's plenty of other opportunities to read that.The great strength of these novels is the combination of laugh out loud, madcap humour and real tearjerking pathos. Sometimes on the same page. They are not good books to read on public transport unless you don't mind the other passengers doubting your sanity. The mixture makes for compulsive reading, and Max is a heroine that the reader comes to care about very much. Likewise the wide and eccentric cast of characters.My only criticism - and it's not enough to stop me giving a five star rating - is that no matter how many different ways Taylor finds to put Max and Leon in peril, ultimately I find it wearing sometimes how nothing ever works out - particularly as the narrative tells you in advance. There's never any real surprises because everything gets clearly signalled, and sometimes it would be good to have storyline that focussed more on peril or personal dilemma for one of the other characters whilst Max and Leon went five minutes without having their love put to some unbearable test, or being chased with pitchforks, or both.But this is only book four of a long series and perhaps we do get more of that later. It's a mark of how good and immersive this series is, that I feel as though I've read more than just four books of it. Anyone who enjoys fantasy adventure should add this series to their reading list.

Once again Taylor weaves her magic with this entertaining and uniquely Brit take on time travelling adventure. Very loosely inspired by Bletchley, the institution of St Mary’s investigates specific times in history for a shadowy organisation that we feel are a covert part of the government. Consequently, there is a lot of make do and mend as there is not much money in the kitty. This time around, Max discovers a new threat which not only endangers her and Leon, but also threatens the very existence of St Mary’s itself.As ever, threading through the overarching threat posed, are a number of entertaining episodes set at intriguing times in history, as Max and Leon desperately try to evade their pursuers. These include struggling to evade Nile crocodiles in ancient Egypt, and dodging burning projectiles and smothering ash during the eruption that wipes out Pompeii. All this is told through the viewpoint of Max. She is an adrenaline-junkie with a troubled past and the desert-dry sense of humour that pervades the stories she tells. I love her character, the magnificent understatements regarding some of the madcap adventures she is describing, which makes the tragedy that inevitably accompanies some of the more dangerous exploits, even more poignant. This is indeed a book where I laughed out loud and a few pages later had a lump in my throat – Taylor is an author always manages to produce that reaction in me when I’m reading her books. The battle is a magnificent climax and, as ever, the book ends just in the right place. Thank goodness I have the next one on my Kindle, ready for me to tuck into…Recommended for fans of time travelling adventure. Though whatever you do, start with the first book in the series, Just One Damned Thing After Another – see my review here – as otherwise, you simply won’t appreciate all the goodness that is layered within The Chronicles of St Mary’s series.

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....)