Very apt title - I was breathless with all the action!

This is the first book in the St Mary’s chronicles and it’s about a secretive institution that carries out historical research. If that sounds boring, think again - it’s via time travel which involves danger, death and intrigue. If there was ever an aptly named book it was this one! Things kept happening all the time with hardly a breathing space. On the one hand I enjoyed it very much, it was action-packed, funny, informative and constantly surprising. One thing I perhaps missed was more empathy with the main character, Madeline Maxwell (“Max”) who was clever, funny but hard to emotionally attach to. Overall, this book has piqued my interest and I will continue the series!
The narrator was superb - just how I imagined Max would sound!

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First book, very promising start

Perfect story, nice start to one of my favorite series. A lot ja happening, but still enjoyable.

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Half-assed

Started out relatively entertaining. But half-assed world building & logical inconsistencies made it not worthwhile.

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2 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Loved it

Never wrote a review before but just could not resist for this one. I absolutely loved everything about it. A great story, exciting, fun, lovely, keeps you on your toes but at the same time makes you feel cosy and yearning for a cup of tea. I listen to it mainly while out running and sometimes get so caught up in it, that I forget all about how exhausting the exercise is. And the speaker is absolutely brilliant. Fits the story perfectly and I could not imagine this being read by anyone else. Do yourself a favor and listen to this story!

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5 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Sprecherin hat es eilig

leider liest die Sprecherin so schnell, dass ich Schwierigkeiten habe, alles zu verstehen, trotz B2-C1

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1 Person fand das hilfreich

Loved it

great story, wonderful speaker, I really loved her voice. I am not a native speaker, the possibility to reduce the speed suited me fine. I look forward to hear more books read by Zara Ramm

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1 Person fand das hilfreich

Sehr unterhaltsam und temporeich

Man kann etwas über Geschichte lernen und hat jede Menge zu schmunzeln - es kommen höchstens ein paar Tote zuviel vor.

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1 Person fand das hilfreich

Chick Lit Science Fiction

Unfortunately this novel does not live up to the expectations created by the generally extremely positive reviews. It is after all very light fare. Some parts are entertaining enough, the prose is simple and a good match to the vivacious, bubbly main character and of course there is ample sex and action, but overall, it remains chick lit. The time travel makes it look like science fiction, but Jody Taylor does not make a serious effort to avoid all the inconsistencies and flaws the plot presents. She expects the reader to overlook all of that and simply enjoy the story.

I had a hard time finding this enjoyment, because the narrative descends to the level of dime novels at times. A typical example, Max, the female historian and main character is in the car with her boss, Chief Leon Farrell, on the way back to the office. Out of the blue she offers to give him the best blow job ever. He is so shocked that he hits a tree and they immediately have passionate and wild sex on the hood of the car.

What really made me dislike the book, is the careless attitude the main characters display, when colleagues and friends die during accidents or in enemy attacks. Some of these scenes are pretty gory and a harsh contrast to the generally flippant style of the story.

The story itself is full of surprises and takes a couple of unexpected turns. Max starts her first job as a historian at St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research. No big surprise, not academia, but something completely different, outraging and adventurous is expecting her. The historians explore the past in contemporary times, they practice time travel. Of course the risks are high, history will fight back and kill, if the rules are broken. But this is not all of it, terrorists got hold of this technology as well and use it for their own purposes.

The plot sounds interesting enough, but the story telling is flawed. It is not only the holes and contradictions in the concept of time travel, it is also the sketchy characters and the superficial storytelling, which turned the book into a big disappointment for me.

If you want to read outstanding books with a similar subject, try Connie Willis. She will not disappoint you, especially, when you start with “Doomsday”.

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16 Leute fanden das hilfreich