{"id":5772,"date":"2018-10-17T07:28:53","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T11:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/?p=5772"},"modified":"2018-10-17T07:28:53","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T11:28:53","slug":"no-time-like-the-pastby-jodi-taylor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/book-review\/fantasy\/dark-fantasy\/no-time-like-the-pastby-jodi-taylor\/","title":{"rendered":"No Time Like the Past,by Jodi Taylor"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry\">\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/No-Time-Like-the-Pastby-Jodi-Taylor.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-5793\" src=\"http:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/No-Time-Like-the-Pastby-Jodi-Taylor-156x250.jpg\" alt=\"No Time Like the Past,by Jodi Taylor book cover\" width=\"156\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/No-Time-Like-the-Pastby-Jodi-Taylor-156x250.jpg 156w, https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/No-Time-Like-the-Pastby-Jodi-Taylor.jpg 297w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 156px) 100vw, 156px\" \/><\/a>Genre:\u00a0 Fantasy<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Publisher:\u00a0 Nightshade Books<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Published: 2017<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Reviewer Rating:\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-306\" src=\"http:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/fivestars.gif\" alt=\"five stars\" width=\"57\" height=\"13\" \/><br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Reviewer:\u00a0 SJ Higbee<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Have you read this book?<br \/>\n<span id=\"post-ratings-5772\" class=\"post-ratings\" data-nonce=\"1c2d29503c\">Why not rate it! <img id=\"rating_5772_1\" src=\"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-postratings\/images\/stars\/rating_off.gif\" alt=\"1 Star\" title=\"1 Star\" onmouseover=\"current_rating(5772, 1, '1 Star');\" onmouseout=\"ratings_off(0, 0, 0);\" onclick=\"rate_post();\" onkeypress=\"rate_post();\" style=\"cursor: pointer; border: 0px;\" \/><img id=\"rating_5772_2\" src=\"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-postratings\/images\/stars\/rating_off.gif\" alt=\"2 Stars\" title=\"2 Stars\" onmouseover=\"current_rating(5772, 2, '2 Stars');\" onmouseout=\"ratings_off(0, 0, 0);\" onclick=\"rate_post();\" onkeypress=\"rate_post();\" style=\"cursor: pointer; border: 0px;\" \/><img id=\"rating_5772_3\" src=\"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-postratings\/images\/stars\/rating_off.gif\" alt=\"3 Stars\" title=\"3 Stars\" onmouseover=\"current_rating(5772, 3, '3 Stars');\" onmouseout=\"ratings_off(0, 0, 0);\" onclick=\"rate_post();\" onkeypress=\"rate_post();\" style=\"cursor: pointer; border: 0px;\" \/><img id=\"rating_5772_4\" src=\"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-postratings\/images\/stars\/rating_off.gif\" alt=\"4 Stars\" title=\"4 Stars\" onmouseover=\"current_rating(5772, 4, '4 Stars');\" onmouseout=\"ratings_off(0, 0, 0);\" onclick=\"rate_post();\" onkeypress=\"rate_post();\" style=\"cursor: pointer; border: 0px;\" \/><img id=\"rating_5772_5\" src=\"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-postratings\/images\/stars\/rating_off.gif\" alt=\"5 Stars\" title=\"5 Stars\" onmouseover=\"current_rating(5772, 5, '5 Stars');\" onmouseout=\"ratings_off(0, 0, 0);\" onclick=\"rate_post();\" onkeypress=\"rate_post();\" style=\"cursor: pointer; border: 0px;\" \/> <br \/><span class=\"post-ratings-text\" id=\"ratings_5772_text\"><\/span><\/span><span id=\"post-ratings-5772-loading\" class=\"post-ratings-loading\"><img src=\"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-postratings\/images\/loading.gif\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" class=\"post-ratings-image\" \/>Loading...<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This is one of those outstanding series that I keep revisiting and yet trying to spin it out as I don&#8217;t want to the fun to stop.<\/p>\n<p>St Mary&#8217;s has been rebuilt and it\u2019s business as usual for the History department. But first, there&#8217;s the little matter of a seventeenth-century ghost that only Mr. Markham can see. Not to mention the minor inconvenience of being trapped in the Great Fire of London&#8230; and an unfortunately-timed comfort break at Thermopylae leaving the fate of the western world hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n<p>Max is one the historians, often described as disaster-magnets as they are generally prone to all sorts of mishaps occurring, as well as the day job being the insanely dangerous task of traveling back in time. It doesn&#8217;t help that there are also a group of renegade historians also cris-crossing the time-line equipped with one of their traveling pods who have sworn to see Max and her companions dead.<\/p>\n<p>These books are very episodic, as each one covers a number of major time-traveling projects interleaved with life at St Mary&#8217;s, which is rarely peaceful. There is also a fair amount of emotional turmoil in Max&#8217;s life as her past has left scars that creates problems when she wants a relationship.<\/p>\n<p>Max&#8217;s hilarious first-person narrative often has me laughing aloud and nudging Himself in the ribs to read out a particular humorous gem, but what sets these books apart is that when highly dangerous, risky expeditions into the past are undertaken, often people don&#8217;t come back in one piece. Or at all.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor isn&#8217;t afraid of killing off characters we have grown very fond of, to the extent that I don&#8217;t get through one of these books without also weeping&#8211;and I don&#8217;t do that very often these days. Consequently, this series is always a roller-coaster read with lots of humor and heartbreak in amongst the action.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor&#8217;s writing is vivid and quirky and I love the fact that she always lulls me into a false sense of security by setting up a situation or scene, which suddenly changes into something quite different.<\/p>\n<p>While I think you could quite easily pick up one of these books without having read any of the others and work out what is going on, it would be a real shame to do so with such an unusual and exciting series. I haven&#8217;t encountered anything quite like Taylor&#8217;s writing before, and I don&#8217;t expect to do so again. And if you, too, would like to experience the whirlwind that is St Mary&#8217;s and the madcap team of historians, then don&#8217;t track this one down, instead go looking for the first book, <a href=\"https:\/\/sjhigbee.wordpress.com\/2017\/01\/05\/review-of-kindle-ebook-just-one-damned-thing-after-another-book-1-of-the-chronicles-of-st-mary-by-jodi-taylor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Just One Damned Thing After Another<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Highly recommended for fans of time-traveling adventures with a difference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sjhigbee.wordpress.com\/\">SJ Higbee<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"postmetadata\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Genre:\u00a0 Fantasy Publisher:\u00a0 Nightshade Books Published: 2017 Reviewer Rating:\u00a0 Reviewer:\u00a0 SJ Higbee Have you read this book? This is one of those outstanding series that I keep revisiting and yet trying to spin it out as I don&#8217;t want to the fun to stop. St Mary&#8217;s has been rebuilt and &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":5793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[171],"tags":[72,1368,391,912,5],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5772"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5795,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5772\/revisions\/5795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}