An Argumentation of Historians

The ninth novel in Taylor’s impressively complex and entertaining time travel series (after And the Rest Is History) is a kaleidoscope of sensation filled with passion, intrigue, humor, and heartbreak. Readers are returned to the academic and secretive enclave of St. Mary’s in England, a bastion of knowledge filled with an eclectic mix of historians and support personnel, including Dr. “Max” Maxwell. In conjunction with the Time Police, sometime friends to the St. Mary’s historians, Max and the St. Mary’s crew attempt to capture Clive Ronan, a rogue with illegal traveling technology and a burning desire to alter the course of history. When things go horribly awry, as they tend to do when Max is involved, she becomes trapped in the past with no way home. On the surface, the novel can be read as a quasifarce, but thought-provoking nuances and situations provide ample fodder for consideration and tease the imagination. Readers new to the series will fall in love with it and eagerly hunt down the previous installments, and series fans will be well pleased. (May)