This book marked a new era for me as a reader. I have been recommending it to everyone that will listen. The Chronicles of St. Mary's series is great for fans of Doctor Who. It is a low-tech science fiction with a fun relatable main character to be enjoyed by all. My dad loves the series, too! ( )

Someone should have warned me that I'd need to strap myself in before picking up this book, because whoa, what a ride! I adored everything about St. Mary's: the quirky team, the time-travel elements, the interesting and inevitable politics while navigating academia.

Also, Jodi Taylor is a fabulous writer. She has a knack for humour and wit that's hard to find, but she tempers those lighthearted tendencies with some genuinely dark and emotional moments. Her prose is beautiful and sparkles with British charm.

I'm a huge fan of Connie Willis' Oxford Time Travel series, and this book brought me back to the first time I read DOOMSDAY BOOK, over two decades ago. Like Willis' work, this is a love letter to history and brings different time periods to life with a vividness that's almost tangible. The trips back in time are without a doubt the highlight of the book. (Although I have to say I also really enjoyed the romantic subplot - it's handled wonderfully and felt incredibly realistic.)

I do wish Taylor had stayed clear of info-dumping... there's a chapter where she threw in everything she knows about dinosaurs, and that got a little tedious. But those moments are few and far between, thankfully. I also thought the bad guys came across as stereotypical caricatures, but given just how damn propulsive this book was, I was able to overlook that. I can't wait to read the next book in the series! ( )

A good easy summer read. ( )

I liked the premise of time traveling historical researchers, and the book had a promising start. But I felt the story went off the rails about halfway through, as characters started doing things that seemed unreasonable for the sake of moving the plot along. It bothered me that there's a high death rate among the time travelers, and they KNOW this, yet they never take serious precautions, nor try to time travel to an earlier date to prevent those deaths. Time travel stories always require some hand-waving, but this eventually got in the way of enjoying the story. ( )

Great fun! Don't expect hardcore time travelling philosophy, do expect crazy explosions, contrary historians and humorous action. ( )