AMYNTA OF ANATOLIA

Time travelers fight to stop a diabolical man intent on destroying the multiverse in this third installment of Parris’ historical fantasy series.

Kreindia of Amorium, from the ninth century, and Wade Linwood, from the 21st, are synesthetes in love. (Viewing certain shapes causes Kreindia to taste particular flavors.) Their “crossed senses” also give them the ability to travel through time via the astral plane. Since the duo’s confrontation with nefarious synesthete Faron Richter in the previous novel, Kreindia of Amorium (2017),the multiverse has become “unstable” and the timeline has been altered. To fix this, Wade travels on his own to Western Europe in the year 499 to prevent a key battle. However, for the most part, he and Kreindia spend their time checking other historical events to ensure that “all is as it should be” within the multiverse. This isn’t easy when Faron is determined to create chaos by upending a ninth-century peace treaty between Byzantine and Roman emperors. He also has a plan to “wipe out” all other synesthetes in the world, as he considers them lesser than himself. In the course of her time travels, Kreindia is “re-made” into a new person named Amynta, but she strives to keep everything else in history the same until she can vanquish Faron and reunite with Wade. This lengthy tale is full of disparate characters, time periods, and incidences of astral-plane travel. Despite this complexity, Parris makes it all a breeze to follow, as the story tends to stay in one time period during Kreindia’s or Wade’s missions. The characters are a vibrant mix of fictional characters and figures drawn from real life, such as Khans Krum and Omurtag. At the same time, fine details are keen and perceptible: “Suddenly the only sounds were those of spreading cracks giving way to a dissonant clash and a rapid series of thuds as broken metal pieces salted the ground.” There’s a definite feeling of finality at the end, although more sequels could comfortably fit into this expansive world.

An entertaining blend of SF, fantasy, and history.