ONCE UPON A TIME . . . TRAVELER

This third installment of a series focuses on Christian-fueled time travel.

When readers first meet Mia McNeal, the mixed martial arts fighter is staying at a luxurious hotel in North Carolina. Mia is still recovering from a defeat in the ring that she lost under suspicious circumstances. While she may not officially be a champion, she can (and will) still halt a convenience store robbery with a few well-practiced moves. Mia goes to see her Uncle Nate when suddenly they are confined and accused of being time travelers. Meanwhile, a government agent named Jonathan Jayne finds his career in jeopardy and his beautiful fiancee with another man. But neither Jon nor Mia needs to worry, as it is soon revealed that they are both, in fact, very capable of traveling through time with the help of Jon’s father, an extraordinary man named Marcus. Marcus lays out all of the incredible science of time travel, including some key caveats that help prevent many traditional problems with the concept (for example, “Law Five—There is no Butterfly Effect”). Added into the mix for the heroes are bonuses such as the ability to freeze time and the uncanny ability to see whether or not someone’s soul is headed for eternal damnation. A complex adventure unfolds that involves plenty of hand-to-hand combat, missions to save the souls of others, and a wild time with an advanced society that existed prior to the biblical flood. Giants and humongous spiders are just a few of the fantastical elements the characters encounter and their odyssey proves to be highly imaginative, if disorienting. One moment, Mia is trying to get her dying friend to accept biblical truths, and the next, Jon is awed by the majesty of gopher wood trees. Light’s (Once Upon a Time…Traveler: The Reluctant Tourist and the Hitchhiker, 2014, etc.) novel is thoroughly unpredictable, albeit the excitement is diminished as the safety of the protagonists is just about always guaranteed. They can, after all, freeze time if they are facing danger. While it proves surprising to see when and where the players will end up next, it seems that readers never need to be concerned about their ultimate fate.

A wildly creative journey through time that feels a bit constrained by its immensely powerful heroes.