Series: Out of Time Series Books Four & Five
Author: C.B. Lewis
Genre: Sci Fi, Time Travel
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
Publisher: Ninestar Press
Pages: 387, 345
Reviewer: Olivia
Get Time Turns On Amazon | Get Out of Time on Amazon
About The Books
Time Turns
As a consultant analyst for the most technologically advanced firms in the country, Danny Ferguson knows he’s seen a lot of crazy stuff, but nothing comes close to his newest position at the Temporal Research Institute, the world’s foremost time travel organisation.
The corrupted piece of code Ferguson found on the TRI’s closed network is a serious concern for Lysander O’Donohue, the director of the TRI. Unable to trust his own people—any one of whom might be the source—he’s forced to put all his trust in Danny to solve the mystery of the corrupt code and find the identity of the enemy within.
But when an unexpected temporal gate opens, a straightforward code analysis becomes something a lot more complicated.
Out of Time
For Ben Sanders—traitor, thief, and temporal orphan—time is running out. After three years as a fugitive, with the police task force led by Lysander O’Donohue and Jacob Ofori hot on his heels, Ben has to resort to desperate measures to evade capture and find the key to locating his missing father, lost in time for over two decades.
With secrets and conspiracies at every turn, the net grows ever tighter around him.Haunted by the people he betrayed, the loved ones he left behind, and the lives he ruined, it’s too late to stop now. But no matter what Ben does, there’s no escaping his past.
With this exciting conclusion to the Out of Time series, it is recommended to read the first four books for full enjoyment.
The Review
Worldbuilding
As always, Lewis pulls off a living, breathing world. Bouncing between a slightly ahead future and a great many places past, this series always delivers a world that feels real. The discussions of media storms concerning time travel, of Youtube channels showing a guy from the 1600s commenting on a modern supermarket (and seriously, put your food and drink down before you read Enoch in the supermarket, unless you *like* spitting on your screen and cleaning it) and of long, drawn out law hearings a la Zuckerberg where people who have no clue try to pass laws about time travel give solidity to what is, at core, a desperate race to protect each other run by lovers, friends, and family. It feels like this story could be on the news tomorrow…well, the bits that are for public consumption, anyway 😉
Characterization
One of the things I love in Lewis’s work is the way in which each main character is given their turn on the stage. The main characters each get their turn to be front and center, to find romance and to get settled. And then–my favorite part–they stick around, happily settled, in future books, showcasing healthy relationships of all sorts for future couples and the readers.
So, in the final two books of the series, we see some of our least likely characters get paired properly. Brooding and enigmatic Lysander, the untouchable? He gets to know a goofy Scot with a brilliant mind, in all the right ways. We get to see under that hard and gleaming shell of his and find out how the motor runs. It’s delightful. And in the final book, darling little Ben has grown into a fraught and driven young man who makes all the wrong choices, for all the right reasons. He’s still brilliant, and he’s still good at heart. But he’s also a fugitive, and he is so very tired. Into his life comes a young man out of time; wanton, teasing, terrified of crowds, and feeling lost. Together, these two might just make it.
As usual, the characters who aren’t front and center play a wonderful supporting cast, and readers of the full series will be absolutely delighted to read their scenes: to see how far Janos has come since his own introduction. To watch Miriam pull off yet another amazing stunt, all while acting as if she’s just cleaning up after her messy time-agent household. To watch Danny settle in with the TRI family, and Dieter cheerfully cuss at anything he sees. Seeing this team through all the books is a delight.
Writing Style
Lewis writes one of those rare books where, as you’re reading, you forget that reading is happening. You’re simply lost in the story, seeing it play out like a film behind the eyes. I can give no higher praise. Between good use of description, clever scene setting and great repartee, the author draws you in.
They also like to play, and invite readers into the game. One of the funniest things I’ve read is the degeneration of Danny’s internal monolog when he’s drunk, going from mostly comprehensible wiz kid to incomprehensible Scot when he’s really drunk. It put such a grin on my face. And changing the language of the internal monolog to fit Enoch’s 18th century English was a nice touch.
Plot
Blending a rousing adventure with redemption and realistic outcomes, this is a story that leaves readers with a happy sigh on the last page. The last book in the series is fairly new, so I’m giving no spoilers at all, but I’ll say this: what the characters worked and paid for is worth the price, and the story is absolutely worth the time investment. It’s an amazing temporal and emotional pretzel, and exactly that delicious.
Overall Rating
This has become one of my absolute favorite series. Hands down best time travel writing around. Great, realistic diversity. Wonderful people. Terrible situations. And a whole lot of love.
Read it now. Or in the near future. Better yet, read it yesterday 😉
The Reviewer
Olivia Wylie is a jack of all trades and a master of none. Trained in horticulture, she writes ethnobotany and horticulture under her own name and queer climate change fiction with a hopeful twist under the pen name of O.E. Tearmann. She lives in Colorado with a very patient partner and a rather impatient cat.
