Time Tourist Outfitters, Ltd.
The Toronto Time Agents series, Book 1
C. N. Jackson
Christy Nicholas, publisher
Fiction, Sci-Fi
Themes: Diversity, Girl Power, Time Travel
***+
Description
Wilda Firestone of Toronto used to be a top agent with the Time Tourist Board, the only sanctioned time travel outfit
in the world - the only one whose portals won't cause cellular degeneration in travelers. Now, she limits her involvement
to designing period-authentic clothing for other agents and tourists. She lost her taste for time travel after a tragedy
in the past tore away everything she loved. If she can help it, she'll never set foot out of her own time ever again.
Besides, in her mid-fifties, she feels far too old to deal with the privations of history and bureaucratic red tape of
being an agent.
Then the stranger stumbles into her shop, rambling and sickly... a stranger who has clearly been through an unsanctioned,
rogue time portal, and who carries some unknown contagion.
Despite her best efforts to stay out, Wilda finds herself pulled back in for one more job: tracking the stranger and
other unsanctioned travelers through time to try to isolate the source of their deadly illnesses. In doing so, she'll
finally have to confront the memories she's been hiding from for over two decades.
Review
With a stubborn, sarcastic protagonist and a reasonably lively time travel story, this looked like a fun adventure. Generally, it was, but it had just enough bumps and rough patches to hold it back in the ratings. Several stretches felt like filler, not really advancing the story or the characters in any meaningful way, and others set up clues and hints that were never followed up on. There was also an irritating tendency to talk in circles and get distracted by itself before finally getting to the meat of things or the reveals. By the end, several characters who could've used more fleshing out still felt flat. (I also had a few issues with the sound quality of the audiobook.) But there were some interesting ideas and descriptions of history, particularly history as experienced by women (not often a great place to be), and it did keep me listening to the end, so it did do several things right.