Time travel as a conceit in speculative fiction is often aligns with the Science Fiction branch of Speculative Fiction. D.B. Jackson has made a career of blending genres (Alternate History and Wizardry in Thieftaker, for example) and here with Time’s Children, the first novel in The Islevale Cycle he throws time travel into a fantasy/flintlock setting with very interesting results.
Fifteen-year-old Tobias Doljan, a Windhome-trained Walker capable of traveling through time, is called to Daerjen to serve in the sovereign’s court. It is the posting of his dreams, a chance to serve in one of the great courts of Islevale. Upon arriving in the royal city, though, he learns that the sovereign, seeking to prevent a devastating war, wishes to send him back fourteen years.
The journey will age Tobias, costing him years off his life. Still he makes this sacrifice to keep Daerjen’s enemies from conquering all of Islevale. The night he Walks back, however, the sovereign is assassinated, his court destroyed. The only survivors: Tobias, now to outward appearances a grown man, and the sovereign’s infant daughter, Sofya.
Pursued by assassins, hunted by an army, trapped in a misfuture he has helped create, Tobias must see the sovereign princess to safety. Joined by Mara, a friend and love who follows him back in time, and aided by time demons, seers, and unlikely allies, Tobias seeks a new future for himself, Sofya, and all of Islevale. But the sovereign’s killer now has Tobias and Sofya in his sights, and both of them are running out of time.
Tobias is a young Traveler who has just completed his training and is ready to put his Time Walking skills to good use. His services are requested by the court, giving him only the briefest of time to say goodbye to Mara, the young woman with whom he shares a mutual attraction, and Dröe, the Time Demon who befriends him. Once he is with Mearlan, the limits of Tobias’s will and power are tested as Mearlan asks Tobias to Travel a greater length of time than any walker has traveled, 14 years. The mechanics Jackson has brilliantly devised for time travel in this milieu are such that for every year through time a Traveler walks, the Traveler ages a year. In other words, Tobias will age 14 years in a couple blinks of the eye.
Tobias makes the journey and of course nothing quite goes to plan. Since the promo copy spoils the major hiccup in Tobias’s plan, I have no compunctions about divulging either – the sovereign and almost the whole royal family is murdered except the infant princess. Tobias is forced to flee just as he’s settling into the new time, which is truly a new time as history is irrevocably changed. Granted, Tobias going back in time was supposed to change history drastically, but to avoid a war and avoid a year’s end struggle with no end. In this case, the enemy of the Daerjen is more fully in power.
What is fascinating is not so much that Jackson tells a story of two timelines but how skillfully it is executed. He shows how Tobias deals with his good plans going to ruin in the past while also show the time from whence he came, 14 years from when Tobias is currently surviving. This really hammers home the result of Tobias’s actions, if nothing else, nobody remembers him or even knows who he is. Jackson shows how drastically the world has changed as a result of Tobias’s journey through time.
The magic, how time travel is constructed and the whole world itself is practically a master class world building. Jackson clearly has a high level of detail in the world, but what makes it feel so alive are the characters, and how they convey the construction of the magic and mechanics of time travel. Through them, their words and actions, we get a great sense of the sacrifice and cost involved with magic. I also found the Time Demons, or Tiribbin as the call themselves, fun and fascinating. They are mysterious creatures who age differently and view time differently than humans and give a great deal of things about which readers can speculate.
Tobias is a wonderful protagonist, he is a determined steadfast person who ultimately follows the call of what is right. Jackson’s prose was very agreeable and I was particularly lulled in by Tobias manner of speaking or when Jackson conveyed Tobias’s thoughts. This did as much for giving the novel a sense of place and giving the setting a feel as did Jackson’s clever worldbuilding.
When Jackson shifts his narrative focus to the year Tobias left behind in the future, he brings us up to speed on Mara, the young girl Tobias left behind. Through her eyes we see the ramifications of Tobias’s trip through time. Her only hope, and Tobias’s only hope for that matter, lie in Mara’s untapped abilities and guidance from Dröe.
To say that I enjoyed this novel is an understatement. I’ve read a few books by D.B Jackson/David B. Coe and liked them quite a bit. Time Travel stories can be tricky, but Jackson took one of the genre tropes (some would say an overused trope at that) and breathed fresh life into it. Time’s Children is both an epic and personal fantasy novel that is a wonderful series starter and introduction to a very original fantasy milieu. I’m slotting this on my best of the year list and I’m very much looking forward to the second installment, Time’s Demon when it publishes in May 2019.
Recommended
© 2018 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback, 522 Pages
Published by Angry Robot Books, October 2018
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
http://www.dbjackson-author.com/the-islevale-cycle/times-children/
