A book of time travel and history all mixed up together in an attempt to answer the following question, ‘if you could go back in time change an event, which one would you choose?’ This question is posed to Hugh Stanton in 2024 who is recruited into The Order of Chronos in Cambridge University, an order which using the maths and predictions from Sir Isaac Newton decide to go back in time to change a specific event, the beginning of World War One and the shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in the hopes this would eradicate all future atrocities.
An interesting idea and one which most historians will have debated at some point, however I struggled with my reading for much of this book. I found the main protagonist Hugh Stanton to be very one dimension and lacking any significant character progression. I also found the story moved a bit too slowly with too much emphasis upon the wonder of living in a new time period. My thoughts about the book altered towards the final 4th of the book when everything became a lot more interesting, although not enough to make me want to re-read. As expected from a Ben Elton book there was good solid structure to his writing and his dialogue sparkled. This will never be a favourite book and I feel it would benefit from some cutting back; an average read.
The Curious Magpie 