The Time Rescuers

Time travel. Nobody really believes in it, but when Claire, Gerald and Wally wake to find themselves trapped in a strange, glass dome, they’re forced to face the fact that a) it exists and b) there’s stranger still to come.
Lifted from a place of danger, somehow each have been whisked through time to...here. Their one common memory before blacking out is a silver globe spinning in the air, and when it reappears, a spirit life form inhabiting the object is revealed. Axolear, their rescuer, tells of their parents, who have been taken by the Nephilites, an alien race responsible for the destruction of Axolear’s kind. Now they have their sights set on earth and Axolear seeks vengeance upon them, but needs the help of these three to do it.

He aims to bring about a confrontation with this evil empire with only himself and the Remnant of his race. Determined to save their parents - and now in spirit forms themselves - the three teens embark on this mission, little knowing the pitfalls and catastrophes that lie in wait. And what about Axolear - can they trust him? And if they don’t, what worse events could be in store?

This was an interesting story and definitely SciFi. It took me awhile to get into this because it is not my usual genre of books. After awhile, though, I started getting interested. I wanted to help these kids find their parents and get them in their right minds. Towards the end, I couldn’t put it down. I was hooked. I was taken aback by the ending, but was good. I do recommend this, especially to those SciFi buffs.

Alan Crosby was born and raised in North London, but moved to New Zealand after meeting his wife, who was on her OE. Time has always been a fascination for him.

This book offered a really interesting take on time travel, I loved the addition of aliens and how the Nephilites aren’t your standard aliens (this almost makes them more terrifying). And I really liked the idea of a story where kids had to rescue their parents. But overall, it just fell a little flat.

The dialogue in this book could use some improvement. Given that these are teenagers, they really didn’t speak like they were, (even accounting for the time difference). Rather the speech was very formal and often awkward. The dialogue, in general was overly-expository and featured some lengthy as-you-know type conversations. It just made for awkward reading, especially as I watched these kids struggle to convince someone of something, or literally talk themselves through a problem.

Another pitfall, was that it wasn’t very clear why these particular kids were chosen. If there’s a group brought together, it’s usually because they all have some unique skill that brings something to the table, but not for these kids. For the most part, they lacked characterization, and though they sometimes made catastrophic mistakes, it felt like these mistakes were made only for the convenience of the plot. Otherwise, there weren’t clear personalities for the kids, and I would have really liked to see some more solid bonding between them, and even more solid bonding between them and their parents. I did enjoy the relationship between Claire and her dad, but the other parent-child relationships felt a little under-developed.

Definitely some interesting world-building here, and I liked the back ground on Axolear’s species. The powers that the kids get are also interesting, and it was great to see them become integral to the plot. I guess most of all, I would’ve enjoyed less explainy dialogue and more character development.

I’d recommend to someone who enjoys reading young adult and is looking for a fairly fast-paced time-travel story.

This is an interesting mixture of YA and the spiritual/cosmic genre. Although the author states that he's a Christian, it isn't as explicitly Christian as one might expect from that; there are some points made more or less in passing about modern materialism and lack of belief in a spiritual dimension, and about modern (lack of) morality, but the cosmic setup is not classical Christian cosmology.

It's a YA adventure, with three kids brought from different times and places to take part, on humanity's behalf, in the fight against spiritual invaders with ill intent. While they agreed to do so, they weren't exactly volunteers, and one of them (the New Zealander) quite understandably doesn't completely trust their recruiter. They only have the recruiter's word, for some time, that his side is the right one, though the villains prove their villainy soon enough.

I felt that the kids were the weakest part of the story. Usually, with an ensemble cast, there's something that each one can do that nobody else in the cast can do, and that another randomly selected person couldn't do as easily, and I didn't feel that either of those things was true here. In fact, for a long time, the kids' contribution wasn't looking as if it would be particularly significant; and in the end they seemed more catspaws than heroes, though each of them did step up at various times (and make mistakes at various other times, driven by their emotions). There was some character growth and some growth as a team.

I did enjoy part of the story being set in New Zealand, and appreciated that the kids were motivated by concern for their parents. Overall, I liked it, but I didn't love it, and wouldn't go out of my way to seek out a sequel.

I received a copy via Netgalley for review. The copy I received needed some more copy editing (notably for mispunctuated dialog); it was scruffy round the edges, but not terrible. The published copy may differ from the one I received.