The Time Tider

This was such a highly anticipated book for me, as Sinéad O’Hart's number one fan. And honestly, a bit of nervousness too, because it sounded so different to Sinéad's other books, which I absolutely adore. The Time Tider is a contemporary fantasy, without the merest hint of the Victoriana I've enjoyed so much in The Eye of the North, The Star-Spun Web and Skyborn.

So a read with a bit of trepidation. But how did it match up?

I loved it!

It did feel very different to her other books, and I will admit that I kind of missed that sense of comfortable familiarity you usually get when settling down with the latest book by a much-loved author. I think when I read Skyborn, the prequel to The Eye of the North, I had a good idea what to expect and the whole thing felt very cosy and comfortable. The Time Tider is a little more challenging. I get the sense that with this book, Sinéad is challenging herself, pushing her writing outside the comfort zone of her first three novels and experimenting with new things, new feels, new ideas. And I was more than happy to come along on that ride. She does, after all, definitely know her way around contemporary fiction. (Just track her down and ask her about Elidor! Or listen to her talk about it on her podcast, Storyshaped.) I think it's this familiarity with the genre that comes across quite strongly. There's a clever blending of themes, the mix of the real life and all of its problems and worries, with the fantastical.

There are some big ideas and concepts at play here. Tackling anything to do with time is always a tricky proposition, but Sinéad has created a fascinating world where spare time caused by untimely deaths can pool and warp and cause all sorts of problems. The solution is the Time Tider, a man (and always a man) who goes around bottling it up and storing it somewhere safely, in the temporal version of nuclear waste dumps or left luggage departments. It gets fairly complex at times, but is always presented and explained in a way that feels reasonably plausible. Like all time travelling stuff though, ultimately the answer is don't try to think too hard about it and just go with the (time)flow.

The most interesting thing about it all isn't actually the collection and bottling of spare time, but in the moral implications surrounding it. Time Tider is a role with an awful lot of power and responsibility, and it's so clever how this is shown to corrupt even the best of individuals, and how dangerous it is in the hands of the already greedy and corrupt. The rules, the checks and balances and the support networks all add a beautifully human dimension to the otherwise rather fantastical ideas.

There's a lot of moral complexity here. It's difficult to determine, at times, who are the good guys and who are the baddies, and the paranoid who-to-trust nature of the story builds tension and suspense towards a thrilling climax. It's helped along by little snippets at the start of each chapter from the Time Tider's Handbook, fuelling that sense of suspicion and paranoia beautifully.

Then we have Mara. I love Mara so much, possibly even on an Emmeline Widget level. There's a line early on that really captures her life. "I'm used to stuff not being safe. I've never been safe. Not ever." It's really so heartbreaking, but she's a girl who's grown up without anything in her life except her dad, who is unreliable and mysterious and honestly? Not that good a dad. But she's brave and bright and brilliant and I absolutely loved watching her journey through the book. She's also flawed, because all the best heroes are, right? She messes up and takes responsibility for it. She looks out for herself, cares for others but with this brittle protective shell she's had to put up around herself.

The Time Tiders is a complex book dealing with some pretty big ideas, but presented in a beautiful, clear way full of heart and feeling. I think Sinéad O’Hart has purposefully challenged herself (and maybe her readers) with this one, and she's succeeded brilliantly.

The Plot

Set in Ireland, our book opens with Mara collecting food from a City Homeless Outreach point. She pockets extra food when she can, then goes to leave. But being a solitary child, she's caught the eye of the staff. They give chase when she won't stop and discuss being out alone. Mara has a gift and can see what she calls a 'soft place' in time, bubbles if you will, that she can duck into and elude capture, which she does. A short while later, she returns home to the rickety van she has grown up in. Here her dad, Gabriel, is busy with sealed glass jars and strange, gas-like substances within.

Mara's life since her mother died has been one long journey. Travelling by backroads and often by night, she and her father crisscross the country. Eluding the people, he says, are chasing them and meaning them harm. What he does when he goes off to see people and conduct business, she doesn't know. At least that was until waking up one morning in an empty van, she goes to explore. Hearing voices, she watches Gabriel conduct a deal. He passes over one of the glass jars for money. The buyer drinks what's within, and Mara thinks her father momentarily vanishes. 

12-year-old Mara is of the age when she needs to know. She wonders what it's like to live an ordinary life, have friends and go to school. To be in one place. And to learn more about her mother. She also wants to know more about what Gabriel's up to. 

The Discovery of rolled-up papers in a sealed bottle, entitled The Time Tiders Handbook, heralds the beginning of the adventure. More discoveries follow, including a picture of her mother. But before she can glean much information from her father, their pursuers catch up. In the ensuing frantic escape, with Mara at the van's wheel, her father says he will give himself up. All Mara has to do is keep going and find someone called Lenny. Thrusting his precious and unique watch and notebook into her lap, he jumps out and is captured. 

But who is Lenny? Mara has distant recollections and an idea of his location. And what does he have to do with her father being a Time Tider? Indeed, what is a Time Tider? If she is going to get her father back and get the information she needs, she has no choice but to find Lenny. 

Who is chasing them and why will soon be revealed to her. But as she gets more involved, her search becomes far more deadly than any 12-year-old and her newfound friend, Jan, should be involved in. You see, the Time Tider, Gabriel, harvests unused time from the dead. It can also be taken from the living, which is something that he should never do but does to make money. The bad people want what only her father can give – extra life. They want the bottled life he has stashed away, all of it, and to take his skill. To get it, they'll risk everything, including the collapse of time and the destruction of the world.

What did I think?

The premise of the Time Tider is that time itself needs to be balanced and the extra time from those that die too early collected and stored safely. The more time left uncollected, the greater the risk of cataclysmic results. This is not one I have read before, nor for that matter, seen in the movies. So like so many great books, it instantly appealed, and I needed to know more.

How would the writer deal with such a potentially complex Sci-Fi style subject? Would it be another out-of-this-world, and sadly, beyond-belief Marvel-Esque adventure? The only way was to ask to do a review. And I am so pleased Little Tiger obliged me with the copy. 

Over a couple of nights, we became engrossed in Sinéad's storytelling and adventure. 

The story is delightfully grounded in the here and now, atmospheric, plausible, at times heartfelt, never short on pace and utterly engaging. 

The cast grows with the adventure, never pushy or unlikely for the plot. Nothing is ever too much for the reader, which reflects some clearly serious story plotting. The final chapters were addictive, demanding to be read. The conclusion, well, I can't spoil that, though it wasn't what I expected, which is always lovely.  

Sat here now, Mrs H says it is an adventure that lingers in the mind and poses some ethical dilemmas that are not easy to answer. This adds so well to the story's credibility. 

So . . . . 
Crunch time.

A perfect middle-grade read with a delightful cover that I think will appeal greatly. Mara is a Brilliant protagonist with hard decisions and a van full of trouble chasing and snapping at her heels. What's not to love?!

This is the first book that I have read y this author to my knowledge and it definitely won't be the last. It has such an unique presmise and the book really pulls it off, the writing is exceptional and the charcaters are believeable. I loved it.

As I’ve got older, I’ve become far more aware of the passing of time and – as a result – my own mortality. Long gone are the days when I would wish my time away – the seemingly endless countdown to my birthday or Christmas and the complaints of my youth that I was bored, and had no way to occupy that time, are now replaced with a deep longing to have much more time to do the things that bring me pleasure.

And the one thing guaranteed to bring me pleasure is to lose myself in a good book such as this – a cracking tale based on the premise of capturing time from those who have died prematurely, and what then might happen to it, written by the extraordinary talent that is Sinéad O’Hart. Whether you are a fan of her previous books or have not as yet read them, this is a title that needs to be on your radar for early 2023, with its incredibly drawn characters and exciting and fast-paced plot line that will have you telling yourself just one more chapter over and over until you have reached the astonishing ending – one that I certainly didn’t see coming.

Long before that ending though we meet Mara queuing at the City Homeless Outreach centre in the hopes of collecting a hot meal for her father and herself in addition to the supplies she has managed to acquire through less honest means. After being questioned about her not being chaperoned by an adult, Mara grabs more than her share of what is on offer before hot-footing it out of the centre and into the city, where she finds herself being pursued by a couple of volunteers who decide to alert the police. Shaking them off, Mara returns to the van she and her father call home and watches carefully as he appears to be carrying out some sort of scientific procedure as part of his work – work that he keeps secret from her – before trying to coax him to eat his share of the food she has brought while it is hot.

Having completed his work and eaten, Mara’s father tells her that they must get moving as soon as they can and plans their route carefully to avoid having to use motorways due to his paranoia of being followed. Waking alone the following morning, Mara lies in bed wondering just what her father’s job is and not knowing how long he will be away from the van goes for a walk. Becoming aware of a man’s laughter as she passes a hedgerow, she peers through the greenery and spies her father together with another man clearly carrying out some sort of shady transaction.

Determined to uncover just what he is up to, Mara digs around in the van and uncovers some papers labelled The Time Tider’s Handbook. Before she is able to get to the bottom of what is going on, her father disappears – taken by a gang who clearly do know what he is up to and Mara finds herself on the run. Trying to find a friend of her father’s who might offer assistance, Mara meets Jan who determines to help her and as the pair of them try to avoid capture by the people holding Mara’s father, they start to unravel just what he has become mixed up in and vow to stop it. But can they find where he is and if they do just how will they overcome those with whom he has become involved?

I guess that most children see their parents as role models – possibly not perfect in all that they do but certainly individuals to look up to. When Mara starts to unravel just what her father’s job involves – which is startling enough in itself – and then discovers that he has been breaking the rules he is duty bound to follow, she has to make a series of increasingly difficult decisions as to what to do. Although she initially tries to prevent Jan from accompanying her, she soon becomes very grateful for both his company and the fact that he provides a viewpoint on what is happening that is not her own and together they face their difficulties with a maturity and sensitivity beyond their years.

Perfect for readers in Year 5 upwards, this is an intelligent and thought-provoking read which will have youngsters on the edges of their seats as they work their way through the story and question themselves as to what they would do if put in Mara’s position. I really enjoyed it – as I knew I would – and would recommend you pre-order it now as a gift to your future self. My enormous thanks, as always, go to Publisher Little Tiger press and to Net Galley for my advance virtual read, ahead of publication on February 2nd 2023.

What an exciting adventure, one that prompts the reader to think carefully and thoughtfully about time. Sinead O’Hart is a master of a plot thickener, one that gives the reader a new perspective on what they had thought was just an adventure. In this case, the reader is almost asked, what would you do with extra time, would you want to live forever?

Mara and her Dad live in a van and travel constantly. She has no idea what he does when he is tinkering or what he sells to make money. They live a basic life and there are no frivolities or extras. Mara has never attended school or used a phone. When her Dad vanishes before her eyes one day, Mara is quite shocked and begins asking important questions about his work.

She can hardly understand the complexities of his work as a Time Tider but there is no time for further answers as her Dad surrenders himself to those who want that power for themselves. Mara is abandoned with a strange set of instructions, ones that cannot be followed so she must forge her own path. She must determine the answers to the questions only her father could answer.



An amazing and adventurous story

Thank you so much to the publisher for the ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I really love The Time Tider, the plot is unlike anything I have ever read before, the exploration of time and its possibilities is thrilling. The way Sinead O Hart shapes this world is so gripping, you feel as a reader, as if you’re on the very edge of the next adventure with Mara. It’s magical and slightly darker MG and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

For as long as Mara can remember, she and her father have lived in their van and have moved from place to place, never staying anywhere for too long. She doesn't quite know what her father does as his job but, one day, she grows curious and follows him, and this leads to questions. Her father finally decides it's time to explain to Mara; however, before he can do so fully, they are ambushed and a group kidnap her father, leaving Mara scared and alone. Knowing only that she and her father had been heading to see Lenny, Mara heads off to find him, and discovers things that will change her life forever. But with the group who have her father still chasing Mara in search of her father's things, intent on using those things for evil, can Mara get to the bottom of things before it's too late?
I have loved all of Sinead's books so I was incredibly excited to see that she had an other book due out, and I was even more excited when I was given early access to it through NetGalley. I have to say that it jumped to the top of the tbr pile, I got stuck in straight away, and it's safe to say that I wasn't disappointed.

The Time Tiders is different from Sinead's other books but I really liked that; there's an element of sci-fi that weaves its way through the pages in a way that doesn't really feel sci-fiy (is that a word?). Mara is a strong and determined character who has immense inner strength and sense of self. She has lived a very different life to most children and it is this that gives her the qualities that shine out of her. She is definitely a character I won't forget in a hurry.

The book tackles themes that will really make you think; mainly those to do with time, harvesting spare time from those whose lives are cut short and whether that should be used by others. It made me think about the moral implications as well as how I would feel personally about this concept. The thought of being able to buy time could be incredibly tempting in many situations but the book also highlights the way something like this could be abused. I guarantee the book will make you think and, on several occasions, I found myself pausing and seriously pondering the plot. This would definitely be a book I would love to read to my class as I can imagine their thoughts would create some incredible discussions.

Due for release on the 2nd February, The Time Tiders is a thought-provoking book that will grip you and make you think in equal measure. It's another guaranteed hit for Sinead and a book I would highly recommend pre-ordering.

My first read by the author and what an absolute pleasure it was!

A truly fantastic work by Sinéad O'Hart with a richly structured plot and a range of characters.

There is always a thread of intrigue and adventure running through the book.

Would love to buy a copy of the work upon publication, and to search up on other works by Ms Sinéad.

Thanks, as always to NetGalley and Little Tiger, London for approving the request to read and review.

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Reviewed on NetGalley in India.
NetGalley ISBN: 9781788953306
Publisher: Little Tiger, London
Publication date (as mentioned on NetGalley): 2nd February, 2023

What words best describe a book by Sinéad O'Hart? Stupendous, thrilling, page turner, heart stopper, immersive, brilliant? Well Time Tider is all of these and more.
In Time Tider, we join Mara, who lives in a van with her dad. They get by but they are constantly on the move. Mara discovers something about Time Tiders. Her and dad are in danger but before she can learn more, they are discovered and chased. In his final words before leaving Mara so she can escape those that pursue them, Dad tells her to find Lenny and then he's gone. Mara continues on her own in search of Lenny. She meets Jan. He has heard of the Tiders and he is going to help.
This is a brilliantly conceived idea - and wonderfully delivered by Sinéad. An absolute first rate 5 star read.
There are going to be some stonkingly excellent reads this year and this is one such read. Publishing on the 02/02/23.
Huge thanks to Little Tiger Press and NetGalley for the early read.

An incredibly inventive story, honestly original.
Maara and her father live in a van travelling, living life on the road. Her father’s job is a mystery and he will not talk about it. One day her father disappears and Marra’s life is suddenly in danger.

I absolutely loved this, and now my 12 year old son is loving it too

Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review

I am always drawn to stories that play with the concept of time. This book asks some big questions – what happens if a person dies before they use up their allotment of time? Can it be harvested, stored, added to another life time? Is it ethical to sell and consume time that came from others, and what lengths will the living go to in order to buy a little more time for themselves?
But don’t be misled by the big philosophical questions this story tackles. It is packed with action from beginning to end. Mara and her father live on the outskirts of society, always on the move, always looking over their shoulders. After years of Dad shielding her from his mysterious and dangerous work, he is ripped away from her. Mara is forced to fend for herself, uncover her family’s secrets and navigate the treacherous world of Warps and Clockwatchers. She’s a tough and resourceful heroine, and the allies and enemies she meets along the way are complex, morally grey characters with their own agendas.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story from beginning to end. Immersive, exciting and thought-provoking. Fantastic.

The Time Tider is another entirely unique offering from Sinéad O’Hart - it’s quite unlike anything I’ve read before and is a thought-provoking and interesting sci-if adventure.

When Mara makes a startling discovery about her father’s occupation, she doesn’t expect to find herself at the centre of a dangerous adventure, in a world she knows literally nothing about. Can Mara rescue her dad and avoid capture herself, or will her time - quite literally - run out?

I thoroughly enjoyed The Time Tider. The plot is quite complex so it’s definitely one for more advanced readers (I would pitch it at Year 6 and above). It’s unpredictable, fast-paced and laced with genuine peril. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was my first Sinead O’Hart book and won’t be the last.
My favourite genre is time-travel, and I thought perhaps I’d be getting a little of it in this book. Even though I didn’t get my ‘fix’ here, I thoroughly enjoyed the unique take on time that Sinead has offered up. My older brain got a little befuddled, especially in the beginning, but I think that’s only because I was trying to wrangle the author’s ideas into something logical. Children will not have this problem I’m sure, as they’re quicker to suspend belief and logic and they’ll be rewarded by being taken on a fabulous, imaginative journey exploring a different way of looking at something as ordinary (but precious) as time.

Mara is such a great character! Her solitary, nomadic life in a van with just her distant father, pulls at your heartstrings instantly. And when disaster strikes, well I felt like crying.

I thoroughly recommend this contemporary fantasy for children 8-12.

“Time and Tide May Wait for None; But They Will Wait for You.”

Twelve year old Mara and her father live their life on the road. Mara doesn’t know what her father’s job is, only that it keeps him perpetually busy. When she sees her father disappear before her very eyes, Mara’s casual curiosity about what her father’s work entails becomes more urgent.

“People don’t just vanish, do they?”

What she discovers will cause her to reevaluate everything she thought she knew about her father and the way they live. She’ll also gain a greater understanding of the soft places she’s been able to find for as long as she can remember.

When her father is kidnapped, Mara will need to learn his secrets in order to find him. Time and the fate of the world depend on it.

Because Mara has grown up isolated with a father whose paranoia may or may not be warranted, she doesn’t know who she can trust. This makes the introduction of new characters unsettling as Mara’s distrust is contagious.

I loved Mara. She’s feisty, intelligent and brave. She also broke my heart.

“I’m used to stuff not being safe. I’ve never been safe. Not ever.”

This book explores how fear can isolate you and grief can be all encompassing, causing you to spend so much time focusing on what you’ve lost that you don’t pay attention to what you still have. There are a lot of moral questions raised, primarily about power and its ability to corrupt, and the lengths you’d go to for someone you love.

I’m not the hugest fan of characters being able to use their abilities flawlessly the first time they try. I much prefer to anticipate the payoff that comes when heroes persevere despite their initial struggles. Because I liked Mara so much, I was able to cheer her on even as I bristled at her ability to do what seemed impossible straight away. I doubt the target audience will have any problems with her innate talent.

I loved the excerpts from The Time Tider’s Handbook at the beginning of each chapter. They gave information about how Warps work and the role of the Time Tider, and oftentimes they gave clues as to where the chapters were heading.

“A Time Tider’s work is secretive, unsung and solitary, but know this to be true: they are all that stand between humanity and its destruction.”

Content warnings include gun violence.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Little Tiger, an imprint of Little Tiger Group, for the opportunity to read this book.