Lets do the timewarp again!

A Symphony of Echoes is the second main novel in Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St Mary’s. It starts with a visit to Victorian London to meet Jack the Ripper, and continues on with kidnapping from the future, bad therapy, and making sure Queen Elizabeth I doesn’t get executed by Mary.

These  books are still proving to be a fun read, barrelling on at great pace and full of witty conversation and quirky scenarios. The story makes for an interesting “what if” scenario (what if Mary had never married Bothwell) and doesn’t step away from making the protagonists actions morally grey.

Where it falls down a little is that there is starting to be a tendency to repetition in character behaviour – our protagonist Max and her love interest Farrell end up going through a similar hurtful row/breakup/reconciliation cycle in this book as they did in the first. That could do with stopping particularly as the escalation of events is over-dramatic and in real-life would not end up with reconciliation.

Also, it may be a factor of the time-travel nature of the books but I can’t get a handle on the linear timeline. I couldn’t tell you how old Max is or how long it’s been since she arrived at St Mary’s. Longer term this could be confusing.

Generally speaking I still really like this series, it’s an easy read, and the characters are generally likeable. But I am hoping that some of the negative traits don’t continue so that I can enjoy the rest of the series without wanting to slap people for being stupid.