T;LDR: Time travel, Jack the Ripper, Shapeshifters (Transitives), and a slow-burn romance mash up in Victorian England for an engaging read in Jana Oliver’s Sojourn.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jacynda Lassiter is a Time Traveler from 2057, or rather, a time traveling tourist wrangler. She is sent to Victorian England in the days right before Jack the Ripper begins his killing spree to track down a late tourist. What she finds is so much more than she bargained for.
I really liked this book. The plot was interesting, there were multiple plot threads and layers, and the characters felt realistic not only to the time period from which they came, but also to the story itself. For that, I give it 4 stars.
The Plot
Jacynda Lassiter is sent by her company to track down a time traveling tourist who failed to show up in 2057 on time. She’s not a fan of Victorian England, but that is where he went, so she too must follow. After a particularly adverse reaction to the amount of time traveling she’s been doing, she takes a bit of time to gather her wits and hunt down the tourist.
In the meantime, she meets and becomes the romantic crush of two different men: a do-gooder-doctor and a clever detective. When her time-traveler lover turns up dead, the stakes take a turn for the serious as Jacynda hunts down her missing tourist and determines to solve her lover’s murder.
Can Jacynda find her tourist before Jack the Ripper begins his murder spree? What is going on with these two men she knows? And what does all this have to do with her lover’s death?
What I liked & liked less
I liked this book quite a lot, even though I found the beginning chapters confusing. There are multiple POVs in this book, some in 2057 and some in 1888. Before you quite understand what’s happening, we’re switching back to another POV in a different space and time.
This book is a mashup of fantasy and science fiction, which caused some of my confusion as well. One chapter we’re talking futuristic gadgets and the next some as not yet defined ‘Transitive’ thing. Once I got going, though, I got into the hang of things fairly easily.
The world building is well done and there are enough references in both settings to show the history and culture were well-thought out by the author. The author smudged some of the conversation in the Victorian age, so if you’re a stickler for that, you may not find it as entertaining as I did.
The characters, of which there are many, are interesting and each one has enough of a buildup for you to care what they are doing and what happens to them. I will say Jacynda’s friend, Ralph, from 2057 seemed to be repetitive in what he thought about and what his scenes covered, which was tedious but not book breaking.
Jacynda is intelligent, determined, and clearly on a mission. She also has no real reason to remain in 2057, which makes it easy for her to do the job she does. She has a good sense of humor and takes her reaction – a talking spider – to too much time traveling in stride.
The do-gooder-doctor is not too good; he has flaws and an interesting backstory. The reason he chooses not to shift shapes is thin, though. I would’ve wanted a bit more backstory there to explain his rebellion against the Conclave (Transitive powers that be). There are some shared later in the book, but again, they are a bit weak.
The clever detective is, to me, the far more interesting man. He’s clever, funny, and can easily blend in to a crowd given his shapeshifting abilities. The author also set up an interesting conflict between the two friends that has some consequences at the end of the book.
The love story/romance was alright. I could see it coming like a steam train pulling into a station and both men’s fascination with her could be put down to how very different she was to the women of their time. So while she’s the ‘love interest’ in the triangle, it’s not only because she’s good looking. To be honest, it wasn’t my favorite part, especially as I see shades of the main love interest being too enamored with her and turning into the ‘I can’t live without her’ trope I can’t stand that is prevalent in romance these days.
But, it didn’t quite go there.
The villain I didn’t see coming, although I pegged who it was fairly early on. The reason for why was harder to come by, which was a nice twist, but it ties neatly into the time and place the story is set.
I did not like that deus ex machina of saving her at just the right moment – it felt very convenient for someone who has been having a hard time hearing from her superiors, but eh, it’s not a book killer either.
The story set up the next book in the trilogy and also gave Jacynda a reason to stay in London in a realistic way. And to be honest, I’m interested to see where the characters go next.
To Sum Up (Too Late!)
If you liked the Superpowered books by Drew Hayes, or like an interesting potentially morally gray superhero with a necromancy power set, you’d like this book. The writing had humor, some twists, enough emotional depth to keep me hooked, and sent the hero on a fun, if predictable, journey. Does it An interesting world, dangling threads that didn’t get completely tied off, and a slow burn romance created a fun first novel in Jana Oliver’s Sojourn. I didn’t give it 5 stars because of some issues I found that could have been done better. Overall, though, I liked it enough to be interested in other books written by the author. For this and more, I gave it 4 stars.
About the Author
Jana Oliver is an international and Amazon bestselling author who lives in Portugal.
Her novels have won numerous awards, including the Prism Award, the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Supense as well as the National Readers’ Choice Award.
Her books include The Demon Trappers Series and Briar Rose (Young Adult), time travel/historical mystery (The Time Rovers Series) and paranormal romance (Tangled Souls).
She is co-author of Socially Engaged: The Author’s Guide to Social media, written with Tyra Burton.
She is happiest when she’s researching urban legends, peering at old maps and adding to her growing collection of port and Portuguese wines.
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Originally published on Feedium.