Author Jana Oliver's Time Rover Series a Time Travel Treat

Jana Oliver wrote a trilogy of Time Rover books a couple of years ago. If you love meticulously constructed stories about Victorian England, time travel, or dark fantasy, you need to get these books right away. And do yourself a favor and buy all three at once, because you are not going to want to wait at the end of one before you get the next The books in the series are Sojourner, Virtual Evil, and Madman's Dance.

Jacynda Lassiter is a Time Rover from 2057, who has built a formidable reputation for getting tourists and academics in and out of time travel destinations safely and without disturbing the flow of history. Her adventures in the London of 1888 begin when a tourist goes missing and then a fellow Time Rover with whom Cynda (as she is called by her friends) had a very close connection is killed. In Sojourn, Cynda must find the missing tourist and the murderer. In the meantime, she makes two gentlemen friends who would like to be more than that and learns that literally almost everything and everybody are not what they seem. As the trilogy continues, something is going terribly wrong with time, the time travel industry has become seriously dodgy, and Cynda's adventures keep you on the edge of your seat and unable to stop reading until you know what happens next!

Ms. Oliver's absolute mastery of the detail of the back streets and social mores of the Whitechapel area in the time of Jack the Ripper will fascinate anyone with an interest in the time period.

When I asked Jana what she would like readers to know about the books, she told me it took intensive research to make sure the Victorian scenes were as accurate as possible.

"Last time I checked I had well over one hundred books, including biographies, court trial transcripts and period maps, to help me get the feel for London in 1888," she said. "I consulted with Victorian experts, Ripperologists, you name it. I think that's the appeal of steampunk in general, the richness of the time period in which it's set."

That kind of attention to detail allows the reader to sink into the story with an absolute suspension of disbelief. I love strong, feisty heroines and Jacynda is one of the best. The best part of this trilogy is that you care intensely about Jacynda, her friends Dr. Alistair Montrose and Sgt. John Keats, and the books keep you wanting more all the way to the end and beyond.

Get these books. I give them five out of five stars for readability and for the accurate depiction of Victorian England as well.