Threads of Time (Paperback)Toronto Time Agents #2

There was more action in book two than book one—that was an improvement—but the author lost sight of some of the premises she set up in book one like the relationship between time spent in the past and time passed in the present. And she repeats information that you don’t need to hear two or three times.Still, if you’re looking for a light time travel story where the supposedly experienced Temporal Agent makes one mistake after the other with the repeating moan and groan of “I’m too old for this”, then this story of rogue Temporal Agents trying to kill her will please you.

It’s a pity. The author had a very original idea. However, the obvious male-bashing tone that permeates the book is rather painful. She made her main character a big-mouth, crabby woman which becomes extremely tiresome. As I said, it’s a pity.

Wilda, our main character, has made it clear that she no longer wants to be a time travel agent. Her boss, under the guise of training a new agent on an easy mission, has offered her a chance to meet an ancestor Wilda has long admired. She grudgingly accepts, only to find out her true mission is to find information about time terrorists that are sabotaging the agency.Wilda and her trainee travel back to the 1850s where their agenda quickly goes awry. Wilda is feeling her age and the patriarchal attitudes of men of that era. I quickly found myself getting as cranky as Wilda while reading about her encounters. Here is a strong, intelligent woman silenced by ignorance. Her trainee, intelligent, but inexperienced, had to intervene many times, as women were to remain silent and helpless. This was an era where men could have their headstrong wives committed or jailed, no questions asked. No woman wants to go back to anything resembling that era, but obviously, we still have a fight.I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

History and mystery. This is the second book in the Toronto Time Agents series but is the first book I have read by this author. I had no trouble keeping track with the story as each book seems to be a standalone plot. It was a very interesting read for a rainy day before my boys got out of school for thanksgiving break.Wilda Firestone has decades of experience being a Temporal Agent but her time on the force is done she is ready to retire and just enjoy her passion for making period appropriate clothing for travelers. Only Pembley, her boss, has decided that he will give her what she wants to meet an ancestor from the 1800s if she begins training new agents. While the agreement is suspicious, she agrees, Sir Algernon was once a policeman but now wants to be a Temporal Agent and is Wilda’s trainee, before they can go on their mission an explosion happens in the Agency for Time Tourism next door to her workshop/store. Her curiosity spikes when along with her anger over her life’s work being destroyed in the attack. With the only time machine in Canada reduced to ashes they must find another way to complete their mission. Only things change and the mission along with it. They are no longer on a strictly training mission they are on the hunt for terrorists that have taken everything away from her. What they find is not what they expected as they search for the answers to repair the time stream.Why was the time machine targeted? Will Wilda make it in time to stop the terrorists? What has happened and how deep does it go? The world C.N. Jackson has melded together is one of intrigue, mystery, and suspense as you’re sucked back in time with Wilda on the hunt for the answers. I couldn’t help myself from getting wrapped up in the questions, rushing from page to page in search of the answers with her. This book shows history without blinders, no false illusions of how the times were and what was or wasn’t acceptable its truth which builds the world more with each turning page. Wilda is a force to be reckoned with and she will find her answers no matter when and where. I can’t wait for book three, Unraveling Brigid’s Veil October 24th, 2024, to see what Wilda faces next.

Lived in Toronto and am anishinaabe. I can picture the streets - Great to see this series. A super fun read.