The Towpath by Jonathan Walter
Blurb:
When the Redeemer learns about an ancient medallion that will allow her to go back in time to prevent her teenage daughter's suicide, she and her band of seventeenth-century Iroquois warriors embark on a mission to recover it. The only problem, however, is Aaron Porter, a shy fourteen-year-old with a garbage-picking hobby, who has discovered the medallion first. And he has his own plans for it. Now, hot on the trail of Aaron and his friends, the Redeemer won't hesitate to recover what's rightfully hers. How far would you go to prevent the death of someone you love, and when? The Redeemer knows, and that's why she'll travel across centuries, removing anyone who stands in her way.
Review:
Well… this review is extremely overdue, alongside a few more. I got this book last year, and yet, I still remember most of the story vividly. And yes, I partially wanted to review this book because the author shares the same first name, for some fun confusion when talking about books with other people. The other reason was because I saw time travel and knew that the last novel I read from Roundfire Books was pretty good, so I thought that if they were publishing it, the time travel would be good too. I wasn’t wrong.
Now, if I had to sell this book to someone who enjoys time travel in novels, I;d give them this sentence:
“Aaron Porter, while exploring one day, accidentally stumbles upon a very powerful medallion that drags him into a timeless adventure.”,
before saying that there are indeed consequences for travelling around the time space and that it is something that could be dangerous, which is something both the Redeemer and Aaron Porter learn about.
To start this off, we have the two characters of this story, Aaron Porter and the Redeemer. Aaron Porter, he goes from a naive fourteen year old with a habit of digging around garbage to slowly learning the importance of life as he tries to outrun the Redeemer. Once the story ends, his hobbies change for the better, and he tries to be more outside. As for the Redeemer. Her, as a character, is the embodiment of gamblers fallacy to the extremes when it comes to her all consuming quest to gain back what she had lost. And even then, she somewhat manages to dig herself out of the hole through seeing what the medallion was actually capable of.
Next, we have the plot. It was akin to randomly finding a magical time machine, and having to run away from an extremely determined terminator of a human with her own army of arrow wielding Indians. And through all that, shenanigans happen to a degree, with the story moving along quite well, all leading to the inevitable end of the story.
After that, and lastly, we have the way time travel is mentioned in this story. It has its own set of consequences, and it follows its own path and own rules. Anyone who tries to manipulate it for their own gain usually ends up with the wrong foot on the ground for a 100 yard dash and is sent for a wild ride. Almost like it is alive. And I like that, different from some other time travel books and movies I’ve seen.
If I had to critique anything about this book, it would be that the medallion was too much of a MacGuffin at a time. Yes, it has a function. But there was no other drive or motivation for anyone to be after it other than time travel. It was useful to the story - but only to a certain degree. Other than the one or two times it’s doing something, it’s dormant, and talked about, instead of showing the true potential of it.
As always, thank you for reading this really long overdue review, and I hope I’ve been able to add another book to your TBR pile, or your next read. Whichever one is the most likely. And if not, don’t fret, we have plenty of books within almost any genre you can think of, something for everyone. This here link will bring you to a randomly chosen review that might be in the same space as this one, or somewhere completely different.
Wherever you are reading this, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
