This seventh volume is the final one that I bought and although it continued the standard set by book 3 of being a bit better, I won't be bothering with any more. In this, despite having skipped books 4 - 6 inclusive (and I've discovered various short stories set in between books) I soon picked up the situation. Max and Leon version 2.0 are now married and Max is pregnant. A few more historians have joined the cast.

The opening sequence, as in a number of the other books, is just a vignette with no knock on effect to the rest of the story despite a bit of business which made it look as if there would be a payoff later (Queen Caroline has a wound on the back of her hand which might have been inflicted with a poisoned blade and Markham has a similar one after a tussle in a doorway to retrieve Max's dropped recorder.).

Before long we get on to the main event where the team go to visit a hill fort in the time of the Saxon invasions and find themselves caught up with a Saxon onslaught and the arrival of Arthur, Dux Bellorum, known to later ages as King Arthur or the Once and Future King. As in the old TV series, Arthur of the Britons, here Arthur is a war chief who leads a troop of mobile highly trained cavalry who can quickly go to the aid of various beseiged British groups. The historians witness the handing over of a sword and later there are serious repercussions in the modern day, of a fantasy type nature - which is why I always class these books as fantasy and not science fiction. As a result of her actions and those of a small team of friends and colleagues, two people end up leaving St Mary's, Max is demoted to a fund raising post with the job due to end after her maternity leave (which would seem illegal to me) and two others are denied the roles for which they were previously being groomed. The university at Thirsk, their nominal controller, insists on moving in a rather unpleasant character and his assistant, and the man loses no time in messing up a mission through a combination of incompetence, panic and high-handedness leading Max to have to step in.

Later, Max leads an unofficial expedition to recover certain items, due to be lost in King John's "Wash incident" which can be dug up to fund St Mary's which is now in a precarious financial state as a direct result of her earlier actions - though I wasn't too sure if this constituted interference when it transpired that said objects were not really lost in the manner things have always been assumed.

I quite enjoyed the historical interludes - the fishwife for example and the jewel heist caper at the end - and it was ineresting to see Max having to deal with disgrace. Plus an old enemy turned up once again, which I gather has probably happened in some of the intervening books too. The last section did at least provide the answer to who was referred to in the final line of book three, the last one I had read The Time Police. It's also nice that the relationship between Max and Leon is much better, steadier and seemingly based on more of a real regard for each other than just having great sex with otherwise a big yawning gulf of understanding in between. There is obviously something being set up for the future with a cameo of a Leon from later on in the timeline, but I will pass and draw a line under the books. I don't feel there is anything sufficiently different between them to need to read any more. But this one does at least rate 3 stars. ( )

The centerpiece of this romp through time is a trip to Arthurian-era Wales to map an abandoned fort. Did I say abandoned? Not so much. Jodi Taylor’s novels continue to be bonbons for the mind. ( )

Max is on light duties – on account of being pregnant – and therefore not allowed on the more interesting (i.e. dangerous) jumps, and so covers the coronation of George IV – or, more accurately, Queen Caroline being barred from the event – and is sent on what is supposed to be an uneventful survey in Bronze Age Wales. But, true to style, Max ends up getting herself, as well as Peterson, Markham, Sands and Roberts, into Trouble, with major repercussions for everyone involved.

I simply adore this series and always ask myself why I leave it so long between books when opening another Chronicle feels like being reunited with dear friends. There isn't as much history in this instalment as in some of the other volumes (though the team's jump to 1216 certainly packs a punch), since Max has to face the fallout from her actions and deal with matters at St Mary's, which, it turns out, are rather complex. I expect to see this particular plot thread rumble on in subsequent titles. ( )

Way too short. Love the new adventure and of course, I'm very attached to the characters and St. Mary's! The books are fun to read, but I'm glad I paid only $4.61 for this one. 320 Kindle pages. ( )

What? A total guilty pleasure that doesn't have much to do with romance, vampires, or werewolves? One that reads so easy and so effortlessly and so addictively you might want to classify this as a class A substance?

And OMG we're ALL able to abuse this shit?

Yeah, we are. Just for the price of a book or a whole damn series. Including short stories. We can GET OUR FIX.

What's even better? Oh yeah, it's SF, time travel, and SO MUCH HISTORY for all us history buffs. :) Total history-porn.

Oh, and of course we've still got our favorite characters just jumping blindly into the past where they're able to get into so much damn trouble just because history isn't safe. I mean, is *any* time safe? Of course not... but we have to sigh and reconcile ourselves to the fact that Historians are idiots.

Seriously. Idiots.

Fortunately, it's hard to stay angry at them, even when they jump into several English wars, get into serious trouble with Arthur, become a pawn in Dr. Bairstow's games, even having Max think her last jump before maternity leave would be an easy Stonehenge reveal, but no. Of course, no. Any fan of this series is going to be sitting on the edge of his or her seat and wondering what dire and/or absolutely horrible event is going to happen next, and while I might be a pussycat in real life and wish to tell you what horrors await you in order to steel yourself to the tragedy... well, I won't. I'm mean on occasion. Or often. Who knows?

But this is where the tears start falling... or do they? This author is really, really mean. :)

And AWESOME. This is some great storytelling with really dry humor and great history and great characters and really mean and fast plots. :) Why aren't more people reading this? It's totally entertaining as hell. :) ( )