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TimeWars #2
The Timekeeper Conspiracy
Using time travel to fight wars seemed like the perfect way to solve the international disputes of the 27th Century: all the economic advantages of warfare without any of the devastation taking place in your own time. Multinational corporations and governments geared up for the effort, secure in the knowledge that since the past already happened, it could not be changed, so history was safe. Or was it? When it was discovered that history could, indeed, be changed as a result of interference from the future, it seemed too late to stop the Time Wars, so a special unit was created to “adjust” for historical disruptions and preserve the continuity of the timestream. But as if going back into the past on missions to preserve the future wasn’t challenging enough, now the elite First Division of the U.S. Army Temporal Corps faced a new and much more dangerous threat. A peaceful protest group had spun off a militant offshoot called the Timekeepers, radicals who believed the only way to stop the war machine was to create massive historical disruptions. A covert agent of Temporal Intelligence gave his life to warn of a terrorist plot by the Timekeepers, so Capt. Lucas Priest and Pfc. Finn Delaney are clocked back to 17th Century France, so they can join up with agents of the T.I.A. already in place to find out what the Timekeepers have planned. Their target could be Cardinal Richelieu, but it will be hard enough trying to figure out who their target is and how to stop them in a scenario where almost anyone could be a ringer, including a young Gascon named D’Artagnan and three of the King’s flamboyant musketeers.
225 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 1984
6 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Simon Hawke
90 books238 followersAlso published as J.D. Masters.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 20 reviews
September 21, 2018
Members of the Temporal Corps. tsked with preventing a meltdown in the timeline, are dispatched to the era of the Three Musketeers to stop the machinations of the villain.
Not too bad, but certainly nothing on Dumas here.
Not too bad, but certainly nothing on Dumas here.
November 2, 2025
Fantastic. I read most of these years ago but never found this one at the time(before kindle). A brilliant idea and a wonderfully well written romp. Time commandos meet the three musketeers to fight a conspiracy to change the course of history. The story is well written with lots of great characters both fictional and real, fast paced and action packed I read this in one sitting and have already got the next one lined up. Highly recommended.
February 27, 2014
Now the real story starts to become apparent, yes the idea of fighting your battles in the past hidden amongst the historical conflicts may not have been appealing but the realisation that even greater stakes are now becoming apparent suddenly puts things in to perspective and the conflict though none the less real and lethal take on a whole new importance. After all who knew if one false move meant that you could never return back to the future you knew and loved. I am sure like many historical stories there will be those out there who nitpick and criticise the factual correctness of the setting or even the characters (since they too are technically fictitious) but to be honest once the story gets underway who cares - all you want to know is how they are going to get out of this one.
December 1, 2017
Some times time travel falls within the science fiction half of the genre, and sometimes the fantasy half. I think this falls on the sci-fi side, because it relies on science for its explanation of time travel.
In this book, the second in the series but the first I have read, the heroes travel back to 17th century France and the trusty Musketeers. They are trying to avoid a split in the time stream, which happens when significant events in the past are changed or don't occur. So they wind up intricately involved with D'Artagnon, Cardinal Richelieu, and Milady DeWinter. (Reading this book increased my excitement for the forthcoming new translation of the Three Musketeers.) And there is a lot of death, and not just of the red-shirts.
This is an amusing read. I enjoyed it and look forward to others in the series. This is a series that is best read in order (though I didn't)--the book kept referring to things that had happened to the characters during the first book (Ivanhoe!).
In this book, the second in the series but the first I have read, the heroes travel back to 17th century France and the trusty Musketeers. They are trying to avoid a split in the time stream, which happens when significant events in the past are changed or don't occur. So they wind up intricately involved with D'Artagnon, Cardinal Richelieu, and Milady DeWinter. (Reading this book increased my excitement for the forthcoming new translation of the Three Musketeers.) And there is a lot of death, and not just of the red-shirts.
This is an amusing read. I enjoyed it and look forward to others in the series. This is a series that is best read in order (though I didn't)--the book kept referring to things that had happened to the characters during the first book (Ivanhoe!).
November 24, 2019
Book 2 in the Time Wars series finds the time commandos interacting with characters from The Three Musketeers. This time around, terrorists from the 27th Century are looking to change history by killing Cardinal Richelieu, King Louis XIII and Queen Anne in 17th Century France. Two of the soldiers from The Ivanhoe Gambit are loaned out to the Temporal Intelligence Agency to help outwit the bad guys. This one is a lot more light hearted than its predecessor--whether that's due to the quotes from The Three Musketeers or Mr. Hawke is emulating Mssr. Dumas' style, I don't know. Having already starting reading The Three Musketeers and my edition's introductory essay, it seems that Mr. Hawke has done his homework and pulled some ideas from the sundry sources used by Alexandre Dumas. Anyway, this one's a good book based on a great classic. A tome to keep on my shelf.
March 16, 2023
In Book 1 of TimeWars, Simon Hawke had Robin Hood and Ivanhoe show up in a medieval tale. In The Timekeeper Conspiracy, it's the cast of the Three Musketeers. Well hey, they did exist. If this were a TV show, we'd likely be travelling in Hollywood's version of history. As these are books, it's the literary one. I'm not complaining. Happily, Hawke has indeed retained the more interesting members of his cast like Finn and Andre, the lead, Lucas Priest, is still pretty much a cipher. He does get to show off his sense of humor - and this is a much funnier book than TW1, with some fun comic moments - but there are times when you think he'll take the lead on something, but Hawke prefers someone else do it. The author also scores points for not repeating the first novel's plot or beats, with very different villains using very different tactics. If he has more cards up his sleeve, I'm quite happy to continue with this action-adventure series.
November 30, 2017
The stakes are higher as the time wars come face to face with terrorism
Lucas Priest and Finn Delaney may come to regret the reputation they earned when they completed a successful adjustment in the Ivanhoe Gambit. They proved themselves able to think on their feet, able to counter an evolving problem, and face an unknown enemy.
I enjoy the way the characters in these books think, face complex problems and wrestle their way through philosophical discussions that can leave your head spinning as they try to figure out how a terrorist is going to disrupt time and create a split in history -- then work to prevent the terrorist from succeeding, and preserve history as they know it.
Lucas Priest and Finn Delaney may come to regret the reputation they earned when they completed a successful adjustment in the Ivanhoe Gambit. They proved themselves able to think on their feet, able to counter an evolving problem, and face an unknown enemy.
I enjoy the way the characters in these books think, face complex problems and wrestle their way through philosophical discussions that can leave your head spinning as they try to figure out how a terrorist is going to disrupt time and create a split in history -- then work to prevent the terrorist from succeeding, and preserve history as they know it.
May 10, 2022
A second Time Wars book that ensured that this fun series was off and running. Good comrades, fun time travel shenanigans, action and intrigue. Fine stuff that always made me eager for the next book. A little more plot originality — these books tended to take "real" (though from novels, so fictional) plots and twist them with our heroes manipulating the past — would have been a welcome break, though, as the series went on. I would have been fine with Hawke creating his own histories.
July 13, 2023
chicas… LO AMÉ. empecé leyéndome este libro por la gracieta pero me he investeado tanto tanto… Simon Hawke entiende de verdad a los mosqueteros como solo los entendemos Dumas y yo. hoy me siento un poco menos sola en este barco que se llama vida… buscaré las siguientes entregas y las leeré de arriba a abajo! aunque dudo mucho que me vuelvan a costar 2.40€ como me costó este que fue una ganga. todo sobre Timekeeper es perfecto!
August 14, 2024
This is good as well. I like Andre's story arc. Lucas and Delany are great characters. French history and political intrigue never really interested me, and it fails to hold my interests here as well.
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April 15, 2020An excellent read!
May 6, 2023
Another fun read in this series. Really enjoyed it.
February 23, 2025
This is the second book in the Time Wars series, and it’s not quite as good as the first, but still pretty good: well worth reading if you liked the first.
The setting moves from 12th-century England to 17th-century France, and the Four Musketeers are involved. The plot is rather too complicated for my taste, with people of uncertain loyalty on both sides, but it makes an exciting story with some flamboyant characters.
The author correctly felt that Andre de le Croix, from the first book, was too good a character to drop, so she stays and becomes a permanent fixture.
The setting moves from 12th-century England to 17th-century France, and the Four Musketeers are involved. The plot is rather too complicated for my taste, with people of uncertain loyalty on both sides, but it makes an exciting story with some flamboyant characters.
The author correctly felt that Andre de le Croix, from the first book, was too good a character to drop, so she stays and becomes a permanent fixture.
July 18, 2014
Update: The original comments were from a couple of years ago. I still rate this with four stars, although I'm still laughing at one particular tavern scene early in the book. It had me laughing out loud last night...I'd forgotten. That might earn another half star.
I have read all of the Timewars books, and thoroughly enjoy how Simon Hawke wove literature into an entertaining sci-fi tableau. Re-reading the first two while on vacation has renewed my interest and inspired me to read Ivanhoe and The Three Musketeers. I might even make my way through the other classics. Good fun!
I have read all of the Timewars books, and thoroughly enjoy how Simon Hawke wove literature into an entertaining sci-fi tableau. Re-reading the first two while on vacation has renewed my interest and inspired me to read Ivanhoe and The Three Musketeers. I might even make my way through the other classics. Good fun!
December 9, 2011
The second TimeWars book involves conspiracy (obviously), musketeers, adventure, double-crossers, and a fast-paced plot that will keep any time travel fan entertained for sure. I highly enjoyed this and look forward to reading book three: The Pimpernel Plot.
June 7, 2015
The plor is pretty good and the characters are a lot of fun. But dear me, the constant expository repetitions of things we have already been told or of scenes we just witnessed a few pages prior... This book could easily have been shortened by half.
July 19, 2014
If I remember the Three Musketeers correctly, this follows that plot quite closely. Of course with the perspective of the time agents.
July 14, 2013
Četla se relativně hezky, docela se mi líbil menší okruh hlavních postav s různě propojenými vztahy, jen jsem občas v ději ztrácela a zcela ho nechápala. Ale hezké. :-)
August 5, 2017
I loved the first book but this one was horrible. They didn't give Lucas and Finn a mission, they were just kind of there doing nothing which made it super boring.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 20 reviews