Time's Chariot

by Ben Jeapes

THE HIMALAYAS, 5000 Daiho is dead, but there’s no question of foul play. The murder of a Home Timer is about as likely as unauthorized interference with the work of a Correspondent. . . .Isfahan, Arabia, 1029:Abu Ali was startled. He hadn’t heard the stranger enter. The Correspondent was even more alarmed—his enhanced senses would have picked up the arrival of any normal human. Then the stranger spoke, and it was the language of the Home Time. Seconds later, Correspondent RC/1029’s world went dark.The Home Time, 2000 Years Operative Rico Garron is about to have a very bad day.From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Young Adult, Mystery

231 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

His father's army postings sent them all over. At Dumpton, he "read his first Dr Who book (c. 1975), first suffered from hay fever (summer 1977) and first watched Blake’s 7 (January 1978). His parents also got the one interesting posting of his entire life, to Bangladesh. All these were to have effects on his life that still haven’t worn off.." After 12 years in publishing, Jan 2000 layoff started his writing career.

Reviews

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Earth's future, a man created a singularity that allowed people to transfer back and forth in time. Ever since then, the Home Time citizens have been mining the information wealth of the past. The singularity is due to expire in 27 years when the a murder is discovered and a plot that may mean the blinking out of existence of billions of people. Time travel sf seems to naturally involve convoluted plots. This is no exception and in the inclusion of a murder and a conspiracy ratchets up the intricate twists and turns along with the suspense. There are very few teen characters in this book that was originally published in England in 1999 but it is an engrossing read and great to hand to teens who are looking for a more demanding read or have already moved to adult sf.

[Maris McKay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I read sci-fi this good that wasn't written by Orson Scott Card (though to be honest I read more fantasy than SF so that's not terribly shocking). The writing was tight, clean, and clever. The time-lines are a bit convoluted, though, and you have to really pay attention in the first chapters to keep track of who's who (I had to go back and read the first chapter about half-way through to finally connect the dots). Still, I liked the characters and most of the time-travel elements came together in a logical fashion without causing those annoying future-causes-the-past paradoxes (except for one revealed at the end that I'm trying not to think about too much).

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A time traveling whodunnit with a slight distopian twist, Time's Chariot has a world similar to our own set slightly in the future. Jeapes does a great job creating a universe in which time travel not only is a regular occurance, but is done in order to learn about distance times and places. A little confusing a first, this became a really enjoyable read.

[Kristin Lundgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was sort of another take on the recent Turtledove I read. It's about the future, not terribly far, but someone discovered how to manipulate the time stream, and in doing so, accidentally created several new time streams, all with billions of people in them, which of course now must be watched over, and looked after. So they create a Home Time division, where they have various agents who go out and are time police, and others who are planted back in time and move forward through the time stream, observing and recording events and sending them back to be entertainment for the masses, since there isn't much to do in the future, but live in your apartment. The people are hungry for new things, and observations of the various time streams is a fun thing - a future soap opera or mini-series. They record special events and daily life. Since people can be kept alive almost indefinitely, they can be sent, as one correspondent is, back to Rome around 1000 AD, and live through the rest of history, up until the 21st century, when they are to be recalled. But something goes wrong. And Rico Darren, who has gotten in trouble before, sniffs it out, and begins to follow what seem to be anomalies. He enlists the help of one of the higher ups in Home Time, and a fellow officer, and together they try and track what is going on and stop it, whatever it is. It's a fun story, sort of a Starship Troopers, but with time rather than bugs, and although the science isn't very "hard," the fun is, although at times it got a little confusing to me as to who was what and where. But that happens to me. All in all, a rather more old-fashioned SF book, but enjoyable.

[Nikoletta Skwarek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me 3 or 4 attempts to read this, and not for the reasons you'd think. The first 3 failed times I simply didn't know enough English. I'm not a massive scifi reader, and that being said, the author uses a creative, fictional vocabulary that almost made me leap for joy when I finally was fluent enough to get the gist of what the hell the words meant. Massive lightbulb moments all around. Sadly this also highlights the less ideal parts of the book - the unique world was not used to its full advantage. In my humble opinion, it lacked in depth and was rather difficult to picture where descriptions were not adequate. A shame - the world and premise of the book really did fascinate me.
Simply a mildly interesting futuristic time-travel murder mystery with a lot of unused potential.

Also what's up with adding crucial information in less than half a page at the very end of the story? A small hint beforehand would have been great. Sounded more like a last ditch attempt at plugging up plot holes.

3 stars for ideas, some likeable characters and the potential

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Steph for TeensReadToo.com

Rico Garron is disturbed when the death of Commissioner Diaho seems to be in fact a murder.

But when several facts come up that lead to a greater mystery than a mere murder, Rico finds himself on a timeless hunt to find the truth. And this journey is literally a timeless one.

Being of the future, Rico can in fact travel back in time hundreds of years and trace Commissioner Diaho's dealings to figure out why he was murdered and who killed him.

With TIME'S CHARIOT, Ben Jeapes writes a very intriguing story about the future. While at first it can be confusing trying to figure out what is going on and trying to learn these new "futuristic" terms, the story itself is still very enticing and will quickly pull readers in. The many twists and turns make this novel a true page-turner.

[Lara · Rating 1 out of 5]

To me, this feels a lot like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, which, to me, is not a good thing, seeing as how I am like the only person in the entire world who really doesn't like those books. Only this doesn't even have the humor of the Hitchhiker's Guide books. It just doesn't work for me even a little. So, boo.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good young adult science fiction/time travel/mystery book. Not a lot of sci fi or mystery has been published lately for this age group, so a good title to keep in mind to recommend to those teenage Star Trek fans. Or their modern replacements.

[Sheri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun idea, but too scattered to be well understood. Half the time you have to flip back to figure out who the heck this new character is. Had the book been less disjointed it would have been a fun read.

[Kari Scare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of confusing but still and interesting read. I especially like the combination of the past and the future.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, kind of a difficult to follow plot. Once you figure out the plot its a very good book however.