Review: Sojourn (Updated)

Sojourn by Jana Oliver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Alternate Victorian historical mystery with time travel and shape shifters, and Jack the Ripper on top. This was exactly my cup of tea. It did start out feeling like a bit of a mish-mash at some points, but I ended up really enjoying it and the whole series. All of these elements came together better and better as the overall story developed, although it might not be apparent yet by the end of the first book.

In this book, there are three mysteries including the Ripper plot. The paranormal and science fiction elements add just a little more flavor to it as well. There's a tiny hint of possible romance to come, but nothing really developed. This is not a historical romance in disguise, for which I was thankful.

I enjoyed the complexity of the plot compared to many time travel novels I've read where the traveler just pops in and out of other times but the main story is in the present. This one really dwells in Victorian London with all its atmosphere and very real danger to a lone woman investigating murders on the streets of London, rousing the suspicion of the law while she's at it. Jacynda can't avoid getting embroiled in events and lives of the time. And she can't be sure if one of her new friends is the killer she's after.

I like how this doesn't avoid the question of how she inevitably changes history just by being there and interacting with people. And then there's the question of who is purposely messing with history from her own time. I also like that the future time period is not our present, but is far in our future as well. It made for two interesting settings, whenever we did see the future.

This was lots of fun - and I liked the sequels even better, as the time travel aspect gets more involved and the implications more complicated later on.



View all my reviews