Gwen Conway is in search of a job and finds herself applying for a “glorified secretarial job” at a legal archive, working for Alistair Fletcher. Not her dream job by any stretch, she soon finds herself bored… until strange things begin to happen: a chance encounter with a handsome, muscular man, who just happens to be sopping wet for no apparent reason; bizarre dreams and nightmares that lead her to sleepwalk; peculiar mirrors that appear to ripple. Eventually, Alistair comes clean and Gwen discovers she actually works for the Archiver of the Time Streams, and that she, too, has the ability to travel anywhere she wants: past or future. There’s just one problem: she’s landed in the middle of a time travelers’ war, having to fight against both a half-god who has lost his mind and the Guardians, who are supposed to be her allies, but who instead seem to think she’s lost before she’s even gotten started. Since when was saving the world in her job description?
Sometimes Urban Fantasy is dark and morbid. Not so with J.D. Faulkner’s MIRRORED TIME. The story is captivating with plenty of twists and turns—the author does a fantastic job of keeping the guesses coming—and it is not overwhelmingly dark, though it does lack a bit of the grit typically associated with the genre. Even still, the story is engrossing, and the complexities unique to the world Faulkner has created make sense and are perfectly tied together with enough explanation and no dumbing down of the information. The characters are easy to relate to, their flaws making them all the more compelling, and the relationships between them are intricate without getting bogged down in every minute detail; the back and forth between Gwen and Rafe is especially exciting, saucy and flirty without being graphic, and works the insecurities of both characters into the mix without dragging down the enjoyment of watching them interact and eventually letting down their respective guards with each other. Gwen’s growth from apathetic, bored woman to heroine to be reckoned with is well-done without overusing the “woman can do it all alone” trope to excess.
J.D. Faulkner’s MIRRORED TIME is a light Urban Fantasy, great for a quick, weekend read.
Reviewed by K.J. Pierce for IndieReader