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hobbithopeful's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The Celtic Deception
Traveling through time, battling with Romans, this novel should have been an easy slam dunk for fans of historical fiction. (It’s not) Andrew Varga’s The Celtic Deception is full of potential for its thrilling actions scenes but falls flat when it comes to the characters. This is the second book in the Jump in Time series, and one I read through Netgalley. The book follows Dan, a teenage boy who every female in the book falls head over heels for. With the use of a time rod he is able to have the ability to jump through time and travel back in history whenever there is a “glitch” that needs to be fixed. This book takes place a few months after the last one, and Dan is having a difficult time. His Father is in a coma because of Victor, an ambitious fellow time jumper who seeks to control who time jumps. (Also, he wants world domination- because bad guy!) Thankfully Dan isn’t completely alone, his plucky friend Sam is also on his side and together they form a plan to travel back in time to try to find answers and allies in order to stop Victor.
Oh did I mention Sam is a girl? And girls aren’t supposed to be able to time jump? And she keeps telling Dan she isn’t interested in him and has no desire to be with him….(I bet you can guess what happens in the end, no female no matter what they say can resist the Mary Sueness of the intrepid main character!)
The books really picks up and the parts I most enjoyed was everything I learned about history! Sam and Dan land in (what they soon figure out!) the Celtic island of Angsley in 60 CE. What should be a simple get in and get out mission soon becomes dire as they are thrust in middle of the Celtics fleeing their homes. (Strategic fleeing they say!) The Romans are on the warpath and are slaughtering, enslaving, and raping anyone who gets in their way. Dan and Sam must find the glitch and fix it before the Romans catch up to them.
When I say the writing and characters fell flat, I mean it really fell flat. There is one sentence that really stood out to me. Dan sees a pretty girl with a guy he thinks is unattractive. His inner thought: “what is a babe like that doing with a guy like him?” (You see what I mean now y’all?)
We also get some assault scenes, because what is a historical fiction by a male author without them! Don’t worry though! Heroic and noble Dan gives one of them his cloak. (Eye roll)
By the end of the story our hero Dan is incredibly rich and able to take Sam on a trip and send her lots of money. (Did I mention she comes from a broken home with a creepy step dad? Because of course she does) I have to wonder if Andrew Varga has actually ever had a female read his book. It could have hugely benefited form sensitivity readers. The plot and concept was great, but the characters and all the dialogue was so badly written. (I am not going to compare it to fan fiction, because I have read some fantastic fan fiction!) I know it seems like I hated this book, when really I enjoyed the battle scenes, and everything I learned. It is just I couldn’t get back the unrealistic nature of the characters and how they were written. I would not recommend this book.
TLDR: Great concept, poorly written females, mary sue main character, fantastic battle scenes
The Cover
This is probably one of the worst book covers I have seen in a while. If you google fantasy or Celtic font types, the cover font is one of the first to pop up. There is a ton of green on the page, and you really lose sight of the title and everything else with all the green. There is no symbolism, no hint of what the book is about. We do get a full lipped female cast in shadow on the front, which makes little sense to me. The main character is male and his is the only view point we see. The females get little attention in this book, unless they are fawning over Dan or banding together to fight for him. Instead of a bad Photoshop job, I would loved to have seen an illustrated scene of Dan and Sam in the boat on the way to the island. Budget aside, even a boat in the water with the island in the background would have been a better cover.
It should be noted that I am coming from a graphic design and art history background, and it always sucks to see books that are good have bad covers. (Though I guess in this case the cover matches the book!)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Violence, War, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, and Sexual violence
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