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A review by katierodante
Time Keepers by Nicki J. Markus
4.0
The setting is London, and the year is 2025. This futuristic novel combines the urban fantasy and dystopia genres to provide an entertaining story full of action and intrigue.
Nick seems quite ordinary in the first chapters, and is immediately drawn to a girl causing a scene at a train station in London. The petite yet feisty girl is running toward the train Nick has boarded to escape the police, and his curiosity leads him to extend an invite back to his place for a few hours of safety from the situation she's outrunning. Nick gives this offer thinking they will only be spending a few hours together, but they soon realize that they're allies in this world.
As I mentioned earlier, this is a dystopia. The government has way too much control over its citizens, and even a minor offense can land you in jail for a week's time. The biggest challenge Nick and Ellie face is that the government is rounding up supernatural creatures, and nobody suspected of living a paranormal life is safe. The main goal of this capture of supernaturals is to eradicate them entirely, and this mission does not bode well for our main characters.
While this is an enjoyable, action-filled mixture of genres, it's also a romance. Realizing that they both have a dangerous secret, Nick and Ellie become more drawn to one another and more enveloped in each other's lives as the action progresses. Ellie is a time keeper, which means that she has the ability to temporarily travel through time. The travel itself is only temporary because she is pulled back to her regular time, and has no way to stop this. In interviews with Nicki J Markus, she mentions that in writing this novel she was inspired by The Time Traveler's Wife, and this is one of those aspects where it's easy to spot that influence. The time travel in Time Keepers is done differently despite the similarity of not being able to control when Ellie can travel back to her original time. As a side note, I don't read a lot of time travel novels, so maybe that's a common theme in more than just these two books.
Nick is a werewolf, and this is a problem mainly when it gets difficult to hide his transformation from passers-by. I liked this aspect of the story, that both Nick and Ellie have an aspect of themselves that they cannot fully control. Plus, I think it's interesting to read about their adventures together in a world that is against them for what they are. Their story versus the dystopian government is intriguing, and I like the bits of romance and humor woven into the novel.
Nick seems quite ordinary in the first chapters, and is immediately drawn to a girl causing a scene at a train station in London. The petite yet feisty girl is running toward the train Nick has boarded to escape the police, and his curiosity leads him to extend an invite back to his place for a few hours of safety from the situation she's outrunning. Nick gives this offer thinking they will only be spending a few hours together, but they soon realize that they're allies in this world.
As I mentioned earlier, this is a dystopia. The government has way too much control over its citizens, and even a minor offense can land you in jail for a week's time. The biggest challenge Nick and Ellie face is that the government is rounding up supernatural creatures, and nobody suspected of living a paranormal life is safe. The main goal of this capture of supernaturals is to eradicate them entirely, and this mission does not bode well for our main characters.
While this is an enjoyable, action-filled mixture of genres, it's also a romance. Realizing that they both have a dangerous secret, Nick and Ellie become more drawn to one another and more enveloped in each other's lives as the action progresses. Ellie is a time keeper, which means that she has the ability to temporarily travel through time. The travel itself is only temporary because she is pulled back to her regular time, and has no way to stop this. In interviews with Nicki J Markus, she mentions that in writing this novel she was inspired by The Time Traveler's Wife, and this is one of those aspects where it's easy to spot that influence. The time travel in Time Keepers is done differently despite the similarity of not being able to control when Ellie can travel back to her original time. As a side note, I don't read a lot of time travel novels, so maybe that's a common theme in more than just these two books.
Nick is a werewolf, and this is a problem mainly when it gets difficult to hide his transformation from passers-by. I liked this aspect of the story, that both Nick and Ellie have an aspect of themselves that they cannot fully control. Plus, I think it's interesting to read about their adventures together in a world that is against them for what they are. Their story versus the dystopian government is intriguing, and I like the bits of romance and humor woven into the novel.