The Time Weaver by Thomas A Knight

Thirty-year-old Seth was an ordinary programmer before the car accident. Now he's been attacked and kidnapped, and wakes up in the strange new world of Galadir with no memory of how he got there. While being chased across a kingdom by an evil wizard, he discovers an ancient dragon, witnesses powerful magic, and falls in love. Why has all of this happened to him? Seth can control time. He's also the last of his kind. Amid the constant stream of attacks, Seth's instinctive time weaving is the only thing that keeps him alive. But with a war about to break out, an ancient evil resurrected, and a portal between Earth and Galadir threatening to shatter the barrier between worlds, Seth must learn to control his powers and fight back, or watch both worlds get annihilated.

At the very start of The Time Weaver you are placed bang in the middle of an action scene playing itself out on a different world that the one we know. Thomas A. Knight’s book takes part on two worlds: Galadir and our traditional Earth. Comparing the worlds: Galadir is more medieval with kings, knights and mages whereas our traditional Earth is that of the 21st century. I found it refreshing to read a story that comfortably switched between high-end technology and medieval sword fighting.

When Seth, the main character of the book, was first introduced I was immediately able to put a face on him, his description was very well done and his personality reflected my initial thoughts of him. Since The Time Weaver plays part in two very different worlds I was at first sceptical about how the characters would interact once they were in each other’s domain. I did find that the characters accepted each other’s worlds a bit too easily - if I was a computer programmer who was suddenly introduced to a world of fire-casting magicians I would be extremely frightened and confused. I did not however see this kind of reaction in the book.

The story itself is straightforward and easy to follow, but this does not mean it is in the slightest bit boring. The Time Weaver is chock full of action with (magic) sword fights, mage battles and dragons. The liveliness of the storyline gave me the feeling that I reading a comic,with the fast-paced action and storytelling combing to really fire up my imagination. However, this much emphasis on action also has a small downside: there was often a noticeable abruptness is ending of dialogue and too many things just happened, without any cause or introduction.

I think that the story could have been better if the events were not so rushed and more attention was paid to details of the events that occurred. The Time Weaver could have easily been divided into two books.

The Time Weaver shows potential as a debut novel but there were just too much things going on. This meant that dialogue and events ended too suddenly or just occurred without due reason. Using fewer ideas and building a solid story around those could have led to better structured story. Hopefully the background of the characters will be further revealed as the trilogy progresses. The Time Weaver shows potential in action and ideas but lack the finesse that put the dots on the i.

7/10 Action-packed tale of parallel worlds: A debut with potential.