Blog Tour – A Catalogue of Catastrophe

From Goodreads:

When all is lost. When everything is ending. When there’s no hope. When you can’t win. That’s when you attack.

Punching well above their weight, Max and Markham set out to bring down a sinister organisation whose roots might be firmly embedded in the future but whose focus is the past.

Max’s focus is staying alive long enough to reunite with Leon and Matthew – alternately helped and hindered by St Mary’s. Who aren’t always the blessing they like to think they are.

And that’s not all. Are the effects of constantly leaping around the timeline beginning to make themselves felt? Is Max going mad? Or are the ghosts of the past finally catching up with her?

Thankfully this one was not as emotionally shattering as book 12 this book flung us straight into a new overarching story arc for Max and friends. This book is still set away from St Mary’s with Max and Markham thoroughly ensconced in their new roles as bounty hunters! That doesn’t mean we are not treated to just as frantic hurtling up and down the timeline. We cover everything from the signing of the Magna Carta to the gunpower plot under parliament, all in pursuit of a new nemesis for Maxwell and the Gang. Of course each of these journeys are still filled with the meticulous historical detail and insight you have come to expect from this series.

This instalment seemed a lot more relaxed we got some insight into the new enemy which sounds like it is going to be very interesting story arc for the next instalment. We also got some downtime to consider the ramifications of such frenzied time hopping, in the form of Max’s time-travel sickness. However, I feel this is Taylor’s usual ploy to lull us into a false sense of calm before launching even more craziness at us.

It was really fun to see Maxwell out of her usual well researched trips and instead playing it off the cuff, jumping into all different kinds of situations with Markham right by her side. Of course St Mary’s isn’t out of the picture completely as the favourites turn up to lend a helping hand, a cunning diversion or a quick telling off when they are needed. We also got to see Taylor flex those worldbuilding skills giving us lots of glimpses of the London of the Future. I loved how inventive these ideas were, it painted such an interesting picture of what the city could become. I also liked the hints that the British Museum might be up to something!

Filled with the usual good humour, moments of sheer panic and then those quiet moments that make you love these characters even more, this is just yet another perfect instalment of St Mary’s. It has done a lot to usher in a new ARC to get the gang into even more trouble and I can wait to see what happens next.