Review: Tears in Time by Christian Baines

Title: Tears in Time

Series: The Arcadia Trust: Book Four

Author: Christian Baines

Length: 284 Pages

Category: Urban Fantasy

Rating: 5 Stars

At a Glance: The momentum of this installment of the Arcadia Trust series is breakneck. Fortunately for readers, only in the figurative sense. For some of its characters, not so much. If Sins of the Son was a journey down the rabbit hole, Tears in Time is a trip through the looking glass. On acid. And it’s mind-blowingly awesome.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Moments have passed for Reylan since he crossed the barrier between worlds to rescue his werewolf lover, Jorgas. But on their return, nothing feels right. Faithful allies have vanished, and places that once offered solace are now derelict, filled with shadows and inhabited by evil.

How can Reylan find his friends, and who can be trusted once they’re found?

The world Reylan and Jorgas returned to has destroyed the one they left behind. In this new reality, someone is playing a deadly game with time, and their fates are its prize.

Review: If Sins of the Son was a journey down the rabbit hole, Tears in Time is a trip through the looking glass. On acid. And it’s mind-blowingly awesome. Someone is manipulating reality and bending time, and for Reylan, that means he keeps getting his heart, not to mention his body, beaten to a pulp. Time truly is of the essence for him, but knowing who to turn to isn’t easy when those he used to count on have disappeared (been killed?), and he can’t trust what he sees with his own eyes. The only thing he can count on is that Jorgas has returned. Until, of course, he hasn’t.

Iain Grieg may be the only man Reylan can trust. And yet he proves himself untrustworthy again and again. But if Iain truly is so deceitful, then why does he keep saving Reylan’s life? Iain is helpful while also blithely double-crossing Reylan at nearly every turn, making him one of the best morally gray characters I’ve loved in a long time. While also making me want to curse the very ground he walks on. He does nothing, nothing, unless it suits him and his end goals, and yet Iain keeps Reylan moving forward so he can unravel the unholy tangle that is the world in its current form. Iain contains multitudes, really. What a delectable conundrum he is.

The momentum of this installment of the Arcadia Trust series is breakneck. Fortunately for readers, only in the figurative sense. For some of its characters, not so much. The introduction of the indigenous Australian mythology was an incredible asset when everything else in this particular version of the world was already upside down and backwards anyway. What’s one more chaos agent to deal with, after all, when someone is already trying to destroy you?

And that ending? Well . . . it’s delicious, and I want more.