Written By: Brad Aiken
Published By: Kindle Direct Publishing
Reviewed By: Melissa Minners
Nathan Fields may look like an ordinary 9-year-old boy…may feel like an ordinary boy…but Nathan Fields is anything but ordinary. He has just learned that he is the descendent of a Timekeeper, an individual with the power to travel through time to right the wrongs in Earth’s timeline, preventing the destruction of his Earth and others like it. His mother has kept this secret to protect him, but when someone tries to kill her, Dana decides that her friend Arty should train him at a secret camp where others like him learn how to use their powers. Unfortunately, Dana is taken by a rogue Timekeeper while Nathan is at camp. It is now up to Nathan and his fellow campers to help rescue her before it is too late.
This is the premise of The Timekeeper, a new young adult science fiction novel from Brad Aiken. A practicing physician, Brad Aiken takes his interest in how medicine and science fiction influence one another and transforms that into entertaining novels that incorporate medical and other technological advancements. G-POP has had a long relationship with this author, enjoying earlier works of his involving space travel, espionage and even mind control through nanobot technology. So, when Dr. Aiken contacted me and asked if I might to check out an advance copy of his new novel, I jumped at the chance.
Despite this book being geared toward a younger generation of readers, I found it to be edge-of-your-seat enjoyable. The characters are enjoyable and relatable. Think about when you were in school or at camp. There was always that dorky kid that knew every trivia answer but couldn’t play sports. There was always that know-it-all, cool kid that always got themselves into trouble they couldn’t find their way out of. There were rivalries and crushes, and always one kid who feels like they just don’t quite fit in. The Timekeepers Camp is exactly what we experienced as kids, minus all of the cool sci-fi technology. Nathan, Dana, Arty and the kids from the camp are characters we can all root for. Their enemies have that air of mystery and, in some cases, mad scientist quality about them.
The storyline regarding traveling through time to fix mistakes in Earth’s timeline may seem familiar, but Brad Aiken throws a twist into things – two possible schools of thought. Some of the Timekeepers want to follow their original instructive guides, while Nathan’s family and friends seem to think that those original guides were wrong and that they should follow a different path. You start to wonder who the rogue Timekeepers really are. Then there is that age old question: If I had the ability to stop horrific events in Earth’s timeline, would I and at what cost?
The Timekeeper is a fast, fun read that challenges you to think about time travel and the costs. The book ends in such a way that I imagine this is meant to be part of a series. I can see this novel as a part of a coming-of-age sci-fi book series. I like that. In fact, I would love to read more about Nathan’s future travels…no pun intended. The Timekeeper is definitely a great way to start any young adult on the path to loving sci-fi novels – action, suspense, time traveling, evil nemeses, betrayals…what more could you ask for?
Check out The Timekeeper at Amazon
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