Just One Damned Thing After Another is a lot of fun wrapped around people and history, full of quirky humor and an incitement to delve into Wikipedia. (I only thought I knew some of these events!) It is the first of several books featuring Max, a historian working at St. Mary’s Institute for Historical Research which “investigate major historical events in contemporary time”, i.e., sends historians back in time to observe and record what really happened.
Max is a complex character who tries desperately to be one-dimensional, hard-drinking, loud, incorrigibly curious, uncaring, but her bursts of common sense and exposure to death and misery make her far more than the cardboard cutout she wants to be. Max prides herself on her attitude and her “we can do this” approach, but gets sidetracked by the people around her and the human misery she views as part of her job.
Overall the book is reasonably well-written, although it jumps around a lot and we often lose the sense of time passing. Everyone around Max is gung-ho dedicated to history (or to historically-inspired R&D) to the point where it seems almost a caricature. Would you really be that thrilled to go witness a hospital blowing up after The Battle of the Somme?
These events take a toll on Max and the others. She and a few others compartmentalize, separate their feelings from their experiences. Some leave St. Mary’s. Some act stupid. To me the biggest weakness of this first novel and all the others is how poorly the characters face and deal with the emotional toll from seeing other people die, including all too often, their friends and colleagues.
I loved the plausible historical accuracy – of course the author is guessing for meat to add to history’s bones – and the novel inspired me to check references to learn more about the background and key players in these scenarios.
This first novel takes Max and colleagues back to Edward the Confessor’s coronation, World War 1 and the Cretaceous, back to the Cretaceous twice (one an unauthorized rescue), on to the burning Library of Alexandria to rescue scrolls. That’s quite a range although Max manages to get injured in two of the events and wet on by colleague and friend Peterson in the other. History, you see, is jealous of herself and barely tolerates historians observing. She does not tolerate even tiny interference, such as warning a mugging victim.
The plot is full and busy and moves at lightening speed.
There are plot holes. For example, why does Thirsk University fund St. Mary’s? How on earth can it justify the enormous expense for historical research? (We learn in a later novella that St. Mary’s founder actually captures British government support and patronage which filters through Thrisk.) Even so it is hard to imagine the funding nightmares.
There is one serious sex scene in this first novel that I did not see as necessary. Just One Damned Thing After Another has the usual vulgarities and a couple blasphemies against the name of the Lord. I didn’t like either the smutty scenes or the blasphemy, but I’ve learned to read past them.
The biggest flaw from a narrative / literature perspective is the constant harping on historians being disaster magnets. They apparently have the attention span of a fly and can’t stop themselves from acting stupid. Jodi Taylor uses this as a convenient catch-all to explain any inconsistencies or flights of fancy that creep in. I understand someone not wanting to stop a good thing (like watching dinosaurs) to deal with housekeeping, but the characters do this all the time and it gets a little annoying.
Overall this is a very enjoyable start to a very enjoyable series. I would not recommend reading all the books immediately after one another because some of the flaws become obnoxious with repititon. I do recommend that you read the first three books close together, Just One Damned Thing After Another, A Symphony of Echoes, and A Second Chance because these flow one after the other.
4 Stars – Almost 5
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