I’ve read and enjoyed every book Jodi Taylor wrote because they are fun, with great characters, lively plots, plenty of humor under laid by serious conflicts. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book Six is not a weak book. We again have Max doing Max things, this time training new historian wannabes, with all the usual adventures and danger. Yet I didn’t like What Could Possibly Go Wrong? anywhere near as much as the other books in the series.
Why, oh why, would anyone want to observe Joan of Arc’s execution? Max justifies her decision to use this horrific event as her make-or-break/witness-gore-and-death training moment by saying that Joan would burn whether they observe or not. That is true, but there is something wrong with using someone’s agonizing, tortured death to educate. It is using another person’s suffering and even though Max’s reason is virtuous, the act is not.
The scene with the mammoth hunt is great and Mary the Mammoth is a fantastic addition to St. Mary’s lore. I always enjoy Taylor’s detailed descriptions of the history and this view of Neanderthals and modern humans living together and hunting mammoths is superb as always.
Max allows one of her trainees to hijack the pod and visit Bosworth Field, which sets her feet on the wrong side of the line and leads to her actions in the next book, Lies, Damned Lies and History.
Overall my distaste for the Joan of Arc scene tramples the otherwise excellent What Could Possibly Go Wrong? I find myself disinclined to re-read it (I’ve re-read all the other books multiple times) although others apparently liked it very well. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? has the highest Amazon rating of all the St. Mary’s books, with no 2 or 1 star reviews and a handful of 3 stars.
3 Stars
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