Cast in Time, Book 7

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at first—*another* modern guy in the past? But *Cast in Time* won me over by refusing to romanticize the premise. The protagonist, whose name we don’t even learn for chapters, isn’t here to teach medieval peasants the wonders of democracy. He’s a man desperate to survive, using his engineering skills to barter for safety while navigating a viper pit of Saxon raids, Celtic rivalries, and a church that sees heresy in every innovation. Nelson’s writing excels in the details: the way a blacksmith’s hammer sounds different when striking iron versus bronze, or how a baron’s hall reeks of wool and stale beer. It’s these sensory anchors that sell the setting far more than any info-dump. May’s narration is mostly superb, though his modern protagonist’s voice occasionally slips into anachronistic sarcasm that feels too contemporary for the setting—like a 21st-century guy doing air quotes in his head. The production is clean, but the pacing stumbles in the middle act during a protracted trade negotiation scene that drags where it should snap. Still, the payoff is worth it: a climax that hinges not on battle prowess but on *applied physics*, a rarity in historical fiction. If you’re tired of time-travel stories where the past is just a backdrop for wish fulfillment, this one’s for you—provided you don’t mind your escapism served with a side of tetanus risk and political backstabbing.