[fantasyfan]

I found part of the novel a moderately interesting historical romance. I really didn’t care very much for any of the characters in the modern setting—particularly the narrator. Magnus left quite a bit to be desired as well on the ethical level. What kind of a person would test a possibly dangerous drug on a friend?

The characters in the past were not exceptionally well developed but they had agency. I would agree with the fact that they had vividly definite moral attitudes whether good or bad and there was considerably more energy in their attempts to achieve their goals.

The approach to time travel seems to me to be a fudge between the use of a “scientific” drug mechanism and the fantasy method of time-slip such as we see in Alison Uttley. This particular brain drug would seem to have lots of improbabilities. For instance, why should two such different brains as those of Dick and Magnus wind up visiting the same period in time? Why this particular guide? Personally, I felt like jettisoning the entire story set in the 20th century. The links between past and present events didn’t really work for me.