Review: Angenga: The Disappearance Of Time

Angenga: The Disappearance Of Time by John Broughton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rick Hughes is contacted by an old friend, he wants to show him something….Gary, a metal detectorist, has found many treasures and reported them to the correct authorities, but he has found something special….a reliquary pendant ( a reliquary is a container for holy relics)….he gives it to Rick who wants it cleaned properly by a professional.

So we meet Esme, who cleans the ivory pendant…..it is from approximately 870 AD. Rick is immediately smitten by Esme and so a little romance begins.

The story then jumps 5 years ahead ( I have to admit it felt a bit odd to just jump 5 years mid chapter with no real reason for that amount of time)…

Rick and Esme are still together but only just, and Gary invites Rick to an Anglo-Saxon re-enactment event, so off the two of them go all dressed in costume and for a touch of realism, Gary wears the pendant….

Then the story really starts, Rick just touches the pendant and he wakes up a bit groggy 1100 years in the past….he meets local people and his double, Rinc and his wife, who is the double of Esme….this was real wasn’t it? Or is he losing his mind ?

Well it’s real and the adventure begins, he takes Gary and Esme back too and they become friends with the villagers. Gary learns how to make parchment, Esme helps a woman give birth by caesarean, Rick meets Vikings and convinces them he’s a seer…….but they then realise the Vikings are about to arrive and destroy the village and enslave or kill everyone…….So they make a plan to save them…

I loved this, the characters are so engaging and well rounded, and it feels like historical fiction due to the factual elements, which I found to be very interesting, but with the sci-fi of time travel. Does time actually exist……? Well that’s a question to ponder…..I have to admit the science part went over my head, as quantum mechanics is beyond me, but this didn’t detract from this marvellously entertaining read. The epilogue is just brilliant.

Thank you to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the book and this is my honest, unbiased review

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