New to Me Review: The Timeweaver’s Wager by Axel Blackwell

Since I’m doing my own blogging thing now, I’m going to have a monthly (or every other month, depending on my reading time) feature sharing a new-to-me author. Today’s my first – huzzah!

Would you give your life for a second chance?

Glen McClay sits on a fallen log by the railroad trestle, watching for his girlfriend’s ghost. Eight years ago, Connie Salvatore was savagely murdered here. Glen has spent his life seeking redemption, haunted by the knowledge that he might have been able save her. The time has come to let go of his past and move on with his life. But as he prepares to do so, an old friend offers Glen the redemption he has always sought – a chance to relive that horrible night and change the past. All he has to do… is die.

I won The Timeweaver’s Wager in a blog giveaway, and the blurb included some of my favorite elements to drag me in. Haunted main character? Check. Ghost? Check. Redemption? Always love that. So I was super-excited to read.

Glen lost his girlfriend when he was just a teenager, and blames himself for her murder. He’s spent his years building community awareness of the need for women to protect themselves, to learn self-defense moves, and being a martial arts girl who also loves her guns, I absolutely loved that about him. While he remained steeped in his sorrows, he still devoted his life to help prevent others from being murdered like his childhood love. But he can’t let go of the past, he can’t forgive himself, and the first half of the story is mired in Glen and his despair. For me, that dragged on too long, and I almost set the story aside.

Right about the fifty-percent mark, the story got interesting. Glen is faced with the opportunity to travel back in time, to go back to a point before his girlfriend was murdered, and to try to change his own actions to prevent her death. The downfall? He has to sacrifice his life. That one moment really made me think. How many people would take that chance, not knowing if changing the future was even possible? Would you throw your current life away to try to help someone, not having any guarantees? From that point on, the story kicked into gear.

I liked Glen and his relationship with his sister. While the story question was thought-provoking and the writing excellent, just beware that the slow first half is hard to get through. I’m glad I didn’t give up on it, and the ending is definitely satisfying.