Time Travelers (Gideon Trilogy #1) (fiction)

Time travel...what if it were possible? Of course, there are rules which every time travel tale must follow, or the world as we know it would go poof!

This is the first book in a trilogy known in the UK as Gideon the Cutpurse (as you'll see in the UK booktrailer), so named for the friendly, ahem, liberator of excess worldly possessions who helps out Kate and Peter when they are whisked into the 17th century by a rogue antigravity machine.

Quite the adventure for our two present-day teens, thrown back into a world where electricity is an experimental novelty, and death by disease, misadventure, or sheer bad luck is just an everyday occurrence.

Will they get back to our time? Let's check on The Time Thief (Gideon Trilogy #2) tomorrow, shall we?
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Book info: The Time Travelers / Linda Buckley-Archer. Simon & Schuster, 2007.
[author's website] [author interview] [publisher site] [UK book trailer]

Recommendation: Peter would not have been transported back in time if his father hadn't chosen business over their trip together -- again! Who knew that his visit to the English countryside in the 21st century would wind up in the 18th century?

Kate and her family are nice, their farm with the sheep and horses is very country, but it's not the same as a day spent with his dad as Peter's mom continues her work far away in the U.S.A. Even the research lab where Kate's dad works is a bit interesting, like the antigravity machine they use to search for "dark matter".

When Kate's dog gets spooked, Peter and Kate chase her through the lab...and into nothingness! They awake in 1763 to see a ferocious man trying to carry off the antigravity machine on his cart -- then he comes after them! They escape from the Tar Man through the woods and meet Gideon Seymour, who may be able to help them retrieve the antigravity machine and make their way through 18th century England without letting anyone else know that they came from the future.

In the meantime, the police and their parents are searching for the pair in 20th centure Derbyshire, with few clues and dwindling hope. A phantom image of Kate in old-fashioned clothes appears at her school -- she has partially returned as she slept! Now the race is on to recreate the antigravity machine's effects in the 20th century.

Bandits and horses, corsets and three-cornered hats, hanging and royalty -- Peter and Kate must cope with everyday life in the 18th century as they try to get the Tar Man to give back their only way home while keeping thir friend Gideon out of his evil clutches.

First in a brilliant trilogy, The Time Travelers takes you with them into 18th century England -- can everyone get home again? Followed by Time Thief and Time Quake. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.