Audiobook Review – The Poisoner’s Ring (A Rip Through Time, Book 2) by Kelley Armstrong (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction/Time Travel/Historical Fiction
Length: 14 hours and 52 minutes
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release Date: May 23, 2023
ASIN: B0BJYC6CHC
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in A Rip Through Time series
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Edinburgh, 1869: Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is adjusting to her new life in Victorian Scotland. Her employers know she’s not housemaid Catriona Mitchell—even though Mallory is in Catriona’s body—and Mallory is now officially an undertaker’s assistant. Dr. Duncan Gray moonlights as a medical examiner, and their latest case hits close to home. Men are dropping dead from a powerful poison, and all signs point to the grieving widows… the latest of which is Gray’s oldest sister.
Poison is said to be a woman’s weapon, though Mallory has to wonder if it’s as simple as that. But she must tread carefully. Every move the household makes is being watched, and who knows where the investigation will lead.”
Series Info/Source: This is the second book in A Rip Through Time series. I borrowed a copy of this on audiobook from my library.
Thoughts: I thought the first book in this series was fairly predictable and slow and because of that I hadn’t planned to continue with the series. Then I read the short story released earlier this year “Cocktails and Chloroform” and absolutely loved it and decided to go back and pick up this book in the series and read it before the next (third) book releases. Unfortunately, I had the same issue with this book as I had with the first book in this series. It’s okay, but was too slow for me…it’s just a very deliberately paced methodical police procedural with a Victorian time travel twist.
The story follows Mallory, a modern day detective, who finds herself stuck in the body of a house maid in Victorian Scotland. Her employers now know she is not a house maid and have allowed her to help assist Dr. Gray, who is an undertaker and the lord of the household. In this book Mallory and Dr. Gray get drawn into a series of murders by poison. There is an added twist that Dr. Gray’s sister is a well known chemist and the latest murder is the husband of Dr. Gray’s other sister (an abrasive woman who had a very vocal and public dislike of her husband). The stakes are high because so much of Gray’s family is involved and more poison murders seem to popping up left and right!
This was okay. I enjoy Gray’s family and Dr. Gray himself, but Mallory comes off as a bit vanilla to me. I like that this is set in Victorian Scotland, which does have some subtle differences from Victorian England, so it was nice to have a different setting. I found the murder mystery moved at a slow pace and wasn’t very surprising, this just wasn’t full of the fun twists and turns I see in a lot of Armstrong’s books…or maybe it was but they were just really predictable twists and turns.
I also feel like the whole time travel aspect of the story is shoved to the back seat the whole story. Yes, it’s mentioned when something isn’t familiar to Mallory or when she uses a modern day term that others don’t understand. However, how the time travel aspects tie in with the rest of the story really isn’t addressed. Aside from that initial time travel incident in the first book, there isn’t any magic or wonder here…it’s a very straightforward police procedural style murder mystery. It feels very ho-hum and I kept expecting something that was just…..more.
I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook is well done and easy to listen to. I struggled a bit with finishing it because I just never really cared or was sucked in to the story. I had to really force myself to push through this. I need to remind myself to read this review when the third book comes out so I don’t grab it to read! I generally love everything Armstrong writes but, aside from the “Cocktails and Chloroform” short story, this series has been a miss for me. I enjoy her other time travel series, A Stitch in Time, a lot more.
My Summary (3/5): Overall I found this fairly disappointing. I should have stuck with my initial decision to stop reading this series after the first book. This is just a fairly straightforward murder mystery…there’s nothing really fantastic or intriguing here. The time travel part that was introduced in the first book takes a back seat to the murder mystery and really doesn’t tie into the story much. I don’t plan on reading more of this series…unless I forget that plan and pick up the third book because I see it’s by Armstrong and just pick it up on auto.
