Dan Renfrew is a teenage time jumper, in the third of this exciting series called A Jump In Time. He lands on the vast steppes of Mongolia in the year 1179. Dan’s task is to fix glitches in the fabric of history. THE MONGOL ASCENSION is at risk, and Dan doesn’t know the first thing about it or how to save the present day. Luckily, he has a teammate, Samantha, or Sam, who is good at survival; they are aged seventeen.
Some of this adventure is set in present-day America, with school bullies and unexpected conversations with a girl in class. Dan was homeschooled until his father died a year ago, so in some subjects, he’s still catching up, while in others, like self-defense, he’s got talent. If this was an ordinary high school story, it would be an okay read, but the strongest portion is when Dan and Sam head for a millennium ago, back in the land of small hairy horses, recurve bows, leather armour, fermented milk drinks and sweat.
Dan and Sam have a time travel instrument which not only translates spoken words, and controls jumps, it tells them where the glitch will occur. Right now, it’s pointing to an injured teen Mongol called Temujin. The duo promptly helps him, and he invites them to join his army. They don’t have much choice, as the glitch is still glitching. Personally, I would not be going far out of my way to help Temujin. But I know what they didn’t. Anyway, he’s looking for his stolen bride Borte. He’s willing to go through an opposing army of the Merkits to rescue her. This seems like a noble quest.
The previous books in this series covered the Romans and the Normans, and people got injured or killed. With more pitched battles and injuries, this foray into the formation of the Mongol Empire seems to fit right into the set. The historical detail is convincing and I love that we see a herding family as well as the warriors. Sam is fortunately under the protection of Temujin, but all is quite precarious.
Dan has an ongoing drama, as he is looking for his father’s murderer, Victor, who wants to take advantage of glitches in time to gain wealth and power. An adult reader would know there had to be one somewhere. Kids may be taken by surprise. THE MONGOL ASCENSION by Andrew Varga does a good job of examining both sides of the argument. Mainly, I like that we are shown bullying is wrong. We also see that people are stronger when they band together – in the past or the present. I’ll be looking out for more books by Andrew Varga.
Seventeen-year-old Dan Renfrew leads a normal high school life full of all the usual challenges: homework, bullies, and the baffling world of dating. It would be enough for most teens, but Dan has a secret. He’s a time jumper, a member of a clandestine cadre tasked with journeying to the past to repair glitches in history that imperil subsequent events. This responsibility alone is daunting, but it’s even more crucial now. A band of rogue time jumpers is bent on taking over the world, and Dan can’t find any allies to join him in the fight to stop them.
In a last-ditch effort to foil the conspiracy, Dan and his partner Sam plunge into history together. Landing on the steppes of Mongolia in the year 1179, they meet a brave Mongol teen on a courageous quest to rescue his kidnapped wife. But Dan and Sam soon discover that there’s far more at stake than a stolen bride. They’re thrust into a desperate race against time to save the Mongol Empire—and the future of the entire world.
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