Journeys Through SpaceTime by James Talisman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a story which spreads across multiple times and communities within the Multiverse where a chosen few are gifted with the ability to hear an ethereal voice and given special training from a group of Masters of Esoteric Wisdom. The chosen are of all different walks of life, from a beautiful Queen, to a soldier and a student, but all with the same mission to improve the world in a way that only they can. The book starts by introducing these teachers and the All-That-Is when they all gather in an auditorium where a beautiful and ethereal being of light and colour appears to spread a message of love and instruct them on the teachings that they are to give to their students.

In the next chapter, we meet these chosen people, starting in the Critonian Empire where Cassius is about to become embroiled in the next battle with their neighbouring empire, as he is in the melee of swords clashing on shield and bloody violence on both sides. As he is preparing himself, he thinks of the battle and why they are fighting in the first place, questioning where the need is for this senseless killing at all, he then experiences a voice telling him that they will return soon and to not forget the lessons that he has learned and that he will survive what is to come, he then briefly blacks out and when he comes to, his friend is protecting him and he finishes the battle which they win in the end. As Cassius celebrates their victory, he cannot help but wonder who the voice was and what the message it gave him meant.

We next go to Earth where Matt is doing his martial arts training with his friend Dan and it is during the cool down laps of the building where he experiences a voice telling him that they must leave, but that he must remember the lessons from his past and it is important that he does so but that they will return to him, he also then proceeds to black out. When he comes round, Dan is concerned about him but Matt ensures him that he is ok, Dan says it is because he hit him too hard in training, to which Matt responds that it seemed to be him who was taking more hits, all this is said in friendly banter.

We then meet Queen Neferities, a beautiful and fair ruler as she is sat on her palace balcony and watching the world go by while thinking how beautiful her country is and how the society she has helped to create is a wonderful place to exist, while also being a place that pays homage to it’s past with monuments is has placed throughout the city. She reminisces about her father and how he helped her to develop her interest in engineering and the sciences when she was a child so that she could develop her skills of understanding the complexities around them. This is as well as being taught the Esoteric Wisdom and the ancient teachings around reality and the Alchemy of Mind associated with it. She then passes the day meeting with her advisors and eating with them until she returns to her balcony to meditate on the knowledge gained and to plan her actions the next day. As she begins her meditation, she journeys to the internal space where she is at complete peace and can think about all that she has experienced during her day, it is during this meditation that she feels that someone has entered her chambers and it is her most trusted servant to tell her that her bath is ready. She enters the bath and proceeds to bathe and be washed by her two female attendants, just as she decides to enter the soaking bath, she feels dizzy and blacks out, this is when she hears the voice tell her that it must leave for a while and that she should remember her teachings and that she will need them to face the coming evil. She is then pulled from the bath by her attendants and decides to retire to bed where she can rest and think on what happened.

Next, the Co-Councillor of the United Commons of Eurotopia Rashella is thinking of all the progress her people have made over the years to become a peaceful community to work together and share the resources available to them while looking after the planet they live on and those within their solar system which they travel to. They are beginning to think about furthering this travel and have begun working with another peaceful culture, the Andotians to work together and further each of their technologies by sharing information and experience, this includes defensive as well as offensive technologies due to the realistic possibility that not all spacefaring cultures will be as peaceful as they are and that the need to defend themselves against this possibility is essential. Their culture is based upon the Esoteric Wisdom passed down to their elders by alien sources and has been essential in building the structure of the beliefs which created the society they live in today. As the meeting with the Andotians comes to a close, they agree to go for drinks after and Rashella goes to her apartment to change and meet her husband who goes to the meet up with her. It is during the meal, drinks and conversation that she blacks out and hears the voice in her head saying that she will be alone for a while, that she must ensure that Eurotopia continues as it is and that it is an experiment of the most successful kind. After this experience, Rashella and her husband leave the event and go back home.

In this next part, we meet Hirisho in Hydosito prefecture where he is sitting on a mountain top and looking over the valley where he lives to escape from his duties in the Shogun Lyshido’s elite troops within his army, for which he was chosen when he demonstrated his skills while exhibiting a sword made by his father on the Shogun’s visit to his village twenty years before. He goes back to his barracks to sleep and wakes up refreshed and ready for the days training with the rest of the elite troops. They complete the morning warm up and training where they are all shown the basic moves for the weapon they will be training with that day and he is matched with someone of equal experience, stature and skill so it is a taxing training session and good workout, this is until he hears the ringing in his ears and blacks out. The voice he hears when this happens tells him to continue on the path which he has forged and that he is ready for the next level of his training and that it will be back soon. His training partner helps him up and asks him if he is alright, Hirisho replies that he is and he is thankful that he didn’t hit him in the head.

The final chosen one is a resident on Elipsson, a desert planet with heat and cold which goes with it, as well as the limited resources left on it, this leads to the factions living on the planet being in a constant state of war and this makes this reptilian humanoid race a very violent one. A hundred years before, a spacecraft crashed onto the planet and it is this that has enabled the Elipsson culture to reverse engineer its technology to improve their technology and make them the ruling faction on the panet. It is the summer solstice and time for their highest ritual, the Hecatomb Ritual and the celebration which follows it, we meet Tyson in the middle of his work day where he is going to the baths to soak in the cool water and escape from the heat, while there, he is thinking about the night’s ritual and whether it is really necessary or whether it is an archaic ritual which shouldn’t have a place in today’s society. The soaks in the bath enable Tysson to meditate and think about the things within his culture which he doesn’t agree with, he starts to discuss this with his friend, he blacks out and hears the voice telling him that it will be away for a while, but that he should continue on the journey he has chosen and that his progress has been a pleasure to observe, after he comes back around, he realises that his friend has stopped him from drowning and they decide to call it a day and get out of the pools.

What will the future hold for these individuals and how will their paths develop over time? Will they be able to learn all the things they need to in time, or will time run out for them? The only way to find out is to follow them on their journey’s and find out.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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