I reviewed Books 2 and 3 of The Mender Trilogy for the May edition of Historical Novels Review, the magazine of The Historical Novel Society. See my reviews below, as well as a Q&A with the author.
Book 2: The Captive
This is book 2 of The Mender series. Eva is a time traveler, originally sent to this world to “correct its timeline.” In this installment, Eva has abandoned her original mission, set for March 1836, and is living with her new husband, Jim, among the Comanche. But while she tries to adapt to tribal life, she knows her old partner, Tophe, will be coming to complete her original task—kill Francisca Alavez, the “Angel of Goliad,” and change the result of the Texans’ war for Independence from Mexico.
This is a well-researched novel set mostly amid a Comanche tribe in 1835 and 1836. Marchman has done a good job of portraying the way the Comanche lived at that time. The customs, language, and practices of the tribe are very well described. Eva’s struggles include living in a polygamous society, dealing with the fact that women were mainly relegated to taking care of the home, and observing that captives were not always well treated. Her biggest challenge is knowing the possible future and not using her ability to change current events or remove herself from that time altogether. Her romance with Jim, who was raised by the Comanche and sees things very differently than she does, is complex and intriguing. Her ultimate decisions and the plans she makes set the stage for the final book in the trilogy. As always, the author is very honest about the brutality people can inflict on each other and the imperfect nature of every human being. Recommended to fans of time travel fiction, Native American history, and US history. This book is not a standalone, and the series should be read in order.
BOOK 3: The Guardian
This is the third book in the Mender Trilogy. Eva was a Mender, a fixer of time, for the cult Lux Libera, but she is now living in 1836 Texas with her husband Jim, a white man raised by the Comanche, and his tribe. She was originally sent back in time to change the course of history, but for months she has been waiting for her former partner, Tophe, to arrive. She sets out on a journey to intercept Tophe and convince him to abandon his mission. Meanwhile, in the midst of difficult circumstances, Jim finds himself joining the New Orleans Greys and fighting for the independence of Texas from Mexico.
This riveting series continues, as Eva tries to stop Tophe from killing the Angel of Goliad, Francisca Alavez, and changing history. The events leading up to Texas’s Declaration of Independence, in March 1836, are portrayed so vividly that the reader feels as if they are there. Eva’s friend, Pump, is an amazing character, and he continues his important role in this series as he helps her face the truth and expand her time-traveling abilities. The history in this third book is again so well researched, and the time-travel aspect adds many exciting possibilities. The author does an amazing job of combining historical fiction with touches of science fiction in a compelling way. Creative twists, engaging characters, and a fascinating story make this a great end to the trilogy. This book is not a standalone; it is recommended that the reader start with Book 1, The Mender.
Below please see my Q&A with Author Jennifer Marchman
I really enjoyed this series, especially your take on time travel and realistic descriptions of Comanche life. Thinking back on the series, what were your favorite scenes to write?
When Eva Creases the Horses in Book 2 was probably my favorite scene to write. It’s the scene I read aloud for audiences, and action scenes are really thrilling to create. While you’re writing, you’re really there, more so than when you are reading the work of another author. Honestly, I could probably list every action scene, or scene with heightened emotions, as my favorite to write. It’s the visceral experience of it. It’s almost too painful for me to reread my books now that they are published. I feel echoes of what I felt before, and there is a stab in my heart.
But I think I most enjoyed writing Jim. I’m in love with him, frankly, and I liked discovering how he ticked; I liked making him laugh.
I knew almost nothing about the Comanche before reading your books, and now I feel I have a better understanding of their way of life in the 1830s and before. Was your goal to teach as well as tell a fascinating story? That’s what I feel you did here.
I wouldn’t say that teaching was my goal. Actually, I’d say that teaching wasn’t a goal at all. I think writing to educate is the quickest way to lose the story and bog the reader in details. But authenticity was a crucial goal for me, and educating the reader becomes a natural byproduct of that. All the details of a historical period need to serve a purpose in order to be included. When Eva creases the horses, it’s a compelling scene, but it’s not there just to include a cool factoid about being able to stun a horse with a precise bullet above the spine. It’s there because Jim is irrationally obsessed with his status among the People, and Eva’s ability to get him a new stallion in such an unusual way may help him regain his place.
My favorite historical fiction books are those rich in detail; I want to feel like I am inhabiting that time and space while I’m reading. And it’s got to be accurate, or you will lose me. That’s the experience I want for my readers. I want them to feel like they are there, that if they google something to see if it is true or visit the Comanche Museum in Lawton, OK, they’ll feel a familiarity. Even though my primary goal isn’t to educate, if I hear from a reader that I sent them off into rabbit holes of research *and* they came back excited to read more of my story, I take that as a huge compliment. I did something righ
Was the main character Eva’s personality based on anyone you know?
Ha!
Me.
But a better me. I think I grew stronger as a person as I wrote her. She makes the choices I would make, but I remember as I was writing her, I would think, “Man, she’s being such a doormat. What would someone who is not a doormat do?” I learned from her. She exposed me to myself in such a way that I could improve. We don’t get to edit our lives in real-time like we do when we write, but I gained some clarity about myself that, I hope, I have integrated into my current self.
Funnily enough, one of my later beta readers felt that she made “bad” decisions. I wish now that I had asked him which ones! But it was a rare chance to hear someone else’s unvarnished, impersonal opinion about someone (fictional, of course) who was so close to me as to be myself. I said to myself at the time, “Huh, interesting. Good to know. I don’t see her that way. I wonder why?” I didn’t judge her as making good or bad decisions, just natural ones.
My favorite character was Pump. Who is your favorite character in the series?
Oh, that’s a hard question. Which child is my favorite child? Pump is the only character I truly based on someone I know. He doesn’t know that he is Pump, and I will never tell him! I love Pump because he is that wise, compassionate father figure who really, really sees you, that you wish you had in your life — that I wish I had in my life! He’s not always right; he’s fallible in his own ways, but he’s seen a lot, and he can see through Eva, straight to her heart. What a blessing to have someone like that, even if only for a short time.But my favorite… I am very, very fond of Rʉtsima, but he feels like a good friend. As I said, I’m in love with Jim; Eva is close to my heart; Pump’s like my imaginary Dad. I can’t choose between the three; they feel like family.
Do you have any plans to include time travel in future books you are writing?
Yes, definitely. I created a multiverse where I can travel anywhere. Anywhen, anyhow! How could I pass that up? Pump’s origin story is swirling in the back of my mind. I also wonder what happened to Sakura and Enrique.
What is the one thing you would like readers to take away from this series?
That we’re all just human beings. That the Comanches weren’t bad, that the Anglos weren’t bad, that the Mexicans weren’t bad. That notions of good and bad (in such simplistic, black-and-white categorizations) are irrelevant and anti-helpful. They’re just not true. We’ve all been traumatized at some point by someone, but the flip of that coin is that we ourselves, at some point, have traumatized someone else, and often without even realizing it. We’re all walking around a bit blind and deaf, operating from scripts we inherited from our families, seeing the world through only one set of finite eyes.
Real love is unconditional. That’s not to say we stay in terminally unhealthy relationships, or that we have a license to act how we please with no regard for others, or that we don’t have to do our own homework of making amends and healing our own hearts so that we can love the person in front of us better. It means that real love is so much more than the notions of romantic love many people would define it as. I’ve never read a book where the main male protagonist has committed the acts Jim has committed and remains the love interest. I’m sure others must exist, but it’s rare enough to be uncommon. A romantic subplot of that nature is not really done, and though I have content warnings, I have gotten a bad review for it. Those scenes are not gratuitous, and I was open-eyed when I published them. They push the envelope precisely because I wanted to ask: What does real love look like? What does forgiveness look like? What does it mean to be a good person? Those are the themes I want people to ponder. I didn’t realize I was writing about those things until I was in the middle of the project (this trilogy kind of wrote itself), but that is what I want readers to take away from this series.
Thank you, Jennifer, for visiting us today.
Thanks so much, Bonnie! I really enjoyed answering your questions, and I’m so glad you enjoyed my books!
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Click on the image to purchase the whole Mender Trilogy
Click here to see my review of Book One.
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