TM 3000: The Maiden Voyage

Twins Alice and Sarah travel back in time to Tudor London thanks to the special powers of Sarah’s new wheelchair and its holographic controller, Archie. At breakneck pace they embark on a series of adventures, meeting an alchemist, Shakespeare and someone with an uncanny resemblance to their dreaded Head teacher as they travel round the city, getting into all sorts of trouble.

Though admirable in its quest to empower young wheelchair users, I found this a disappointing read. The entanglement of past and present with the addition of technology, flying wheelchairs and the odd spot of invisibility, and the conscious pulling in of details to make sure we experience the sights and smells of another age made it all seem contrived and a bit too knowing for its own good.

I found the conversational language too casual to be enticing and the attempts at Shakespearean vernacular tiresome. Better historical fiction is available; the possibilities of the magical wheelchair would be better exploited in a more convincing fantasy.