THE FIRES OF BIRTH

The final volume in Enfield’s Time Alleys series sees Mick Conway reunited with his sister while aiming to prevent a sinister network from using time travel as a weapon.

In 1853 London, Mick and his friends are persevering in their roles at the Forsyth Institute. Freshly promoted from a street team to a “greet team,” Alison, Leech, Dolly, and Mick can share more information through the Institute’s secret telegraph network as part of a city-wide operation responsible for “scouring the sequences for signs that time was misbehaving.” Following the cataclysmic Collapse in The Flickering Bridge (2024), several of their ranks were lost in a one-way portal to 1767, orchestrated by former ally Lady Penbrook and assisted by Catherine Collins, who turned out to be Mick’s sister; due to shifting loyalties and ongoing underhand plots, Mick must hold this secret close to his chest. The Institute adults note that Lady Penbrook’s expanding operations threaten the future of all the “alley rats,” and that she’s allied with the egotistical Lord Harrowgrave. Mick must keep a watchful eye on his sibling; meanwhile, he notes that time portals are continuing to display ominous characteristics, “dividing into concentric rings, each spinning in the opposite direction from the ones it was touching.” Enfield’s final series installment features all the intricate plotting, good-humored charm, and amiable, diverse characterization that one expects from the Time Alleys tales. The author effectively balances pathos and hijinks in a version of Victorian London with a unique SF slant. The mechanics of the time alleys are well-constructed, and readers will enjoy decoding the alley rats’ messages through time, right alongside the main characters. Mick is once again shown to be an emotionally mature protagonist who copes with the loss of his former, future life while also managing the responsibilities of his role at the Institute. The importance of found family is further strengthened in this volume, as Mick concludes that “his friends were his home. His sister was his home."

A moving finish to a compelling YA SF series.