A Christian time travel story. Mild caution for a character intrigued by the occult.
Plot
Kid inventor Max McCrane is tricked into taking a time travel trip with a girl who sends his machine home without them. When his friends try to mount a rescue, they find themselves on the run from futuristic robot cops.
Morality
Characters take a significant risk, on the “life and limb” level, for a friend they believe is in danger. Bad deeds sometimes encounter poetic justice.
Bad or deceived characters manipulate, perpetuate lies, are greedy for money, and sometimes risk the safety of others.
The heroes accidentally break a law, and often tell lies because, presumably, nobody would believe that they are time travelers. When nice people are annoyed enough, they say things which might be insensitive.
Spiritual Content
God is good, and works through an angelic messenger. There is fancy stage magic pretending to be witchcraft, and there is also demonic power. A girl toys with occult practices and paraphernalia, although it’s an open question whether the author’s idea of the occult bears much similarity to its real-world counterpart. Satan appears in the form of a talking dragon. Deals with the enemy can be cancelled by redemption.
Violence
A car crashes, with no resulting injuries. Predatory animals are encountered. A girl almost takes a bad fall. A character is hurt while trapped in a large costume, and another is zapped with “magical” energy. Characters are in an extended chase with pursuers they believe intend to do them harm.
Drug and Alcohol Content
When in the sixties, characters are asked by a couple of different people if they’ve been on a trip. One person says he’s having a “psychedelic experience.”
Sexual Content
None.
Crude or Profane Language or Content
None. A character is said to swear, but the words are not given.
Conclusion
Invasion of the Time Troopers is a simply written romp through multiple time periods with two ongoing story lines and a showdown between right and wrong. It might not be a book readers will come back to for years to enjoy nuances they missed the first time around, but it is a fairly clean Christian read, and could be fun for children who are close to its intended age range.
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