Buckle in, listeners, for a wild ride! The Department of Diachronic Operations, a secret government agency, seeks to revive magic for 21st-century use. A crack team of core operatives, composed of polyglot Melisande “Mel” Stokes, military intelligence operator Tristan Lyons, physicist Frank Oda, and a cantankerous witch named Erzebet, develops a system of time travel. Multiple narrators weave memorable character performances with increasingly tangled “strands” of events, along with an assortment of letters, memos, meetings, chat transcripts, and other communications media. Their distinct accents and intuitive pacing summon a magical blend of personalities and narrative. It’s a highly complex, amusing, and engrossing world. Eventually, the team’s best-laid plans go askew when rogue operatives, military officials, and bureaucrats complicate matters considerably. AudioFile Magazine