I received an advance reader’s copy (ARC) of Costumes for Time Travelers by A. R. Capetta. Since this version is just a proof and not the final version, I won’t quote directly and will keep my comments general.

In Costumes for Time Travelers by A. R. Capetta, Calisto has lived in the tiny place called Pocket, a town that exists outside of time and which serves as a way station for many time travelers. Calisto loves life there, helping their grandmother build time boots to sell, and has no intention of ever leaving Pocket. Meanwhile, Fawkes is a time traveler who has never stopped moving. He’s a curiosity, though, even among his fellows, and soon gets the attention of dangerous people who seek to eliminate aberrant time travelers. So when he and Calisto meet, it becomes urgent that they team up in order to save Pocket, and perhaps, the entire universe.

This is a quirky and fun novel. I really liked the setting of Pocket with its cozy small town vibes, with a fun layer of catering to (and being populated by) time travelers and being something between a tourist town and a truck stop. The community there, including Calisto’s family, seems lovely in general, and I enjoy how their rapport with and loyalty to each other ends up contributing to an excellent scene toward the end of the story.

I also liked the main two characters, two people with very different life experiences who get thrown together by unusual circumstances and grow close. It’s sweet to see Calisto step out of their comfort zone and explore a universe they’ve never seen before. Conversely, it’s wonderful to see Fawkes finally let himself be known by someone else, after a lifetime of solitude. As for the side characters, I liked Kellan well enough, though I wanted more development from Korsika, though what is there is not bad, especially for the short length of this book.

The historical settings are entertaining as well. We get to see London in Shakespeare’s time, Ancient Greece (with elements of mythology sprinkled in), and the recent past of the US. The contrast of all three of these is engaging, and I wish that we’d gotten a little more of that adventuring through time and space. (But that’s probably the Doctor Who fan in me talking.) As it was, all three settings outside of Pocket contributed to the plot and served as good backdrops for the action.

As for the action, I liked how Calisto and Fawkes’ journey is interwoven with the worldbuilding of this book. The way that Carpetta examines the ramifications of widespread time travel is really intriguing, especially the idea that there would be some backlash from certain people who worry about future people interfering with the past. It’s a thoughtful and intriguing idea, and I like how it plays out in a satisfying third act. However, I really do wish that this book had been longer, to really dig into this idea and the worldbuilding in general. I just feel like all of this, and how it affects the characters, had been explored more and for longer.

In the end, though, Costumes for Time Travelers is a great romp, full of adventure and endearing characters. Although the pacing and short page count makes for a too-short story, there’s good action, interesting lore, a sweet love story, excellent queer representation, and well-researched historical settings. I could see fans of This Is How You Lose the Time War, The Starless Sea, or Our Infinite Fates enjoying this book. Capetta is a skilled writer (as proven in their previous book that I’ve read by them), and I look forward to reading more of their work in the future! (Or, if I learn how to time travel, in my past.)

Costumes for Time Travelers is available as of today, May 27th!