[2] The novel follows Polly, an ordinary homeless teenager from the near future and Tak, a cyborg soldier programmed for obedience to his superiors.

She meets several major figures in British history but is no closer to discovering the secret behind the tor which is leeching off her energy and life.

In an attempt to stop the rule of the dominant Heliothanes, Cowl travels back into pre-history with an incomprehensibly massive multidimensional creature called the Torbeast.

[6][7] SF Site wrote that while the book was "satisfying simply as an adventure story, Asher's ambition and obvious knowledge of the field suggest that with a little more time for character-development and exploring individual motivations, Cowl could have set new standards for the time-travel novel, instead of settling for being an entertaining up-date of a classic tradition.

"[8] Kirkus Reviews cited that while the "time-travel rationale holds up ... it’s impossible to understand the motivations of the movers and shakers", which kept them from caring about what happened next.