The Curse of Time
The Tobias & Stuart Trilogy
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Blurb
Time has committed a heist against himself.
For those in their prime, ageing stops. Natural death stalls. The world keeps moving—but without its ending, everything starts to warp, and the Universe begins calling its scattered pieces home.
Tobias hears that call like a tide under his ribs.
He’s a Birmingham academic on the cusp of a professorship, anchored to canal water and to Stuart—an A&E doctor whose steadiness has been forged in crowded wards and the aftermath of too many losses. Their life is ordinary in the way good lives are: teasing tenderness, small routines, a future they’re almost brave enough to name.
But when Death recruits Tobias, the familiar tilts.
An underground garden built for endings. A girl named Daisy, blank-minded and luminous, learning to hold starlight. Music in many forms—mischievous, unreliable, glittering with intent—pulling golden threads from a Phuket nightclub to an Andean summit. Tam, the bagpipe made (mostly) human, who knows how to find Time.
Eclipses gather. Supernovae press close. Eight hundred-plus golden timelines braid towards a single hour. And Tobias’s problem becomes brutally clear: the Universe wants him “home.” Only a risky alignment can keep him earthbound long enough to restore the bond between Earth and the Universe—without losing Daisy, without losing Stuart, without losing himself.
Series: The Curse of Time is Book 3 and the conclusion of The Tobias & Stuart Trilogy (best read in order).
Content notes: explicit consensual sex scenes; a hospital assault resulting in injury; medical trauma; anxiety and panic; frequent strong language; apocalyptic themes.
Perfect for: queer romantic fantasy, personified cosmic forces, found family warmth, time-bent stakes, and endings that are hopeful—but not tidy.
Behind the Pages
Over the years, I’ve had more story ideas than I can count—some passing through quickly, others lingering for tea. A few even came with dramatic entrances and impossible demands. But none of them ever made it onto paper. Not even a line. Not even a note on the back of a napkin.
Until Tobias & Stuart.
I’ve always been drawn to MM romance and speculative fantasy, and since this was my first novel, I thought I’d start with something I knew well—academic life. It’s a world full of eccentric characters, strange rituals, and an endless supply of questions without clear answers. In its own way, academia already feels a bit fantastical. My challenge was to combine all three into one story.
Tobias & Stuart became the kind of book I wanted to read myself: an MM romance that doesn’t just flutter hearts but nudges the mind awake. At its centre is Tobias, an academic who’s built a perfectly sensible life for himself… until he hasn’t. His journey is one of confronting emptiness, finding courage in vulnerability, and slowly becoming the truest version of himself—all while the world threatens to unravel around him.
It’s a story about love, friendship, and the delightful absurdity of being human. Those small, stubborn things that—when you really think about it—might just be what saves the world.
I hope you’ll come along for the journey with Tobias and Stuart, and of course with Music, Death, and Time, who have a way of turning everything upside down just when you think you’ve figured it out.
Jern Tonkoi
Reviews
A dazzling, tender cosmic love story that makes the universe feel both vast and heartbreakingly intimate. The Curse of Time is one of those rare speculative romances that manages to be clever, lyrical, and deeply human all at once.
The Curse of Time closes the Tobias & Stuart trilogy with the same quiet magic that made the previous books so special. Once again, Tonkoi blends fantasy and reality in a way that feels almost effortless: cosmic powers walk beside ordinary people, timelines fold in on themselves, and yet the heart of the story stays grounded in very human emotions. I loved the slower, contemplative flow of the narrative — it gives the characters space to breathe, make mistakes, and grow. This isn’t your classic romance where everything neatly falls into place. Tobias and Stuart are flawed, stubborn, deeply human men who hurt each other, drift apart, and still keep finding their way back ... Saying goodbye to Tobias and Stuart is bittersweet, but their journey ends on a note that feels right. Hopeful, imperfect, and full of love in all the forms it can take. A beautiful conclusion to a thoughtful, star-strewn trilogy.
This was quite the wild ride. Time is tired of the pain and loss in everything around him and he plots to remove the earth from time. The results are not what he expected, humanity doesn't deal well with immortality. Tobias and Stewart get caught up in the chaos. Music in its multiple incarnations tries to reverse Time's manipulation but Music's efforts lack coordination. It takes Tobias’ link with Music, Death and Time to bring earth back. As the story moves back and forth from what might be considered real and supernatural it does so without feeling jarring or disjointed, which is quite amazing. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Read-alikes
- Good Omens — Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett 1990 · Fantasy — Contemporary
Witty banter under pressure, apocalyptic stakes, and personified powers operating alongside everyday life echo the book’s star-crowded, comedic-tinged end-of-the-world vibe.
- This Is How You Lose the Time War — Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone 2019 · Science Fiction — Time Travel
Interlaced timelines, lyrical intimacy, and a romance set against cosmic-scale conflict align with golden-thread Music and a quietly fierce queer love.
- The Sandman — Neil Gaiman Fantasy — Contemporary
Literal cosmic entities, a universe-spanning canvas, and intimate human stakes resonate with Time and Death as characters and the story’s celestial scale.
- The City We Became — N. K. Jemisin 2020 · Fantasy — Contemporary
Personification of vast forces, found-family assembly, and urban settings under existential threat parallel the book’s team-of-misfits energy and cosmic confrontation.
- The Time Traveler’s Wife — Audrey Niffenegger 2003 · Fantasy — Contemporary
Romance anchored in real-world texture and a time-torn premise echo the book’s earthbound love tested by irresistible cosmic calls.