DJ Butler (MA Rothman) Books in Order

The MA Rothman and D.J. Butler crossover page is mostly about the Time Trials books, and those novels have a very specific flavor. They pull together archaeology, ancient Egypt, time travel, monsters, and game-like progression, then run everything through a fast-moving adventure plot.

The main point-of-view figure is Marty Cohen, a linguist and former Egyptology scholar who thought he had left academic politics behind for good. He is back to running a woodworking business and trying to keep life simple when a private dig in Egypt brings him back into the orbit of old texts and older mysteries.

That choice changes everything.

Once Marty is pulled in, the series stops being a story about one interesting excavation and becomes something much larger. Ancient writings, recurring visions, and an eccentric expedition team open the door to protohistoric North Africa, where the landscape is dangerous, the powers at work are only half understood, and human survival may depend on what this small modern group can do.

What makes these books stand out is the mix. There is real affection here for old history and language, but there is also a clear taste for pulp energy. The series likes ruined places, desperate fights, odd alliances, and the constant sense that the rules are shifting under the characters' feet. It also uses LitRPG elements, though lightly enough that readers who do not usually go for heavy stats-and-levels fiction can still settle in.

Marty anchors the story because he is practical. He is clever, capable, and not especially interested in being anybody's mythic champion, which of course makes him exactly the sort of person who gets dragged into that role. Around him, the rest of the team has to learn fast, trust carefully, and survive a world that keeps revealing new layers.

The bigger question underneath it all is simple: why them?

That is where the series keeps its momentum. The characters are not just lost in the past. They are being tested, shaped, and pushed toward a larger struggle that reaches beyond one dig site or one civilization. If you like your history-inflected fantasy with a lot of forward motion and a strong team dynamic, this collaboration is easy to fall into.