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cloeochsenfeld's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
bluestarfish's review against another edition
3.0
I saw a review comparing this to the Terminator (man from future sent back to the past to save humanity) and I cackled. It's got some guns in this one too... 100,000 hippie tourists descending on Haight-Ashbury in 1967 for the Summer of Love sounds like it ought to be sci-fi and we do get a time-travelling visitor trying to find a young woman. It's unruly and hazy and tries to explore a bunch of things. The historical fiction side of things was intriguing. Spending a summer in San Fransisco with Ruby and Starbright and Chi was funny and upsetting and interesting and infuriating. I was a bit more confused by the future elements.
When I first tried to read this I got really irritated by the choppy writing style and couldn't make it past the first few paragraphs before having to put it down and read something else first. Glad I gave it another go and made it past that particular barrier.
When I first tried to read this I got really irritated by the choppy writing style and couldn't make it past the first few paragraphs before having to put it down and read something else first. Glad I gave it another go and made it past that particular barrier.
bracky's review against another edition
3.0
Aardig geschreven, maar niet speciaal. De stukken in de toekomst zijn vrij matig. En toch lees je wel door, dus heel slecht is het ook weer niet.
tiggum's review against another edition
2.0
I avoided reading this book for a long time because something about the title put me off. I can't explain it, I just don't like it. But at first it seemed that I was wrong to judge this particular book by its cover. It starts a little slowly but soon picks up, and manages to get well past the half-way point before it goes wrong.
For over half the book, the author had resisted the temptation to explain time travel, and that was great. We knew basically what Chiron was there to do, we didn't need to know the technical details. In fact, I wish I didn't know the technical details because they're dumb as fuck. And the last quarter of the book gets dragged way down by this ridiculous bullshit.
I wish I could give this book a higher rating, but it's not just peripheral details, the time travel bullshit becomes irrevocably entangled with the plot, and it just left me irritated and unsatisfied.
For over half the book, the author had resisted the temptation to explain time travel, and that was great. We knew basically what Chiron was there to do, we didn't need to know the technical details. In fact, I wish I didn't know the technical details because they're dumb as fuck. And the last quarter of the book gets dragged way down by this ridiculous bullshit.
I wish I could give this book a higher rating, but it's not just peripheral details, the time travel bullshit becomes irrevocably entangled with the plot, and it just left me irritated and unsatisfied.
juliet1102's review
4.0
I'm leaving my inital rating of 4 stars, but really would only give it three this time around.
survivalisinsufficient's review against another edition
2.0
Boring and annoying and not as fun as it should be.
laurafigueiredo's review against another edition
4.0
I usually don't read time travel novels.
Why not? Well, I guess I expect them to be somewhat dull because the writer is focusing on making sense of the whole time travel set up - and how changes in the past affect to the future now - instead of developing good characters.
But here Mason managed to create great characters with a nice arc which make the story work.
And her writing style is also nice and appealing.
So I would say this is a really good book. Much much better than I expected.
But there are certain details that bothered me quite too much.
One of them were those entities called demons. They made no sense (other than forcing the storyline this or that way) and were quite silly to be honest.
The other one were the visions of the alternate world, which were absolutely unnecesary (other than forcing the characters to believe Chi's story, but the novel would have worked anyway if Susan belived him for sentimental reasons and Ruby simply remained skeptical).
These details looks too simplistic and kinda teen-ish, and for me they are the difference between a good book and a masterpiece.
Why not? Well, I guess I expect them to be somewhat dull because the writer is focusing on making sense of the whole time travel set up - and how changes in the past affect to the future now - instead of developing good characters.
But here Mason managed to create great characters with a nice arc which make the story work.
And her writing style is also nice and appealing.
So I would say this is a really good book. Much much better than I expected.
But there are certain details that bothered me quite too much.
One of them were those entities called demons. They made no sense (other than forcing the storyline this or that way) and were quite silly to be honest.
The other one were the visions of the alternate world, which were absolutely unnecesary (other than forcing the characters to believe Chi's story, but the novel would have worked anyway if Susan belived him for sentimental reasons and Ruby simply remained skeptical).
These details looks too simplistic and kinda teen-ish, and for me they are the difference between a good book and a masterpiece.
daear's review against another edition
1.0
I just... couldn't finish reading this. Some of the characters were interesting, but some were so frustrating I started skipping over large portions of their tales. The book comes across as preachy, like it has a strong but subversive political agenda, so I put it down halfway through. Might try it again someday, but who knows.
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