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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
A timehistory traveling romp where the heroes drive classic cars, get chased by faceless men (literally) and search for the American Dream that was stolen in 1963.
Go on you know you want to read it!
Go on you know you want to read it!
Well, that was fun! I'm not usually a fan of time travel because it gets confusing for me, but in this case it was so much fun and I loved the characters so much that I didn't even bat an eye at it. It is about time travel like 11/22/63, it is a journey like The Stand, it is a quest like The Dark Tower series, it has creepy antagonists like the Low Men, it has great character development like so many of Stephen King's best works; and while I compare Paradox Bound to these books, it isn't a rip off of any of them. I highly recommend this book if you are ready to escape and take an excellent adventure awesome journey! (Yes, it is kind of like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure too.)
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Even when the main character grows up, this reads very YA. Eli makes a lot of stupid decisions for someone who is allegedly a quasi-intelligent, college educated adult. On the run? Just witnessed a murder? Make sure to ask a checkout clerk for the location of the place you're going and to tell them who you are and where you're coming from, just in case someone asks. DUMB. None of these characters are particularly interesting, I didn't really care about any of them and the relationships were pretty uninspired.
I think where I'm getting especially hung up is that I expect a time travel story to be science fiction and there is no science here at all. When they discuss how any of this works, the character just says I only know about this through second hand knowledge and dodges all the questions. So why does the author even bother trying to explain this if they're not actually going to explain it? It just bad writing to not know how your world works, or, to know how it works and not be able to explain it. Frustratingly, the ending of this book is also just totally useless and stupid and has no pay off. Literally, these two characters did all of these things and suffered all of these painful events (not to mention the murder of so many of Harry's friends and family) for absolutely no purpose at all - how about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the American dream? DUMB. Really, why even make this book at all if this was all that you could come up with for the ending?
The idea that the American Dream is a real, literally thing, we've lost it and we need to find it to bring the country back together is a cool one. The cool idea is just let down by mediocre execution and the terrible, pointless, let-down ending of the book.
I think where I'm getting especially hung up is that I expect a time travel story to be science fiction and there is no science here at all. When they discuss how any of this works, the character just says I only know about this through second hand knowledge and dodges all the questions. So why does the author even bother trying to explain this if they're not actually going to explain it? It just bad writing to not know how your world works, or, to know how it works and not be able to explain it. Frustratingly, the ending of this book is also just totally useless and stupid and has no pay off. Literally, these two characters did all of these things and suffered all of these painful events (not to mention the murder of so many of Harry's friends and family) for absolutely no purpose at all - how about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the American dream? DUMB. Really, why even make this book at all if this was all that you could come up with for the ending?
The idea that the American Dream is a real, literally thing, we've lost it and we need to find it to bring the country back together is a cool one. The cool idea is just let down by mediocre execution and the terrible, pointless, let-down ending of the book.
Started off OK but then it went from sci-fi to weird fantasy. The writing was spotty at best with the male "hero" needing to have everything explained to him like he was a 5 year old "but why?" I made it a third of the way thought before i asked myself "but why are you reading this?" the characters are poor the dialogue is terrible. The female lead is more interesting but not by much and the constant description of classic cars. As i think about it there was also nothing really original
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
As is the case with Peter Clines books, it's best to go into Paradox Bound knowing as little as possible. Just know that it involves time travel, American history, dangerous bad guys, and takes the general form of a chase-type suspense novel, and you're good to go.
Is it any good? Well, it has plenty of problems. Some of the concepts at the heart of the mystery were a bit silly. It's definitely not hard sci-fi - it borders on science fantasy, if that's a thing. Characters are likeable but relatively flat. Plot holes abound. Aspects are predictable. Plot beats are familiar.
But it's so much fun. It's a page turner, and has a premise I haven't really seen done before. It hits some solid emotional beats. So, yeah, there's lots to nitpick, but I really enjoyed it.
Is it any good? Well, it has plenty of problems. Some of the concepts at the heart of the mystery were a bit silly. It's definitely not hard sci-fi - it borders on science fantasy, if that's a thing. Characters are likeable but relatively flat. Plot holes abound. Aspects are predictable. Plot beats are familiar.
But it's so much fun. It's a page turner, and has a premise I haven't really seen done before. It hits some solid emotional beats. So, yeah, there's lots to nitpick, but I really enjoyed it.
Not usually a fan of time-travel (oops, history-travel) books, but this was fun, very enjoyable.