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tregina's review against another edition
3.0
It starts out with a very old school sf type of feeling, a little sexist with macho men and spunky women (still, of course, in need of rescue), which suprised and frustrated me. But over the course of the book it moved in a different direction, or at least gave that feeling some context as we learned more about the world of the future as compared to the world of its past (and our present and future). The basic idea of it is great, and certainly I felt like it ended stronger than it began, though it never entirely overcame that old school, somewhat cliché feel to me. As an aside, Levin was an interesting Javert-type figure, so much so that I was a little surprised he didn't suicide at the end, especially give the prevalence of that option in his line of work. Then again, maybe he did, in a way.
jennkei's review against another edition
3.0
I started and abandoned this book twice before I finally started reading it because I have nothing else on hand. And I'm glad I did! Interesting, bleaker view on time travel.
michelleschroeder's review against another edition
3.0
Had the phrase, "could have cared less" three times. It took me out of the story each time
willrefuge's review against another edition
2.0
Initial impressions: Meat and potatoes, but no bread, wine, or bay leaves, and left a bad aftertaste (i.e. The story was all there, but it was lacking depth and had a poor and distasteful conclusion.
I’ve never read Wesley Chu before, but always meant to. Never made it to TIME SALVAGER until now. I had to wait until it came to the library—I never even realized it was there until now. I guess that was enough.
TIME SALVAGER
by Wesley Chu
Time Salvager Book 1
’ Convicted criminal James Griffin-Mars is no one's hero. In his time, Earth is a toxic, abandoned world and humans have fled into the outer solar system to survive, eking out a fragile, doomed existence among the other planets and their moons. Those responsible for delaying humanity's demise believe time travel holds the key, and they have identified James, troubled though he is, as one of a select and expendable few ideally suited for the most dangerous job in history.
James is a chronman, undertaking missions into Earth's past to recover resources and treasure without altering the timeline. The laws governing use of time travel are absolute; break any one of them and, one way or another, your life is over. Most chronmen never reach old age; the stress of each jump through time, compounded by the risk to themselves and to the future, means that many chronmen rapidly reach their breaking point, and James Griffin-Mars is nearing his.
On a final mission that is to secure his retirement, James meets Elise Kim, an intriguing scientist from a previous century, who is fated to die during the destruction of an oceanic rig. Against his training and his common sense, and in violation of the chronmen's highest law, James brings Elise back to the future with him, saving her life, but turning them both into fugitives. Remaining free means losing themselves in the wild and poisonous wastes of Earth, somehow finding allies, and perhaps discovering what hope may yet remain for humanity's home world. ‘
TIME SALVAGER is a somewhat obvious time travel cliché; though not the most obvious one where you run into yourself in the past. It’s a decent read, overcome at times by the meandering, somewhat disjointed path the story takes; departing some chapters in a cliffhanger, only to jump ahead in time as if Chu wasn’t sure how to write the culmination and just decided to skip it. The first couple times he did this I didn’t waste much time worry over it. Once it happened a handful of times, however… I began to wonder whether Chu does this in his other books. It’s probably not a deal-breaker or anything, all the same I find it really annoying. And I’m beginning to worry about it. If he can’t handle these, what’s going to happen at the end? Is it going to be a Soprano’s kinda thing?
Despite several reviews to the contrary, I didn’t find the story to be a walking cliché. The heart of the plot—its meat and potatoes—were fine. I was drawn in, at least at first. It was somewhere around the 3/4 mark that I began to lose focus. Indeed, looking back on this tale: it’s the conclusion that suffers; a lack of character depth, a shallow and disappointing level of world-building that felt skin-deep.
While the world of TIME SALVAGER is shiny and beautifully rendered, its beauty is skin-deep. At its heart, the world is a bare-bones, shadow of what it pretends to be.
James is a fancy time traveler. He does the missions—hobnobbing with historical and long-dead icons, stealing tech while catching a glimpse of a beautiful earth, before returning with it back to a bleak present—but has only a token knowledge of the technology used to do it. While this is perfectly believable; his depth and character isn’t. James is addicted to time travel, but it’s this same thing that’s driving him insane.
Feminists probably won’t like this book. Elise is probably a lead that I would characterize as a strong female lead except for the abrupt change she suffers mid-book. Then, whenever she’s in danger, in trouble, or faced with the unknown—she falls apart, and waits for James to come rescue her. I guess it could be a side-effect from being snatched from the past and thrust into a new and frightening future, but. But… it’s a full 180 from her behavior at the beginning. It was completely out of character, a ridiculous change even. I’d chalk it up to pure anti-feminism but. But… well, towards the end of the plot, the story falls apart.
Like, all of it.
Characters take a complete 180. Strong female leads lose their nerve again and again. Another character spends his entire life dedicated to one path, only to abandon it for, well… no real, tangible reason.
My Favorite Character
I’m not sure what to tell you. Initially, I kinda liked James, but the more I got to know him, the less he held up. Then it fell to Elise. Whose character… also proved shallow and undeveloped. Levin, I really never connected with, nor Grace. None of them are terrible, none or very good either.
I was sucked in by the world, the settings. Four of the first five chapters took place in different timelines, scattered across the universe. From the orbit of Eris in 2212, to the moons of Jupiter in the year 2511, to the Ming Dynasty in China (that’s the 1550’s), to 1944 Germany at the bombing of Königsberg—the story jumped from one exciting locale to the next, entrancing me in its web. It was the bevy of exotic times and places that interested me in the story, that got me hooked. But it was also this that let me down. Let me explain.
A majority of TIME SALVAGER takes place in the year 2511 (in this case: the present). For a while, the story jumps around. In and out of the past, from one region of the present to another. For just as long, the story remains interesting. But once the fitful pace settles down—and I was able to examine the present in detail—the world no longer appears vibrant, or well-rendered, or really even interesting. It’s just a husk. It’s as if Wesley Chu spent a couple days jumping from location to location, then used the remaining year (or however long) to write the story—which he did in two parts. There’s the meat and potatoes of the story, and then the last nine chapters. It’s like… like the author was nearing his deadline or something and then changed everything to end it quick. It’s disappointing as, despite the lack of character depth, the poor world-building—up until this point I still thought it was a decent read. But then everything changes. I won’t say how, but I’ll just say it kinda ruins the end. And the poor ending provides a poor aftertaste when reflecting on the book as a whole. I mean, it’s kinda a mess. When I said the conclusion departs entirely from the story to that point, I mean entirely.
Recommendation
Maybe if you’re a fan of Wesley Chu. I’m not sure, having not read any of his other stuff. Maybe if you’re a fan of time travel, but I doubt it. I’m not, really, but I’ve been assured that it’s full of clichés. Maybe if you need a break from fantasy or spaceships or YA. Maybe if you’re after a light read with bland characters and poor world-building and an unmemorable story.
Conclusion
Bland, unmemorable and uninteresting. An interesting world that’s skin deep at best and a story that can’t live up to its own hype. Hollow, bland characters. A love story that I didn’t even mention until now because there really wasn’t any reason. A plot that deviates completely after 320 pages (of 380 total). I… maybe if the second book is any good? I’ll update this when I read it. If I read it.
2.5 / 5 stars
I’m not sure whether I’ll round down to 2 or up to 3, but it doesn’t matter. TIME SALVAGER isn’t a bad book, or a good one. It’s just average. Bland. Boring. Not worthy of mention.
I’ve never read Wesley Chu before, but always meant to. Never made it to TIME SALVAGER until now. I had to wait until it came to the library—I never even realized it was there until now. I guess that was enough.
TIME SALVAGER
by Wesley Chu
Time Salvager Book 1
’ Convicted criminal James Griffin-Mars is no one's hero. In his time, Earth is a toxic, abandoned world and humans have fled into the outer solar system to survive, eking out a fragile, doomed existence among the other planets and their moons. Those responsible for delaying humanity's demise believe time travel holds the key, and they have identified James, troubled though he is, as one of a select and expendable few ideally suited for the most dangerous job in history.
James is a chronman, undertaking missions into Earth's past to recover resources and treasure without altering the timeline. The laws governing use of time travel are absolute; break any one of them and, one way or another, your life is over. Most chronmen never reach old age; the stress of each jump through time, compounded by the risk to themselves and to the future, means that many chronmen rapidly reach their breaking point, and James Griffin-Mars is nearing his.
On a final mission that is to secure his retirement, James meets Elise Kim, an intriguing scientist from a previous century, who is fated to die during the destruction of an oceanic rig. Against his training and his common sense, and in violation of the chronmen's highest law, James brings Elise back to the future with him, saving her life, but turning them both into fugitives. Remaining free means losing themselves in the wild and poisonous wastes of Earth, somehow finding allies, and perhaps discovering what hope may yet remain for humanity's home world. ‘
TIME SALVAGER is a somewhat obvious time travel cliché; though not the most obvious one where you run into yourself in the past. It’s a decent read, overcome at times by the meandering, somewhat disjointed path the story takes; departing some chapters in a cliffhanger, only to jump ahead in time as if Chu wasn’t sure how to write the culmination and just decided to skip it. The first couple times he did this I didn’t waste much time worry over it. Once it happened a handful of times, however… I began to wonder whether Chu does this in his other books. It’s probably not a deal-breaker or anything, all the same I find it really annoying. And I’m beginning to worry about it. If he can’t handle these, what’s going to happen at the end? Is it going to be a Soprano’s kinda thing?
Despite several reviews to the contrary, I didn’t find the story to be a walking cliché. The heart of the plot—its meat and potatoes—were fine. I was drawn in, at least at first. It was somewhere around the 3/4 mark that I began to lose focus. Indeed, looking back on this tale: it’s the conclusion that suffers; a lack of character depth, a shallow and disappointing level of world-building that felt skin-deep.
While the world of TIME SALVAGER is shiny and beautifully rendered, its beauty is skin-deep. At its heart, the world is a bare-bones, shadow of what it pretends to be.
James is a fancy time traveler. He does the missions—hobnobbing with historical and long-dead icons, stealing tech while catching a glimpse of a beautiful earth, before returning with it back to a bleak present—but has only a token knowledge of the technology used to do it. While this is perfectly believable; his depth and character isn’t. James is addicted to time travel, but it’s this same thing that’s driving him insane.
Feminists probably won’t like this book. Elise is probably a lead that I would characterize as a strong female lead except for the abrupt change she suffers mid-book. Then, whenever she’s in danger, in trouble, or faced with the unknown—she falls apart, and waits for James to come rescue her. I guess it could be a side-effect from being snatched from the past and thrust into a new and frightening future, but. But… it’s a full 180 from her behavior at the beginning. It was completely out of character, a ridiculous change even. I’d chalk it up to pure anti-feminism but. But… well, towards the end of the plot, the story falls apart.
Like, all of it.
Characters take a complete 180. Strong female leads lose their nerve again and again. Another character spends his entire life dedicated to one path, only to abandon it for, well… no real, tangible reason.
My Favorite Character
I’m not sure what to tell you. Initially, I kinda liked James, but the more I got to know him, the less he held up. Then it fell to Elise. Whose character… also proved shallow and undeveloped. Levin, I really never connected with, nor Grace. None of them are terrible, none or very good either.
I was sucked in by the world, the settings. Four of the first five chapters took place in different timelines, scattered across the universe. From the orbit of Eris in 2212, to the moons of Jupiter in the year 2511, to the Ming Dynasty in China (that’s the 1550’s), to 1944 Germany at the bombing of Königsberg—the story jumped from one exciting locale to the next, entrancing me in its web. It was the bevy of exotic times and places that interested me in the story, that got me hooked. But it was also this that let me down. Let me explain.
A majority of TIME SALVAGER takes place in the year 2511 (in this case: the present). For a while, the story jumps around. In and out of the past, from one region of the present to another. For just as long, the story remains interesting. But once the fitful pace settles down—and I was able to examine the present in detail—the world no longer appears vibrant, or well-rendered, or really even interesting. It’s just a husk. It’s as if Wesley Chu spent a couple days jumping from location to location, then used the remaining year (or however long) to write the story—which he did in two parts. There’s the meat and potatoes of the story, and then the last nine chapters. It’s like… like the author was nearing his deadline or something and then changed everything to end it quick. It’s disappointing as, despite the lack of character depth, the poor world-building—up until this point I still thought it was a decent read. But then everything changes. I won’t say how, but I’ll just say it kinda ruins the end. And the poor ending provides a poor aftertaste when reflecting on the book as a whole. I mean, it’s kinda a mess. When I said the conclusion departs entirely from the story to that point, I mean entirely.
Recommendation
Maybe if you’re a fan of Wesley Chu. I’m not sure, having not read any of his other stuff. Maybe if you’re a fan of time travel, but I doubt it. I’m not, really, but I’ve been assured that it’s full of clichés. Maybe if you need a break from fantasy or spaceships or YA. Maybe if you’re after a light read with bland characters and poor world-building and an unmemorable story.
Conclusion
Bland, unmemorable and uninteresting. An interesting world that’s skin deep at best and a story that can’t live up to its own hype. Hollow, bland characters. A love story that I didn’t even mention until now because there really wasn’t any reason. A plot that deviates completely after 320 pages (of 380 total). I… maybe if the second book is any good? I’ll update this when I read it. If I read it.
2.5 / 5 stars
I’m not sure whether I’ll round down to 2 or up to 3, but it doesn’t matter. TIME SALVAGER isn’t a bad book, or a good one. It’s just average. Bland. Boring. Not worthy of mention.
qjbrown96's review against another edition
4.0
4.4 stars.
Such an underrated book. I loved it so much. Maybe I’m biased because I love anything time travel.
The earth is inhabitable and James is basically an agent who goes back in time to retrieve resources and information that might help delay humanity’s demise but there is several rules.
1.) You don’t do anything to effect the timeline
2.) Do NOT bring someone out of the past
James ends up failing and has to escape his own timeline to escape death
Such an underrated book. I loved it so much. Maybe I’m biased because I love anything time travel.
The earth is inhabitable and James is basically an agent who goes back in time to retrieve resources and information that might help delay humanity’s demise but there is several rules.
1.) You don’t do anything to effect the timeline
2.) Do NOT bring someone out of the past
James ends up failing and has to escape his own timeline to escape death
chombychomp's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
3.5
trey2501's review against another edition
4.0
Well Shit... This guy Wesley Chu has become pretty much my favorite author in a very short span of time. I read "Time Salvager" in a long weekend and it completely blew me away. I NEEDED more so I picked up "The Lives of Tao." I had been aware of "The Lives of Tao" since it came out but never read it because the premise didn't really interest me (not enough space ships and woosh woosh noises in the description). Well, just a few weeks after discovering this Chu dude, I'm about to finish my 4th book he's written. I don't often write reviews because I'm more of a reader than writer but I did want to take just a moment to say how much I appreciate finding a great new author. Thanks for the stories, Mr. Chu. Keep em' coming.
dubsington's review against another edition
1.0
This book is best used as kindling or to weigh down the bottom of your trash bin.
rhysellnow's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
rikerandom's review
3.0
Voller Klischees, aber wenn man wie ich eher selten SciFi liest, eigentlich echt ganz unterhaltsam. Weniger sinnfreies Rumgefluche hätte es aber auch getan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In der Zukunft ist die Erde ein verödeter Planet und die Menschheit hat sich ins All geflüchtet. Ressourcenknappheit ist ein großes Problem, doch dafür gibt es ja ChronoCom und die Chronauten - Agenten, Zeitkuriere, die in die Vergangenheit zurückgeschickt werden, um dort Ressourcen zu sammeln, die in der Zukunft dringend gebraucht werden. Doch um das Zeitkontinuum nicht in Unordnung zu bringen, gibt es strenge Regeln und die Bergung von Ressourcen erfolgt immer zu Zeitpunkten, an denen aufgrund von Katastrophen niemand bemerkt, dass Ressourcen verschwunden sind. Und so reisen die Zeitkuriere an die Schauplätze von Bombenexplosionen, Atomunfällen und Naturkatastrophen und sammeln nicht nur Ressourcen, sondern auch Eindrücke, die ihre Spuren hinterlassen.
Die vollständige Rezension: http://anima-libri.de/rezension/wesley-chu-zeitkurier/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In der Zukunft ist die Erde ein verödeter Planet und die Menschheit hat sich ins All geflüchtet. Ressourcenknappheit ist ein großes Problem, doch dafür gibt es ja ChronoCom und die Chronauten - Agenten, Zeitkuriere, die in die Vergangenheit zurückgeschickt werden, um dort Ressourcen zu sammeln, die in der Zukunft dringend gebraucht werden. Doch um das Zeitkontinuum nicht in Unordnung zu bringen, gibt es strenge Regeln und die Bergung von Ressourcen erfolgt immer zu Zeitpunkten, an denen aufgrund von Katastrophen niemand bemerkt, dass Ressourcen verschwunden sind. Und so reisen die Zeitkuriere an die Schauplätze von Bombenexplosionen, Atomunfällen und Naturkatastrophen und sammeln nicht nur Ressourcen, sondern auch Eindrücke, die ihre Spuren hinterlassen.
Die vollständige Rezension: http://anima-libri.de/rezension/wesley-chu-zeitkurier/