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amyl88's review against another edition
4.0
I need to think about this some. I think I need to read it again. I'm not the first to say the blurb is not what the story is about, though.
pctek's review against another edition
4.0
Awfully short.
Mostly about the guy who finds the book in the first place.
More on the 2 soldiers instead would have been better, how did they get on doing this? What happened to each of them? How did they manage?
And finding out who EL was took me about 10 minutes....
Mostly about the guy who finds the book in the first place.
More on the 2 soldiers instead would have been better, how did they get on doing this? What happened to each of them? How did they manage?
And finding out who EL was took me about 10 minutes....
stanwj's review against another edition
3.0
This time travel novella zips along, taking the sorts of twists one often expects in stories of time travel, and McDonald's facility with language elevates it. At the same time the brevity of the piece undermines the story to a degree, leaving some characters more as sketches than feeling like real, living people.
And like most time travel stories, if you pull at a thread you're likely to unravel the entire thing.
The story takes place in the present, with Emmett Leigh, a book collector, coming across a mysterious collection of poems called Time Was. The volumes (there are multiple copies, though they come without any information regarding publication or any other kind of record) contain letters written by one lover to another during World War I. And World War II. And the conflict in Bosnia and so on. Emmett comes to believe they are jumping through time and becomes obsessed with learning all he can about them.
The two lovers, Ben and Tom, are featured both through the letters, and in separate scenes, with the story jumping between different eras and the present. McDonald does fairly well with the protagonist and the present-day characters but Ben and Tom never feel particularly real, perhaps in part due to the way they are presented in the story. This also happens to contradict the marketing push for the novella, which sells it as a love story. It's more a mystery and the focus is very much on Emmett Leigh, not Ben and Tom.
Still, McDonald has tremendous fun with his prose and it buoys the story beyond the wobbly time travel shenanigans and thin characterizations. It's a solid, if flawed, read, but one I'd still recommend to those who are suckers for time travel adventures (as I am).
And like most time travel stories, if you pull at a thread you're likely to unravel the entire thing.
The story takes place in the present, with Emmett Leigh, a book collector, coming across a mysterious collection of poems called Time Was. The volumes (there are multiple copies, though they come without any information regarding publication or any other kind of record) contain letters written by one lover to another during World War I. And World War II. And the conflict in Bosnia and so on. Emmett comes to believe they are jumping through time and becomes obsessed with learning all he can about them.
The two lovers, Ben and Tom, are featured both through the letters, and in separate scenes, with the story jumping between different eras and the present. McDonald does fairly well with the protagonist and the present-day characters but Ben and Tom never feel particularly real, perhaps in part due to the way they are presented in the story. This also happens to contradict the marketing push for the novella, which sells it as a love story. It's more a mystery and the focus is very much on Emmett Leigh, not Ben and Tom.
Still, McDonald has tremendous fun with his prose and it buoys the story beyond the wobbly time travel shenanigans and thin characterizations. It's a solid, if flawed, read, but one I'd still recommend to those who are suckers for time travel adventures (as I am).
caterina_1212's review against another edition
5.0
A very sweet twisty-turny book. I expected to be gutted but it was instead it was only middling sad. I liked the dry humor, the vivid descriptions, the crazy grammar when he tries to explain actions set loose from time. I would definitely read another book by him.
sincere_mammoth's review against another edition
2.0
How dare you allure me with a story of queer romance and then waste my time with a dumb straight romance, one filled with dumb, sexist troupes?
books_and_fairy_lights's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
It was good. It had some really nice writing. I was expecting something a little more like "This is how you lose the time war", to see more of Tom and Ben's love directly through their letters. But it was nice nonetheless and to have a sort of puzzle to piece back together was cool too.
The ending was less good - not necessarily storywise but because the author tries to explain some quantum theories etc and it's either too much or not enough, but not satisfying in any case.
I also believe the last bit of the book wasn't proofread because it contained some spelling/grammar mistakes and at some point the names were wrong and that did sadly diminish the book's/story's quality.
The ending was less good - not necessarily storywise but because the author tries to explain some quantum theories etc and it's either too much or not enough, but not satisfying in any case.
I also believe the last bit of the book wasn't proofread because it contained some spelling/grammar mistakes and at some point the names were wrong and that did sadly diminish the book's/story's quality.
iamnotyourally's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
natlight's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
oleksandr's review against another edition
3.0
This is a novella that was nominated for 2019 Philip K. Dick Award and can be short-listed for Hugo and Nebula Awards.
A London’s book-dealer, who specializes in WW2 history finds a rare poetry book, titled Time was. The book is nothing special but there is a love letter, written during the war, from Tom to Ben. The WW2 aficionado, our protagonist starts to dig deeper to find more about the pair and soon gets a photo. That would be the end, but another photo of presumable the same men of the same age is found, dated with the WW1. The book-dealer tries to find out what the matter.
The second story line is given from the POV of Tom in the 1940.
Good literary fiction, nothing ground-breaking but pleasant to read.
A London’s book-dealer, who specializes in WW2 history finds a rare poetry book, titled Time was. The book is nothing special but there is a love letter, written during the war, from Tom to Ben. The WW2 aficionado, our protagonist starts to dig deeper to find more about the pair and soon gets a photo. That would be the end, but another photo of presumable the same men of the same age is found, dated with the WW1. The book-dealer tries to find out what the matter.
The second story line is given from the POV of Tom in the 1940.
Good literary fiction, nothing ground-breaking but pleasant to read.
sapphicsolace's review against another edition
3.0
Review also on my blog • Twitter • Bookstagram
Rep: m/m romance
Content warnings: war
Arc sent to me by publisher in exchange for a free and honest review
This was is... complicated, that's one way to put it.
Here's my main problem with the book, it somehow made this incredibly gay premise far less gay. If the premise is a perfect 10, then this was a 3 at best. If you've read The Great Gatsby you'd know one of the worst parts of it was that it was told from the pov of some random dude who didn't experience, he just observed. That was this book. And it was also really goddamn confusing. I can't say for sure if this was told in multiple perspectives because not even the book really makes that clear, because it's told in first person. I don't like the kind of books that makes perspectives so confusing it doesn't make sense until you're like half way through the book.
And again, I can't even say for sure it was multiple perspectives, it not being that wouldn't make much sense though. So I was left in utter confusion for most of the book.
The writing I can say was strong. I did like it for the most part, and maybe I'll reread the book and it'll make more sense to me. The plot was just executed strangely, partially because of a misleading premise and partially because of how it's written. If you're a big fan of surrealism, I'd suggest picking it up if you're okay with outside perspective books.