Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Just One Damned Thing After Another

It was okay. I came across it to find something similar to Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. The idea is similar, but the execution is very different. It was difficult to keep all the characters straight (I still don't know if the MC is actually called Lucy?) I found the constant failure rather boring, and the interesting back characters were not given as much screen time as the somewhat boring (but snarky) MC. The baddies were very predictable, which was a little bit of a shame and the ending didn't make a great deal of sense. Dinosaurs were lovely. Do heed content warnings.

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skyggsja's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-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? It's complicated

2.75

TLDR: cool idea for a story but amateur writing style made me roll my eyes quite often unfortunately.

I was intrigued by the summary and topics in this book and though I usually don‘t read sci-fi this book promised to be a fun, light sci-fi x fantasy read. throughout the first third of the book i was quite into it and thought the idea of a secret history organization that could time travel was quite a remarkable idea with huge possibilities and i was quite enjoying myself while reading.
throughout the last third of the book i was often rolling my eyes into the back of my head on some occasions.

The only way I could endure reading this book is by actually imagining it played out in my head like a netflix series because that‘s what reading this felt like: A mix between the diary videos that the woman names Grace takes in Avatar by James Cameron, and Gossip Girl.
It‘s super fast paced. People die and it‘s described in 3 sentences and maybe one more on the next page. They travel back in time, with a really interesting task, and it‘s story for 15% of the book and a couple of references in the last third of the book. It really feels like they‘re shooting a netflix show and told the main actress „put yourself in the situation then write down what happens and what your character might think. And make it funny.“

Sometimes there was a situation going on and half a page later there‘s suddenly something else going on. It feels a bit amateur-ish to me. Also the entire plot- In this book she gets her Job at the history department, trains to be a „historian“ who travel back in time, and they travel to the Dinosaurs. Something crazy happens which also involves her work partner, after the end of the mission it‘s revealed that something deeper had been going on in the background and she presents 360°holographic images from millions of years ago… oh and there‘s a rescue mission. This could have been Book 1. Make it 500+ pages, craft the characters well and get someone professional to read it over. I would‘ve bought it, it would‘ve been such a cool story.
Instead this is just the first 70% of the book and then she the discovers something crazy, then within 2 hours or 2 months (no idea cuz this book doesn‘t do well with time either. which is funny because it‘s about time ) they work out her plans and then they go on another crazy mission…which would‘ve been a cool plot for another 400+ page book, nice with many details and new characters and all. But ok, cram it into the last 28% of book 1.

I just cannot help but think about the plot as something like a season. The book as it is in the hands of a good Netflix SHow producer would make a pretty rad show, I‘m not gonna lie. For me personally it just doesn‘t work well as a book that‘s meant to be read and enjoyed.

Some characters feel super shallow. The main character isn‘t the worst but I also didn‘t really like her. it feels a bit ridiculous how on the one hand she seems to be a walking catastrophe, everything she touches goes wrong - and on the other hand she’s of course the only one who’s able to think deeper, spots the connections, encounters the right coincidences that end up in groundbreaking discoveries… and she’s the biggest hero as well. the guy she ends up with - naturally he‘s pretty much perfect. He cares. He cries. He asks her the right questions. He has a hard life story and he‘s also great in bed - a stallion indeed - and after they first do it there‘s no end to sexual innuendos. Yay, not personally a fan of that. And then they have that really bad bitch that nobody likes. There‘s not much more to her, she‘s just greatly disliked, will go out of her way to ruin everyone‘s day (especially, of course, the main character‘s day) and they have somewhat of a life-or-death showdown in the middle of an actual showdown with explosions and all that follows right after another showdown. there are a lot of showdowns, a lot of things also go wrong all of the time and it the end all of this got a bit boring.

I got confused with the names as well because there are quite a lot of people. In the end I just went with it and accepted that I‘ll just have no idea who‘s who. Funny though, up until I was like 72% through the book I remembered the main characters first name.

The way this book was written made it difficult for me to read it - in several ways. the language is very colloquial and i (who‘s not an english native but understands english fine enough and reads mostly english books) didn‘t understand some of the stuff that was going on, except by reading between the lies and guessing what the author meant.

The sentences are really short, short sentence follows on short sentence, follows on another short sentence. I know this from American stories and it can sometimes be funny. I remember that in the first third of the book I did find it funny in places but later on I was just like gurlll… pls write normal, i beg you.
it‘s funny when it‘s done in the right places, you know. Not almost all throughout the book ugh.

These short sentences plus the ever present ironic or sarcastic remarks really made some points of the story rather ridiculous. Sometimes in a good way, most times in a bad way, unfortunately.
The conflicts also often felt quite ridiculous. Sometimes the plot even feels ridiculous. For example when a bomb of literal shit explodes. Might work in some stories but in this one I just thought…bro why.

Oh and in the very end it turns out somebody might literally be a Muse, daughter of Zeus???? like, how random???? idk idkkkk what??
to be fair, it was a thought the main character had and she was a bit funky in the head at that moment but it was neither completely confirmed nor denied…

I‘m a little disappointed because I had fairly high hopes. I might actually read book 2 in the future, because i‘m a little curious on what they‘ll see next but if I don‘t read on it won‘t be a loss either.

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eloise__'s review

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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ylba's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I hated it. Hated how they handled abuse. The main character is bland and shit.

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bebidocrimes's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

With such an incredible set up for time travelling historians, you'd think they would think a bit further out than Europe/Mediterranean. Sure, a good chunk was in dinosaur times, but even history mentioned in passing was limited. Despite that, this was a really fun read! Super fast, fun characters, and some surprisingly realistic heavy moments. Gotta say, I liked the romance because it made sense that those characters were good for one another, BUT (present) time passed so quickly it felt super rushed. Like, yeah they'd get there eventually, but it feels a bit soon, what do you mean it's been 5 years? I'd kill for more focus on the Wardrobe department and the Research & Development team (those mad scientists are gay, change my mind). I couldn't stand that all the women had negative attributes to them (she's a bitch, she's not friendly, she's stuck up), and most of them got better developed throughout, but would it kill the author to give Max some female friends? Or at least give her and Kal more on screen friendship development. Overall, ups and downs for this whole book, but it was exciting and I own the next 3 so I'm sticking around.

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drakonreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked the style of writing, it was whimsical and funny at times but there is a lot of gruesome moments (but you tend to get that will battles). It was relatively fast paced.

Still on the other hand, there were minor things that really annoyed me:
1) "History" seemed to be discussed like an entity for some reason like a few times. It's not. It's the best reconstruction of the past we got but it's not "fate" or something, it's just the culmination of humankind's goals waring with each other. Also "prehistory" is it's own thing (stuff before the pre-invention of writing). Eventually she did use the phrase "time continuum" (p. 272) but like the 3 (?) times she addressed "History" as some kind of entity grated on me. It may be because

the Kleio thing that might be expanded in later books

but still what average historian talks about history that way?

2) sources. It gets better, but initial stuff just wouldn't fly with historians. Where you getting you're sources? Who would pay for that? They might as well believe they made it up on the spot or paid a fiction writer. It does get elaborated later on but for the majority of the book I didn't really see how their work was applicable since it's basically unusable to historians because who is going to buy the 'time traveler' as a valid way that the information was acquired? Beyond the person who hires them, the information is useless. At best they could try using it for further experimental archeology but otherwise no historian would be able to cite this stuff.

Beyond that the book was great. I liked it. Definitely a lot of adventures, a little something for everyone.

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is no less enjoyable upon reading it for a second time... though I really, really must move forward in the series. The first time I read this, it made me laugh out loud, which was exceedingly awkward on a cruise ship full of refined patrons. The second time, it still made me laugh out loud, because I'd legit sit just long enough that I'd forgotten some of the funny bits.

It's a quick-paced book, but I think that is to its benefit. There are some high highs and some low lows and it makes you run the entire gamut of emotions for Max. I maintain that St. Mary's is exactly the sort of career I would like. And that this book is just fun enough to be an absolute joy and a comfort read for me. I still wholeheartedly recommend it, and honestly, I may just go order A Symphony of Echoes because zany time travel is exactly my cup of tea.

__________

Original Review: 5 Stars (April 26th, 2018)

St. Mary’s is a historical research facility attached to Thurst college. It’s a small institution, remaining under the radar. The application process is quite rigorous. The training doubly so. These historians aren’t studying archaeological evidence. At least, not in the traditional way. St. Mary’s is in possession of six time machines, and it is the job of the historians to go back in time and observe history, then report their findings back to Thurst in the form of extraordinary presentations supported with technical evidence.

History occasionally disapproves of this process, of course, and there is the odd casualty.

Erm. Okay, the very common fatality. But the historians know what they’re getting into from day one.

This novel absolutely captured my imagination. There’s not many people captivated by history, but those of us who are, are very passionate. Max is a new trainee with St. Mary’s, but she is by no means a green student. She has a doctorate in history with a focus in Ancient Cultures (have I mentioned I love Max? I love Max.) She is a bit of a loner, but not a Rebel Without A Cause. She gets in so many scrapes and tumbles throughout the novel that I spent a lot of time in high angst, scratching my head and wondering how the bloody hell she was going to get out of this one. She’s smart, but horribly unlucky. She trusts too easily and acts a bit rashly.

Have I mentioned the dinosaurs? There are dinosaurs in this book. I won’t discuss that more, because I was *delighted* when I discovered there would be dinosaurs and I don’t want to give too much away. Think all the best of Michael Crichton’s imagination with the charm and spark of a witty British heroine.

One of Jodi Taylor’s strengths is that she follows through on her choices. As a writer, I appreciate the fine line between dictating the direction of your story letting the pieces fall in place. As I listened to this audiobook (small aside, excellent narration on this one), I felt like Max kept leading the story herself and I would imagine Miss Taylor in front of her computer downing glass after glass of robust red wine and violently cursing her headstrong characters as she struggled to make them follow her outline. I *adore* books like that. You feel an internal struggle, and since this book has comedic elements, it was perfect.

Along with that, the writing was shocking and funny. There were moments of great stress, but there were also moments that made me laugh out loud. Which wasn’t awkward at *all* on a bus filled with edgy Americans en route to Paris.... I loved it, even if I felt a bit foolish.

Just One Damned Thing After Another falls within the range of New Adult. Max is just post-doctorate, but the tone is light (a la Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams) and doesn’t feel properly like an adult book. It has a few mature themes - there’s a brief, tasteful sex scene - but nothing too gruesome or graphic for the YA audience.

For what it’s worth, I loved this book. I’m so glad there’s 8 more in the series so far (not including short stories). Also, I’d like to be Max when I grow up. That is all.

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