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ponch22's review against another edition
4.0
***DISCLAIMER - I'm one of [a:DL Orton|13506103|D.L. Orton|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1427753745p2/13506103.jpg]'s proofreaders, so I received a (free) pre-publication e-copy of this novel to proof. However, I am also buying the e-book just to see how it changes (if at all) and to check out if the chapters still have those little drawings like the first book had***
Was excited at the end of [b:Crossing in Time|24934981|Crossing in Time (Between Two Evils, #1)|D.L. Orton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1423942336s/24934981.jpg|44980455] to see how our heroes—Isabel, Diego, & Matt—would fare when the time machine malfunctioned and Diego was sent who knows when but Tego was in the past with young Iz (possibly being helped by an older Diego). Unfortunately, when you write a series of books about time travelers and the end of the world and parallel universes, you can't exactly follow every single thread—there are just too many balls in the air.
[b:Lost Time|30119294|Lost Time (Between Two Evils, #2)|D.L. Orton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1462488827s/30119294.jpg|50544780] follows Diego as he travels to another world/another time and Earth Prime (the one we spent most of CiT in) is all but forgotten. Diego is on another Earth some twenty years into the future—a world ravaged by the Doomsday Plague he was supposed to prevent (if the time machine hadn't sent him to the wrong place and time). Most of the world's population has perished, with only a small fraction living among dozens of biodomes built around the globe.
Orton keeps the same writing pattern she built in CiT—alternating narrators chapter by chapter. But since we don't have Isabel and Matt to guide us any more, we're introduced to Lani & Shannon who each take every third chapter or so. (Small world alarm—Lani is actually a character we met in the first few chapters of CiT & Shannon, her daughter)
Shannon & Lani live in the Bub—a biodome in Colorado that's kept a few dozen (or hundred?) people alive for the twenty years since Doomsday mutated and nearly destroyed humanity. Lani is the de facto doctor who patches up Diego (whom many call "Mystery Man" due to his sudden (naked!) appearance Outside where the virus exists and no one survives) & Shannon is attempting to solve their bulky biosuit dilemma by finding a more streamlined method to travel Outside (and not die).
There are a few chapters where Diego keeps the truth of his situation a secret, trying to figure out where/when he his. Eventually Lani & Diego open up to one another, sharing all (most?) of their dark secrets. Diego mourns for his Isabel, but without an Einstein Sphere or Magic Kingdom, his chances of ever seeing her again are practically zero—so a romance develops between the two. But not until after 17-year-old Shannon puts the moves on Diego (after all, somebody's got to try to repopulate the world, and since Shannon was the one who first found Mystery Man outside, she's basically got dibs).
Orton has scaled back a bit on the "adult" writing that seemed to come out of left field in the last quarter of CiT, but there is still some passion here and there. Whether it's young, immature Shannon talking about Diego's "boy parts" or some magazine's "hunks in the buff" or Diego worrying about his little "Gus" and the "tent" Gus sometimes makes when he gets excited, there's some writing that's a little NSFW. And yet—I don't know exactly how to put this—a lot of the innuendo seems almost PG-13. I don't know—I haven't read much erotica/Harlequin/risqué material but sometimes it just felt a little awkward—like maybe Orton wants to write more of those scenes, but is holding back?
The book is probably about half as long as CiT (25 chapters vs 50+) and I imagine it could work as a standalone novel. It's hard for me to say that with certainty having read both in the series, but I feel like this story works well on its own (although it is definitely enriched by knowing what's come before it). My main complaint (and reason for 4* instead of 5*) is that as a standalone novel it doesn't do very well standing alone. It's very reliant on Book 3 in the series as it basically ends with a cliffhanger.
There is a nice preview of Book 3 (yet to be named in my pre-proofreading copy) to give you some insight into what happens, but still. It may be unfair, but I like to compare books in series to Harry Potter—there was definitely a 7-book arc that [a:JK Rowling|1077326|J.K. Rowling|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1415945171p2/1077326.jpg] had in mind and told over the entire series, but each individual book had its own smaller arc with a nice beginning, middle, and end. [b:Lost Time|30119294|Lost Time (Between Two Evils, #2)|D.L. Orton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1462488827s/30119294.jpg|50544780] sort of lacks an Act Three, as it were; there's definitely a nice introduction with some set up and just enough exposition; there's some good obstacles and mini climaxes and even a twist or two; but the second to last chapter has a huge crisis/disaster/climax and there's no real resolution or denouement.
Now, maybe that's smart writing for an indie writer trying to break out. I know I'll be waiting for Book 3 to come out (even if she doesn't rehire me as a proofreader) to find out more about what happened! But it still feels like, by itself, I can't give this book 5*.
Also, for spending a good 3/4 of the book inside the Bub, I couldn't name you more than 2 or 3 other characters within the biodome. I like the world & history Orton is creating (I hope she has the entire series outlined out and this isn't like Lost where there's no known ending yet) but I feel there's definitely a lack of in-world building here. It may have been mentioned, but I couldn't tell you if the Bub held a few dozen or a few hundred people because we only interacted with 4 of them regularly (Diego, Lani, Shannon, and a pilot, Madders) with about 3 other side characters who occasionally popped up. For such a tiny place, I would have expected many more people trying to get to know this Mystery Man, but he never really met anyone else.
But still, I mostly enjoyed the story, the world, & the new characters we did meet; I didn't love the cliffhanger ending, and there is a twist hinted at (revealed?) in Chapter 16 (and discussed more in Chapter 19—no spoilers here) that felt a little too gimmicky—like a twist for twist's sake. Another big twist (one I called back around Chapter 7) that doesn't actually get revealed until the Book 3 preview chapter—that one felt more believable.
The book reminded me of [b:The Walking Dead|6465707|The Walking Dead, Compendium 1|Robert Kirkman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1449865699s/6465707.jpg|6656179] meets [b:Under the Dome|6320534|Under the Dome|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1268982908s/6320534.jpg|6760952] (without the deep cast of characters) meets [b:The Andromeda Strain|7670|The Andromeda Strain|Michael Crichton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388889327s/7670.jpg|997271] meets [b:Lolita|7604|Lolita|Vladimir Nabokov|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1377756377s/7604.jpg|1268631] (due to flirtatious Shannon).
Was excited at the end of [b:Crossing in Time|24934981|Crossing in Time (Between Two Evils, #1)|D.L. Orton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1423942336s/24934981.jpg|44980455] to see how our heroes—Isabel, Diego, & Matt—would fare when the time machine malfunctioned and Diego was sent who knows when but Tego was in the past with young Iz (possibly being helped by an older Diego). Unfortunately, when you write a series of books about time travelers and the end of the world and parallel universes, you can't exactly follow every single thread—there are just too many balls in the air.
[b:Lost Time|30119294|Lost Time (Between Two Evils, #2)|D.L. Orton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1462488827s/30119294.jpg|50544780] follows Diego as he travels to another world/another time and Earth Prime (the one we spent most of CiT in) is all but forgotten. Diego is on another Earth some twenty years into the future—a world ravaged by the Doomsday Plague he was supposed to prevent (if the time machine hadn't sent him to the wrong place and time). Most of the world's population has perished, with only a small fraction living among dozens of biodomes built around the globe.
Orton keeps the same writing pattern she built in CiT—alternating narrators chapter by chapter. But since we don't have Isabel and Matt to guide us any more, we're introduced to Lani & Shannon who each take every third chapter or so. (Small world alarm—Lani is actually a character we met in the first few chapters of CiT & Shannon, her daughter)
Shannon & Lani live in the Bub—a biodome in Colorado that's kept a few dozen (or hundred?) people alive for the twenty years since Doomsday mutated and nearly destroyed humanity. Lani is the de facto doctor who patches up Diego (whom many call "Mystery Man" due to his sudden (naked!) appearance Outside where the virus exists and no one survives) & Shannon is attempting to solve their bulky biosuit dilemma by finding a more streamlined method to travel Outside (and not die).
There are a few chapters where Diego keeps the truth of his situation a secret, trying to figure out where/when he his. Eventually Lani & Diego open up to one another, sharing all (most?) of their dark secrets. Diego mourns for his Isabel, but without an Einstein Sphere or Magic Kingdom, his chances of ever seeing her again are practically zero—so a romance develops between the two. But not until after 17-year-old Shannon puts the moves on Diego (after all, somebody's got to try to repopulate the world, and since Shannon was the one who first found Mystery Man outside, she's basically got dibs).
Orton has scaled back a bit on the "adult" writing that seemed to come out of left field in the last quarter of CiT, but there is still some passion here and there. Whether it's young, immature Shannon talking about Diego's "boy parts" or some magazine's "hunks in the buff" or Diego worrying about his little "Gus" and the "tent" Gus sometimes makes when he gets excited, there's some writing that's a little NSFW. And yet—I don't know exactly how to put this—a lot of the innuendo seems almost PG-13. I don't know—I haven't read much erotica/Harlequin/risqué material but sometimes it just felt a little awkward—like maybe Orton wants to write more of those scenes, but is holding back?
The book is probably about half as long as CiT (25 chapters vs 50+) and I imagine it could work as a standalone novel. It's hard for me to say that with certainty having read both in the series, but I feel like this story works well on its own (although it is definitely enriched by knowing what's come before it). My main complaint (and reason for 4* instead of 5*) is that as a standalone novel it doesn't do very well standing alone. It's very reliant on Book 3 in the series as it basically ends with a cliffhanger.
There is a nice preview of Book 3 (yet to be named in my pre-proofreading copy) to give you some insight into what happens, but still. It may be unfair, but I like to compare books in series to Harry Potter—there was definitely a 7-book arc that [a:JK Rowling|1077326|J.K. Rowling|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1415945171p2/1077326.jpg] had in mind and told over the entire series, but each individual book had its own smaller arc with a nice beginning, middle, and end. [b:Lost Time|30119294|Lost Time (Between Two Evils, #2)|D.L. Orton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1462488827s/30119294.jpg|50544780] sort of lacks an Act Three, as it were; there's definitely a nice introduction with some set up and just enough exposition; there's some good obstacles and mini climaxes and even a twist or two; but the second to last chapter has a huge crisis/disaster/climax and there's no real resolution or denouement.
Now, maybe that's smart writing for an indie writer trying to break out. I know I'll be waiting for Book 3 to come out (even if she doesn't rehire me as a proofreader) to find out more about what happened! But it still feels like, by itself, I can't give this book 5*.
Also, for spending a good 3/4 of the book inside the Bub, I couldn't name you more than 2 or 3 other characters within the biodome. I like the world & history Orton is creating (I hope she has the entire series outlined out and this isn't like Lost where there's no known ending yet) but I feel there's definitely a lack of in-world building here. It may have been mentioned, but I couldn't tell you if the Bub held a few dozen or a few hundred people because we only interacted with 4 of them regularly (Diego, Lani, Shannon, and a pilot, Madders) with about 3 other side characters who occasionally popped up. For such a tiny place, I would have expected many more people trying to get to know this Mystery Man, but he never really met anyone else.
But still, I mostly enjoyed the story, the world, & the new characters we did meet; I didn't love the cliffhanger ending, and there is a twist hinted at (revealed?) in Chapter 16 (and discussed more in Chapter 19—no spoilers here) that felt a little too gimmicky—like a twist for twist's sake. Another big twist (one I called back around Chapter 7) that doesn't actually get revealed until the Book 3 preview chapter—that one felt more believable.
The book reminded me of [b:The Walking Dead|6465707|The Walking Dead, Compendium 1|Robert Kirkman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1449865699s/6465707.jpg|6656179] meets [b:Under the Dome|6320534|Under the Dome|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1268982908s/6320534.jpg|6760952] (without the deep cast of characters) meets [b:The Andromeda Strain|7670|The Andromeda Strain|Michael Crichton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388889327s/7670.jpg|997271] meets [b:Lolita|7604|Lolita|Vladimir Nabokov|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1377756377s/7604.jpg|1268631] (due to flirtatious Shannon).
bananatricky's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book, totally different to the first book, but loved it nonetheless.
This will contain spoilers for the first book if you haven't read it.
In the first book
In this second book we see what happened when Diego leaves the time machine. He has been sent over 20 years into the future in an alternate reality. Rescued from the toxic outside air by a young girl, he is brought into a bio-dome and healed by a doctor called Lani. As we read on, similar to the situations that befell Isabel when she went back in time, Diego finds out that things are subtly different in this universe. Several of the characters we knew in the first book reappear in this book but they have slightly different names/nicknames for example, in the first book when Isabel meets Diego in the alternate universe he is known as Tego by his friends and family. Diego is a miracle man on this world because he can live outside without breathing apparatus whereas the remaining humans on earth would die almost instantly. Could his blood form a vaccine to enable humanity to live outside the bio-domes?
First off, let me say, there is no other time travel in this book. This isn't like [b:Just One Damned Thing After Another|29661618|Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St Mary's, #1)|Jodi Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459230212s/29661618.jpg|25626746] where the scientists and historians make several jumps around time. Diego is stuck 20 years in the future in an alternate reality which did not build a time machine, desperately trying to find out if Isabel is alive.
This book reminded me (and I don't know why) of some of [a:Robert A. Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg] shorter stories and books. Maybe it's the living in a bio-dome, trying to repair old and failing equipment. Maybe it's the religious fundamentalists. Maybe it's Shannon, the young girl who rescued Diego, who reminds me of some of Heinlein's wide-eyed and naive heroes and heroines. I don't know, but it's not a bad thing to be reminded of.
So, if the first book was comprised of two halves: part one being the backstory to creating the time-machine and how the world ended; and part two being Isabel's trip back in time to meet Tego, this book is firmly all about Diego's trip to the future.
I am waiting with baited breath for the third book - so much is up in the air and I worry what will happen to them in the interim ...
I received a free copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.
This will contain spoilers for the first book if you haven't read it.
In the first book
Spoiler
we see how the world descended into a nightmare post-apocalypse as a result of pandemic Ebola and a 'cure' which just accelerated the problems told by Isabel and Diego, two lovers who reunite after many years just as events start to unfold. In that book Diego receives a number of cryptic messages from an unknown source which seem to be linked to a metallic sphere which has appeared from somewhere other than earth. Decrypting the contents of the sphere leads to a group of scientists in an underground government facility building a time-machine which allows them to travel to alternate versions of their universe. The scientists hypothesise that a small change in one of these other universes might avert the apocalypse by changing the past. However, when they try to send Diego back to change his history with Isabel he is accidentally sent to an unknown destination. At the end of the book we see Isabel successfully sent back in time to an alternate reality where she meets Diego as a young man, before he ever meets the Isabel in his reality and tries to teach him how to woo her other self.In this second book we see what happened when Diego leaves the time machine. He has been sent over 20 years into the future in an alternate reality. Rescued from the toxic outside air by a young girl, he is brought into a bio-dome and healed by a doctor called Lani. As we read on, similar to the situations that befell Isabel when she went back in time, Diego finds out that things are subtly different in this universe. Several of the characters we knew in the first book reappear in this book but they have slightly different names/nicknames for example, in the first book when Isabel meets Diego in the alternate universe he is known as Tego by his friends and family. Diego is a miracle man on this world because he can live outside without breathing apparatus whereas the remaining humans on earth would die almost instantly. Could his blood form a vaccine to enable humanity to live outside the bio-domes?
First off, let me say, there is no other time travel in this book. This isn't like [b:Just One Damned Thing After Another|29661618|Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St Mary's, #1)|Jodi Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459230212s/29661618.jpg|25626746] where the scientists and historians make several jumps around time. Diego is stuck 20 years in the future in an alternate reality which did not build a time machine, desperately trying to find out if Isabel is alive
Spoiler
, I have my suspicions that Isabel is very much alive in this world and that we have seen herThis book reminded me (and I don't know why) of some of [a:Robert A. Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg] shorter stories and books. Maybe it's the living in a bio-dome, trying to repair old and failing equipment. Maybe it's the religious fundamentalists. Maybe it's Shannon, the young girl who rescued Diego, who reminds me of some of Heinlein's wide-eyed and naive heroes and heroines. I don't know, but it's not a bad thing to be reminded of.
So, if the first book was comprised of two halves: part one being the backstory to creating the time-machine and how the world ended; and part two being Isabel's trip back in time to meet Tego, this book is firmly all about Diego's trip to the future.
I am waiting with baited breath for the third book - so much is up in the air and I worry what will happen to them in the interim ...
I received a free copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.
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