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adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Cannibalism
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm sorry, but this book tries so many genres, from romance to comedy to sci-fi to spy thiller, that it ended up overall being a mess. The prose felt off, with many metaphors/similes that just didn't make sense that got in the way of the actual narrative.
I was also bored throughout most of this, in a way that I feel that the book was falsely advertised. There's very little sci-fi to be seen in this with little regard to how the time travel works in this world, I didn't find it humorous enough to be considered comedic, the spy elements felt tacked on last minute and the romance simply did nothing for me.
I kinda wish that this book could have just focused more on the characters that are out of time. My favourite parts of the book were Graham, Arthur and Maggie hanging out and experiencing the 21st century together(I would also be totally down for reading a book solely focused on Maggie, love the idea of a lesbian from the 17th century being able to exist as herself in modern times).
I also found the narrator to be rather dislikable and I was rather irritated with how obtuse and manipulative she was to other characters and how she really doesn't experience much growth or consequences for her actions(and don't get me started on Adela being her from the future, that raises so many plot holes I don't want to spend time covering)
I did find the exploration of her hertitage of being British-Cambodian and the child of a refugee interesting, but with how much this book tried to cover I would have prefered to have a whole book to focus solely on that. Also I must say the way the narrator and the plot treat Simellia, the only black character in the book, felt really off to me both in how the narrator dismisses Simellia's challenges with racism as one of the only black employees at the ministry and especially how it turns outshe's the traitor who, to be honest, was right considering how in the future the narrator makes things so much worse globally but while the narrator gets off bascially scott free for her actions, Simellia will be killed if she appears in public again.
I especially wasn't fond of the romance between her and Graham Gore, there was a very apparent imbalance in the relationship where she felt rather controlling about him, almost trying to mold him into the type of person she would date that just put me off the idea of it. It made the ending whereGraham realises he's being manipulated and leaves her only then to send a note saying that he still loves her while she has basically learned nothing feel completely unearned.
There's also something about writing an explicit romance with an historical figure who died horribly that just gives me the ick. It comes off as in poor taste. I kept thinking throughout how I wish Graham could have been the main character instead, as the small chapters we see from his perspective are very introspective.
In all, this is a book that tries so many things and yet fails at being an engaging narrative.
I was also bored throughout most of this, in a way that I feel that the book was falsely advertised. There's very little sci-fi to be seen in this with little regard to how the time travel works in this world, I didn't find it humorous enough to be considered comedic, the spy elements felt tacked on last minute and the romance simply did nothing for me.
I kinda wish that this book could have just focused more on the characters that are out of time. My favourite parts of the book were Graham, Arthur and Maggie hanging out and experiencing the 21st century together(I would also be totally down for reading a book solely focused on Maggie, love the idea of a lesbian from the 17th century being able to exist as herself in modern times).
I also found the narrator to be rather dislikable and I was rather irritated with how obtuse and manipulative she was to other characters and how she really doesn't experience much growth or consequences for her actions
I did find the exploration of her hertitage of being British-Cambodian and the child of a refugee interesting, but with how much this book tried to cover I would have prefered to have a whole book to focus solely on that. Also I must say the way the narrator and the plot treat Simellia, the only black character in the book, felt really off to me both in how the narrator dismisses Simellia's challenges with racism as one of the only black employees at the ministry and especially how it turns out
I especially wasn't fond of the romance between her and Graham Gore, there was a very apparent imbalance in the relationship where she felt rather controlling about him, almost trying to mold him into the type of person she would date that just put me off the idea of it. It made the ending where
There's also something about writing an explicit romance with an historical figure who died horribly that just gives me the ick. It comes off as in poor taste. I kept thinking throughout how I wish Graham could have been the main character instead, as the small chapters we see from his perspective are very introspective.
In all, this is a book that tries so many things and yet fails at being an engaging narrative.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Murder, Lesbophobia
Minor: Genocide, Slavery, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Gaslighting
Moderate: Alcoholism
slow-paced
The relationship between the main character and Commander Gore was charming at the start, but grew weird by the end. I genuinely felt zero investment in the main character—her motivations were not made clear, she made terrible decisions (selfish or just straight up stupid) and overall played a very passive role in the story. We never found out her name, though I doubt that would matter—she wasn’t memorable.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Kidnapping
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Trafficking, Kidnapping
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The premise was interesting and I enjoyed the first half of the book, but kinda lost interest once the romance started, I found it cringe tbh for some reason
I will say that I didn't see that plot twist coming, but the ending was messy and it got annoying that the narrator was feeling sorry for herself for so long 🤷♀️
Also didn't care for the chapters about Gore, so ended up skipping them every time, sorry not sorry!
I will say that I didn't see that plot twist coming, but the ending was messy and it got annoying that the narrator was feeling sorry for herself for so long 🤷♀️
Also didn't care for the chapters about Gore, so ended up skipping them every time, sorry not sorry!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Deportation
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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:
Complicated
‘But I wrote it down because I need you to bear witness to it. He was here, by and with and in my body. He lives in me like trauma does. If you ever fall in love, you’ll be a person who was in love for the rest of your life.’
As a piece of RPF, incredible. As a piece of speculative lit fic radio 2 book club book, incredible. As a slightly mismatched layering of these two things on top of one another, a bit less enjoyable for me personally - but still a lot to love!
As a piece of RPF, incredible. As a piece of speculative lit fic radio 2 book club book, incredible. As a slightly mismatched layering of these two things on top of one another, a bit less enjoyable for me personally - but still a lot to love!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thought it was unique and really grabbed me, after I got to the halfway mark i really couldn't put it down. I've heard some valid criticism for it, but being the authors first full length, I have high hopes for her future works. Loved!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
crazy i’m saying this about a book im giving a 4-star review but. i’m really surprised i didn’t like this more. i am super surprised it wasn’t a knockout for me. i think this won book of 2024 at my local bookstore. so tbf i had insanely high expectations. and most were delivered on!
i’ve gotta say the highlight(s) of this book are the expats. holy shit gore. i love gore. not only is he funny, but he is rugged and, get this, funny. he earns double funny because i love him. he is my pookie. so what he’s like 300 years older than me????? and margaret. oh my god pookie pie. someone bring this baddie to 2025 PLEASE LET ME LEZ OUT WITH HER!!!!! . the other expats were alright i guess… arthur had a small role but was still baby girl, and other than those three i didn’t care about any other expat. sue me. sorry i love gore and margaret too much to allow any other room in my heart.
the writing style of this book is fucking delectable. magnificent. beautiful. i truly cannot describe just how good this book is written linguistic-wise unless you’ve picked up this book. i don’t know what enamoured me but god damn did i love it!!!!
now on to what i didn’t really live laugh love…. the plot. now i don’t know what i was expecting after reading the blurb of this, but it certainly wasn’t what i read. ok sure yes i knew at some point MC and gore would be dating the blurb literally tells you that. but idk i expected more scifi!!!! this is tagged first and foremost scifi and there’s barely any. most of the focus is on the romance.
which is ok like i said gore can get it. but mannnn don’t mislead me!!! i was hoping for some more interesting things related to the time travelling! and ok yes i get the in-text reason is that MC isn’t a scientist and doesn’t understand the technical aspects but like!!!! your mc doesn’t have to get it!!!! you just have to have other characters be annoying about the physics and then have mc be lost in the convo or something like that. i mean at the very least the concepts related to their time travelling e.g. can they appear on CCTV, what happens if they catch a sickness from the modern world. like those parts were great!!!! the story just needed more of them. and not only more moments, but a better pacing with the actual plot. up until 60% of this book it fully felt like i was just reading a slice-of-live novel with hints of Something going on. and then all the action is crammed into the last 15% of the book and im annoyed because it seemed interesting!!! but it wasn’t given enough time to develop, so instead i had explanations of what was going on in the background whilst the mc was being a horndog thrown at me and then wow ok its over. like what were we doing the rest of the time????? not only was the plot non-existent, but the pacing of when The Plot was actually introduced was so random. i can imagine if someone is not able to simp over gore or project onto the mc they would hate this because nothing happens except “gore finds out about something that has happened after the 1850s and so he has to be given an explanation on it” but like. repeated 70 times. it’s cute ill admit, but without anything other than the romance or the comedy tying me to the story, i was left slightly disappointed. slightly.
because look, i had a good time. i had fun. i was invested. kind of. really i was only invested in the romance if im honest. but i think this concept has such potential!!!!! i just think the scifi aspect of this book was a letdown & the pacing of the main plot felt erratic.
in other news i wanted to let you all know even though gore is depicted as a young guy i could not stop picturing him as charles from the walking dead s1 game. was very jarring to my stubborn brain every time his Not Grey Hair was described.
that is all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia
Minor: Racial slurs, Slavery, Vomit