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Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Death, Slavery, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Additionally, the writing was a challenge in more place than one - there were some forced metaphors and the writing isn't super accessible, even to those who are used to reading fantasy and sci-fi. The aggressive use of SAT style words led to overcomplicated and flowery prose that convoluted the meaning. The author was trying so hard to write a beautiful book that sometimes it was an incomprehensible book.
Now that we got the bad out of the way with - the back half of the book was what really had me stopping in awe more than once. There's a lot of set up, but if you can deal with the writing, the pay off is certainly worth it. I was impressed by the unique spin on the time travel trope - its done with a lot of precision and expertise, and the twists that you're treated to in the last 50 pages are really stunning and well done.
Our narrator and protagonist, the daughter of Cambodian immigrants, inadvertently finds herself working for a British spy agency that has embarked on a secret project to bring a collection of individuals from the past into modern-day Britain. She is assigned as a "bridge" - essentially a companion and cultural encyclopedia - to one of the time travelers. She must quickly confront a whole host of cultural complexities (gender, race, colonialism, romance, technology...) alongside the man she is tasked with protecting and defending. It made for a fascinating and sometimes complicated read, but when I think back over this book one thing that stands out to me is that I've never read anything like it and I doubt I ever will again!
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Genocide, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, War
Minor: Sexual harassment
I loved the writing, the story, the characters, the mystery, the clash of people from other times being thrust, unknowing, into the 21st C. I’ve always been interested in the Franklin Expedition - all those men starved and / or froze to death and most disappeared forever without ever achieving their goal. I found having a member of the Expedition as a main character to be irresistible. I wanted more and more of his interactions with the narrator, his “bridge” to the 21st C.
I found it intriguing that we never learned the name of the narrator. We know so much else about her, her thoughts, her feelings, her hopes, her fears, but not her name. Why is that kept from us? She’s hired for the job because of her status as a “refugee” - and the people who come through the time machine are refugees from the past - but she never thinks of herself that way and doesn’t see the two situations related at all.
The thing with time travel is that current actions can change the future. The narrator’s timeline is changed at the end. What does that say for her future?
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cannibalism
Minor: Death of parent
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War
Minor: Vomit, Cannibalism
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation
Minor: Animal death, Genocide, Gore, War
Moderate: Death, Racism, Grief, Colonisation
Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Alcohol