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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
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
adventurous
informative
inspiring
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:
Yes
I absolutely fell in love with the opening of this; four female scientists cracking the code to time-travel was such an exciting premise. I loved the four young women and their different jobs and I just thought it was quite cool.
It was a bit disappointing that the book was set years after that and the time-travel murder mystery was a bit convoluted, but I enjoyed the world-building with multiple selves across years and tax-evading time-travelers. I just think Kate overcomplicated the story too much and the conclusion didn't hold much tension.
It was a bit disappointing that the book was set years after that and the time-travel murder mystery was a bit convoluted, but I enjoyed the world-building with multiple selves across years and tax-evading time-travelers. I just think Kate overcomplicated the story too much and the conclusion didn't hold much tension.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
An entertaining read and interesting take on time travel
I really enjoyed this book. It want your standard time travel tale and the mystery kept me guessing till the end.
I really enjoyed this book. It want your standard time travel tale and the mystery kept me guessing till the end.
actual rating: 2.5
I liked the idea of a world where time travel was invented by four women, and I do appreciate any sci-fi books like this with a largely female cast, but I just could not get into this one. There were a LOT of characters here and unfortunately most of them were not necessarily singular enough that I could remember who was who, which is definitely not a good thing when one of the plot involves solving a murder mystery.
I liked the idea of exploring how time traveling would effect someone's mental well-being, but also like ...they just went about everything in the WORST possible way so it's almost like 'well of COURSE you're all going to have mental breakdowns'. I guess the point of the time travel agency in this book is to collect data and clues on crimes so that they can be prosecuted, but I honestly remain unconvinced that this is better than the normal way.
The time travelers seem to spend the majority of their time crossing their own timelines ad-infinitum and and bringing random stuff like candy back or forward in time to sell. So like I said, no wonder these people are so messed up since they spend all their time finding out about their own futures and then just doing that same thing because 'it's already happened'. There was some good stuff in here and it's obvious that the author thought a lot about how everything would work, but I just couldn't get into it.
I liked the idea of a world where time travel was invented by four women, and I do appreciate any sci-fi books like this with a largely female cast, but I just could not get into this one. There were a LOT of characters here and unfortunately most of them were not necessarily singular enough that I could remember who was who, which is definitely not a good thing when one of the plot involves solving a murder mystery.
I liked the idea of exploring how time traveling would effect someone's mental well-being, but also like ...they just went about everything in the WORST possible way so it's almost like 'well of COURSE you're all going to have mental breakdowns'. I guess the point of the time travel agency in this book is to collect data and clues on crimes so that they can be prosecuted, but I honestly remain unconvinced that this is better than the normal way.
The time travelers seem to spend the majority of their time crossing their own timelines ad-infinitum and and bringing random stuff like candy back or forward in time to sell. So like I said, no wonder these people are so messed up since they spend all their time finding out about their own futures and then just doing that same thing because 'it's already happened'. There was some good stuff in here and it's obvious that the author thought a lot about how everything would work, but I just couldn't get into it.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
A tad weird for me, jumped around too much! The premise was interesting but not well executed!
adventurous
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Closer to 4.5 stars.
This was super fun! A bit mind-bending, since it jumped back and forth and all over the place so much, but it surprisingly wasn't too hard to keep track of things as it was very well laid out. I love how all the main characters were women and there were only a few men present in the book, and only existed in relation to the women. It flipped the trend of male-dominated sci-fi with women only in the peripheral on its head, so I really appreciated that.
The only thing that bugged me about this was actually how dialogue was written. The author would have two characters conversing, but would put character 2's answer in the same paragraph as character 1's question. It made it difficult to tell who was speaking, and I had to reread some exchanges because I lost track of who said what.
Otherwise, this was a delightful book. It wasn't super mind-blowing or amazing, but it kept me entertained and I never got bored or felt like it was tedious, which is a feat w/ my current reading habits.
This was super fun! A bit mind-bending, since it jumped back and forth and all over the place so much, but it surprisingly wasn't too hard to keep track of things as it was very well laid out. I love how all the main characters were women and there were only a few men present in the book, and only existed in relation to the women. It flipped the trend of male-dominated sci-fi with women only in the peripheral on its head, so I really appreciated that.
The only thing that bugged me about this was actually how dialogue was written. The author would have two characters conversing, but would put character 2's answer in the same paragraph as character 1's question. It made it difficult to tell who was speaking, and I had to reread some exchanges because I lost track of who said what.
Otherwise, this was a delightful book. It wasn't super mind-blowing or amazing, but it kept me entertained and I never got bored or felt like it was tedious, which is a feat w/ my current reading habits.
This was such a wonderful surprise of a book and I loved the heck out of it.
A time travel mystery already sounds fun but I found so much more to appreciate and enjoy. This book delivers exactly what it promises in its title and gets into what it could actually be like to travel in time. Not the lighthearted Doctor Who “Everything is fantastic, let’s have adventures!” approach, but instead considering how it would affect your mindset and how it might not always be pretty. What would you say to your older or younger self? What if you already knew everything about your last moment? Would grief be necessary if you could go back and visit a loved one as often as you wanted? How would you approach any of your relationships, for that matter?
I don’t want to spoil anything but will say that mental health is woven throughout the story in ways that makes the characters (despite their lives as time travelers) feel relatable. One aspect in particular stood out to me: Since the story is centered around an act of violence, the book takes the opportunity to explore trauma in a very immediate but sensitive manner. I learned a lot from those scenes.
For me, the joys of the book included:
- The puzzle box nature of the story, with the plot unfolding from multiple perspectives and timelines
- Seeing the concept of time travel depicted as innovated by women and its development as a female-dominated profession, all presented in a welcome matter-of-fact fashion
- An interesting and well-realized cast of characters, all of them enjoyable to read (even the not-so-nice ones)
- The skillfully-crafted (and fascinating!) time travel culture, including jargon, the evolved nature of personal relationships, financial management, artistic expression, communications, and even an independent legal system
Each chapter begins by naming a different character in a different time. The writing is so warm and engaging that I had no trouble following the overall story, but it still felt a little challenging to make sure I was keeping track of the actual chronology of events.
I listened to this as an audiobook (the version narrated by Ellie Heydon) and was seriously impressed by her performance. She had a major challenge to bring so many characters to life and delivered a very convincing range of voices and regional accents. A pleasure to listen to.
Did I mention I loved this book?
A time travel mystery already sounds fun but I found so much more to appreciate and enjoy. This book delivers exactly what it promises in its title and gets into what it could actually be like to travel in time. Not the lighthearted Doctor Who “Everything is fantastic, let’s have adventures!” approach, but instead considering how it would affect your mindset and how it might not always be pretty. What would you say to your older or younger self? What if you already knew everything about your last moment? Would grief be necessary if you could go back and visit a loved one as often as you wanted? How would you approach any of your relationships, for that matter?
I don’t want to spoil anything but will say that mental health is woven throughout the story in ways that makes the characters (despite their lives as time travelers) feel relatable. One aspect in particular stood out to me: Since the story is centered around an act of violence, the book takes the opportunity to explore trauma in a very immediate but sensitive manner. I learned a lot from those scenes.
For me, the joys of the book included:
- The puzzle box nature of the story, with the plot unfolding from multiple perspectives and timelines
- Seeing the concept of time travel depicted as innovated by women and its development as a female-dominated profession, all presented in a welcome matter-of-fact fashion
- An interesting and well-realized cast of characters, all of them enjoyable to read (even the not-so-nice ones)
- The skillfully-crafted (and fascinating!) time travel culture, including jargon, the evolved nature of personal relationships, financial management, artistic expression, communications, and even an independent legal system
Each chapter begins by naming a different character in a different time. The writing is so warm and engaging that I had no trouble following the overall story, but it still felt a little challenging to make sure I was keeping track of the actual chronology of events.
I listened to this as an audiobook (the version narrated by Ellie Heydon) and was seriously impressed by her performance. She had a major challenge to bring so many characters to life and delivered a very convincing range of voices and regional accents. A pleasure to listen to.
Did I mention I loved this book?