Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
A great time travel plot, with great varied feamle protagonists, with intrigue and unique concepts.
Here, one can meet oneself in various ages, they can have a party filled with younger and older selves, it seems nothing can be a time travel paradox here.
Here, one can meet oneself in various ages, they can have a party filled with younger and older selves, it seems nothing can be a time travel paradox here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
Rounded up from 3.5 stars due to the unique combination of elements. I've always loved time travel stories - I really enjoyed that this one included aspects of psychology, a mystery (who is the victim AND the perpetrator?), as well as the "regular" thought experiments of what happens when people travel forward and backward through time. I did find it a bit messy to navigate through; I plan to start at the beginning and see if that helps clarify some of the early aspects.
Four women invented time travel in 1967. Three went on to become rich and famous. One went on to have a breakdown and be cut off from her friends. The Psychology of Time Travel is clearly science fiction, but it’s also a murder mystery and even more about women and their relationships.
I’m in general not a big time travel fan. It can so easily turn wonky. Here time travel is treated almost cavalierly. It was invented and people exploit it. Time travelers themselves regularly get together with their “green selves” and “silver selves,” sometimes having over a dozen of themselves in the same place at the same time. It does allow for some interesting interactions and to see how time travel affects individuals. Because that’s what the book is about, how time travel affects people, mentally and emotionally, not about how it works or how it affects cultures or politics.
The murder mystery bit was interesting. It’s a locked room mystery essentially but time travel devices mean it takes some digging to figure out what really happened and why. But if you’re coming at this one solely as a mystery lover, it’s not worth your time.
Almost all of the characters are women, but there are a lot of them. Mothers and daughters, friends and lovers, it can get a bit confusing. And with the sheer number of characters, some don’t get as much attention as they deserve. I did enjoy seeing how they each got along, how their relationships changed over and through time, how past actions continue to echo.
Overall, The Psychology of Time Travel was a good read. Yes, it requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, but I enjoyed it.
I’m in general not a big time travel fan. It can so easily turn wonky. Here time travel is treated almost cavalierly. It was invented and people exploit it. Time travelers themselves regularly get together with their “green selves” and “silver selves,” sometimes having over a dozen of themselves in the same place at the same time. It does allow for some interesting interactions and to see how time travel affects individuals. Because that’s what the book is about, how time travel affects people, mentally and emotionally, not about how it works or how it affects cultures or politics.
The murder mystery bit was interesting. It’s a locked room mystery essentially but time travel devices mean it takes some digging to figure out what really happened and why. But if you’re coming at this one solely as a mystery lover, it’s not worth your time.
Almost all of the characters are women, but there are a lot of them. Mothers and daughters, friends and lovers, it can get a bit confusing. And with the sheer number of characters, some don’t get as much attention as they deserve. I did enjoy seeing how they each got along, how their relationships changed over and through time, how past actions continue to echo.
Overall, The Psychology of Time Travel was a good read. Yes, it requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, but I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed that this book was so women centric, especially when they are all different types of scientists and high profile professions. The idea of time travel both excites me and frightens me, so it kept me on my toes. I really loved that at the heart it was a murder mystery book.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
This was such a fun quick read, the blurb compared it to The Power which I completely disagree with. There was no overt consideration of gender, just every character-and there were like 20 characters- happened to be a woman. If you like time travel I would definitely recommend this, if you get a headache thinking about, absolutely skip this one. Every chapter takes place in a different time with a different character from the last.
The future is the past. The past is the future. It's all one big headache.
This story is chaotic and confusing. But it held my interest which is something in this time. For that I gave it four stars. I would take away half a star for the horrible editing or proof reading or whatever should have been done that wasn't to make sure quotations and quotation marks were in the places they belonged.
This story is chaotic and confusing. But it held my interest which is something in this time. For that I gave it four stars. I would take away half a star for the horrible editing or proof reading or whatever should have been done that wasn't to make sure quotations and quotation marks were in the places they belonged.
This book had my interest on the premise alone, enough to give it a shot - but I didn't expect it to be such an enjoyable ride.
Usually when fiction tackles time travel concepts you get glaring paradoxes, intentional blurring of details or overdone tropes but this book actually pulled it off well. Rather than focusing on the usual quandaries faced by time travelling instead we had a plethora of content I'd never even considered before!
From the humble beginnings of the four 'pioneers' in the '60s (which most books would have kept focus on) we jump forwards to the modern era and have what happened between was filled in through very natural exposition and character discovery. The result is a rich and vast world I wanted to know more and more about. What a fantastic concept to show modern day Britain with a history knocked off course by the creation of the conclave and decades of shared knowledge.
I was repeatedly impressed by the level of detail that Mascarenhas took things to (the time travel terminology/slang definitely being one of them!) and the areas she covered.
Over the course of reading this book I found myself bringing up the book in conversation at work and home. I couldn't help but talk about it. It was also at this point, in describing the book, that I suddenly realised there were no male characters of note in the book at all. This absolutely took nothing away from the story. The women in this story were fully formed and real enough to be flawed. Such a refreshing experience in sci-fi! I was pleasantly surprised by the romantic sub-plot between two women as well. This was such a natural progression of the story, with no fan-fare or overdue focus - it was just right and wonderfully depicted.
The themes covered by the book are equal parts beautiful and painful - just like life itself. What an incredible debut novel from a voice I am keen to hear more from.
----
Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for an ARC of this book in in exchange for an honest review
Usually when fiction tackles time travel concepts you get glaring paradoxes, intentional blurring of details or overdone tropes but this book actually pulled it off well. Rather than focusing on the usual quandaries faced by time travelling instead we had a plethora of content I'd never even considered before!
From the humble beginnings of the four 'pioneers' in the '60s (which most books would have kept focus on) we jump forwards to the modern era and have what happened between was filled in through very natural exposition and character discovery. The result is a rich and vast world I wanted to know more and more about. What a fantastic concept to show modern day Britain with a history knocked off course by the creation of the conclave and decades of shared knowledge.
I was repeatedly impressed by the level of detail that Mascarenhas took things to (the time travel terminology/slang definitely being one of them!) and the areas she covered.
Over the course of reading this book I found myself bringing up the book in conversation at work and home. I couldn't help but talk about it. It was also at this point, in describing the book, that I suddenly realised there were no male characters of note in the book at all. This absolutely took nothing away from the story. The women in this story were fully formed and real enough to be flawed. Such a refreshing experience in sci-fi! I was pleasantly surprised by the romantic sub-plot between two women as well. This was such a natural progression of the story, with no fan-fare or overdue focus - it was just right and wonderfully depicted.
The themes covered by the book are equal parts beautiful and painful - just like life itself. What an incredible debut novel from a voice I am keen to hear more from.
----
Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for an ARC of this book in in exchange for an honest review
A book I picked up from the library on a whim when I was browsing "what is available now" for audio books. What a pleasant surprise! A group of 4 women in the late 1960's discover time travel....but what happens next is not about the science or even the profitability of time travel, but how it impacts people. How it shapes who you are, who you become, and who you were.
The characters are engaging, the science is accessible, and the underlying "who was found murdered and why" storyline that ties it all together is intriguing and keeps you reading (listening) until the very end.
I spent all day listening to this book as I ran errands, cleaned house, etc.
The characters are engaging, the science is accessible, and the underlying "who was found murdered and why" storyline that ties it all together is intriguing and keeps you reading (listening) until the very end.
I spent all day listening to this book as I ran errands, cleaned house, etc.