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lukerik's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
At least it’s short. Obviously written at great speed and without much care. I’m sure he was making a lot of it up as he went along so it’s not so much a plot as a series of events, not all of which make sense. And what is the book about? Particularly galling is just how many good ideas there are wasted here.
I suspect that Beacon Books gave Farmer the title and the cover art and told him to write something quickly that matched. That would explain the odd opening scene which doesn’t really match the rest of the novel, but which is what’s depicted on the cover. It’s not how Moth & Rust opened. I suppose he picked out an earlier piece of work to expand/rework so he didn’t have to do all the writing in a week. The title still makes absolutely no sense though which is why it was changed to Timestop in later printings.
I suspect that Beacon Books gave Farmer the title and the cover art and told him to write something quickly that matched. That would explain the odd opening scene which doesn’t really match the rest of the novel, but which is what’s depicted on the cover. It’s not how Moth & Rust opened. I suppose he picked out an earlier piece of work to expand/rework so he didn’t have to do all the writing in a week. The title still makes absolutely no sense though which is why it was changed to Timestop in later printings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Colonisation, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, and Murder
lordofthemoon's review
2.0
Dr Leif Barker, undercover agent for the Cold War Corps of the state of March, is given orders to cremate a woman immediately without any examination. This piques his curiosity and he discovers organs that leads him to suspect the woman as an extra-terrestrial.
I mostly enjoyed this book, with interesting world-building (existing states and power structures were wiped away when the vast majority of the world's population is destroyed by a genetically engineered virus) and society but the main problem for me came in the first chapter, where the protagonist rapes a woman. This is explained away by the fact that she was an enemy agent who was sent to seduce him, but it still reads uncomfortably and throws a pall on the rest of the book, throughout which Barker is portrayed fairly sympathetically. Probably not one that I'll go back to.
I mostly enjoyed this book, with interesting world-building (existing states and power structures were wiped away when the vast majority of the world's population is destroyed by a genetically engineered virus) and society but the main problem for me came in the first chapter, where the protagonist rapes a woman. This is explained away by the fact that she was an enemy agent who was sent to seduce him, but it still reads uncomfortably and throws a pall on the rest of the book, throughout which Barker is portrayed fairly sympathetically. Probably not one that I'll go back to.
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