Reviews

Time Was by Ian McDonald

lucardus's review

3.0

Kurze Novelle, am besten dann zu lesen, wenn man nichts darüber gehört oder gelesen hat. McDonald kann hier allerdings nicht zu seiner Hochform auflaufen, die er in seinen längeren Werken fast ausnahmslos erreicht. Trotzdem sehr lesenswert, ich bin streng mit den drei Sternen.

cj13's review

emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

trin's review

1.0

What I thought I was getting: gay time travelers!

What I got: a story vaguely about gay time travelers, told almost entirely from the point of view of a deeply obnoxious heterosexual narrator who flirts by mansplaining; some slut shaming; Bury Your Gays.

Ugh. At least it was short.

erinastin's review

2.0

Ok, so basically like every other review has said, this book is not at all what the blurb says it is. Ian McDonald had the opportunity to write a fantastic, gay love story set in WWII and, instead, we get the perspective of a bland bookseller in the present day. I'm giving it an extra star because I really enjoyed Ian McDonald's writing and would be interested in reading more of his work, but the plot/story construction didn't do it for me.

fionamclary's review

hopeful relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I have to say I'm a little disappointed by this book given how high my expectations were. I disliked the use of first person for both perspectives; even though the tense change differentiated them, I was confused for the first third of the book. There were also sooo many typos including mixing up Tom and Ben's names. It also took me a bit to get into the story, which is a particularly unfortunate quality for a novella.

As for what I liked, the scifi aspect gets my physicist's stamp of approval for adapting real physics into a fictional framework. And the twist?? I probably should have seen it coming more clearly but I still got all wide-eyed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Dementia, and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual content

deebo0183's review

emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

_changingtime's review

3.0

Review available at http://bit.ly/2KuQFjm

lilyunterreiner's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I expected this to be a time traveler love story, but that disappointingly turned out to be mostly a sidenote. There were only two time travel dead drop notes in the whole book. It's mostly about the person who uncovers the mystery, and he was boring.

lvoetberg's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

hartyharrharr's review against another edition

fast-paced

2.0

I like the concept but could have seen better execution. There were several editing mistakes and points where it seemed like the author lost track of which character was speaking… out of two characters. Overall, a book that I was very excited to read based on the description, but found to be underwhelming in actuality.