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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I loved sharing this with my husband. One of my favorite series.
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
This book was super fun. Great for fans of Thursday Next and The Doomsday Book.
Trama/Plot ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Personaggi/Characters ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stile/Style ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Un libro del tutto inaspettato: dal titolo e dalla copertina mi aspettavo un romanzo leggero, quasi una lettura da ombrellone, invece mi sono trovata tra le mani un romanzo che riesce a mixare thriller, fantascienza, romanzo storico e anche un pò di ironico chick lit. Troppi generi diversi? Può darsi, ma sono mixati talmente bene che non vedo l'ora di leggere il secondo capitolo di quella che ho scoperto essere una saga piuttosto lunga.
***
A totally unexpected book: judging by the italian title and the cover, I was expecting a nice novel, almost a summer reading, instead I discovered a novel that manages to mix thriller, science fiction, historical novel and even a bit of ironic chick lit . Too many different genres? Maybe, but they are mixed so well that I can't wait to read the second chapter of what I found to be quite a long saga.
Personaggi/Characters ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stile/Style ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Un libro del tutto inaspettato: dal titolo e dalla copertina mi aspettavo un romanzo leggero, quasi una lettura da ombrellone, invece mi sono trovata tra le mani un romanzo che riesce a mixare thriller, fantascienza, romanzo storico e anche un pò di ironico chick lit. Troppi generi diversi? Può darsi, ma sono mixati talmente bene che non vedo l'ora di leggere il secondo capitolo di quella che ho scoperto essere una saga piuttosto lunga.
***
A totally unexpected book: judging by the italian title and the cover, I was expecting a nice novel, almost a summer reading, instead I discovered a novel that manages to mix thriller, science fiction, historical novel and even a bit of ironic chick lit . Too many different genres? Maybe, but they are mixed so well that I can't wait to read the second chapter of what I found to be quite a long saga.
adventurous
mysterious
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5 stars
The premise is fantastic, especially for a historian. Who wouldn’t want to visit the past instead of just study it?
However the story is just really what the title indicates: one damned thing happening after each other. Too much for me, it makes the story lack in depth.
The premise is fantastic, especially for a historian. Who wouldn’t want to visit the past instead of just study it?
However the story is just really what the title indicates: one damned thing happening after each other. Too much for me, it makes the story lack in depth.
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Sigh. I was sooo ready to love this book. A heroine who is a historian (I have a degree in history), time travel, British humor, a "madcap" series? Doesn't that sound like fun?
Looking back, it's probably the word "madcap" that should have warned me. A truly madcap book does not need to advertise the fact. And I wouldn't call this madcap as much as disjointed and divorced from making sense. I don't know the history of this book, but it really reads like something that was a serial and then put into one novel. The characters act differently from chapter to chapter, motivations change, and the whole attitude towards time travel never stays the same. And finally, there's not much time travel in (at least the first half, where I stopped reading) this time travel book.
Most of the first half is a training montage. I'm as likely as the next person to enjoy a feisty red-headed heroine, but Max became annoying quickly. She's recruited for a top-secret facility and she acts bored most of the time. She either aces all of her tests or cheats on them. We're told that at least one of her group of six historians will wash out because of the rigorous training, but she doesn't take her physical training seriously. As a historian who may have to run away, live off the land, or defend her life if things go wrong, you'd think she'd care! Plus, she's arrogant. During her final tests, she says "archery was a doddle" and similarly waves off the difficulty of any of her other tests. That archery phrase sticks in my mind, but she's similarly contemptuous of all her exams, except for the one where she's supposed to be dropped off in the wilderness and make her way back. That one, she just cheats at because she can't be bothered. Wouldn't you want to make sure you could do something like that before you are SENT BACK IN TIME?? Of course, that test turns out to be a cleverly concealed exam in how well all the students could cheat because all of them did and it turned out to be the point of the whole exercise. If you knew you could wash out at any time, would you really be that cavalier about something you wanted?
Okay, I've ranted about that enough. Next: the time travel rules are totally inconsistent. At first, the very act of observing something shady was potentially enough to have "history" try to kill Max and her supervisor. Next, though, she's sent back to WWI and acts as a nurse saving lives. If history corrects for interference (as stated) wouldn't saving lots of lives fall under that category? No? Okay then.
Next, historians get sent back to observe dinosaurs. Why historians? They then have to learn geology, botany, zoology, ecology and astronomy. Why not get experts in these fields instead?
This whole thing feels a lot like that "Primeval" BBC series. Only a TV series can get away with nonsense if it has fast pacing. It's a lot harder to do that in a novel, and in my opinion the author does NOT succeed. After all the hype I've read about it, this book is even more disappointing. If you like insufferably arrogant characters and inconsistency in your books, go right ahead with it, but it was NOT FOR ME.
Looking back, it's probably the word "madcap" that should have warned me. A truly madcap book does not need to advertise the fact. And I wouldn't call this madcap as much as disjointed and divorced from making sense. I don't know the history of this book, but it really reads like something that was a serial and then put into one novel. The characters act differently from chapter to chapter, motivations change, and the whole attitude towards time travel never stays the same. And finally, there's not much time travel in (at least the first half, where I stopped reading) this time travel book.
Most of the first half is a training montage. I'm as likely as the next person to enjoy a feisty red-headed heroine, but Max became annoying quickly. She's recruited for a top-secret facility and she acts bored most of the time. She either aces all of her tests or cheats on them. We're told that at least one of her group of six historians will wash out because of the rigorous training, but she doesn't take her physical training seriously. As a historian who may have to run away, live off the land, or defend her life if things go wrong, you'd think she'd care! Plus, she's arrogant. During her final tests, she says "archery was a doddle" and similarly waves off the difficulty of any of her other tests. That archery phrase sticks in my mind, but she's similarly contemptuous of all her exams, except for the one where she's supposed to be dropped off in the wilderness and make her way back. That one, she just cheats at because she can't be bothered. Wouldn't you want to make sure you could do something like that before you are SENT BACK IN TIME?? Of course, that test turns out to be a cleverly concealed exam in how well all the students could cheat because all of them did and it turned out to be the point of the whole exercise. If you knew you could wash out at any time, would you really be that cavalier about something you wanted?
Okay, I've ranted about that enough. Next: the time travel rules are totally inconsistent. At first, the very act of observing something shady was potentially enough to have "history" try to kill Max and her supervisor. Next, though, she's sent back to WWI and acts as a nurse saving lives. If history corrects for interference (as stated) wouldn't saving lots of lives fall under that category? No? Okay then.
Next, historians get sent back to observe dinosaurs. Why historians? They then have to learn geology, botany, zoology, ecology and astronomy. Why not get experts in these fields instead?
This whole thing feels a lot like that "Primeval" BBC series. Only a TV series can get away with nonsense if it has fast pacing. It's a lot harder to do that in a novel, and in my opinion the author does NOT succeed. After all the hype I've read about it, this book is even more disappointing. If you like insufferably arrogant characters and inconsistency in your books, go right ahead with it, but it was NOT FOR ME.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It tried to be a fun read, quite breezy with a somewhat likable protagonist. However, the writing broke down in a few key ways. First, the large cast of characters were hard to keep straight as there wasn’t much ink spared on secondary and tertiary characters. Frankly, the primary characters were fairly flat as well, and almost all of them had actions or reactions that were completely baffling.
Second, the story’s timeline was completely screwy, and not in a Things Are Crazy Because This Is A Novel About Time Travel kind of way. There’s a part about midway or so through where the main character notes that five years had passed since the beginning of the story, and I would have guessed based on context clues that it had only been about a year. This happened repeatedly and took me out of the story every time.
Disjointed and perplexing, I probably won’t be reading more in the series.
Second, the story’s timeline was completely screwy, and not in a Things Are Crazy Because This Is A Novel About Time Travel kind of way. There’s a part about midway or so through where the main character notes that five years had passed since the beginning of the story, and I would have guessed based on context clues that it had only been about a year. This happened repeatedly and took me out of the story every time.
Disjointed and perplexing, I probably won’t be reading more in the series.