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A review by tobin_elliott
The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
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
4.0
This is a tough one for me. I've read (I think) damn near everything Fracassi's written, and, with only one exception, not just liked it all, but absolutely loved it all.
I've had a few online conversations with him, and I've even been lucky enough to have met the author, and he's simply a wonderful guy. Hell, he was even nice enough to give some weird author publishing his first in a series novella an incredible blurb. THAT'S the kind of guy Fracassi is.
So, I don't ever want to slag his work.
And I'm not slagging this one, for the most part, I actually really enjoyed it. It's a well-realized world that Fracassi's created, and he's simply a master at building characters that the reader can not just identify with, but could see themselves hanging out with. He very much does that here, building the family at the same time he's building the concept of time travel.
I felt it did get into the weeds a bit with the entire explanation of how the time travel apparatus functioned and what the traveler experienced, but I also believe that was to set up the ending, which makes sense.
And, while his three rules of time travel will never replace Asimov's three laws of robotics, they are well thought out.
I have to say, I truly appreciated the subtlety that Fracassi employed as the story progressed. I feel like most authors would have kind of done a literary stab of the finger and say, "LOOK! SEE? See what I did there?" where Fracassi just lightly dropped things in...if you notice, you notice, if you don't, oh well. I really appreciated that. I don't see enough of that. Fracassi wields a scalpel where many wield a hammer.
However, the issue I have is more the ending. I won't get into spoilers, instead I'll just say that it kind of felt as though all the parameters that had been built up in the first three-quarters of the book were sort of...brushed aside to allow the ending that, I have to say, I saw coming from a mile off.
I guess I'm more used to some of Fracassi's other endings in other stories that maintained the logic of the story while still hitting the reader with a surprise they didn't see coming.
I'm a sucker for time travel stories. I adore them. But, while this one is good, it wasn't quite as satisfying as I'd hoped.
Still, for all that, a near-miss by Fracassi is still, by far, better than most author's best efforts. I've always said this author's one to watch, and I still firmly believe that.
I've had a few online conversations with him, and I've even been lucky enough to have met the author, and he's simply a wonderful guy. Hell, he was even nice enough to give some weird author publishing his first in a series novella an incredible blurb. THAT'S the kind of guy Fracassi is.
So, I don't ever want to slag his work.
And I'm not slagging this one, for the most part, I actually really enjoyed it. It's a well-realized world that Fracassi's created, and he's simply a master at building characters that the reader can not just identify with, but could see themselves hanging out with. He very much does that here, building the family at the same time he's building the concept of time travel.
I felt it did get into the weeds a bit with the entire explanation of how the time travel apparatus functioned and what the traveler experienced, but I also believe that was to set up the ending, which makes sense.
And, while his three rules of time travel will never replace Asimov's three laws of robotics, they are well thought out.
I have to say, I truly appreciated the subtlety that Fracassi employed as the story progressed. I feel like most authors would have kind of done a literary stab of the finger and say, "LOOK! SEE? See what I did there?" where Fracassi just lightly dropped things in...if you notice, you notice, if you don't, oh well. I really appreciated that. I don't see enough of that. Fracassi wields a scalpel where many wield a hammer.
However, the issue I have is more the ending. I won't get into spoilers, instead I'll just say that it kind of felt as though all the parameters that had been built up in the first three-quarters of the book were sort of...brushed aside to allow the ending that, I have to say, I saw coming from a mile off.
I guess I'm more used to some of Fracassi's other endings in other stories that maintained the logic of the story while still hitting the reader with a surprise they didn't see coming.
I'm a sucker for time travel stories. I adore them. But, while this one is good, it wasn't quite as satisfying as I'd hoped.
Still, for all that, a near-miss by Fracassi is still, by far, better than most author's best efforts. I've always said this author's one to watch, and I still firmly believe that.