A review by lisa_pizza
TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow

1.0

One. Big. Cock tease. The whole "time police" concept is very nice, but this book executed it so poorly. The author spent so much time explaining what was going on during the different shifts in the world that he didn't do enough actual world building. I still have no idea where the timeriders come from, how they came to be, or what happened to the team before this one. I still have no idea who Sal is. I still have no idea what happened with Waldstein to make him want to ban time travel. Maybe these questions are answered in the later books, but this author failed to get me hooked so I don't care to find out. There are a few illogical situations that irk me, too.

Spoiler

Why would Liam be a member of the Titanic crew if he was so afraid of drowning? Why would Foster and Maddie work so hard to get Liam and Bob back to their destroyed timeline? Couldn't Liam and Bob pass along the info of where Kramer first arrived in Germany in that guest book and then Maddie could go back to fix time and worry about Liam and Bob after time shifts and power has been restored?

I hate, HATE, that the time bubble is set in Brooklyn on 9/10 and 9/11. That's very gimmicky. I only really cared about Liam and Bob's characters. They seemed to grow and build a relationship. The others I have no idea who they are and don't care.

Spoiler

Sal getting snatched by the "Gollums" would've been more emotional had I built any attachment at all, but I didn't because I know nothing about her.

This should've been just a book about Bob. He really did everything. Truly a disappointing book.