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A review by librovermo
The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I loved Philip Fracassi’s unique take on time travel in this book. The concept alone gets the book 3 stars, I don’t care. I’ve always liked time travel stories and I think I’d take the chance to travel through time given the opportunity, but you’d never catch me using the machine Beth and her husband Colson created. That thing is genuinely scary.
This book definitely isn’t horror though - it’s a sci-fi/thriller, and since I’ve only read Fracassi’s Boys in the Valley (great book, A+) and he mostly writes horror, it was fun to read something of his from another genre. I think it’s a decent entry, and it’s obvious he did his research when it comes to the science which I appreciate, as it takes place in the near future so it would make less sense for everything to be made up.
The story was put together well for the most part, and I imagine that can be difficult when time travel is involved. The villain of the story was so evil he felt a bit like a cartoon and everything unfolded in a way that felt a little too cute but that can work for some people. There is one big plot point that really bothered me. There’s absolutely no way to explain it without big fat spoilers but it’s something I think was unnecessary, that didn’t need to be there at all and made me feel disappointed when it happened.
This was a super fast-paced and very quick read for me and I sincerely hope the big issue I had is just a me thing. I hope Fracassi has something else in mind for this genre in the future!
I received an ARC of The Third Rule of Time Travel from Orbit Books via Netgalley.
This book definitely isn’t horror though - it’s a sci-fi/thriller, and since I’ve only read Fracassi’s Boys in the Valley (great book, A+) and he mostly writes horror, it was fun to read something of his from another genre. I think it’s a decent entry, and it’s obvious he did his research when it comes to the science which I appreciate, as it takes place in the near future so it would make less sense for everything to be made up.
The story was put together well for the most part, and I imagine that can be difficult when time travel is involved. The villain of the story was so evil he felt a bit like a cartoon and everything unfolded in a way that felt a little too cute but that can work for some people. There is one big plot point that really bothered me. There’s absolutely no way to explain it without big fat spoilers but it’s something I think was unnecessary, that didn’t need to be there at all and made me feel disappointed when it happened.
This was a super fast-paced and very quick read for me and I sincerely hope the big issue I had is just a me thing. I hope Fracassi has something else in mind for this genre in the future!
I received an ARC of The Third Rule of Time Travel from Orbit Books via Netgalley.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death