A review by finlaaaay
Cryptozoic! by Brian W. Aldiss

1.0

An interesting idea, but I didn't really get what it meant when it said they hadn't really gone back in time, but it was more of a sort of astral projection. But they didn't seem to be leaving their bodies behind in the "present day".

Goes a bit batshit after the final reveal that humans up until the 22nd century have been living "backward" in time and they're actually on the brink of discovering this true fact about themselves. It's easy to read, and it'd be 3 or 4 stars, but I took off some stars for homophobia. There's nothing more offputting than getting about a quarter of the way through a book before finding the main character indignantly spitting that he's not one of them damn queers! or something like that. No thanks. I considered just dropping the book there and then. But I guess I was in a charitable mood. Some other commenters have mentioned the book's deplorable attitude to women - I think after I'd clocked the homophobia it didn't come as any surprise.