Published in 2007, this book was written by an established science fiction author who happens to be a previous winner of the Nebula Award.
Matt Fuller the lead character is a research assistant at MIT in the U.S. , when he accidentally creates a time machine. Upon realisation, accompanied by a turtle he sets off for the future and doesn’t get very far…to begin with.
Joe doesn’t write a book that tries to tie you in knots dealing with the principle of time travel, instead he keeps the story flowing, you stay firmly fixed to the motivations of the character and his journey across thousands of years.
I would by lying if I didn’t write I was disappointed in some aspects of the book and more than a few things didn’t seem to tie together. However it would appear trivial and missing the point. Missing the opportunity to see Joe’s vision for possible futures in his characters world.
From a strongly religious society dealing with poverty, to a rich society where humans seem to have lost their way, living meaningless lives and being reliant on super computers to cope. Indeed one of these entities, representing the region of LA (U.S.), becomes an important character in the story. Plus other eras and characters, though some all but brief appearances. A counter argument could be, well it is a time travel story!
There was a love story of sorts, but that aspect of the story I found lacking, which was a great petty. The relationship with his mother was another aspect of the story unexplored fully, playing only a minor role.
Not the greatest time travel book to be written, yet undoubtedly a good science fiction story that had me hooked from beginning to end. This book ended too suddenly for me though, with eras and aspects of the story unexplored to reach the conclusion.
It’s not a short story with 270+ pages, I read the book over a couple of days. This time travel journey was over too quickly, but was worth the trip and even though I found fault, it was a good read.
ISBN: 978-0-441-01499-6
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