I like books with time travel so I picked up this newer book from the library. It starts off by showing what the main character’s life is like – very modern, and apparently very boring (according to her, I guess). Once the background information is set, the time travel begins and for the most part I enjoyed the mechanism and the “rules” that must be followed.
The book worked well as a fun thought experiment, and a cautionary tale to remind you to be sure to enjoy the here and now – there is no guarantee it’ll be any better in the future (and from a health standpoint, it is almost guaranteed that it’ll be worse).
Where this book missed for me was the loads and loads of pinpoint nostalgia and cultural references, mainly for a teenage girl in the 90’s growing up in New York City. There is a certain amount you’d add to build the world, but this felt like it was a memory download from the author more than anything that helped move along the story.
The main character bugged me a little – she seems to take time travel as not a really big deal. Without knowing the rules she goes off to take an SAT prep course. A little introspection and curiosity would have been more normal, wouldn’t it?
The story was a little predictable, and I was hoping that the author would be a little more imaginative with the possibilities here – dream bigger!
So in conclusion, nice ideas, odd situations but no real risks or threats, and a sort of harmless predictable resolution. I was a little disappointed.
Next I’m reading something completely different – John Scalzi’s Kaiju Preservation Society.
