I
admit that I find time travel stories hard to resist in general, but
often find them predictable- that was not the case in Mike Chen's Here and Now and Then. The adventure follows Kin Stewart, an agent for the
Temporal Corruption Bureau in 2142. However, when a mission goes wrong
and Kin gets stranded in the 1990s he begins to live his life as a man
out of time. When 2142 comes back for him, however, Kin has to figure out
how, or even if, he can save both parts of himself.
I absolutely
loved the idea of this novel and it did not disappoint. Chen's
characters held my attention from the beginning and I found myself
constantly torn between how I wanted everything resolved. The beauty of
the story is that, generally, all of the characters are making the best
choices they can with the options available to them and I found myself
rooting for every one of them! I think this is the rare science fiction
book that would appeal to non-sci-fi fans as well since it doesn't get too
bogged down in the intricacies of time travel or science. It's really
about the people and how the effects of time travel impact them and
their lives. I did have some issues with the relationships which is why
the story didn't get 5 stars. There's a lot of manipulation that I
didn't appreciate and even if it's theoretically justifiable, a lot of
it made me furious in the moment, so keep that in mind. BUT the
characters are fictional and not aspirational so I put it aside &
enjoyed the adventure. Other fans of time travel books are likely to feel the
same way but if manipulative relationships are a trigger for you, you may not.
I also realized that I have several other books by Mike Chen already in my to-be-read pile and I hadn't connected them all until I looked at his author page, so I am very eager to read those as well now. Clearly, he's an author whose ideas I find appealing.
No comments:
Post a Comment