paperback, 368 pages
Published Oct. 6, 2020 by Tor Books.
I really enjoyed this story about time travelers racing to prevent the timeline from being edited to eradicate women’s rights. It felt relevant somehow. Can’t put my finger on it.
Aside from the obvious analogy for where we are, I had a hard time putting this down. It was so much fun. I want more.
3.75 - a quarter more for literary quality, a quarter less for actual enjoyment.
This was quite a disturbing read - not so much because of the murders, but for the almost familiar arguments the Comstockers use to convince women in the beginning. Things get a little less believable over the course of the book, but then we're seeing some extreme time-line manipulation at work.
Among the novel's strengths are the depiction of the geological time machines. I've rarely seens such an evocative method of time travel, down to the rhythmic rock tapping. It's sad that the actual mechanics seem a little muddled - though notably less than in some other TT plots. Still, I wasn't sure how the taking along people seemed to work sometimes and sometimes it didn't.
The 19th century collective action plot amongst the exotic dancers of the Chicago World's Fair was also very well written, …
3.75 - a quarter more for literary quality, a quarter less for actual enjoyment.
This was quite a disturbing read - not so much because of the murders, but for the almost familiar arguments the Comstockers use to convince women in the beginning. Things get a little less believable over the course of the book, but then we're seeing some extreme time-line manipulation at work.
Among the novel's strengths are the depiction of the geological time machines. I've rarely seens such an evocative method of time travel, down to the rhythmic rock tapping. It's sad that the actual mechanics seem a little muddled - though notably less than in some other TT plots. Still, I wasn't sure how the taking along people seemed to work sometimes and sometimes it didn't.
The 19th century collective action plot amongst the exotic dancers of the Chicago World's Fair was also very well written, interesting and enlightening. I also really liked the split storyline with the younger self, which was still hauntingly disturbing, but not quite as much as the "I don't remember a timeline where abortion was legal" of the main plot.
All in all, I enjoyed it in the end. Be warned that there are some pretty harsh plot twists in there. I hated some of those in other authors' work, but Annalee Newitz manages to tread the very fine line between horror and disgust without crossing it. Some people won't like the authors' more extreme historical divergences (like early votes for women catapulting Harriet Tubman to the Senate), but I agree with them - it all has to be seen on the background of timeline manipulations and there were already factors and movements in place that had a small chance to make early women's suffrage possible.
As a parting shot: The book acts as a very nice rebuttal to the Great Men school of historical thought.
This gets only 4 stars from me only because it was incredibly painful to read some of the time. (All the trigger warnings.) It was extremely well written, but... yeah... some of it was just hard to get through. Several parts filled me with dread, and the book actually sat on my “in progress” shelf far longer than is usual for me. This is the same reason I don’t read that much of Margaret Atwood’s work. And I would qualify this as similarly important feminist science fiction.
I really appreciated the historical context at the end.
TL;DR: Super good. Painful.
Couldn't get enough of this book. This was SO good!!
I loved the sci-fi concept that made this universe unique, relative to ours. I loved the conflict around that universe. I loved the characters and their story. The whole book felt beautifully connected.
It has a lot in it that's dark and disturbing, but the story is also uplifting.
Fascinating and engaging time travel love story and thriller.
