Thursday, October 17, 2019

“The Future of Another Timeline”


“The Future of Another Timeline”
Written by Annalee Newitz
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. In this time-traveling, revenge-fueled story, we see two main characters, Beth and Tess. Their choices impact the past, present, and future. This story is an alternate history fiction, which utilizes time machines as the catalyst for all historical changes, wars, and disasters.

Beth’s storyline is not based in time travel. We meet her as a teen. After spending a night getting drunk and enjoying herself at a music fest, she and her friends kill a friend after he rapes their best friend. Beth and her friends begin a dark descent into avenging women and murdering those who hurt them.

Tess is a time-traveling scientist. She travels back to many different eras, those of which look very different to the world of which we readers are familiar. Tess and friends are attempting to stop a group of terrorists and rebels, before they have the chance to rise up and become too powerful.

In a sense, both characters are attempting to protect. Both characters are entangled together in this science fiction tale. We are not quite sure why until we have two separate twists, finally revealing the connection between the two.

Due to my interest in alternate history, I certainly enjoyed the changes and events. It was interesting to learn that Harriet Tubman later became a senator and had a group of feminists called the Daughters of Harriet, dedicating to spreading her messages. Times that were inhabited by cave people are recalled up, but time machines had existed there. The late 18th century has been populated by time travelers, who have made the era more advanced and civilized. Lastly, the author has taken quite a few real people and adapted them into this story.

I think this was an entertaining read during the action and murder scenes. I felt very bored during scenes in which we received pounds and pounds of information. At times, I felt tired of Tess’s storyline of traveling to different places. To be honest, this felt like “The Magic Treehouse” but darker and less exciting.

I can acknowledge the time and effort that the author placed into this book. I feel the political undertones were a little too overt. I also felt that the two different lead characters could have had more characteristics. We saw a lot of what they did, but we did not really see it through their eyes. I recommend this book to those who like alternate history and time travel. This reminded me of a female version of a Blake Crouch novel. I do not plan to continue reading from this author.

I received a complimentary finished edition of this novel to read and review. Thank you to Tor Publishing.

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