The story is entertaining, but the author didn't do the best job of telling it. Inconsequential events got grandiloquent detail while pivotal events could almost be overlooked. The ending was a little weak, but not dissatisfying.

There was an error on page 95 regarding the number of years into the future our traveler had gone. This caused me confusion until page 121 when the number of years was restated (although in different relation) and I realized that it was a mere mistake. For those 26 pages, I kept trying to figure out what I had missed somehow. ( )

an homage to The Time Machine, but much lighter in tone. it was an ok read, but nothing special. ( )

Joe Haldeman’s The Accidental Time Machine is kind of an updated version of H. G. Wells The Time Machine with plotting reminiscent of Poul Anderson’s Tau Zero. I generally liked it except for the deux ex machina ending which stole what little of the main character’s agency that existed. It’s a pretty good ride until the story gets there though. Pretty good plot, decent characters when they get the opportunity, but under the surface the book didn’t have a lot of depth to it for me. In other words, it’s nice science fiction brain candy.

Full review at my blog: http://reading.kingrat.biz/reviews/ac... ( )

"Grad-school dropout Matt Fuller is foiling as a lowly research assistant at MIT when, while measuring subtle quantum forces that relate to time changes in gravity and electromagnetic force, his calibrator disappears - and reappears, one second later. In fact, every time Matt hits the reset button, the machine goes missing twelve times longer." "After tinkering with the calibrator, Matt is convinced that what he has in his possession is a time machine. And by simply attaching a metal box to it, he learns to send things through time - including a pet-store turtle, which comes back no worse for wear." "With a dead-end job and a girlfriend who has left him for another man, Matt has nothing to lose by taking a time machine trip himself. So he borrows an old car, stocks it with food and water, and ends up in the near future - under arrest for the murder of the car's original owner, who dropped dead after seeing Matt disappear before his eyes. The only way to beat the rap is to keep time-traveling until he finds a place in time safe enough to stop for good. But such a place may not exist."--BOOK JACKET. ( )

Pretty bad book. ( )