Nathan Van Coops

This is a well-written speculative fantasy with a great premise, exciting action, detestable villains, and a variety of likeable characters. In particular, the author did a good job of creating an initially immature but sympathetic heroine who improves, physically and mentally, as the story progresses.

However, there were some things that didn't sit quite right with me and hindered my enjoyment to a certain extent. For example, and this is perhaps insignificant, but it bothered me when Val show more and Henry left Thea at the house. A slurring drunk 17-year-old being left with a group of men who'd been flocking around her in the pool, and Henry's blithe "she'll be all right" made me wince inwardly. I thought it a pity that Henry, a character aspiring to be a chivalrous Knight of the Round Table, didn’t take the opportunity here to show some concern for a young lady’s welfare. Later on, Val, apparently unironically, complains that Thea has abandoned her! These were the types of things that took me out of the story from time to time and left me chewing the cud. I’m also not sure I was totally onboard with the romance, and I don’t think Val turning 18 made it more palatable to me.

Still, I enjoyed so much about the book. Swords and war cars are a fun combination, and the demolition derby scenes were especially heart stopping. And, despite my criticisms, I'm invested in the characters and intend to read book 2. show less

I have a notebook that has been sitting in my dresser for the past 10 to 15 years that contains the plot to a time-travel movie. It describes having to touch objects to travel to its past/future using frequencies by using a watch like time travel device. So I have to conclude that Van Coops is me from the future.

But seriously, it's a fun time travel book that looks at all the problems that other stories in the genre gloss over. Things like, what if you jump to a time/location that is show more already occupied by something? What about all those paradoxes that you could create? Why are all time travelers good guys and not complete tools?

I recommend this book to anyone who likes the genre. Will be moving on to the next two books in the series. show less

I'm finally done with this series, and ... meh. This book wasn't as exciting as the second one. I liked how the author brought up some interesting ideas about AI rights that we as a society might have to face sooner than most people realize. But the whole idea of the Neverwhere was just a little too metaphysical / spiritual for me to really get behind. Perhaps if the book were about half the length I wouldn't have minded as much. As it is, I spent a bit too much time waiting for the book to end.

One of the best time travel stories I have read. Most time travel stories are concerned with paradoxes or the effect of changing the past. This story is more concerned with the mechanics of time travel. If it is possible to jump into the past or future how exactly does it work? How do you avoid fusing yourself with objects or people? What if there was an entire community of fellow travellers? The idea of “anchors” is novel and it takes patience to understand how they work. The author show more adds a psychotic killer to the plot to provide thrills. This makes it more than a workshop manual for time travellers. show less