Unhappenings

Fun convoluted time-travel romp. It just about hangs together, though didn't, for me, quite live up to its early promise. A few niggles (an unconvincing romance for one, a rather too insular plot, lots of people not telling what they know until the plot dictates the protagonist should know (though they kinda get away with that one)) but offset by some enjoyable allusions to the Trojan War. The mechanics of time-travel - reminiscent of The Lathe of Heaven - were rather too anthropocentric to really convince, but still interesting and fun.

So this is a fairly unique take on the whole time travel genre. And for that reason alone it deserves some credit. It also tries to take time travel and its consequences somewhat seriously. But also like many time travel novels, it can drive one crazy trying to determine whether it is logically consistent and paradox free or at least paradoxes are all accounted for, and ultimately if you are me, you give up and just go by feel. And if feels pretty good. Worth the read.

This is a tough book to review. Partially because of how hard the book was to follow at first. I love time travel books so I thought this was right up my alley. Unfortunately, I think it may be my lowest rated time travel book. The book almost read like a diary. The MC told about his experiences throughout his life and all the UnHappenings. There are very few actual conversations in the book and they are pretty short. It is hard to like the character because all you know about him is his whining about things changing constantly and his selfishness. It was slightly more interesting toward the end of the book when his nemesis and the reasons for all of the constant changes in his life are revealed. This just wasn't my type of time travel show more book, I guess. It was a cool concept but the execution was lacking for me. show less

An exciting time travel

I gave the book 3 stars instead of 4 due to the fact that this genre is not one I love. Don't get me wrong I liked the book, following the main character though different periods of his life and remembering which one of him is narrating became a bit confusing for me. I usually read books that do not require so much thought and attention (I read a lot during the night b/c I do not sleep well so I probably didn't give enough attention to this read).

Anyone who enjoys time travel especially with twists and turns will thorough enjoy this book. It is very well written and edited.

I loved this book. The plot was relatively straight-forward, but (as always) the details and machinations are what made the story so much fun. I only had one issue with the logic: With all of the focus that Nigel had on Carlton, he never noticed the discrepancy with his birth year?

Looking forward to more from this author.

Audiobook notes: no complaints, nicely done

Interesting conceit, but I wish every chapter wouldn't end with an abrupt, unclear sentence. It works, but not 130 times.

an outstanding story, very well done. Think you've heard all the different time-travel theories and paradoxes??? Think again.

I'm looking forward to the sequel, and I'm going to go look for any other books by this author.