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Downtime Shift
From her hiding place in Downtime, Evelyn Marcin risks her fugitive anonymity for a curious glimpse of the next shift.
What she witnesses sparks a chain of events and a journey that could decide humanity's fate.
Helped by mysterious allies she unpicks her old reality, uncovering the self-interested manipulations of her superiors - and the real origin and purpose of the echo loop.
Questioning their motives and beliefs though, she must also question her own.
Her place in history is unwanted, inescapable and inevitable - like the choice that has fallen to her.
What she witnesses sparks a chain of events and a journey that could decide humanity's fate.
Helped by mysterious allies she unpicks her old reality, uncovering the self-interested manipulations of her superiors - and the real origin and purpose of the echo loop.
Questioning their motives and beliefs though, she must also question her own.
Her place in history is unwanted, inescapable and inevitable - like the choice that has fallen to her.
- GenresScience Fiction
218 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 1, 2020
12 people are currently reading
458 people want to read
About the author
Robert Holding
2 books10 followersBritish author and indie publisher of DOWNTIME SHIFT and INFINITY SHIFT
Creator of SecCore, Shifty's, and the Infinity Corps.
Friend and ally of Evelyn Marcin... and Stan!
The next novel, TERMINUS SHIFT, is in its early creative stages.
Creator of SecCore, Shifty's, and the Infinity Corps.
Friend and ally of Evelyn Marcin... and Stan!
The next novel, TERMINUS SHIFT, is in its early creative stages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
January 25, 2021
Thanks to Booktasters and the author Robert Holding for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Well, this was a one-star book for me, not in the sense that I hated it and abhorred it completely, but rather, that in my subjective view, it was just not good. With some books, I might hate but at least it left an impression on me, this book was just bad. There was a severe lack of actual character work, the plot was boring and all over the place, and the writing was simply bad.
I’ll begin with the writing. Right from the get-go, there was an abundance of grammatical errors and it was clear that this book could have really done with a few more rounds of editing. I’m aware that this is an independently published book, so I understand that the editing may not be up to par. That being said, I have read other indie published books that were much better edited overall.
Alongside from the easily spotted spelling and grammatical mistakes, there were lots of sentences that just did not make sense. See, I generally don’t get care too much about an author’s prose at all, as long as it tells the story, and it flows well. As an example, many say that Brandon Sanderson’s prose is somewhat simple and I totally agree, but the prose is able to his stories well. There are also author’s that have more flowery writing like Rothfuss, whose books I’ve enjoyed. The prose is book though was just not very good. Sentences were clunky and made little sense, and it was just difficult to read as a whole. Additionally, the way it was written seemed so disorganised as a whole and there were some lines that just felt so out of context while being incomprehensible at the same time. It didn’t flow and coupled with the constant grammatical problems, I just was not able to be sucked into the author’s writing style at all. The writing to me felt quite juvenile compared to other books I’ve read, and the author never shows anything, he blatantly tells us some things.
There’s a lot of dialogue in this, most of which just felt off when I read it. Constantly I was thinking at how people don’t speak like this and it was so unnecessarily forced. So much of this book is dialogue as well and everything was so convoluted, and it didn’t work for me at all. There were some many scenes that objectively for me were just so poorly executed and written that I was spending time picking apart sentences instead of being invested in the narrative.
This book in regard to the plot, tries to fit in a lot, while also ensuring that nothing meaningful really happens. Nothing was exciting and nothing was written to be exciting. There was little to no tension even in parts where it was meant to be climatic and certain things were just straight up brushed over. There was an incredible overuse of ellipses to the point where... the entire book... read like this... at times. I couldn’t see the point of it apart from bothering me. It also didn’t help in building tension either and it did not help with the prose or... writing style. Look, I couldn’t tell if the author was... going for a climactic moment here... because there wasn’t one and the book... just ended in the most predictable way possible.
I hate to say it, but the character work in this was atrocious. I couldn’t tell you anything about any of these characters. All they do is serve the plot which was hard to follow anyway and was all over the place. There was simply no personality and the author somehow managed to fit in a romance where the two characters had zero chemistry between the two. When they are separated, which is the entire second half of the book, the main character spends about a grand total of a few sentences thinking about the guy which was so unnatural and came out of nowhere. There is a collection of side characters, but none of them were memorable or had any special defining traits to any of them. Again, so much of what we know about these characters comes from dialogue and the author doesn’t actual show us anything. We don’t what they are feeling, we don’t know what they look like, we don’t see their personality traits on display.
And now, let’s talk about the worldbuilding and lore of this world, because, well, there was none. Things are mentioned, and glossed over briefly, but nothing is properly explained and because of that, nothing makes sense. As the reader, I had no emotional investment in anything that was going on, because I didn’t care. For this sort of sci-fi novel with time travel and AI, we don’t learn anything about how things came about or why things are or get a view of the broader scope of things at all. There’s mention of things, and it’s meant to sound cool and all, but none of it is explored at all.
This is quite a short book, at just two hundred pages and I get that the author was trying to accomplish a lot within its pages, but it was so badly executed in my opinion. I could part sentences apart and all, but I’m not going to that, but well, this book wasn’t for me at all. 1.2/10
Well, this was a one-star book for me, not in the sense that I hated it and abhorred it completely, but rather, that in my subjective view, it was just not good. With some books, I might hate but at least it left an impression on me, this book was just bad. There was a severe lack of actual character work, the plot was boring and all over the place, and the writing was simply bad.
I’ll begin with the writing. Right from the get-go, there was an abundance of grammatical errors and it was clear that this book could have really done with a few more rounds of editing. I’m aware that this is an independently published book, so I understand that the editing may not be up to par. That being said, I have read other indie published books that were much better edited overall.
Alongside from the easily spotted spelling and grammatical mistakes, there were lots of sentences that just did not make sense. See, I generally don’t get care too much about an author’s prose at all, as long as it tells the story, and it flows well. As an example, many say that Brandon Sanderson’s prose is somewhat simple and I totally agree, but the prose is able to his stories well. There are also author’s that have more flowery writing like Rothfuss, whose books I’ve enjoyed. The prose is book though was just not very good. Sentences were clunky and made little sense, and it was just difficult to read as a whole. Additionally, the way it was written seemed so disorganised as a whole and there were some lines that just felt so out of context while being incomprehensible at the same time. It didn’t flow and coupled with the constant grammatical problems, I just was not able to be sucked into the author’s writing style at all. The writing to me felt quite juvenile compared to other books I’ve read, and the author never shows anything, he blatantly tells us some things.
There’s a lot of dialogue in this, most of which just felt off when I read it. Constantly I was thinking at how people don’t speak like this and it was so unnecessarily forced. So much of this book is dialogue as well and everything was so convoluted, and it didn’t work for me at all. There were some many scenes that objectively for me were just so poorly executed and written that I was spending time picking apart sentences instead of being invested in the narrative.
This book in regard to the plot, tries to fit in a lot, while also ensuring that nothing meaningful really happens. Nothing was exciting and nothing was written to be exciting. There was little to no tension even in parts where it was meant to be climatic and certain things were just straight up brushed over. There was an incredible overuse of ellipses to the point where... the entire book... read like this... at times. I couldn’t see the point of it apart from bothering me. It also didn’t help in building tension either and it did not help with the prose or... writing style. Look, I couldn’t tell if the author was... going for a climactic moment here... because there wasn’t one and the book... just ended in the most predictable way possible.
I hate to say it, but the character work in this was atrocious. I couldn’t tell you anything about any of these characters. All they do is serve the plot which was hard to follow anyway and was all over the place. There was simply no personality and the author somehow managed to fit in a romance where the two characters had zero chemistry between the two. When they are separated, which is the entire second half of the book, the main character spends about a grand total of a few sentences thinking about the guy which was so unnatural and came out of nowhere. There is a collection of side characters, but none of them were memorable or had any special defining traits to any of them. Again, so much of what we know about these characters comes from dialogue and the author doesn’t actual show us anything. We don’t what they are feeling, we don’t know what they look like, we don’t see their personality traits on display.
And now, let’s talk about the worldbuilding and lore of this world, because, well, there was none. Things are mentioned, and glossed over briefly, but nothing is properly explained and because of that, nothing makes sense. As the reader, I had no emotional investment in anything that was going on, because I didn’t care. For this sort of sci-fi novel with time travel and AI, we don’t learn anything about how things came about or why things are or get a view of the broader scope of things at all. There’s mention of things, and it’s meant to sound cool and all, but none of it is explored at all.
This is quite a short book, at just two hundred pages and I get that the author was trying to accomplish a lot within its pages, but it was so badly executed in my opinion. I could part sentences apart and all, but I’m not going to that, but well, this book wasn’t for me at all. 1.2/10
January 26, 2021
Downtime Shift
Robert Holding
“Reading without thinking is nothing, for a book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think.” ~ Louis L'Amour
The author seems to have created a future world that is plausible, relevant and has meaning to our current existence – all in the opening 30 pages or so… Not bad, especially since I am not a fan of the time shifting/travel genre of storytelling. However the author makes it work in this story. It is not the central point of this world. In fact there are competing aspects to this world that clearly set it up for more stories.
I do not want to write a long review of this book as I do not want to fill it with spoiler alerts. It meanders a little – but bounces into places that will eventually matter. The characters need more development but they seem to be learning and growing as well – at an unexpected, for them, pace. The characters growing is part of the fun of the story and part of the adventure.
And while the book is set then and now, the now is clearly relevant: “You might actually be doing her work. You are encouraging ambition and self reliance, self-belief even. The last thing anyone needs is a resentful divided situation further down the line.”
The book – series, as there are more coming – may one day make a visually stunning “Netflix” style series.
This is a world where there are less people; less ambition; less worry – it all makes it seem less human? It is a world where ‘Shifties’ do; ‘Plotters” calculate and “Quantum” computer systems think that they can make their AI funny. The Quantum Computer (The Eye) makes predictions and plots goals that reminds me of Isaac Asimov with his psychohistory, yet remains fresh and with new possibilities.
The simple oath they swore:
I uphold the intelligence of the EYE
In the service of the Global Administrations
On this, our beloved shared home, United Earth
For integrity. For justice. For all.
Do humans really want an EYE, a Big Brother or a Donald in charge? I think not… but like I said this is a not about reading without thinking.
Was generously offered to do this review by the author and @BookTasters
Lino Matteo ©™
Twitter at @Lino_Matteo
My notes and comments are available at https://linomatteo.wordpress.com/2021...
Robert Holding
“Reading without thinking is nothing, for a book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think.” ~ Louis L'Amour
The author seems to have created a future world that is plausible, relevant and has meaning to our current existence – all in the opening 30 pages or so… Not bad, especially since I am not a fan of the time shifting/travel genre of storytelling. However the author makes it work in this story. It is not the central point of this world. In fact there are competing aspects to this world that clearly set it up for more stories.
I do not want to write a long review of this book as I do not want to fill it with spoiler alerts. It meanders a little – but bounces into places that will eventually matter. The characters need more development but they seem to be learning and growing as well – at an unexpected, for them, pace. The characters growing is part of the fun of the story and part of the adventure.
And while the book is set then and now, the now is clearly relevant: “You might actually be doing her work. You are encouraging ambition and self reliance, self-belief even. The last thing anyone needs is a resentful divided situation further down the line.”
The book – series, as there are more coming – may one day make a visually stunning “Netflix” style series.
This is a world where there are less people; less ambition; less worry – it all makes it seem less human? It is a world where ‘Shifties’ do; ‘Plotters” calculate and “Quantum” computer systems think that they can make their AI funny. The Quantum Computer (The Eye) makes predictions and plots goals that reminds me of Isaac Asimov with his psychohistory, yet remains fresh and with new possibilities.
The simple oath they swore:
I uphold the intelligence of the EYE
In the service of the Global Administrations
On this, our beloved shared home, United Earth
For integrity. For justice. For all.
Do humans really want an EYE, a Big Brother or a Donald in charge? I think not… but like I said this is a not about reading without thinking.
Was generously offered to do this review by the author and @BookTasters
Lino Matteo ©™
Twitter at @Lino_Matteo
My notes and comments are available at https://linomatteo.wordpress.com/2021...
November 23, 2020
‘Downtime Shift’ has a great premise: agents of the 29th century are sent back in time - a whole number of turns from ‘Point Time’ round a ‘loop’ of some 800 years to ‘Down Time’ (our own time) - to steer their past events in order to tweak their present-day, perfect civilisation, a civilisation completely overseen by the EYE, a vast and complex AI.
We meet Evelyn in the prologue which alludes to her intense training preparing her to take her place as one of these agents: a ‘Shifty’. It is implied that she was somehow ‘surplus to requirements’ in her pre-training life, but this is never fully explained.
Tension builds slowly as one is led to wonder what the motives of Psychologist Dr Janeen Hellander are: does she not want Evelyn to complete the task assigned her? And if she doesn’t - if she’s a saboteur - will General Tarran McAndre find out?
We get a lot of Evelyn’s inner world - the account of her meditation at the close of chapter 1 is particularly evocative, as are many of the landscape descriptions throughout. The landscape, it turns out, in a way has its own secrets...
What made the story drag a little for me was the lack of much conflict or suspense after that. Everything just seemed to go off too well, with hardly any obstacles or surprises for the two main characters.
There was plenty of psychological to-ing and fro-ing, with different characters ‘squaring up’ to each other for lack of trust, feeling-out for each other’s weaknesses. In many of these encounters the reader is made to hop between the characters’ points of view, which not only makes the narrative hard to follow but also destroys the tension - if you know what both are thinking, you know what the outcome will be - and worse, you are not properly ‘in’ the mind of either.
The dearth of dialogue ‘tags’ or small beats during the long exchanges of conversation made the logic hard to follow at times, and a programme (‘Echo’) is mentioned only once throughout - we never get to find out what it is.
The story, at its heart, is a lively and futuristic exploration of two questions in ethics: the classic ‘trolley problem’ - should you deliberately kill in order to save a greater number of lives? - and the more contemporary question of to what extent we should allow Artificial Intelligence to take over our lives, even if it is for the common good.
We meet Evelyn in the prologue which alludes to her intense training preparing her to take her place as one of these agents: a ‘Shifty’. It is implied that she was somehow ‘surplus to requirements’ in her pre-training life, but this is never fully explained.
Tension builds slowly as one is led to wonder what the motives of Psychologist Dr Janeen Hellander are: does she not want Evelyn to complete the task assigned her? And if she doesn’t - if she’s a saboteur - will General Tarran McAndre find out?
We get a lot of Evelyn’s inner world - the account of her meditation at the close of chapter 1 is particularly evocative, as are many of the landscape descriptions throughout. The landscape, it turns out, in a way has its own secrets...
What made the story drag a little for me was the lack of much conflict or suspense after that. Everything just seemed to go off too well, with hardly any obstacles or surprises for the two main characters.
There was plenty of psychological to-ing and fro-ing, with different characters ‘squaring up’ to each other for lack of trust, feeling-out for each other’s weaknesses. In many of these encounters the reader is made to hop between the characters’ points of view, which not only makes the narrative hard to follow but also destroys the tension - if you know what both are thinking, you know what the outcome will be - and worse, you are not properly ‘in’ the mind of either.
The dearth of dialogue ‘tags’ or small beats during the long exchanges of conversation made the logic hard to follow at times, and a programme (‘Echo’) is mentioned only once throughout - we never get to find out what it is.
The story, at its heart, is a lively and futuristic exploration of two questions in ethics: the classic ‘trolley problem’ - should you deliberately kill in order to save a greater number of lives? - and the more contemporary question of to what extent we should allow Artificial Intelligence to take over our lives, even if it is for the common good.
August 2, 2020
Downtime Shift, i never reed something like this before, this is not my class of book, but a realy liked.
I think the story is very interesting, I like the way the author tells it, it does not have anything special, but I do understand what he is trying to tell.
Time travel has always been counted in different ways, in this book you can see different points of view of the people around the main topic, but as you are always presented with the "good" and the "bad". everything fine with writing and main plot.
But i have a problem whit the most important thing, i didn´t like the main characters, i didn´t like conversations betwin Evelyn and Stan, i never conected with they relationship, i just felt like it wasn´t authentic, they just were togueter because of they misión and nothing more, they had no chemistry, so i was bored a lot in some parts of the book.
I can say i was entertaining and i liked, but i wasn´t in love of this book.
I think the story is very interesting, I like the way the author tells it, it does not have anything special, but I do understand what he is trying to tell.
Time travel has always been counted in different ways, in this book you can see different points of view of the people around the main topic, but as you are always presented with the "good" and the "bad". everything fine with writing and main plot.
But i have a problem whit the most important thing, i didn´t like the main characters, i didn´t like conversations betwin Evelyn and Stan, i never conected with they relationship, i just felt like it wasn´t authentic, they just were togueter because of they misión and nothing more, they had no chemistry, so i was bored a lot in some parts of the book.
I can say i was entertaining and i liked, but i wasn´t in love of this book.
March 21, 2021
This book was sent to me to read and review via Booktasters and author Robert Holding, who have both been very kind to me. Thank you.
I chose to read this book because the genre was out of my comfort zone and the blurb interested me. While I feel that the story and characters like Evelyn had potential, I found myself quite lost on many occasions. There are several jumps from various characters, and the dialogue was difficult to follow along with. I spent a lot of time re-reading things so that I could understand them, and even then, I was confused much of the time. There is a lot of information compacted into this book, so much so that I felt overwhelmed and I was struggling to keep up nearly the entire way through.
I’m an avid reader and college student performing in the top seven percent on my campus, just to give you an idea of what I consider to be complex reading. I often pride myself on my comprehension abilities, but the story was too complicated for me to fully immerse myself in and enjoy. While reading this book, I did feel a sense of passion and effort woven in through the author’s writing regarding the story, so that was something I appreciated.
Besides the difficulty of navigating the complexities of the story, the other large issue I had while reading had to do with the formatting of the book. I have nothing against authors who have self-published, and I am willing to ignore occasional errors, but I found a substantial number of errors in the text as I read, enough that they distracted me from the story. These issues ranged from titles of chapters not being capitalized, to multiple uses of the same words within a few sentences (like the word “though” being used often), to omitted words, improper grammar, and using one quotation mark on either side of the dialogue rather than two (for example: ‘I like cats,’ John said. (Where there is one quotation mark on either side). “I like cats,” John said. (Where there are two quotation marks on either side of the dialogue).
I would recommend having an editor polish the format to make reading the story a bit more effortless, as I feel there are enough issues that it actually detracts from the content of the story. As for the content, it might be a good idea to have a content editor come in to simplify things so that the read is more digestible.
I debated on my rating for this book. I am choosing to rate it as two stars because of how difficult it was for me to get through this book given the complexity of the story, the way that the perspectives jumped around so much that it was hard to keep up with and learn and form attachments with the characters, and because of the numerous issues with formatting. Normally I read for pleasure, to escape my reality in an enjoyable way, and to have my mind expanded, but unfortunately, this was not a story I found that I was able to do that with.
I chose to read this book because the genre was out of my comfort zone and the blurb interested me. While I feel that the story and characters like Evelyn had potential, I found myself quite lost on many occasions. There are several jumps from various characters, and the dialogue was difficult to follow along with. I spent a lot of time re-reading things so that I could understand them, and even then, I was confused much of the time. There is a lot of information compacted into this book, so much so that I felt overwhelmed and I was struggling to keep up nearly the entire way through.
I’m an avid reader and college student performing in the top seven percent on my campus, just to give you an idea of what I consider to be complex reading. I often pride myself on my comprehension abilities, but the story was too complicated for me to fully immerse myself in and enjoy. While reading this book, I did feel a sense of passion and effort woven in through the author’s writing regarding the story, so that was something I appreciated.
Besides the difficulty of navigating the complexities of the story, the other large issue I had while reading had to do with the formatting of the book. I have nothing against authors who have self-published, and I am willing to ignore occasional errors, but I found a substantial number of errors in the text as I read, enough that they distracted me from the story. These issues ranged from titles of chapters not being capitalized, to multiple uses of the same words within a few sentences (like the word “though” being used often), to omitted words, improper grammar, and using one quotation mark on either side of the dialogue rather than two (for example: ‘I like cats,’ John said. (Where there is one quotation mark on either side). “I like cats,” John said. (Where there are two quotation marks on either side of the dialogue).
I would recommend having an editor polish the format to make reading the story a bit more effortless, as I feel there are enough issues that it actually detracts from the content of the story. As for the content, it might be a good idea to have a content editor come in to simplify things so that the read is more digestible.
I debated on my rating for this book. I am choosing to rate it as two stars because of how difficult it was for me to get through this book given the complexity of the story, the way that the perspectives jumped around so much that it was hard to keep up with and learn and form attachments with the characters, and because of the numerous issues with formatting. Normally I read for pleasure, to escape my reality in an enjoyable way, and to have my mind expanded, but unfortunately, this was not a story I found that I was able to do that with.
March 24, 2021
Thank you to Book Tasters and Robert Holding for giving me a free copy in exchange of an honest review.
Okey so I want to intertwine good aspects and not so good aspects of the book because I really saw potential in it, but it really could've benefited from better editing or a more fleshed out and paced story.
I'll start with the "feeling" of the book, if that makes sense. I did like the book when I knew what was going on, or when it all felt cohesive. Sadly, that wasn't most of the time. I think one of the flaws of this book was the construction of the structure and the building of suspense: one way I came up with to explain it is that a book should build intrigue like a puzzle that only gives you the edges and you have to assemble the rest, building from the edges in, until the climax when it all comes together and you get the whole picture and the resolution ensues. This felt more like a bunch of puzzle pieces chucked on the table with no particular order. The key elements, the key connections, felt missing, and so reading the book I couldn't help but feeling utterly confused and uninmersed because of it (I can't believe I'm saying this but I really could've appreciated an exposition dump at the beginning, or time stamps, or something).
On the other hand, I thought the characters were quite interesting, the dialogue for the most part (when it wasn't trying to be overly "formal" or sarcastic back in Point Time) was good and funny, and I really liked the interactions between Stan and Evelyn, I wish they could've been more fleshed out (as well as Taya and Raymond, I think were their names).
The theme of the flaws of humanity vs the "perfection" of technology is a theme in sci-fi that's always worth exploring in my opinion, and so I wished it had had a more focused approach to it, flesh out more what Evelyn's life was in Downtime (AKA our present), what their mision was as shiftys (which I never quite understood but it was an interesting concept), and in general what the motivation of the characters was. If you want to keep information away from the reader, at least make the motivations be really clear from the get go so we have something to grasp and hold onto.
Overall, I would like to read in the future more of this author, and I really hope these things improve in future books of his because I really see potential and the writing was good, but a lot of things were unpolished enough to hold my enjoyment back fully. Again, thanks to BookTasters and the author for the free copy.
Okey so I want to intertwine good aspects and not so good aspects of the book because I really saw potential in it, but it really could've benefited from better editing or a more fleshed out and paced story.
I'll start with the "feeling" of the book, if that makes sense. I did like the book when I knew what was going on, or when it all felt cohesive. Sadly, that wasn't most of the time. I think one of the flaws of this book was the construction of the structure and the building of suspense: one way I came up with to explain it is that a book should build intrigue like a puzzle that only gives you the edges and you have to assemble the rest, building from the edges in, until the climax when it all comes together and you get the whole picture and the resolution ensues. This felt more like a bunch of puzzle pieces chucked on the table with no particular order. The key elements, the key connections, felt missing, and so reading the book I couldn't help but feeling utterly confused and uninmersed because of it (I can't believe I'm saying this but I really could've appreciated an exposition dump at the beginning, or time stamps, or something).
On the other hand, I thought the characters were quite interesting, the dialogue for the most part (when it wasn't trying to be overly "formal" or sarcastic back in Point Time) was good and funny, and I really liked the interactions between Stan and Evelyn, I wish they could've been more fleshed out (as well as Taya and Raymond, I think were their names).
The theme of the flaws of humanity vs the "perfection" of technology is a theme in sci-fi that's always worth exploring in my opinion, and so I wished it had had a more focused approach to it, flesh out more what Evelyn's life was in Downtime (AKA our present), what their mision was as shiftys (which I never quite understood but it was an interesting concept), and in general what the motivation of the characters was. If you want to keep information away from the reader, at least make the motivations be really clear from the get go so we have something to grasp and hold onto.
Overall, I would like to read in the future more of this author, and I really hope these things improve in future books of his because I really see potential and the writing was good, but a lot of things were unpolished enough to hold my enjoyment back fully. Again, thanks to BookTasters and the author for the free copy.
April 27, 2021
I want to say thank you to the Booktasters on Twitter and Robert Holding for giving me the opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for an honest review!
This is my review of this book;
I love everything that has to do with time travel, although, Robert Holding's take on time travel needed a little getting used to, it's an interesting twist and take on what could time travel actually is! I love how Evelyn, the main character, wasn't like any other characters I have read in similar books, she didn't want to be in the mess she was and she did what she did for others not herself.
I really liked how throughout the book there were very few undertones that gave away to anything romantic between Evelyn and Stan, unlike how other books approach this, because in all honest the book isn't about romance, it's about time travel and humanity's survival! It was a welcoming change, if I say so myself.
I really enjoyed how Evelyn found role models in both genders, female and male, throughout her journey and I liked how she was willing to learn from them and her surroundings, she actually took the time to analyse herself and her surroundings, which I truly believe was what kept her alive.
I found it quite interesting how the book delved into analyzing our current century, the 21st century, and poked about how superficial we are. I liked how it introduced us to how life in the 29th century could possibly be. As for how the 29th century was presented, in my mind I viewed it as a gray cyber punk oasis without all the flashy colors, I could be wrong but this how I viewed it while reading the book and I don't know if I should say it worried me how possible that is to actually happen if we continue like this.
I was expecting a reference to AI at some point in the book but what intrigued me about the EYE is how we don't know where it came from, in other books there's a backstory over how the AI grew consciousness and even a backstory on the scientist that created said AI, but here it doesn't have any. In addition to that, I really was pleasantly surprised by the adding of Native people in the storyline, I haven't read time traveling books or movies that add them into the mix which was a very nice surprised and I loved reading the chapters.
If you want a fresh twist of time travel and you don't look for romance in your book or not so much romance in your book I would totally recommend it! I can't wait to read the second book!
Thanks again to Booktasters and Robert Holding!
Take care everyone!
This is my review of this book;
I love everything that has to do with time travel, although, Robert Holding's take on time travel needed a little getting used to, it's an interesting twist and take on what could time travel actually is! I love how Evelyn, the main character, wasn't like any other characters I have read in similar books, she didn't want to be in the mess she was and she did what she did for others not herself.
I really liked how throughout the book there were very few undertones that gave away to anything romantic between Evelyn and Stan, unlike how other books approach this, because in all honest the book isn't about romance, it's about time travel and humanity's survival! It was a welcoming change, if I say so myself.
I really enjoyed how Evelyn found role models in both genders, female and male, throughout her journey and I liked how she was willing to learn from them and her surroundings, she actually took the time to analyse herself and her surroundings, which I truly believe was what kept her alive.
I found it quite interesting how the book delved into analyzing our current century, the 21st century, and poked about how superficial we are. I liked how it introduced us to how life in the 29th century could possibly be. As for how the 29th century was presented, in my mind I viewed it as a gray cyber punk oasis without all the flashy colors, I could be wrong but this how I viewed it while reading the book and I don't know if I should say it worried me how possible that is to actually happen if we continue like this.
I was expecting a reference to AI at some point in the book but what intrigued me about the EYE is how we don't know where it came from, in other books there's a backstory over how the AI grew consciousness and even a backstory on the scientist that created said AI, but here it doesn't have any. In addition to that, I really was pleasantly surprised by the adding of Native people in the storyline, I haven't read time traveling books or movies that add them into the mix which was a very nice surprised and I loved reading the chapters.
If you want a fresh twist of time travel and you don't look for romance in your book or not so much romance in your book I would totally recommend it! I can't wait to read the second book!
Thanks again to Booktasters and Robert Holding!
Take care everyone!
May 22, 2020
Final rating: 3 stars
Robert Holding’s debut, “Downtime Shift", is a science fiction novel. Set in twenty-first and twenty-ninth century, where time travel is real but rather limited, every part of human life is controlled by an all-seeing AI, and everything is confusing.
It don’t consider “Downtime Shift” a bad book, just an okay one. There’s a lot of things that could have been written better or improved. The concept had a lot of potential, but the execution was unsatisfactory. The plot had no concrete direction, it seemed to me like the author gave up on making it make sense pretty early on, and just went with the gut feeling and a lack of a solid plan, which made for a messy narrative, more minor plot holes than a Swiss cheese and questionable timelines. The story felt rushed, and would benefit from being more stretched out.
Holding failed on making the reader convinced that anything was at stake, much less the fate of humanity. The characters fell flat, with no convincing motivations behind their actions. Why would anyone do the things they did? Why did everyone trust Evelyn right off the bat, why did no one question her plans, why did no one question anyone’s plans? It left me with a lot of questions, and close to no answers.
Don’t even get me started on the “romance” between Stan and Evelyn. It came out of literally nowhere, and I’m still mostly confused about why was the kiss at the end included at all. There was no build-up to that moment, maybe two lines before that would indicate that at least Stan was feeling some sort of romantic attraction before the final scene. It added nothing to the story, except for checking the box for an unnecessary m/f romance.
However, I appreciate that the main character of the story was a woman, and that Holding didn’t go for any of the typical, deeply uncomfortable descriptions of female bodies that male authors often put in their books. And seeing competent women in a place of power is always nice to see.
“Downtime Shift” was a pleasant experience, even if it wasn’t a captivating read. I didn’t have a bad time with it, which already puts it above the majority of novels I’ve read this year. Overall, I didn't not enjoy it, but I would hardly say I had an extraordinary time with it.
Robert Holding’s debut, “Downtime Shift", is a science fiction novel. Set in twenty-first and twenty-ninth century, where time travel is real but rather limited, every part of human life is controlled by an all-seeing AI, and everything is confusing.
It don’t consider “Downtime Shift” a bad book, just an okay one. There’s a lot of things that could have been written better or improved. The concept had a lot of potential, but the execution was unsatisfactory. The plot had no concrete direction, it seemed to me like the author gave up on making it make sense pretty early on, and just went with the gut feeling and a lack of a solid plan, which made for a messy narrative, more minor plot holes than a Swiss cheese and questionable timelines. The story felt rushed, and would benefit from being more stretched out.
Holding failed on making the reader convinced that anything was at stake, much less the fate of humanity. The characters fell flat, with no convincing motivations behind their actions. Why would anyone do the things they did? Why did everyone trust Evelyn right off the bat, why did no one question her plans, why did no one question anyone’s plans? It left me with a lot of questions, and close to no answers.
Don’t even get me started on the “romance” between Stan and Evelyn. It came out of literally nowhere, and I’m still mostly confused about why was the kiss at the end included at all. There was no build-up to that moment, maybe two lines before that would indicate that at least Stan was feeling some sort of romantic attraction before the final scene. It added nothing to the story, except for checking the box for an unnecessary m/f romance.
However, I appreciate that the main character of the story was a woman, and that Holding didn’t go for any of the typical, deeply uncomfortable descriptions of female bodies that male authors often put in their books. And seeing competent women in a place of power is always nice to see.
“Downtime Shift” was a pleasant experience, even if it wasn’t a captivating read. I didn’t have a bad time with it, which already puts it above the majority of novels I’ve read this year. Overall, I didn't not enjoy it, but I would hardly say I had an extraordinary time with it.
March 10, 2021
It's really tough job to completely understand the story. I don't know if it is because it is too deep to understand in one go or it's simply dumb. I'm unsatisfied. I'm still confused about it.
It's not like I completely disliked the book. There are few points I love about it but too many I hate.
The thing which I loved is the concept. The concept has potential in it to transform into a better story but for now it's not. Especially the first 15-20 pages of the book, the set up is a roller coaster ride. It's exciting. It's enjoyable.
Apart from the concept, there are many elements of a story, and many of these elements are not satisfying.
First of all, talking about the characters, they do not feel real. At some scenes, I felt why they are so dumb? You know we read stories, watch movies and all and every good movie have a feature that their characters evolve after facing problems, they develop skills, they change, they adapt to new situations and eventually we as a reader or viewer feels that change in ourself with it. But it didn't happened here. I'm really confused, if its on purpose or not but it didn't impressed me much.
Another aspect of a good story is how effective dialogues are. The dialogues feels unnecessary something, but what's more frustrating is that the dialogues don't sound real, how the characters interact with each other, it just didn't had a feel into it which can make me interested in it. This made time shift? I don't know but this made my mind shift from reading this book to other things. I'm fascinated about what if people interacted like that in real life. I'm cringed by this idea.
Moving on, there and many plot holes too in it Honestly, there were many good set-ups for an exciting scene and plot twist but sadly these are not executed well. The great set-up and concept fell apart.
Further, there are too many spelling and grammar mistakes. Sometimes, I felt I'm unable to understand or my English is not so good which is not good but there are childish mistakes in the writing.
At the end, I'm really feeling so sad to say it while looking at the great concept but it's something I wouldn't recommend. I'm really disappointed especially due to the bad written dialogues and bad execution.
It's not like I completely disliked the book. There are few points I love about it but too many I hate.
The thing which I loved is the concept. The concept has potential in it to transform into a better story but for now it's not. Especially the first 15-20 pages of the book, the set up is a roller coaster ride. It's exciting. It's enjoyable.
Apart from the concept, there are many elements of a story, and many of these elements are not satisfying.
First of all, talking about the characters, they do not feel real. At some scenes, I felt why they are so dumb? You know we read stories, watch movies and all and every good movie have a feature that their characters evolve after facing problems, they develop skills, they change, they adapt to new situations and eventually we as a reader or viewer feels that change in ourself with it. But it didn't happened here. I'm really confused, if its on purpose or not but it didn't impressed me much.
Another aspect of a good story is how effective dialogues are. The dialogues feels unnecessary something, but what's more frustrating is that the dialogues don't sound real, how the characters interact with each other, it just didn't had a feel into it which can make me interested in it. This made time shift? I don't know but this made my mind shift from reading this book to other things. I'm fascinated about what if people interacted like that in real life. I'm cringed by this idea.
Moving on, there and many plot holes too in it Honestly, there were many good set-ups for an exciting scene and plot twist but sadly these are not executed well. The great set-up and concept fell apart.
Further, there are too many spelling and grammar mistakes. Sometimes, I felt I'm unable to understand or my English is not so good which is not good but there are childish mistakes in the writing.
At the end, I'm really feeling so sad to say it while looking at the great concept but it's something I wouldn't recommend. I'm really disappointed especially due to the bad written dialogues and bad execution.
January 23, 2022
I have always been mesmerised by plots that are riddled with warping timelines, holes in reality and what people commonly call "Time travel". I have watched probably a thousand movies, several series and read a million more books that deal with an adventure over the realm of different dimensions. Taking you across a time and space that may have been but isn't quite the same from the perspective of the line you reside in. Even though inculcated in the genre of science fiction over a century ago, it is still a fantasy to this world and reality. Maybe that is the reason that we keep getting back to the same plot, imagining and re-imagining the possibilities it can bring forth to impact the lives of humans and the universe at large.
A mission to achieve and the significance of which has sent several people into training for years of articulated experience. The target is to jump eight hundred years back into the timeline from the 29th century, a utopia brimming with intelligence that may have cured crime but significantly diminished the populace and free-thinking. Our protagonist finds herself in a tight spot when her life's goal fixated in accomplishing this mission becomes blurry like an erased timeline as the objective of her mission keeps becoming vague. Will she return to her timeline unharmed or will she be thrust into a precarious incident that might send the whole timeline tumbling down?
The surmise of the plot has been given a great foundation. I like that the author has taken a new view of the old-time travel gimmick but still not spoiling the fun. Although I would have preferred the author to have included a few clever details that make the scientific logic more engaging to the readers, yes many say that there is redundancy in the explanation but yet I find details more invigorating in any kind of fiction. The whole book is cleverly set out and the characters are well thought out, there might not be a lot of development in the characters but what I find interesting is the individuality of those people.
A mission to achieve and the significance of which has sent several people into training for years of articulated experience. The target is to jump eight hundred years back into the timeline from the 29th century, a utopia brimming with intelligence that may have cured crime but significantly diminished the populace and free-thinking. Our protagonist finds herself in a tight spot when her life's goal fixated in accomplishing this mission becomes blurry like an erased timeline as the objective of her mission keeps becoming vague. Will she return to her timeline unharmed or will she be thrust into a precarious incident that might send the whole timeline tumbling down?
The surmise of the plot has been given a great foundation. I like that the author has taken a new view of the old-time travel gimmick but still not spoiling the fun. Although I would have preferred the author to have included a few clever details that make the scientific logic more engaging to the readers, yes many say that there is redundancy in the explanation but yet I find details more invigorating in any kind of fiction. The whole book is cleverly set out and the characters are well thought out, there might not be a lot of development in the characters but what I find interesting is the individuality of those people.
January 23, 2022
Initiated in the Shifty program, Evelyn has been trudging the rigorous curriculum to achieve something not all humans could perceive and inculcate within their habits. She had been chosen by the AI program so the doubts of the selection going wayward might be neglected. Capabilities ensured her long and strenuous training had started. For six long years, she needs to prove herself only then will she be accepted on a mission. The mission is to go back in time, approximate eight hundred years into the past and perform steps that correct their timeline to nullify a certain black card in existence in the distant 29th century.
Downtime shift at first glance might seem like a shift in your job routine, one that is normally not populated and convenient enough for the masses to take up. In this novella, it seems to be the same way but then quite a lot different in terms of perspective and technicality. Now it doesn't happen much that reading the novel and later looking at the cover art makes me think that, "Oh Gosh, they did nail it after all" but not gonna lie I found this cover art quite in sync with the texts inside the book. The theory of point time and downtime which is depicted in the cover should materialize to your eyes like this, The wormhole is somewhere at the bottom of a lake, so that is the representation of the downtime that is being depicted as the person swimming to it. Not going too deep into this as I can see that I was indeed enjoying myself here *chuckles*. The journey to eight hundred years back was what Eve was prepared for, how to interact, how to act and what all is normal for that century. The only thing she wasn't prepared for was the deviation of the intentions of the people she was working for. The nature of unpredictability might sound like an accident but to be honest, Nature has had its planned unpredictability and a long time ago humans even started to think. So stranded in a different millennium, Evelyn has to figure out her way, her path of action to get it all done and dusted.
Downtime shift at first glance might seem like a shift in your job routine, one that is normally not populated and convenient enough for the masses to take up. In this novella, it seems to be the same way but then quite a lot different in terms of perspective and technicality. Now it doesn't happen much that reading the novel and later looking at the cover art makes me think that, "Oh Gosh, they did nail it after all" but not gonna lie I found this cover art quite in sync with the texts inside the book. The theory of point time and downtime which is depicted in the cover should materialize to your eyes like this, The wormhole is somewhere at the bottom of a lake, so that is the representation of the downtime that is being depicted as the person swimming to it. Not going too deep into this as I can see that I was indeed enjoying myself here *chuckles*. The journey to eight hundred years back was what Eve was prepared for, how to interact, how to act and what all is normal for that century. The only thing she wasn't prepared for was the deviation of the intentions of the people she was working for. The nature of unpredictability might sound like an accident but to be honest, Nature has had its planned unpredictability and a long time ago humans even started to think. So stranded in a different millennium, Evelyn has to figure out her way, her path of action to get it all done and dusted.
June 7, 2020
This was a tough one. I honestly would never have picked up the book if Robert Holding himself hadn't commented on one of my reviews and brought my attention to it. I figured why not? I'm all for bringing publicity to indie books and authors, so I went to Amazon, bought it, and it arrived a week later (no two-day shipping though, thanks Rona).
The thing is that I really love the concept, it just could've been executed so much better. I felt so confused and lost a lot of the time because, like someone else said, there isn't much explanation about what's going on. What we get for the most part is the dialogue between the characters and we have to kind of figure out the rest on our own. The basic idea of time travel was apparent, but there were small elements at play that made no sense because they were sometimes brought up out of nowhere with no precursor. Details of plans and plots were touched on only briefly through character conversation, character and setting descriptions were lacking, and events that seemed like they should be significant were told so quickly or with such little emphasis that it felt like I was reading a vague dream in which someone was just trying to get the gist of it down on paper before it was forgotten and then never went back to add the necessary elements to give it a bit more substance.
Another thing that consistently bothered me as I read was this book definitely could've used a couple more passes as far as editing goes. There were spelling mistakes galore, grammatical errors almost every other page, and repeated words at times when synonyms would've worked wonders.
Like I said, I loved the concept, I really did. But the book is just too short to really give the idea much meat and it felt hollow. I would've loved so much more description about the technology, the setting, the characters, just everything. I appreciate what the author tried to do, I was just hoping for a bit more on all levels.
The thing is that I really love the concept, it just could've been executed so much better. I felt so confused and lost a lot of the time because, like someone else said, there isn't much explanation about what's going on. What we get for the most part is the dialogue between the characters and we have to kind of figure out the rest on our own. The basic idea of time travel was apparent, but there were small elements at play that made no sense because they were sometimes brought up out of nowhere with no precursor. Details of plans and plots were touched on only briefly through character conversation, character and setting descriptions were lacking, and events that seemed like they should be significant were told so quickly or with such little emphasis that it felt like I was reading a vague dream in which someone was just trying to get the gist of it down on paper before it was forgotten and then never went back to add the necessary elements to give it a bit more substance.
Another thing that consistently bothered me as I read was this book definitely could've used a couple more passes as far as editing goes. There were spelling mistakes galore, grammatical errors almost every other page, and repeated words at times when synonyms would've worked wonders.
Like I said, I loved the concept, I really did. But the book is just too short to really give the idea much meat and it felt hollow. I would've loved so much more description about the technology, the setting, the characters, just everything. I appreciate what the author tried to do, I was just hoping for a bit more on all levels.
December 18, 2021
📚DOWNTIME SHIFT By Robert Holding
✨My Rating:-9.9/10
📚My Review:- Attention!! Sci-fi lovers. I'm back with another book recommendation specially for you. The book " Downtime shift " penned down by the author Robert Holding is a fictional tale filled with mystery. It features the story of the protagonist, Evelyn, who was a shifty. She had been selected for some specialist highly immersive training by an organisation. Must be wandering what does shifty means right? A shifty is the one who has been trained in order to survive and perform the tasks for the " EYE ". She later came to suspect the motivations of the organisation isn't what they claim to be or what Evelyn knee them to be. What step will she take? There were a lot of questions revolving around in Evelyn's mind for which she needs to find the answers as soon as possible. Will she ever get the answers to her questions? Or will her life fall into risk? Turn the pages to explore the protagonists journey in detail. The author has beautifully portrayed the bond between both the protagonist, Evelyn and Stan. This twisting, turning novel raises provocative moral questions while developing a truly unique relationship between two people brought together by chance. The language is pretty lucid and face paced too. Writing style is simple yet descriptive which helps the readers to connect even more. Being a reader, it took me around few hours to complete these 223 pages. The plot is filled with numerous twists and turns typically making the book more interesting to read. The concept of this book is really intriguing. I'm lucky enough to have come across this beauty. The efforts made by the author is clearly visible in the book. The cover of the book is well depicted and the tittle fits perfectly. Highly recommended.Overall, I had a great time reading this book.
✨My Rating:-9.9/10
📚My Review:- Attention!! Sci-fi lovers. I'm back with another book recommendation specially for you. The book " Downtime shift " penned down by the author Robert Holding is a fictional tale filled with mystery. It features the story of the protagonist, Evelyn, who was a shifty. She had been selected for some specialist highly immersive training by an organisation. Must be wandering what does shifty means right? A shifty is the one who has been trained in order to survive and perform the tasks for the " EYE ". She later came to suspect the motivations of the organisation isn't what they claim to be or what Evelyn knee them to be. What step will she take? There were a lot of questions revolving around in Evelyn's mind for which she needs to find the answers as soon as possible. Will she ever get the answers to her questions? Or will her life fall into risk? Turn the pages to explore the protagonists journey in detail. The author has beautifully portrayed the bond between both the protagonist, Evelyn and Stan. This twisting, turning novel raises provocative moral questions while developing a truly unique relationship between two people brought together by chance. The language is pretty lucid and face paced too. Writing style is simple yet descriptive which helps the readers to connect even more. Being a reader, it took me around few hours to complete these 223 pages. The plot is filled with numerous twists and turns typically making the book more interesting to read. The concept of this book is really intriguing. I'm lucky enough to have come across this beauty. The efforts made by the author is clearly visible in the book. The cover of the book is well depicted and the tittle fits perfectly. Highly recommended.Overall, I had a great time reading this book.
August 17, 2020
Downtime Shift is the first novel by Robert Holding. This story reminded me of a TV series I had previously enjoyed; Travelers starring Eric McCormack. Evelyn Marcin is a Shifty, sent to the Downtime Shift (the present) for some purpose, to affect the time lines. The Eye, an AI, controls the future / Point Time (Evelyn's present). A team is sent years after Evelyn's trip to get rid of her (or for some other purpose). Two survive, Stan, an easy - going big bear is one and the other is a psycho, Krasken.
Stan and Evelyn are in Seattle, getting comfortable with each other, planning their next move and avoiding Krasken. The story will move around the western states as the two hit the road and end up with friends who watch the portals between Point Time and Down Time. Evelyn must make a vital decision to protect both the future and the past.
The story takes time to get into, to come to better understand Evelyn and Stan and who they actually are. But as you move into the plot, it gets more interesting and different. You will see the conflicting viewpoints in Point Time and find out more about about The Eye and the different peoples in Point Time. It's not a perfect story, but I enjoyed it as I grew more familiar with and got further into the story. Looking forward to seeing what else Holding comes up with. (3.5 stars)
Stan and Evelyn are in Seattle, getting comfortable with each other, planning their next move and avoiding Krasken. The story will move around the western states as the two hit the road and end up with friends who watch the portals between Point Time and Down Time. Evelyn must make a vital decision to protect both the future and the past.
The story takes time to get into, to come to better understand Evelyn and Stan and who they actually are. But as you move into the plot, it gets more interesting and different. You will see the conflicting viewpoints in Point Time and find out more about about The Eye and the different peoples in Point Time. It's not a perfect story, but I enjoyed it as I grew more familiar with and got further into the story. Looking forward to seeing what else Holding comes up with. (3.5 stars)
May 9, 2021
I am not really into reading sc Fiction but I decided to give this book a try to diversify my readings. At the beginning I was totally confused about the story, I couldn't follow along. I kept reading and eventually I managed to understand it a bit.
The plot of the book is interesting but it's not clear nor easy to follow. Once I understood that the twenty-ninth actually meant the century and figure out that it was about time travels, I enjoyed following the journey of Evelyn. I found her story interesting and even inspiring. From being a simple shifty to become the influencer of a whole movement with the capacity to change the fate of humanity, I understand too much her doubt and hesitation despite being strong and bulletproof. This kind of responsability can be scary.
Apart from that, I don't really have a good take from the story. I often got lost and I couldn't find enough details and descriptions to help me grasp the concept. The conversations between the characters were often dry and didn't necessarily give any clue about the situation. I didn't understand the relationship between Stan and Evelyn, and at some point I felt like I missed a part . The reading was too complex.
I appreciate the imagination, the efforts and the hard work of the author Robert Holding in putting this story together. I thank Booktasters for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Maybe I'll read it again to fully grasp the story but so far it was not a bad reading.
The plot of the book is interesting but it's not clear nor easy to follow. Once I understood that the twenty-ninth actually meant the century and figure out that it was about time travels, I enjoyed following the journey of Evelyn. I found her story interesting and even inspiring. From being a simple shifty to become the influencer of a whole movement with the capacity to change the fate of humanity, I understand too much her doubt and hesitation despite being strong and bulletproof. This kind of responsability can be scary.
Apart from that, I don't really have a good take from the story. I often got lost and I couldn't find enough details and descriptions to help me grasp the concept. The conversations between the characters were often dry and didn't necessarily give any clue about the situation. I didn't understand the relationship between Stan and Evelyn, and at some point I felt like I missed a part . The reading was too complex.
I appreciate the imagination, the efforts and the hard work of the author Robert Holding in putting this story together. I thank Booktasters for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Maybe I'll read it again to fully grasp the story but so far it was not a bad reading.
April 1, 2021
To begin with, my favorite line from the book:
"If anything happens to you, it will be because I failed, not because I succeeded… and I’ll already be dead."
First of all, it's not the sci-fi that I thought it would be. But also, I always try not to expect or predict anything, and I flow along with the story along.
While reading the book I couldn't get to know with the world of it. I mean, it felt a stranger in here, and no-one would introduce me to the world. I could get to know the characters at least, but that's it, nothing more. I don't like being stranger with the book, when I want to get to know it. I think I missed the part where it was introduced, or is it really supposed to be like this?
The whole thing that happened to Eve, after she leaves Stan behind, she could just put it in one-two pages, so... I don't know, this part was like... not that interesting. The whole thing of her journey without Stan can be left out, but the story still be okay with it, without feeling that some part of the story lacks something.
Things that I liked from the book are the kiddo thing and the relationship between Eve and Stan. Actually I don't really romance, I thought I would be here for sci-fi thin, but I was here for their relationship, which is... surprising.
To summarize, I can't say this book is something special, but it is interesting to read. I am ready and I also am interested in the next part, at least just for the journay of Eve and Stan.
"If anything happens to you, it will be because I failed, not because I succeeded… and I’ll already be dead."
First of all, it's not the sci-fi that I thought it would be. But also, I always try not to expect or predict anything, and I flow along with the story along.
While reading the book I couldn't get to know with the world of it. I mean, it felt a stranger in here, and no-one would introduce me to the world. I could get to know the characters at least, but that's it, nothing more. I don't like being stranger with the book, when I want to get to know it. I think I missed the part where it was introduced, or is it really supposed to be like this?
The whole thing that happened to Eve, after she leaves Stan behind, she could just put it in one-two pages, so... I don't know, this part was like... not that interesting. The whole thing of her journey without Stan can be left out, but the story still be okay with it, without feeling that some part of the story lacks something.
Things that I liked from the book are the kiddo thing and the relationship between Eve and Stan. Actually I don't really romance, I thought I would be here for sci-fi thin, but I was here for their relationship, which is... surprising.
To summarize, I can't say this book is something special, but it is interesting to read. I am ready and I also am interested in the next part, at least just for the journay of Eve and Stan.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2021
Evelyn Marcin was born an outsider into a post apocalyptic world. In this future humanity is controlled by an AI that calls itself The EYE. We follow her tough journey after being recruited into a secret organization, trained to become a "Shifty" and was sent to the "Downtime", the name they called our 21st century, then she realized the misery her people are living.
Her mission was to kill a target that will cause a change in time to prevent the apocalypse, but our hero saw that killing is not the answer plus she had suspicions regarding her mission and her superiors especially the EYE.
Later she was accompanied by another Shifty "STAN" with whom she fell in love and their both start to uncover the mystery of why The EYE really sent them, who created the loop they used to travel to the downtime, and could they return to their time.
Evelyn journey was tremendous, I really enjoyed following her to become an idol and inspire others to change.
The encounter between Evelyn and the EYE was interesting and made me think with the way technology is going, do we need AI to help us improve our lives or controls it.
The novel contains other strong female characters, who are also inspiring like Helander and Taya
I think the author really nailed this novel and gave us everything.
Her mission was to kill a target that will cause a change in time to prevent the apocalypse, but our hero saw that killing is not the answer plus she had suspicions regarding her mission and her superiors especially the EYE.
Later she was accompanied by another Shifty "STAN" with whom she fell in love and their both start to uncover the mystery of why The EYE really sent them, who created the loop they used to travel to the downtime, and could they return to their time.
Evelyn journey was tremendous, I really enjoyed following her to become an idol and inspire others to change.
The encounter between Evelyn and the EYE was interesting and made me think with the way technology is going, do we need AI to help us improve our lives or controls it.
The novel contains other strong female characters, who are also inspiring like Helander and Taya
I think the author really nailed this novel and gave us everything.
April 29, 2021
Thank you, Booktasters and Robert Holding, for a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. Sorry that it took me so long to read, but it's not a reflection on the content.
I thoroughly loved reading this book, and has already started to read the next follow-up, Infinity Shift. (Thanks, Robert Holding, for sending it as well). It is good escapism in these uncertain times.
I got a glimpse into time travel, an omnipotent AI called EYE and different societies and the ways they live. "Earthers" and "Spacers", and a choice in the way of living. The EYE resetting society, and manipulating it, creating Fork Time... Shifties following their prime directive, or going against it. All interesting concepts that keeps you bound until the very last page.
I would have loved to learn more about the heroine, Evelyn. About her time before Downtime, and also her time with the Spacers. More character development are welcomed for Evelyn and Stan. I would also have loved to read more about Spacers and the societies in space.
For Science Fiction lovers, there are some interesting concepts to wrap you head around.
I give this book 5/5 for the interesting storyline and keeping me hooked until the last page. I want to read more!
I thoroughly loved reading this book, and has already started to read the next follow-up, Infinity Shift. (Thanks, Robert Holding, for sending it as well). It is good escapism in these uncertain times.
I got a glimpse into time travel, an omnipotent AI called EYE and different societies and the ways they live. "Earthers" and "Spacers", and a choice in the way of living. The EYE resetting society, and manipulating it, creating Fork Time... Shifties following their prime directive, or going against it. All interesting concepts that keeps you bound until the very last page.
I would have loved to learn more about the heroine, Evelyn. About her time before Downtime, and also her time with the Spacers. More character development are welcomed for Evelyn and Stan. I would also have loved to read more about Spacers and the societies in space.
For Science Fiction lovers, there are some interesting concepts to wrap you head around.
I give this book 5/5 for the interesting storyline and keeping me hooked until the last page. I want to read more!
April 25, 2020
Shifties. Outsiders.
Evelyn and Stan. The classical story of how a woman and a man saved each others' lives, fell in love and being constantly pushed towards a decision they despise. Or not?
Time travelling, omnipresent evil in the form of AI, and self-doubting. Excellent combination for this book. It won my heart and kept me reading until the very end. Mostly because I felt comfortable with reading dynamics and I was constantly asking what the actual plan is and what is the role of the Evelyn in all this AI controlling madness.
Conspiration theories, space outposts and Mars colonization. Awesome overlook to the future. Also, allies and enemies together made every conflict a little more adrenaline-loaded. As the story went closer to the cliffhanger-ish end, my suspicions about EYE grew and I was right. A little bit. This is what I loved in the book. The feeling I am a part of the story, making decisions together with Evelyn- strong and compassionate persona- and Stan- lovable giant. The descriptions of nature were specifically helpful to boost my imagination, thanks, Mr Holding. I look forward to reading another book from this author.
Evelyn and Stan. The classical story of how a woman and a man saved each others' lives, fell in love and being constantly pushed towards a decision they despise. Or not?
Time travelling, omnipresent evil in the form of AI, and self-doubting. Excellent combination for this book. It won my heart and kept me reading until the very end. Mostly because I felt comfortable with reading dynamics and I was constantly asking what the actual plan is and what is the role of the Evelyn in all this AI controlling madness.
Conspiration theories, space outposts and Mars colonization. Awesome overlook to the future. Also, allies and enemies together made every conflict a little more adrenaline-loaded. As the story went closer to the cliffhanger-ish end, my suspicions about EYE grew and I was right. A little bit. This is what I loved in the book. The feeling I am a part of the story, making decisions together with Evelyn- strong and compassionate persona- and Stan- lovable giant. The descriptions of nature were specifically helpful to boost my imagination, thanks, Mr Holding. I look forward to reading another book from this author.
February 15, 2021
Downtime Shift is a Book Tasters' read-for-review book. I was game for a sci-fi story since reality has been too weird of late. The story is good, and once I started to look at it as a screenplay rather than a novel, I got into it. Time travel musings must have some hegemony to the myth, maybe some draft doctrine of what can and cannot be possible theoretically. I know of none so can't say if author Holding has managed the concept well enough. He has for me. His approach takes the reader into time travel as a kind of re-birth. The pace of the action is suspenseful and I rather got into it even though the writing style is wanting. The characters could also be better developed; give me more reason to have empathy with Evelyn, show (rather than tell me) her rivalry, mistrust, self-doubts. The characters could also use more distinction, separate character to their voices.
As a screenplay, I enjoyed the descriptions of the settings. My imagination was active in projecting onto my mind's theatre stage Point Time, Down Time, the city, and outside the EYE zones.
Downtime Shift is a good concept. A good editor or a director could bring this up two additional stars.
As a screenplay, I enjoyed the descriptions of the settings. My imagination was active in projecting onto my mind's theatre stage Point Time, Down Time, the city, and outside the EYE zones.
Downtime Shift is a good concept. A good editor or a director could bring this up two additional stars.
February 18, 2021
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I think this is a cifi book for cifi fans. The story tells you only some of the things you need to know but it doesn't explain everything. There are things that are left unsaid and you may wonder. I wouldn't say these are plot holes, or that this is bad per se, but it might not be for everyone.
What I liked was the premise of the story, the idea and how it is presented. I think the world the author has created is interesting and original. The characters are not what they seem, and even if they could have done with some more layers, they do a good job of guiding you through a world of agents and time travel.
What I didn't like so much was the writing. There were some inconsistencies, and the style was simple to the point that sometimes it was too simple. Also, there wasn't much conflict to the story overall, and sometimes, that paired up with the easy writing made it feel as if there was nothing happening at all and the plot wasn't moving forward.
It's not a bad book, it definitely has potential, but I think it could have benefited from a couple more reads and bit more work.
I think this is a cifi book for cifi fans. The story tells you only some of the things you need to know but it doesn't explain everything. There are things that are left unsaid and you may wonder. I wouldn't say these are plot holes, or that this is bad per se, but it might not be for everyone.
What I liked was the premise of the story, the idea and how it is presented. I think the world the author has created is interesting and original. The characters are not what they seem, and even if they could have done with some more layers, they do a good job of guiding you through a world of agents and time travel.
What I didn't like so much was the writing. There were some inconsistencies, and the style was simple to the point that sometimes it was too simple. Also, there wasn't much conflict to the story overall, and sometimes, that paired up with the easy writing made it feel as if there was nothing happening at all and the plot wasn't moving forward.
It's not a bad book, it definitely has potential, but I think it could have benefited from a couple more reads and bit more work.
April 2, 2021
Author Robert Holding deserves an A+ for imagination. Conjure up a world that is run by a machine, named EYE. At some time in the past, this machine rescued humanity, but at this time, the machine is exerting too much control. Specialists in Highly Immersive Field Training (Shiftys) undergo training to transport from 29th, a century in the future, also called Point Time, to Down Time, a century in the past, in an attempt to rectify the 29th century situation. The action centers around Evelyn, a shifty of great renown, and Stan, a person she meets during transport. They find and kill a person named Krasken, who was assigned to kill them. Following an injury to Stan (he is shot by Krasken) Evelyn transports back to Point Time, and discovers a group attempting to gain freedom from EYE.
Did I say imagination?
This book was designed for adept readers of science fiction. The witty dialogue, the clever character development, the fast moving plot, and the immersion into the scenario require the full attention and commitment, as well as the full understanding, of the reader. Downtime Shift is masterfully crafted and embraces just enough of reality to be believable.
Did I say imagination?
This book was designed for adept readers of science fiction. The witty dialogue, the clever character development, the fast moving plot, and the immersion into the scenario require the full attention and commitment, as well as the full understanding, of the reader. Downtime Shift is masterfully crafted and embraces just enough of reality to be believable.
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February 15, 2021Thank you to the author and BookTasters - I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I did not really take to this book, although the action of the story seemed to get started from the very first page, after the first couple of chapters the story seemed to got a bit lost for me. Whilst there was some action, the heavy amounts of dialogue slowed any action down. I did like the two main characters Eve and Stan and overall I enjoyed following their story but found that everyone else seemed to be there for decoration. The main point of the story that revolved around the moral question; 'should you kill someone to save many more?' was a good thought provoking element. The inclusion of the questions around Artificial Intelligence also added to the story - I think they could have featured more and maybe they will in any future books. The shorter length of the book meant that the general pacing of the story was really good but I think the book could have been a bit longer to really flesh out what happens in the book. Overall a decent science fiction novel.
I did not really take to this book, although the action of the story seemed to get started from the very first page, after the first couple of chapters the story seemed to got a bit lost for me. Whilst there was some action, the heavy amounts of dialogue slowed any action down. I did like the two main characters Eve and Stan and overall I enjoyed following their story but found that everyone else seemed to be there for decoration. The main point of the story that revolved around the moral question; 'should you kill someone to save many more?' was a good thought provoking element. The inclusion of the questions around Artificial Intelligence also added to the story - I think they could have featured more and maybe they will in any future books. The shorter length of the book meant that the general pacing of the story was really good but I think the book could have been a bit longer to really flesh out what happens in the book. Overall a decent science fiction novel.
March 12, 2021
Evelyn Marcin is the main character in the book and she was employed as a shifty by Tarran McAndre's organisation on recommendation by Janeen the chief psychologist of the organisation whom was so experienced in human psychology that she could read a person like a book. There is the Point time, the Fork time and the Downtime shift. Evelyn Marcin is the shifty of the Downtime shift. Her life was an adventurous one as a result of her career and sometimes in the book she was disconnected from her loved ones. For instance, after she saved the life of her bossom friend Stan, he thought he would never see her again.
The book ushers in the effect of A.I(Artificial Intelligence) on human society by introducing the A.I called "The EYE" which is a machine that could decide and affect human way of existence in the society. Evelyn Marcin had conversations with "The EYE" sometimes and she was challenging to the machine that acts like some supernatural deity.
The book ushers in the effect of A.I(Artificial Intelligence) on human society by introducing the A.I called "The EYE" which is a machine that could decide and affect human way of existence in the society. Evelyn Marcin had conversations with "The EYE" sometimes and she was challenging to the machine that acts like some supernatural deity.
March 12, 2021
Evelyn Marcin is the main character in the book and she was employed as a shifty by Tarran McAndre's organisation on recommendation by Janeen the chief psychologist of the organisation whom was so experienced in human psychology that she could read a person like a book. There is the Point time, the Fork time and the Downtime shift. Evelyn Marcin is the shifty of the Downtime shift. Her life was an adventurous one as a result of her career and sometimes in the book she was disconnected from her loved ones. For instance, after she saved the life of her bossom friend Stan, he thought he would never see her again.
The book ushers in the effect of A.I(Artificial Intelligence) on human society by introducing the A.I called "The EYE" which is a machine that could decide and affect human way of existence in the society. Evelyn Marcin had conversations with "The EYE" sometimes and she was challenging to the machine that acts like some supernatural deity.
The book ushers in the effect of A.I(Artificial Intelligence) on human society by introducing the A.I called "The EYE" which is a machine that could decide and affect human way of existence in the society. Evelyn Marcin had conversations with "The EYE" sometimes and she was challenging to the machine that acts like some supernatural deity.
March 25, 2021
Downtime Shift was a novel I enjoyed, but also had notable drawbacks.
I really enjoyed the premise and how time travel was integrated into the universe. I also found the future world easy enough to conceptualize because of the how it felt like a realistic future. I also loved that there were strong female characters that were capable and not just sexual.
Unfortunately, I felt like the story could have been a bit more complex. It wasn't bad, but I left it feeling like not much really happened. I would have loved to see more unexpected challenges and the romance didn't seem to have a lot of depth or lead up. I left the book feeling like I wanted more from it. I'm hoping more will come from the second book in the series!
My final note is that I feel like it could have used more editing. Grammatical errors really keep me from becoming fully engaged in a story and this was a book in which that happened.
I really enjoyed the premise and how time travel was integrated into the universe. I also found the future world easy enough to conceptualize because of the how it felt like a realistic future. I also loved that there were strong female characters that were capable and not just sexual.
Unfortunately, I felt like the story could have been a bit more complex. It wasn't bad, but I left it feeling like not much really happened. I would have loved to see more unexpected challenges and the romance didn't seem to have a lot of depth or lead up. I left the book feeling like I wanted more from it. I'm hoping more will come from the second book in the series!
My final note is that I feel like it could have used more editing. Grammatical errors really keep me from becoming fully engaged in a story and this was a book in which that happened.
May 17, 2021
I always find it a challenge to write a review because I don't read enough of them to know how to formulate them properly.
I find that the concepts in this book are interesting and I wish some of them had been developed further. There are several moments where I thought, but why was this character in the story, or why was this plot idea developed a little, but not expanded on enough.
I feel that with more elaboration some of the ideas and concepts hinted at in this book, could make for a more complete book later on. I know that there is a second book in the series and I have considered reading it. I got a copy for free via booktasters, but for simplicity I got it via Kindle Unlimited to read.
One of my favourite English teachers always asked of my writing "So what, elaborate" and I feel that this first book would have benefited from the same question being asked at a number of points. I do like the concepts, and the questions that are asked,
I find that the concepts in this book are interesting and I wish some of them had been developed further. There are several moments where I thought, but why was this character in the story, or why was this plot idea developed a little, but not expanded on enough.
I feel that with more elaboration some of the ideas and concepts hinted at in this book, could make for a more complete book later on. I know that there is a second book in the series and I have considered reading it. I got a copy for free via booktasters, but for simplicity I got it via Kindle Unlimited to read.
One of my favourite English teachers always asked of my writing "So what, elaborate" and I feel that this first book would have benefited from the same question being asked at a number of points. I do like the concepts, and the questions that are asked,
May 27, 2021
I give this a 3.5 technically, the story was very intriguing. It almost makes you stop and think about so many different movies at once, in this case, it puts me in the feel of the last season of AHS and the matrix.
Evelyn Marcin is a shifty, someone who can travel time from Point Time in the future to Down Time in the current present. Evelyn becomes a fugitive and legend when she defies the Eye, the artificial intelligence in control of civilization, and remains in Down Time.
It was a nice read but it really gave me The Matrix type of feel or even the Black Mirror series on Netflix. Where a person plugs into an alternate universe, plain, or realm. The time travel element made me enjoy the story even better, but for me it left my mind whirling much like Evelyns', I had nothing but more questions at the end, which isn't always terrible but in this case I wanted some answers. I really didn't know what to believe towards the end, who really was the enemy here.
Evelyn Marcin is a shifty, someone who can travel time from Point Time in the future to Down Time in the current present. Evelyn becomes a fugitive and legend when she defies the Eye, the artificial intelligence in control of civilization, and remains in Down Time.
It was a nice read but it really gave me The Matrix type of feel or even the Black Mirror series on Netflix. Where a person plugs into an alternate universe, plain, or realm. The time travel element made me enjoy the story even better, but for me it left my mind whirling much like Evelyns', I had nothing but more questions at the end, which isn't always terrible but in this case I wanted some answers. I really didn't know what to believe towards the end, who really was the enemy here.
January 9, 2021
A copy of this book was given to me courtesy of Robert Holding and Booktasters for an honest review. Downtime Shift is a sci-fi story set in the twenty-ninth century. Evelyn Marcin is a shifty, someone who can travel time from Point Time in the future to Down Time in the current present. Evelyn becomes a fugitive and legend when she defies the Eye, the artificial intelligence in control of civilization, and remains in Down Time.
Stan and other Shifties are sent to retrieve her. However, things aren't how they appear. Many are rooting for Evelyn to achieve her goal.
Dialogue heavy, Downtime Shift left me with lots of questions to ponder along with Evelyn. Who is the real enemy? How much control should artificial intelligence have on how societies are created? If you are a sci-fi fan, I recommend adding this story to your collection.
Stan and other Shifties are sent to retrieve her. However, things aren't how they appear. Many are rooting for Evelyn to achieve her goal.
Dialogue heavy, Downtime Shift left me with lots of questions to ponder along with Evelyn. Who is the real enemy? How much control should artificial intelligence have on how societies are created? If you are a sci-fi fan, I recommend adding this story to your collection.
May 29, 2020
I liked the idea of this book, but it was not well executed. The characters were flat, as there was little to no character development throughout the book. The author also relied too much on dialogue to move the plot along. There was no description, just telling. While I was reading the book, it felt like everything was taking place on a blank stage. There was nothing to give readers any visual context of the world the book is set in. Characters were also lacking in description, I had no idea what they looked like other than a few bland descriptions. Overall, this read like a first draft. I think that if the author put more time and thought into the plot and writing, this book could be good.
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