"Here and Now and Then" First Impressions *No Spoilers*

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

This is the selection for our mod-curated sci fi this month! What do you think?

Please stay vague and avoid any specifics on character development or plot progression -- the full discussion thread will be up in a week!

[Victoria]

I'm really really liking this story. I'm about half way through and enjoying it very much. I have found myself pass by bedtime totally intrigued, wanting yet another chapter.

[Victoria]

Also, since I read the author is (was?) a contributor in The Mary Sue I liked it even more, given I've been reading that site's feed for years and always like what they have to say.

[Gabi]

I loved it as well, had me in tears several times.

[Ryan]

Halfway through, I'm finding it mediocre so far. Will finish it this week.

[Jen]

I just loved it- I'm often a sucker for time travel, but couple that with family and I'm all for it. I really liked the way that he drew his characters- even in a very strange situation, they still acted exactly like human beings. One of my favourite books so far this year.

[Dawn F]

I guess it’s not really first impression when I’ve finished it lol. But I will say I was gripped by this time travel thriller from start to end and completely loved it.

[Bicky]

I am not a great fan of time travel or alternate universes. The only one I have really enjoyed was Replay. Anyway, I will give this a try.

[Travis]

I DNFed, mostly because I really didn't like the main character, which would be fine except that I kept getting the feeling the author really, really wanted me to like the main character!

[Paul]

I'm waiting to see general thoughts on this one as I could only find a hard back version of this book and its a bit expensive for a speculative buy.

[Cheryl]

I finished it. Will say more in spoilers thread.

[Anat]

I started this yesterday. I like how it's fast paced, but I'm not sure if I like the style yet or not. It's interesting enough to keep me going!

[Ariana]

Not for me. I love time travel, but I guess maybe I have pretty high standards.

[Ryan]

Ariana wrote: "Not for me. I love time travel, but I guess maybe I have pretty high standards."

I don't think I've read a time travel book that I really liked - though I haven't read very many, maybe about 5. What are your favorites?

[Andy]

Anat wrote: "I started this yesterday. I like how it's fast paced, but I'm not sure if I like the style yet or not. It's interesting enough to keep me going!"

Ariana wrote: "Not for me. I love time travel, but I guess maybe I have pretty high standards."

I'm about 1/3 of the way in and might have to DNF. The story is well paced, and the setting and plot premise are interesting, but the time travel is causing me problems, too. I'm also a little distracted by the style occasionally. Not bad, just not working for me.

[Bicky]

Ariana wrote: "Not for me. I love time travel, but I guess maybe I have pretty high standards."

Along with Ryan, I too am interested in knowing, which are your favourites?

[Ariana]

Bicky wrote: "Ariana wrote: "Not for me. I love time travel, but I guess maybe I have pretty high standards."

Along with Ryan, I too am interested in knowing, which are your favourites?"

Hyperion is excellent. I also quite liked The Time Traveler's Wife. Connie Willis's Oxford Time Travel series are pretty good, like Blackout/All Clear, but I think I liked them more for the historical aspects than the time travel

Not a book, but the movie Primer stands out for me as a shining star of the genre.

What I'm really looking for is internal consistency. I'll wait til the spoiler thread to discuss what irked me about this book.

[Andy]

Ariana wrote: "Hyperion is excellent...the movie Primer stands out for me as a shining star of the genre."

Good picks! Except for Hyperion and Primer, I think all time travel fiction has made me either grumpy or sad...

I've added Blackout to my reading shelf.

[Ryan]

Ariana, you might like https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1.... I thought it was good (not amazing), and if you're looking for internal consistency and cool multiple timelines, you will enjoy it.

[Bicky]

Thanks, Ariana, Will follow your suggestions.

[Anat]

The more I read the more I feel conflicted... I don't hate it, it's just, a lot of the things feel like a cop-out, I'll vent about it in the spoiler thread I guess. But also, I felt from the very beginning that 2142 is not that far off from 2014, and a lot of pre-millennial ppl may feel like living in very different eras that this notion of brain not handling the memories is a bit iffy to me.

[Hank, Hankenstein's Modster]

I am really enjoying it so far about 25% done. My one grumble is with the narrator of the audio. If you have more than one character with an english accent, it would be useful to have a narrator that can actually do that.

[Ariana]

Ryan wrote: "Ariana, you might like https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1.... I thought it was good (not amazing), and if you're looking for internal consistency an..."

Thanks! Looks interesting!

[Cheryl]

I liked Replay and so do lots of other TT fans. If you're coming from suspense, you might like Dark Matter (but I didn't). If you're coming from general fiction, historical fiction, or romance, you might find Time And Again moving. "A Wrinkle in Time" does *not* qualify. In another group we're reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (I've not started but I assume I'll like it for its satire but not for its SF).

[Andy]

Thanks for the good suggestions.

This all got me thinking about good vs. bad TT in general. I just opened a new topic with thoughts/questions about that.

[Edwin]

I am only about 15% in, but my initial thoughts are :

--an interesting time travel idea idea, but as others have voiced, the plot just doesn't feel very original; "been there, done that"
--the writing is at times choppy and, well un-literary, and the dialogue, especially the interactions between Ken and his wife, just is not very real or convincing
--like Hank, I am audio-booking this one, and I too am not overly impressed with the narrator. His English accent attempts sound like some kind of distorted blend of Australian, English and who knows what.
--I probably won't give up, but so far, my overall impression is "meh"

And I agree with the recommendations for Replay. A great book.

[Bicky]

I agree with Edwin and hope the book somehow becomes better because at the moment it is an effort.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Yeah...this one lost me pretty quickly. I polled the men in my life what they'd do in some of the scenarios and we all agreed we wouldn't do anything like what happened in this book. My dad suggested I time travel to hit Kin lol

So, if anyone has a reality-changing device and wants to insert me into this book to hit Kin, I've got all the encouragement I need!

[Hank, Hankenstein's Modster]

building one now....contacting Jasper Forde for help

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Hank wrote: "building one now....contacting Jasper Forde for help"

haha!

[J.W.]

I only just started but I got slight vibes of The Big Time by fritz Leiber from it and that pleases me.

[Stephen]

Really enjoying this so far. I love a good time travel novel. The last one i read was Unhappenings by Edward Aubry. I absolutely loved that one.

[Dawn F]

Oooooh thanks for the recs!

[Oleksandr]

I started it yesterday and so far an easy (if a little weak) read. I gues it is not so much SF as a novel with SF elements...

[Dawn F]

Yeah, it definitely feels more like an easily consumable thriller with a bit of scifi elements than any hard SF. I compare it to Dean Koontz’s Lightning.

[Jay]

Ugh, I'm so bad. I bought this book at the beginning of April but I haven't even started it. Other books keep popping up that I spontaneously start reading, promising I'll start Here and Now and Then right after I finish...