“Life’s better with a few risks than a lot of regrets.”
SPOILER FREE
In 1967, in a laboratory in Cumbria, four female scientists invent time travel, not knowing just how huge it would be come, nor what repercussions it would have on the world and themselves. Fast forward 50 years and time travel is a big business. Ruby and her grandmother receive a note from the future, warning of an elderly woman’s violent death – but who is she? Odette finds the dead woman at work, but her death doesn’t quite make sense – and why is everyone determined to cover up her murder?
This book is a great steaming mug of GIRL POWER and I am 100% HERE FOR IT. It was a breath of fresh air to read a book where all the main characters were women. The good guys, the bad guys, the scientists. Every angle had a strong female lead – which I have found to be fairly rare in this kind of genre.
Time travel is a great but risky concept for a sci-fi novel, and can very easily go wrong. It can be difficult as a reader to keep up with multiple stories across multiple timelines, never mind being the author who’s created them all! There were a few moments in this book where I did get confused, however nothing so big that it ruined to flow of the story for me.
The whole thing is very cleverly done, with so many aspects making it feel that much more real and deeper than just a story. Mascarenhas has created a whole new set vocabulary to go with the creation of time travel and the business side of it, as would happen with things like this in real life. There is a glossary at the back of the book – my favourite term being “emus” – people who travel through time in a single direction, coined because emus can’t walk backwards. The psychometric tests candidates have to take before becoming time travellers are also included at the back of the book. I loved this addition, as I encountered a lot of this kind of thing whilst studying Psychology at university.
I first read this book on the kindle app, and felt like the book was too short. I received a physical copy for my birthday and have realised that it’s actually a decent sized book, I’m clearly just too greedy and wanted MORE!
I initially gave this book 4 out of 5 starts on Goodreads, however after writing this review and getting a sudden surge of love for this book, and desperately wanting to read it again I feel it’s only fair I bump it up to 5 stars.
Plus the cover is really pretty.
lauragetslost 