Paradox Bound: A Novel

When a book’s description mentions time travel I’m usually hooked. And because I thoroughly enjoyed Peter Clines’ 14 and The Fold, I enthusiastically jumped into his latest, Paradox Bound (Crown Publishing, digital galley).

This science fiction adventure follows Eli Teague, a young IT tech who has spent most of his life preparing for the chance that he might again run into a time traveling woman he first encountered as a boy. When she does reappear, he is ready and determined to learn more about her, setting off on a road trip across the country and through history.

I don’t want to give away any of the plot, so I’ll simply say the premise that drives this journey is a little silly for my taste. But putting that aside I enjoyed the time travel aspects of this book as well as the interplay between the two lead characters. The mechanism for traveling through time is rather original and fits nicely in this story, so I’ll also leave it to readers to discover.

Paradox Bound is a fun read that comes to a satisfying conclusion and, as the title promises, paradoxes add interesting twists to the plot.

Clines has become one of my top 5 favorite authors and with each new release is steadily climbing up that list. Paradox Bound has a truly great plot, driven by exceptional characters that you immediately connect with. As I've said before about some other stories by diffetent authors, it's great to have a complete story wrapped up in a single book and not dragged out over a needles trilogy.

This is a delightful mix of time-travel, road trip and secret history novel. I enjoyed Eli's quirk (he's a car-guy) and the way Clines used that to put some wonderful cars -- and other vehicles-- into the story. I thought the conception of "the dream" was original, and I liked the sense of Americana as Eli and the mysterious Harriet--or Harry, as she prefers to be called--criss-cross the United States in various periods of history. Nice contemporary fantasy with a bonus for all you gearheads out there!

I really enjoyed this book and all the geekery. I don’t normally read books, due to my dyslexia and ADD, however when The 8bit Geek Podcast recommended this book, I hopped right on. It’s a book that can be enjoyed by most people: History fans, Car fans, Geeks, Sci-fi Fans, etc. there is something in this book for everyone

Peter Clines wrote another clever and fast book I couldn’t put down. Part time travel part fantasy combine to make this a book with a unique plot. I enjoyed the character, Harry, because of her old-fashioned sense of propriety with a take charge attitude. The violence is much less in this Clines book and there’s no sex and little colorful language.

Author Peter Clines had something of a minor hit with his novel _The Fold_. Many of the reviews of that work noted that it held together well for two-thirds of its length before collapsing at the finish line.

_Paradox Bound_ is Clines's latest work, and it suffers from the opposite problem: it takes two-thirds of its length before it actually delivers anything worthwhile. The question is whether readers will slog through 240 pages before the book gets (mildly) interesting.

This piece of time-travel, quasi-steampunk, (nationalistic) romance and quest is a story about America: American history, American heroes, American citizens, American small towns, and American ideals. It's about the soul of a nation. It's about people looking to make a life and something great out of it, no matter when they were born or where.

Unfortunately, it's also the story of what happens when an author gets possessed by an idea yet can't bring all the elements together to make a novel worth reading. Tellingly, in the afterword, Clines confesses this book took a long time to write, and both his agent and editor kept pressing him forward into it.

They shouldn't have.

A young boy meets an anachronistic traveler driving a Ford Model A with a not-at-all-old technology powering it. He meets the traveler a few times over the course of his youth. He notices the boyish traveler isn't so boyish because she doesn't wear a bra and yet probably should, which is obvious to the teenaged boy on their next encounter. So much for subtlety.

Turns out, the traveler is looking for something. A massive something, but which has inexplicably gone missing. Why the traveler is so desperate to find this missing thing to the point of dying for the quest never truly coalesces in a satisfying way in the narrative, but then suspension of disbelief runs so high in this novel, asking legit questions will make the whole work up and vanish like dew at noon.

Eventually, the boy becomes a man, and the boyish woman stays herself, and they partner up for the quest, for its danger, for the cross-country travelogue, for meeting some historical/mythical characters, and for a scant-little sexual tension, because life and death and bralessness.

So _Paradox Bound_ is a quest that meanders and meanders and meanders, both in narrative and locale, and asks for more and more suspension of disbelief, and along the way, you almost get to know the two protagonists, almost get to understand their foes, almost think you understand how they all travel through history, and almost get a feel for what the author is trying to do. And yet it all never gets beyond almost.

Readers never get a real feel for characterization. The heroes aren't compelling; they just are. People pop in and out, and there's no depth to any of them other than names and some loose connections. The bad guys don't make a lot of sense, and because they don't, the author keeps explaining why they do. The heart of the novel is a quest-like race, but it feels like it's just one set-piece after another that add up to nothing more than book length padding. Again, it takes almost 240 pages before the author gets to anything interesting. The ending, for anyone still paying attention, is telegraphed and inevitable. And the final confrontation will remind some of us of that painful, original _Star Trek_ episode "The Omega Glory," wherein Kirk pontificates about "the greatest of holies" to the Khoms and the Yangs.

In the end, the real quest in _Paradox Bound_ is to find a better way to make all of these idea work. Words abound in this novel, but they don't add up to much. Sadly for readers, as long as he spent writing it, Clines should have spent more. And his editor and agent needed to do far more than just rah-rah him onward.

Some books are so riveting, you can't put 'em down. This one is so tedious, I found it hard to pick up.

Skip.

This book was seriously fun! I knew that I wanted to read this book as soon as I saw it described as a time-travel thriller. I was completely entertained by the story from the first page. When I wasn't actually reading the book, I was thinking about how this kind of time travel would work. I am so glad that I made the decision to read this exciting story.

This book is told from Eli's point of view. We first meet Eli as a child and see him as he first encounters Harry. As a teenager, he comes across this same individual with her Model A Ford once again. After their third meet when Eli is an adult, he decides to find Harry so that he can warn her that she may be in danger. That is when Eli's life take a dramatic turn as he learns about people traveling through history.

I loved the time travel, or history travel, described in this book. There are two groups of people traveling through time. One group is searching for the American Dream while the other group is trying to stop them. The skip through time just by finding specific slick spots in the road that lead to a specific time period. Some towns are stuck in time while others have slick spots leading to many periods. The faceless men were also very interesting. The whole idea of their certainty gave me something to ponder as I went through my day. Who need eyes, a nose, a mouth, or a face when you have certainty? I was very glad that we were able to get a bit of perspective from this unique group.

The biggest strength of this book was that it was just a lot of fun. There were a lot of exciting scenes and enough mystery to keep me guessing. I thought that the whole concept of the story was well thought out and incredibly original. I also really appreciated the fact that the characters didn't get sidetracked with romance. Eli and Harry are simply working together to find the lost Dream.

I would highly recommend this book to others. I found this to be a really fun and exciting read filled with great characters. This is the kind of story that almost feels like it should be made into a movie or television show. I look forward to reading more from Peter Clines soon.

I received a review copy of this book from Crown Publishing via Blogging for Books and NetGalley.

This book started off with a vaguely Dean Koontz-like feel (disaffected protagonist who encounters some weird phenomenon) with some nice characterization. It then developed into a time-travel/road trip/treasure hunt/escape the hunter storyline. The time travel paradoxes were handled reasonably well, though more in the sense of acknowledging the paradoxes than attempting to provide a thorough explanation. I didn't find the book boring, not by any stretch, but for some reason, it felt less fulfilling when I finished, kind of like a meal that leaves you feeling hungry a few hours later.

I suppose it would be easy enough to dismiss this delightful, funny, thrilling, adventurous time travel novel as Back to the Future with Christopher Lloyd as a smart, sexy, female (there's an image I wish I'd never imaged!) but every line, every sentence, every paragraph, and every plot twist, is so much fun and so surprising, and so much fun, and so exciting and... did I mention iit's a lot of fun? that you just don't give a rat's patootie and keep on reading and enjoying

But, then, it IS a Peter Clines novel and, if you haven't read his stuff, you don't know WHAT you're missing!

While I was "reading" (listening to) this book, I encountered a strange phenomenon I've only had happen a few times: on the one hand, I didn't particularly enjoy the book (it was okay but uninspired), but on the other hand, I couldn't put it down. So...compelling, but only okay-ly written? I wasn't sure whether to give this 3 stars or 4, but decided to "round up", 'cause why not? Ultimately, I'm not sure whether or not I would recommend this book (so maybe it deserves 3 stars?). So yeah.

This is my first experience with the author and this book hooks you in right away with young Eli and his fascination with a mysteriously appearing car and its oddly dressed driver. I teased my husband because the main character - with is obsession for cars and the distinctions between being weird and eccentric - is just like him in a lot of ways! It's a fast-paced and engaging read with characters that are easy to like and makes the pages easy to just keep turning!

The plot of chasing a tangible American Dream is certainly unique - and the fun characters make it all the more exciting. The pacing is quick and with plenty of action from start to finish. It's a time travel novel, which like all in this subgenre, it doesn't really make complete sense, it is certainly fun if you don't overthink it! I really liked the characters - and if a sequel is ever created, I would definitely be excited to see them again! It was funny and fun! I am definitely curious to check out more of his older novels now, too!

This exciting tale takes the reader on a voyage through American history on a new look at the concept of time travel and the consequences and meaning for not only the individual but a whole country as well. What are you waiting for? Go get a copy!

I enjoyed the experience of listening to this fun and intriguing audio book. I do not primarily read science fiction books, but for some reason this one caught my attention. The method of time travel as well as the reason for the characters' scavenger hunt through a variety of geographical locations and time periods is gradually revealed as the plot unfolds. I found the main characters to be quite likable and their exploits interesting enough that I put time aside each day to keep up with their exploits. For me, it was one of those books where I was sad when the book came to an end.

This exciting tale takes the reader on a voyage through American history on a new look at the concept of time travel and the consequences and meaning for not only the individual but a whole country as well. What are you waiting for? Go get a copy!

I enjoyed the experience of listening to this fun and intriguing audio book. I do not primarily read science fiction books, but for some reason this one caught my attention. The method of time travel as well as the reason for the characters' scavenger hunt through a variety of geographical locations and time periods is gradually revealed as the plot unfolds. I found the main characters to be quite likable and their exploits interesting enough that I put time aside each day to keep up with their exploits. For me, it was one of those books where I was sad when the book came to an end.

I started listening to this audio book a couple of days ago after reading "The Fold", which I enjoyed quite a bit.

The narrator is the awesome Ray Porter, so no problem there. After about 3 hours I checked the time - I rarely do this other than when I wonder why I'm listening. I ended up returning the book after listening to about one third of it because I couldn't get past the ridiculous one dimensional characters. There's Eli who lives in a one horse town in Maine where nothing ever happens - but won't move because it's "home". He never really says why it's home because there's only a brief mention of his mother in the beginning of the book and nothing about any family. There are a couple of mentions of friends but nothing that would make him stay. He's got a degree in computer science but can only get a job in a bank 30 minutes away because "you can't make any $ with that sort of degree".

There's Harriet - Harry - the "history traveler" because that what she says every time Eli calls her a time traveler. She's on a hunt for "the American dream" which apparently is a god made real thing that will let who ever possesses it change the entire US to become whatever he or she wants. The dream was stolen or lost and now there are people and "faceless men" after the dream and the dream hunters ("history travelers").

The "faceless men" are called that because they have no eyes, mouths, or noses - they wear clear plastic Halloween masks with these features. But when people interact with them and realize that they have no faces- like Eli - do they absolutely lose it? Are they terrified? Nope. How do the faceless men function with no faces? They have "certainty" within a 300 foot range.

Eli's nemesis from his home town - Zeke the bully who's become a cop - is conscripted by the "faceless men". They kidnap him and perform surgery to remove all his facial features and more. When he wakes up from the surgery and realizes that he has not face anymore does he go mad? No, he asks the faceless surgeon why he can't remember his name.

If this isn't enough crazy then I don't know what is - and I am always willing to suspend belief for a good story.

To put it briefly, this is a delightful novel that smacks with just the right amounts of Doctor Who and Men in Black without it feeling the least bit derivative of either. My advice is to ignore the reviews or the detailed descriptions and just dive in to the book as cold as possible. Also, this is a perfect gift for people who ae leery of genre but are also looking for something a bit different.

I always enjoy Peter Clines books because of their sarcastic, easy to comprehend format. They are purely pleasure reads. I enjoyed Paradox Bound more than I thought I would. I am not a history buff, but after reading this book I have wanted to learn more about US history as the ideas presented in the book were easily digestible and enjoyable. I would highly recommend the audio book version as well, as the narration by Ray Porter is excellent.

“Paradox Bound” is a recently released, best-selling, and highly-rated audiobook novel written by Peter Clines.  The audiobook edition is skillfully narrated by Ray Porter; who is quickly becoming one of my favorite narrators of the science fiction category.  Many may say that this book is just another time travel story, However, you would be incorrect in this assumption.  As you quickly learn, this is not about traveling through time, but instead, it is about traveling through history in search of a lost dream.  Take many aspects of a well-developed science fiction story, blend it with the suspense from a solid thriller, and toss in some fun humorous elements and you have a good idea of what you will find while listening to this book.  Even though at times the story may have been somewhat predictable, the number of times I was surprised and entertained made up for them.  If you are a fan of Clines’ work or just like a well-developed contemporary science fiction story, I recommend you pick up this book.

I found the book to be a combination of “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, “Back to the Future”, “The Matrix”, and a little “Dr. Who”.  It sounds like a strange mix of stories, but it works in this novel.  Again, it is less a focus on time travel per se, but more a focus on traveling through history with a potential to impact the future; and present.  From the start of the book, it felt a little like the story of “The country mouse and the city mouse”, and what was even more funny was when the author said this in the book itself.  A young boy growing up in a small Maine town sheltered from nearly everything new (apart from a video store), who is thrown into not only the big city but the world and history which all depends on his success.

From the very beginning of the story, we are left wondering who these mysterious people are that the main character interacts with as a young boy.  He discovers a stranger who is riding in a strange vehicle and is being perused by even stranger people.  A few years later he again meets this stranger who is there and gone just as quickly as before.  It was not until a few years later that their paths once again cross and the main character is lead on the strangest adventure of his life.  The author did an exceptional job of keeping my interest by always having something new or unique on every page.  If you are a person who can suspend belief and loves well-told stories where there are paradoxes within paradoxes, I think you will really enjoy this book.

For me, the author did a very good job of developing the characters by giving them depth and personality.  As the story unfolds, you are treated to some interesting backstory details by way of flashbacks.  What better way of telling a story than to have a school bully, a girl you love, and a mission to accomplish.  All the foundations are there, and Clines’ pieces them together in a way that only he can.  In many ways, what often seems mundane, Clines finds a way of making it fun and interesting.  There is a fair amount of banter and amusement between characters which helps to relieve some of the built-up tension of the main plot line.  Take all of this and throw in some great technology, some old fashion cars, and even a train and you have a science fiction story with a slight Steampunk feeling.  I also found the location of the story of interest to me as I’m from the Northeastern United States.

The book’s narration was performed by one of the more prolific narrators on Audible, Ray Porter.  I have nothing negative to say about the narration or the audio quality; it was exceptional.  Even having to voice a female main character, he pulls it off where many fail.  His voice is rich and dark which added additional atmosphere to the story.  The characters felt unique and that each had their own voiced personality.  I personally have listened to thirty or more of his narrated books and enjoyed every one of them.

For parents and younger readers, there are some references to sex and sexual parts of the body in this story.  There is also some use of vulgar language throughout the story.  It is not as much as other books in the genre, but be aware it exists.  If these are items that may be offensive to you, I would recommend you find a different audiobook to listen too.

In summary, I agree with many who have rated this book highly.  The story and characters are likable, complex, and fun.  The technology is well researched, implemented, and not overly used.  If you are a fan of contemporary science fiction stories, I believe you will not be disappointed listening to “Paradox Bound”.  If you find yourself listening to the book, make sure you listen to the author’s notes during the last chapter.  I found his reasoning for the story, support from friends and family, along with the choice of subject matter interesting and it added to the overall story; I recommend you do not skip it.

Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]

This book is the ultimate summer binge read. It's a captivating mixture of road trip comedy, elegant sci-fi "time" travel, and schmaltz-free Americana with a delightful pair of lead characters as well as a plethora of background folks begging for expanded stories of their own. Definitely a must read.

This book manages to have an impressive balance of interesting plot elements and utterly disinteresting everything else. How can a book about time traveling classic cars be so mind-numbingly boring? Is it the generic and spiritless main character? The manic-pixie-dream-girl time traveling human plot advancer whose only role appears to be to refuse to tell the main character anything while also telling him 'too much' so he keeps waiting... no, it's because she accidentally flashed him, that's why he's obsessed.

Then bad guys show up and they're generic faceless (tee hee, literally) goons who can be evil in public because reasons and haven't i read this before?

I've enjoyed many of Peter Clines books, and Paradox Bound does not disappoint. I do, however, doubt that Mr. Clines actually knows what a Rumble Seat is - you don't sit on the rumble seat to drive. Sigh.

Disappointing. When the concept becomes clear a few chapters in, you realize you're being asked to suspend all possibliity of belief and just go along with a ridiculous premise. And for what? The lead characters aren't particularly likable and the gruesome violence that follows is uncomfortable. I'd rather read something more pleasant.

Riddled with plot holes, tired tropes, flat characters and borderline cliches. I honestly don't understand how anyone above the age of 13 enjoyed this book. It should be marked as YA, and it should have a much, much lower rating. It's single redeeming value is the heroine, who at least portrays women as something more than arm candy....but still plays supporting character to a man.

Full disclosure: I read just over the halfway point before I gave up.

The premise of this novel had me really intrigued and excited to read this novel. However, my actual experience with this book was ... underwhelming. The story revolves around Harry, the mysterious stranger that Eli meets, as well as a host of other characters who are all looking for a very important thing: the American dream. And to do this, they are going through different time points in American history to find it. Now, I love a good time travel story, especially since the concept of time travel is not the easiest to write about. I quite enjoyed the jumps in time and how it forced the reader to pay attention to all of the little details in the book. However, I wasn't so impressed with the characters. They were all just so bland and they really didn't hold any interest. With such a whimsical story idea, I expect really fantastic characters that leave an impression on the reader. Even the villains weren't as villainous as I was hoping. The entire time I was reading this novel, it felt like everything stopped just shy of being amazing. The pace was just short of gripping and edgy, the thrills and dangers were just short of being scary, the characters were just short of being charismatic, and the ending was just short of being satisfactory. While the premise and concept was interesting, I don't think the execution was the best. This definitely wasn't a memorable story, but it could have been. For that reason, I'm giving this a 2.5/5 stars. 

Thanks to Blogging for Books, NetGalley, and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. 

I usually avoid books about time travel. They tend to get so wrapped up in twisting time lines that they end in confusion. That is not the case here. As Harry, one of our main characters and the lead in traveling the whatever, says: we are not traveling in time, we are traveling in history. Same effect, we move from time to time, but here try to do no damage to history or the timeline.
Time or history traveling is not the only thing you have to accept for this book to work. Here the American Dream is a real thing and it's missing. Maybe it was stolen. Several people are looking for it, with all the history traveling. They are being chased by the Faceless Men, who are supposed to be guarding the Dream. Chases and safe places and trying not to disrupt history all get added in. For this book I ignored my distaste for time travel and just enjoyed the adventure.

Another great book by Peter Clines! This one was a bunch of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. (that was a Doctor Who reference) I admit, I got a little excited when Clines made a Doctor Who reference in this story which is very appropriate since this book deals with time travel. Okay not time travel, but history travel. It's about chasing the American Dream, but the dream isn't what you'd think. The searchers of the dream can travel through certain points in America's history.

From previous books, I know that Clines is a fan of H.P. Lovecraft. He references Lovecraft's monsters in The Fold and 14. He only makes a brief mention of them in this book. It was about a possible future.

I'm pleased to see Ray Porter narrating. He has narrated for Clines before and always does an outstanding job with the story.

“Paradox Bound” is a recently released, best-selling, and highly-rated audiobook novel written by Peter Clines.  The audiobook edition is skillfully narrated by Ray Porter; who is quickly becoming one of my favorite narrators of the science fiction category.  Many may say that this book is just another time travel story, However, you would be incorrect in this assumption.  As you quickly learn, this is not about traveling through time, but instead, it is about traveling through history in search of a lost dream.  Take many aspects of a well-developed science fiction story, blend it with the suspense from a solid thriller, and toss in some fun humorous elements and you have a good idea of what you will find while listening to this book.  Even though at times the story may have been somewhat predictable, the number of times I was surprised and entertained made up for them.  If you are a fan of Clines’ work or just like a well-developed contemporary science fiction story, I recommend you pick up this book.

I found the book to be a combination of “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, “Back to the Future”, “The Matrix”, and a little “Dr. Who”.  It sounds like a strange mix of stories, but it works in this novel.  Again, it is less a focus on time travel per se, but more a focus on traveling through history with a potential to impact the future; and present.  From the start of the book, it felt a little like the story of “The country mouse and the city mouse”, and what was even more funny was when the author said this in the book itself.  A young boy growing up in a small Maine town sheltered from nearly everything new (apart from a video store), who is thrown into not only the big city but the world and history which all depends on his success.

From the very beginning of the story, we are left wondering who these mysterious people are that the main character interacts with as a young boy.  He discovers a stranger who is riding in a strange vehicle and is being perused by even stranger people.  A few years later he again meets this stranger who is there and gone just as quickly as before.  It was not until a few years later that their paths once again cross and the main character is lead on the strangest adventure of his life.  The author did an exceptional job of keeping my interest by always having something new or unique on every page.  If you are a person who can suspend belief and loves well-told stories where there are paradoxes within paradoxes, I think you will really enjoy this book.

For me, the author did a very good job of developing the characters by giving them depth and personality.  As the story unfolds, you are treated to some interesting backstory details by way of flashbacks.  What better way of telling a story than to have a school bully, a girl you love, and a mission to accomplish.  All the foundations are there, and Clines’ pieces them together in a way that only he can.  In many ways, what often seems mundane, Clines finds a way of making it fun and interesting.  There is a fair amount of banter and amusement between characters which helps to relieve some of the built-up tension of the main plot line.  Take all of this and throw in some great technology, some old fashion cars, and even a train and you have a science fiction story with a slight Steampunk feeling.  I also found the location of the story of interest to me as I’m from the Northeastern United States.

The book’s narration was performed by one of the more prolific narrators on Audible, Ray Porter.  I have nothing negative to say about the narration or the audio quality; it was exceptional.  Even having to voice a female main character, he pulls it off where many fail.  His voice is rich and dark which added additional atmosphere to the story.  The characters felt unique and that each had their own voiced personality.  I personally have listened to thirty or more of his narrated books and enjoyed every one of them.

For parents and younger readers, there are some references to sex and sexual parts of the body in this story.  There is also some use of vulgar language throughout the story.  It is not as much as other books in the genre, but be aware it exists.  If these are items that may be offensive to you, I would recommend you find a different audiobook to listen too.

In summary, I agree with many who have rated this book highly.  The story and characters are likable, complex, and fun.  The technology is well researched, implemented, and not overly used.  If you are a fan of contemporary science fiction stories, I believe you will not be disappointed listening to “Paradox Bound”.  If you find yourself listening to the book, make sure you listen to the author’s notes during the last chapter.  I found his reasoning for the story, support from friends and family, along with the choice of subject matter interesting and it added to the overall story; I recommend you do not skip it.

Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]