All Our Wrong Todays: A Novel

This book is like being mansplained time-travel by a whiny, underachieving narrator with father issues. The ideas are interesting (with a few gaping holes, but hey, it's time-travel fiction), and the novel is written in a conversational tone that's easy to read, but the characters are very flat and the narrator doesn't have many redeeming qualities. If you're looking for a quick read in the airport, I say go for it, but I bought this book because of all of the hype surrounding it, and of that it certainly falls short.

An odd kind of self awareness permeates contemporary science fiction. It often manifests as a kind of self-derogatory humor or a device meant to have a work parody itself before anyone else gets the chance. Authors wrap this in literary devices, eschewing explicit statement of the self reflection. That lends a quality of insecurity to the work. But not in this case. The author's seeming honesty in self-criticism paradoxically conveys confidence. In turn, this lends credibility to the narrator. Whatever apparent collective consciousness has shaped the often abortive attempts to craft this new literary device, Elan Mastai has perfected its design.

Could not put this book down - finished it in two days. Granted, I tend to enjoy anything time-travel related, but I did think the way it was handled in this book was really interesting. Based on all the reviews here I thought it was going to be super heavy on the science, but I found it to be interesting and exciting to have some descriptions of how the technology works in this world. There were many moments where I was gripped with fear for our protagonist, and I may have gotten teary eyed once. The "summary" chapters were kind of annoying but they ended up having a purpose - there was only one moment of summary in the book that I really thought dragged on way too long, where our female protagonist says "how would I explain to someone what's happened in the past few days?" and the she proceeds, for pages, to recap exactly what's happened in the past few days. I tried to appreciate getting her perspective of events, but ultimately it did not add much.

Review first published on jenasbookreviews.blogspot.com

Tom Barren's 2016 is nothing like the one we currently live in. There, an unlimited supply of energy was created in the 1950s and led to a society where basic needs are always met and the only thing worth pursuing is entertainment. Now his father has created the ultimate entertainment device, a time machine but he didn't foresee all the problems that would arise when his disappointment of a son goes and mucks it all up.

But did he? Sure, he went back in time and kept the unlimited energy thing from ever happening but he is so much happier in this 2016. He has a better relationship with both his parents, a sister that did not exist in his 2016, and may have even found his soulmate. Does he try to change things back to the way they were, the way he thinks they should be? Or does he enjoy what he has in this timeline?

That description of the book actually makes it sound interesting and so does every other description of it that I've read. Too bad reality doesn't align with those. It read like three different books with the first book being dull and plodding and why would you even care about any of these characters? The second book got interesting. There was plot, there were interesting psychological questions being posed, the characters were more engaged (seriously, I want a book from his sister's pov after all the sh*t went down), and this is the book that I wanted to read. The third book was just a rushed mishmash of gobbledegook that just did not work and made me want to throw things. There was no reason behind much of it in terms of the story I had been reading and enjoying and it just made me angry to have to leave that story for this one. Honestly, save your time and money and avoid this.

I enjoyed this book very much. It builds upon itself in thoughtful and unexpected ways, incorporating hard science fiction of time travel and alternate realities with thoughtful and emotional characters. While I did find the short chapters (each one 2-3 pages) a bit annoying for the story flow, I quickly got over it and tucked in for the ride. I particularly enjoyed the ending.

The book has an interesting concept. Instead of time traveler ruining our present as we understand it, he totally ruins the present, and it becomes our present. It was an enjoyable read. This is Elan Mastai's first book, and it is rough around the edges. It is written with a large number of chapters, each maybe a couple of pages. I am not sure if this a sign of "short attention span" widely attributed to millennials, or just his style. We will see.

A likable narrator has a dizzying number of mishaps as he inadvertently pulls apart the present. Great digressions, warm, funny, and a little out there. Very well done! Some beautiful writing and real wisdom, too.

Then it got ridiculous. About the time John showed up. Until then I was crazy impressed with the author's vision and writing style. After that it just kept going downhill until I was skipping (not skimming) pages. I blame this on the editor. I wouldn't normally take the time to review a book that disappointed me to such an extent if it wasn't for the fact that it started out so brilliant...

Interesting ideas that are never explored. The time travel aspect is confused and nonsensical. The narrator is very unlikable due to all of his serious character flaws and the first person style does not help.

I loved this book for many reasons, not least the reminder that we all tussle with other personalities as the main character (no plot spoilers) does. One minute we feel incompetent, the next we think we know it all and can’t be challenged. We appreciate those around us and tell them we love them or we take them for granted and ignore. I highlighted and revisit a quote that gave me comfort as to “why are we here?” Basically to enjoy and benefit what those before have done and enhance it for those that will come next. To have our little place in history and a role within the scheme of things. However, with the constant message that this should be done while debunking the myth that earth is here only for the benefit of humans, to use and destroy at will.

If a time travel book can be called "charming" then this is it, though it's the usual "he did it all for love" trope. But the writing, the main characters POV and the twist that he's traveling from the brightest timeline to, well, the one we exist in now made for an entertaining and original read.

Whiny, privileged, man-boy has a sad because life is hard. Tries to sex his way out of his self-indulgent misery, but, surprise!, he makes life worse for everyone. Does he save the world he broke? Does he ever become an actual adult? I do not care; I could not finish the book. Burn it all down.

The time travel plot is engaging and the world-building is fun. For the most part, though, this is a masturbatory Sad Dude novel. It's like spending a day at Disneyland with your least interesting coworker while they tell you all about their insecurities and sexual fantasies. Not worth it at all.

How did this book get so many positive reviews ? It is just an endless tide of whining. "Nobody loves me - whine, whine. Nobody respects me - whine, whine. Etc. Etc."

I was slogging through until I got to chapter 42, which is a recap of the plot so far. Why? Did he need to increase his word count?

I guess that people who are down and feeling isolated might like this book. The rest of you should avoid it.

“All Our Wrong Todays,” by debut novelist Elan Mastai, is almost too good to explain properly. I’m afraid I’ll make the mistake of gushing too enthusiastically. But I’ll try. This brilliantly written novel is part comic opera, part time-travel thriller, and part psychological mind-twister…but most of all, it is a wholly compelling and believable pseudo-memoir. As a reader, you can’t help but root for the main character, Tom Barren, even though he convinces you that he is solely responsible for destroying the utopian world we should all be currently living in today.

You see, Tom was civilization’s first time traveler, and as we’ve all always suspected, time travel can lead to very unexpected outcomes. Well, this book tells you the story of what happened before, during, and after that fateful first successful foray back in time. And what a fantastic, unusual, and entertaining story it is! He tells it with such wit, warmth, and humanity, you can’t help but believe it’s true. Yes, honestly: this books makes you believe! And isn’t that what great fiction is all about?

I’ll definitely be recommending this one to all my friends…and I mean everyone, i.e., those that love popular fiction, literary fiction, psychological fiction, romance literature, utopian fiction, techno-fiction, comic fiction; guys, gals; young, old; etc. etc. This book should appeal to all. I can certainly see why a big publishing house like Dutton picked up this debut novel and are giving it a very strong and wide marketing campaign. It deserves it.

The book also deserves to be made into a movie and, oh, what a wonderful and fun movie that would be!

“All Our Wrong Todays,” by debut novelist Elan Mastai, is almost too good to explain properly. I’m afraid I’ll make the mistake of gushing too enthusiastically. But I’ll try. This brilliantly written novel is part comic opera, part time-travel thriller, and part psychological mind-twister…but most of all, it is a wholly compelling and believable pseudo-memoir. As a reader, you can’t help but root for the main character, Tom Barren, even though he convinces you that he is solely responsible for destroying the utopian world we should all be currently living in today.

You see, Tom was civilization’s first time traveler, and as we’ve all always suspected, time travel can lead to very unexpected outcomes. Well, this book tells you the story of what happened before, during, and after that fateful first successful foray back in time. And what a fantastic, unusual, and entertaining story it is! He tells it with such wit, warmth, and humanity, you can’t help but believe it’s true. Yes, honestly: this books makes you believe! And isn’t that what great fiction is all about?

I’ll definitely be recommending this one to all my friends…and I mean everyone, i.e., those that love popular fiction, literary fiction, psychological fiction, romance literature, utopian fiction, techno-fiction, comic fiction; guys, gals; young, old; etc. etc. This book should appeal to all. I can certainly see why a big publishing house like Dutton picked up this debut novel and are giving it a very strong and wide marketing campaign. It deserves it.

The book also deserves to be made into a movie and, oh, what a wonderful and fun movie that would be!

Elan Mastai's debut novel All Our Wrong Todays is a delight to read. It is thoughtful, speculative, reflective science-fiction. Mastai wanders down plenty of scientific-sounding rabbit trails, enough to make it sound like sci-fi, but not so much that it gets in the way of a great time-travel story.

The story begins in 2016, but not our 2016. In this alternative timeline, the world's most famous scientist invented the Goettreider engine, which produces limitless energy spurred seemingly unlimited technological progress. Tom Barren's father, a protege of the more famous Goettreider, is about to become famous himself, as the inventor of time travel. Tom, the disappointment of the family, the slacker son who has not distinguished himself in any way, screws up the timeline of history by sneaking into his father's lab and traveling back in time to the moment the Goettreider engine is first activated.

When Tom returns to 2016 after his brief foray in the past, he finds himself in our 2016, in a future that has no Goettreider engine and missing all the technological and sociological advances it made possible. He's the same guy, only with memories from both timelines. Somehow he has to figure out who he really is. Plus, he has to convince his family and his girlfriend, who is the same but different in this new timeline, that he's not absolutely crazy.

Wracked with guilt about potentially having eliminated billions of people who were never born as a result of his tinkering with history, he contemplates trying to fix it. But as he tries to explain to Goettreider, "time travel is very bad at fixing mistakes. What it's very good at is creating even worse mistakes." In this sense, All Our Wrong Todays engages many of the same questions countless movies and books about time travel have raised. But Mastai does it oh so well!

One of the real-life ideas (in our timeline, and, apparently in the other timeline as well) that Mastai introduces is French philosopher Paul Virilio's idea concept of the integral accident. As Tom/Mastai describes it, it's "the idea that every time you introduce a new technology, you also introduce the accident of that technology, so you have a responsibility to anticipate not just the good it can do but also the bad it can wreak, not just the glory but also the ruin." The invention of train travel is also the invention of derailment, for example.

Tom/Mastai has written not a novel, but a memoir. "And the best thing about a memoir is it doesn't even need to make sense." But in an entertaining and thoughtful way, All Our Wrong Todays makes perfect sense, and, whether a novel or a memoir, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Short Review: An imaginative first-person tale of time traveling predicated on semi-realistic constraints that explores what could have been but what really is. As a philosophical exploration of morality, love, human priorities and imagination, this novel works. From a technical perspective, however, it constantly trips over itself and is muddled by inconsistent ideas.

Longer Review: This novel is told in the first person and is presented by the narrator-character as a memoir. To this end, this novel engages in quite a bit of meta-level story telling (that is, the first person accounting from the character talks a lot about the narrative structure of stories and novels and memoirs in general). This, among other aspects, results in a story that quite often breaks the 4th wall, and not really in a good way. Most first person stories are told in such a way that the reader is assumed to be a bystander in the fiction of the world that the narrator lives in. Here, however, the narrator-character oftentimes breaks the narrative flow to go off on a speculative or reflective tangent that does little to move the narrative forward, or otherwise engages in a lengthy bit of meta-exposition.

Overall, the story is fast-paced but rich in language and emotional descriptions. The concept of time-travel here is actually realistic for what I've heard before, in that traveling to the future is entirely impossible, and time travel is restricted by considerations of traveling through both time AND space, such that the characters cannot travel backwards any further than a particularly pivotal moment (I'll the book itself go into the specifics, which are extensive). This story is less a traditional time travel tale in terms of romping through all of histories biggest socio-political moments, but rather a story told from the perspective of a character that jumps from one timeline to another, which happens to be less advanced in 2016 than the first timeline. But drilling past all of the technical details, this novel is actually a tale of how love and loss guided the decisions of two major characters. In fact, don't think of this as a sci-fi novel; it's not. It's a love story wrapped in the cloak of a pseudo-scientific time-travel tale.

The story itself is worth at least 4 stars, maybe not quite 5. There's some obnoxious tropes, and some parts seem to drag on and be less compelling than others. And the narrator more than once seems to get rather crass about some things that most people would be a great deal more evasive about (for example, the nature of his mother's death is told from a rather emotionless and disgustingly detailed angle). Further, while I'm no prude, this story seemed to get really hung up on sex more than it needed to. I'm not talking like there's one scene that's overly detailed, I'm talking like the nature of it with different people keeps coming up, sometimes in a way that doesn't really seem to drive anything forward. And love and sex are two VERY different things, but this author seems to not quite understand that at times.

I downgraded this novel to 3 stars, however, because it has a number of technical issues that cannot be overlooked. The first timeline from which our narrator comes from seems to be ... too lazy. It's pretty much just described as a copy-paste of 1950s Golden Era sci-fi (minus any alien stuff). I'm pretty sure that early on the author even describes it as being "The Jetsons" (the cartoon from decades ago). Then there's the issue of the time machine, which is not only never really described, but it apparently just vanishes when someone goes back in time? This is never described, as to how someone could then travel BACK to the present but without the machine. During the first escapade, there's talk about a "boomerang function" but how a machine that now no longer exists could do this is unclear. Then there's the curious "temporal drag" idea that is described in this novel that gets pretty hard to believe by the end of the novel.

To be fair, I give major kudos to the author for realistically limiting the scope and functionality of the time-travel in this story and exploring the philosophical and technical aspects of the act from a rather critical perspective. I also give major credit for a discussion about how time travel is also a form of teleportation (this effectively sets up the limitations of how people can travel back in time), and that whole technologies have to be invented to ensure someone doesn't end up in a wall when traveling backwards. There's a rather clever work-around for the "grandfather paradox" that setups a climatic conflict in the novel. But as much as this final idea works, it also creates about as many problems as it solves.

Final thoughts: as an easy, engaging, thoughtful, and emotional read about finding love no matter what reality you inhabit, this is a pretty good book. But the author drags this quality story down with fumbled technical aspects, both with the story-telling itself and with the specifics of the time-travel. It seems like the author had just enough sci-fi jargon to make the concept work as an launching point for the story, but not really enough to make it keep working later. There's some good plot twists towards the end, but the setup for the climax is less than believable, and the climax itself is confusing and bizarre.

How do I rate this?
Well, the beginning was freaking amazing...then it slowed down to where I almost DNF'd it. It picked back up at the 30% mark...then it got slow again at the 70% mark and again, I almost DNF'd it. This was the trend in this one for me. The reason why I gave it 3 stars, was because some of his writing blew me away-especially when he wrote about his mother. The family dynamics were also all too real for me as well.
The synopsis sounded rad and had aspects I love in a story; time travel and a sci-fi. Unfortunately, it felt I had already read this storyline somewhere else. Not much happened throughout the general story line and the world building was nonexistent... in all timelines. The ending was a cop out to me. There were though a few times, I was surprised to where the story had gone and the turn of events.
Hence, why again I gave it a 3 stars. There were parts I loved and then parts I hated. So overall, it was a fun read at times-and I liked it-just didn't love this one...bummer.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest opinion. My thanks to Elan Mastai and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the opportunity.

In Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" the god/prophet/conman Bokonon always whispers "busy, busy, busy" ... "whenever [he] thinks about how complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is." That came to mind while I was reading this book. Our poor time-line destroying hero, once he sets the action in motion, is just busy, busy, busy.

But here's the good part. This is a wonderful time travel book for people who don't necessarily like, or who become impatient with, time travel books. For me, I enjoyed "Back to the Future". I thought it was clever and well-plotted. But, I was indifferent to the sequels. It all just got too cumbersome and complicated, to me, to be fun. Well, this book sort of solves that "Back to the Future" problem, mostly by not being so exclusively time-travely.

The first part, about a quarter of the book, sets out our hero/narrator's current "now" and the other, parallel "now" he accidentally messed up and left behind. We learn about the history and the development of time travel, and we meet all of the major characters. In a way this section involves building alternate worlds, and the worlds that are described are fascinating, and loaded with sly commentaries on our own particular "now". The narrator's voice is rueful and a bit sad sack, (he did after all destroy an entire future time line), but the writing is peppered with very funny and/or insightful observations, throwaway lines, and bits of business. Finally, though, we get to the point at which our hero travels back in time and throws a figurative monkey wrench into the works, and then the rest of the book takes off.

This rest of the book consists of multiple efforts to undo what was done, and various characters scream along various time and causality paths as things get more and more complicated and everyone is busy, busy, busy. The beauty is that for this part the reader can just go with the flow. The narration is still funny and insightful, but you aren't penalized if your attention wanders from time to time. Indeed, perhaps as a joke but also perhaps as a clever aid, every now and then the narrator includes a "summary" chapter that simply recaps and summarizes what has just gone on in the book. Every time travel book should follow this practice.

I have to admit that while I enjoyed this book - the writing, the narrator's voice, the deadpan humor, the plotting, the sciencey explanations - I was ready for it to end when it did. The plot threads had tied up nicely; the characters were at rest; the author had said what he wanted to say about society, justice, and lives well lived. It was a fine ride.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Time travel novels are awesome… if they can make sense of the dynamics, paradoxes and outcomes. All Our Wrong Todays explained away all my doubts and objections in clever ways that were easy to grasp for a regular person with zero knowledge of science. Tom Barren is a regular kid living in 2016, just like us. But in his world, there are hover-cars, robot maids, no pollution and unlimited, free, clean energy. Why would anyone risk going back to the moment in which the future started is beyond me. But Tom is not very smart, even if his dad is the genius who invented time travel, so he does just that: go to the moment when his future started and messes it up. When he wakes up he is still in 2016, but it is our 2016. That's very clever: our advanced world is the dystopia. It is not clear at first whether Tom (or John, as he is known in our timeline) is just deluded, or if he's telling the truth. Tom's life is much better in our world than it was in his advanced version. Why, oh why would he risk it trying to fix his timeline? Well, that is what this novel is about. Time travel is only a device to get Tom to grow as a person and learn valuable life lessons. We all wish we could change things in the past (in my case, preventing a dear friend's death), but would we really risk what we have now? Because, as Tom learns, it could be much worse. This is an extremely clever novel that also has a heart. Some parts are a little repetitive and slow, but the ending is so suspenseful that I couldn't stop reading, because what hangs in the balance is the future of humanity. It's written in a relatable voice that you can't help but root for, even if sometimes you may want to slap Tom. This is a good time travel novel for people who are not crazy about science fiction but still love the vision of the future at Epcot.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/PENGUIN GROUP Dutton!

ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS has many five-star reviews. Perhaps that’s because the writing style and the first-person narrator’s voice are so engaging. I enjoyed reading this in large part because of Mastai’s writing; it reminds me of Harlan Coben’s style.

But I disagree that ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS is worthy of five stars. Why?

You could say the first third of the book is downright boring. It is at least putdownable. The second third, however, is much better. So I had high expectations of the last third. But it is "eh"—except for the narrator, Tom. I loved him.

Tom claims that ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS is not a novel but a memoir of his experience traveling to an alternate 2016. He claims that the 2016 he comes from is the right one and the alternate, our 2016, is wrong.

So Tom attempts to convince us of this by, first, describing the right 2016. It doesn’t sound that great to me except the part about no war. But he never adequately explains why a machine that generates lots of energy leads to peace all over the world. This is one of several questions I have about this book that are not adequately explained.

Could it be that Tom thinks his first 2016 is the superior one because it is the first one? The first anything seen as the best is one of the many subjects he ponders.

But the alternate 2016, the one we live in, is the 2016 that Tom is happiest in even though he sees it as the wrong 2016, full of corruption, wars, dirty politics, etc. So another quandary: is it fair, he wonders, that the world is stuck with the wrong 2016 when he has the power to switch back to the right 2016?

This isn’t a bad book. But its putdownable beginning and the unanswered questions I have about the story downgrade its rating from five to three stars. Maybe it should get four stars for its emphasis on characters, unlike most sci-fi.

I won this book through bookclubcookbook.com.

The concept behind this book would rate four stars; the writing and execution one star. A blurb on the back cover is by Andy Weir, author of The Martian, which this book ever so slightly resembles in that there are many chapters (and is in the first person). Maybe if you liked the Martian you would like this? Weir did his stranded-on-Mars math, and I get the sense Mastai tried do his time-travel math. So we have a novel that tries to painstakingly explain time travel, which we all know that the truly great time travel books NEVER try to do. The end result: The ideas behind AOWT are captivating, but the writing never is. For me, reading AOWT was groan-inspiring for most of the ride. And Mastai tries to throw a little romance action our way which is just flat, flat, flat. This book could be a good movie, but as a book that contains writing... couldn't wait for it to end.

Writing science fiction always seems like the hardest genre to me–there is always a problem to solve. When done right, the reader is transported directly into an alternate universe; when done wrong, all of the focus goes on the lack of research and the awkwardness or lack of world-building. The author has to be able to explain the problems and solutions well enough for a person like me to at least grasp the concept to make it believable–and also hold up to those smart enough to pick apart the numbers and equations in their heads.

All Our Wrong Todays is science fiction done WELL. I was immediately immersed into Tom’s whorling world of time travel between 2016 and 1965–and I had previously put down two books as DNF because I could not focus on anything. I was in serious danger of a book slump when I picked up Elan Mastai’s first novel. But instead, Tom’s fictional memoir saved both me and his world from total destruction.

This book does have some problems. Everybody in the book is straight, and while there are POC, they are mostly background characters. Also, the relationships are a little sketchy, although the narrator does acknowledge that fact. He knows he’s an awkward guy going about everything the wrong way. Still–they are a bit problematic.

I am conflicted, because I hate “mental illness as a twist”–but I don’t think that is what is being done here. The book is a legit time travel story, but it does unpack some heavy mental illness and domestic abuse issues as a part of the plot. The narrator challenges and discusses them in the text. I can’t explain further without spoiling the book, but I think the author does a really good job of writing these issues in without using them as a plot device.

At first, I thought this was going to be a really great escape book for Inauguration Weekend. And it IS a good one to dive into, for sure. But this one will hit you deep. Can a book be fun, challenging, and heart wrenching all at the same time? Because All Our Wrong Todays certainly makes the effort.

When I first started reading this book, I thought "What!?!". I did not care for it. But I had requested it and agreed to give a review so I plugged along. The book starts out providing a lot of technical/scientific information. I do realize that this was a necessary way to start the book. It did explain the world that Tom was living in but for me it was a little to technical and it failed to grab my attention initially. Then somewhere after the first couple of chapters this book started to grow on me. It became quirky, fun and interesting.

Tom seems to just plug along through life. His Mother dies in a Hover car accident and he finds himself employed by his overachieving father. His father, who is on the verge of making a major announcement concerning a breakthrough in time travel. Ever the disappointment to his father, Tom screws things up. He doesn't intend to do wrong, he just seems to have bad luck, bad judgement, and makes bad decisions.

Tom makes a rash decision and ends up traveling 50 years in the past. Bad luck follows him and once he returns to his present day, things are not as they were when he left. His Mother is alive! He has an older sister! He is successful! Oh, yes, and for some reason his name is John now. He inhibits John's body but as Tom. Get it? He seeks out the girl of his dreams and begins a relationship with her. But John is there still lucking under the surface and rears his ugly head. I would have liked to have seem more of the struggle of John/Tom.

What is Tom to do? He is faced with a dilemma. He knows it is wrong to stay in this alternative universe/dimension...but life is better here. He shares his story with others who don't believe him. Who would? If someone comes to you and says. "I know you know me as John but I'm really Tom and I live in an alternative reality." People would be concerned about your mental status Plus, if you wanted to go back to your own world, how do you get there?

Time travel paradox: What would you do if your actions changed your own time line?

Tom Barren’s world of 2016 is a future that looks like the Jettson’s TV show with sleek buildings, robotic maids and hovercrafts. It is full of technology, (most) everyone is happy and (most) people finds their work in a field of entertainment or exploration. Tom’s parents are a strange, aloof couple and, sadly, Tom doesn’t have the focus or drive to keep a job, much less a career. He is pretty much a second rate loser who fantasizes about women and currently about one particular woman, Penelope, a brilliant young woman who is now the lead chrononaut on his father’s time travel team. Tom has been given the position of her understudy due to a freak accident four months earlier and a moment of pity from his father.

Tom’s father is a famous scientist who is about to run the first time travel experiment. His calculations are keyed to a specific time and energy signature in 1965 when another scientist unveiled the experiment that created endless free, clean energy which allowed the world to become Tom’s remarkable world in 2016.

The night before the trip in time Tom manages to mess up life again – for himself, Penelope and his father. In an extreme moment, Tom plunges himself into the time machine without being fully prepared – as usual. His arrival is partially successful but results in a glitch that changes time.

Tom awakens in a new 2016 as John Barren who has had a fall at a construction site. John is everything that Tom wasn’t. He is a driven, successful, wealthy architect with loving parents and a bright, sassy sister. No one believes Tom/John’s story of another timeline even as he is determined to set things right. But then he meets a wonderful bookstore owner, Penny who could be the love of his life. This would be a beautiful life, but it isn’t Tom’s life.

Tom/John must search out a way to proof his craziness, especially to Penny. That sets him across continents and times where he discovers that messing with time isn’t always a good thing.

Tom is somewhat of a shallow, miserable character making the beginning of the story slow and hard to get into. But once he travels back in time things become complex and interesting…and Tom even matures along the way. The story is more about the consequences of time travel than the travel itself, although there is some of that too in an interesting span.

I enjoy the paradox of time travel and this story is fun once it gets going. I recommend this to sci fi fans who enjoy the issues raised by time travel.

I received this title through NetGalley for an honest review.