Allison Hurd's Reviews > Here and Now and Then

Dear book, it's mostly me, but it's somewhat you. We didn't work well together. This could be seen as a story of what a father will do (sometimes, when people tell him it's okay) to save his daughter. It could also be the story of how one dude callously ripped apart the lives of three women, sometimes multiple times each, and then said "but it's because I love you," afterwards so, you know, totes a good guy.

CONTENT WARNING: (no actual spoilers, just a list of topics) (view spoiler)[loss of a spouse, infidelity, separation from your child, cancer, PTSD (hide spoiler)]

Things that were fine

-The familial references. I think Chen wrote this to his kid and it's full of little incidents that lack the poetic touch of imagination and feel "real," so I think he loves the women in his life, which is sweet. Cheesy for the rest of us, but nice that it was infused with love for the people who really matter. (Especially that last Dr. Who reference, that was a huge eye roll, but I guess maybe also fun? Fandom is weird.)

-Brevity. At least it was short.

Things that irked me

-The relationships. Real spoilers (view spoiler)[If you were married for 18 years, were a time traveler, and got separated from your wife and kid, what would you do? Say you had a life in your present, the future, but when you got back there, you had no spark with the woman you supposedly loved? How would you talk to her? The answer seems pretty f***ing clear to me and I am enraged at the idea that he'd string along a woman he cared for, abandon another to die (even though from his subsequent actions we know we can't trust her death and that even if that's the case, he has the means to fix it!) thinking she'd been insufficient for the man she'd made a life with, and left his daughter for weeks to be an orphan. I think Kin is a complete and utter asshole for how he did this. You wouldn't find me. I'd be back with my spouse so fast that you wouldn't be sure I'd come back at all. I'd kill anyone who came for us, who dared even think my daughter's name. And then! And then Penny is a total doll and Kin keeps thinking about how he can just ignore her totally valid angers and fears and she'll forgive him because of her past abuse. (hide spoiler)] tl;dr I think the relationships were phony as hell, somewhat abusive, and Kin is a jerk.

-The plot. *Deep breath* Time travel stories are really, really tough because there's shifting narratives, common paradoxes and the "easy button" of just jumping again. If you don't handle all of these, it's impossible for me to suspend disbelief. It's like missing stairs all over the place that we're just supposed to jump over. I'm reading for fun, not exercise. Then, it's a story about a magical future with time travel and cures for all ailments and all that but the real story is sending some emails to people. Like, that's the action. And people saying "Kin, why are you acting weird?" and him responding "Miranda. Agent. Miranda. Agent" ad nauseum. It was thin, to say the last.

-The audiobook. The narrator can't do voices or accents and this book relied on accents.

-The power fantasy undertone. As with my problems with the relationships, it's hard not to read this as a male fantasy. Sure, maybe you're too old to start a quest as the Chosen One whose wife/mother/sister/love interest was raped and who now needs Chosen One to avenge her, but good news! You're just the perfect age to dream about what you'd do as an aging father whose daughter your own ineptitude jeopardized! I'm not a plot device. I wasn't a plot device then, I'm not now, but without more plot, that's what we're left with.

-The fights/"training" elements. Art imitates art here, and it just grates on me. None of this works like that. If it wasn't repeated so often, maybe it would have been fine, but we're constantly reminded how skilled Kin is right before he does something from amateur hour.

-The ending. Poor Penny. This poor, poor woman. She doesn't deserve this life. I can't decide if she's supposed to have been written as really emotionally abused and insecure or a bit dumb, but neither is a terribly good look for a leading lady in less than expert hands and neither mean she should content herself with someone who can walk away from her all the time with only a little pang of remorse.

-The inconsistencies. Aside from the specific elements that all wilted under scrutiny, there are lots of other things that don't add up to what we've been told. I'm having this issue a lot lately. I know there's a pressure to publish quickly, but authors, please read for plot holes and at least address them. When they're not, it looks like either you're lazy or you think I'm an idiot and I'd hope that's not the case.

So what am I left with? What is there for me to say that was worth my time? Again, a lot of this is me. If you're not thinking too hard about time travel or fights or relationships, it's kind of sweet. But having seen this story a lot, in different configurations, with different levels of success, I can say this is not one of the better ones for me. Pretty let down.