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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2316 KP) rated I'm Your Venus in Books

Oct 19, 2018

I'm Your Venus

Diane Vallere | 2018 | Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Sylvia’s Back on the Space Case

Sylvia Stryker has landed a job on the new Moon 6. Again, she's in charge of the uniform department, but this time she's legitimately on the ship. Neptune is also on board this cruise, with the destination being Venus. Everyone is determined to make things go smoothly for the passengers. However, the ship has barely set out when Sylvia finds a dead body outside the uniform department's door. Then Neptune comes to her with a surprising plea for help. Can she figure out what is going on?

Yes, this book has a science fiction setting, but it is still mostly a mystery. In fact, the setting is developed just enough for us to feel at home, but the story doesn't stop to explain every little detail to us. Still, there are some fun nod to pop culture science fiction and some of the tech they do have in this book would be very cool. There are a trio of characters we spent a lot of time with, and they are the best developed. The rest of the cast is still strong enough for the parts they play in what happens. The plot is quite a ride, with plenty of keep us engaged and the pages flying. I read the book in just two days, in fact. I do feel like some of the character's actions over the course of the book weren't completely explained at the end, but that is my only complaint. I'm looking forward to getting to book three as soon as my schedule allows to see how some of the threads introduced here play out.

Kudos

Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Timeshaft in Books

Nov 26, 2019

Timeshaft

Stewart Bint | 2013 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

As technology advances mankind seems a button press away from wiping itself out. The shadowy organisation of WorldSave and their top operative, the enigmatic Ashday's Child, prevent catastrophe on a regular basis because they have access to the Timeshaft, which enables them to go to any point in time and stop events before they can cause disaster.

However, after a routine training mission hits problems, Ashday's Child must save not only himself and his companions but the fabric of time itself. With cause not necessarily occurring before effect, it may be that saving the future will heal the past.

Time travel has always been a fascination for science fiction writers as it opens up so many possibilities. Where most of these use time travel as a method of getting their characters to where they need to be, in Timeshaft it is the time travel itself that provides the story. Bint allows his imagination to construct future and past versions of earth but always the time travel aspect is to the fore, with the plot carefully constructed like a clock so that in the end all the parts fit together perfectly.

This matters because the time travel in Timeshaft is one where the time travel has always taken place; it is not like Back to the Future where Marty's antics in the past then change the future; here the future is the way it is precisely because someone has travelled back in time and changed something. It's a tricky thing to pull off yet Bint seemingly does this with ease.

If you are looking for a good science fiction story with drama and great ideas, you can't go far wrong