Publisher's Weekly Review
British author Dickinson makes his U.S. debut with a murky, dystopian thriller, which depicts a 24th-century world replete with brutal, militaristic societies of slaves and biomechanically enhanced superhumans. Time-travel technology allows visits to eras before the NEE (Near Extinction Event), which transformed the world and its surviving inhabitants. Spens is a guide at a time-travel "resort," where tourists can visit early 21st-century England. When a visitor vanishes from a group excursion, Spens must pursue her. He slowly realizes that his quarry may be an agent from another time whose actions in the past may change the future, causing humanity's near annihilation-or preventing it. The leaps of time, identity, and chronology create a dark, chillingly claustrophobic atmosphere, but the choppy chronology and elaborate sci-fi imaginings overshadow and obscure the plot and meaningful character development. "Travel is confusing," is a frequent refrain, and the same can be said for this ambitious but unsatisfying vision of the future. Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath (U.K.). (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
In the mid-twenty-fourth century long after a series of calamitous events ended civilization as it was known time travel is common, with the early twenty-first century a popular destination. Tri-Millennium rep Spens is escorting a group to the 21st when he discovers, on the return, that he has lost one client. And this is not just any client but a woman who had been selected to be trained by the Defense Committee but was eventually imprisoned for a host of offenses, including sabotage and murder. In this world it is not permissible to try to change the past during travel to it, nor is it possible to change future events even though they are known. The narrative of Spens who wants to go back for a Beethoven concert on December 22, 1808 is in the first person, while the tourist's is in the second person, and inevitably the two threads converge. Dickinson has created a bleak future world and spins a plot most appropriate for readers who appreciate ambiguity.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2016 Booklist
Amador County Library.
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