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Tell us something SciFi or Fantasy that you're reading, have read, or are interested in reading!

All Our Wrong Todays

Review with spoilers. Not that I am going to recommend this one...

I just finished the audio version of this book, narrated by the author. Some authors are not great at reading, but I thought Mastai did a great job.

I will admit that if it weren't for this month's theme being SciFi, I probably would have stopped listening to this about a quarter of the way in. I wasn't immediately enthralled, and wasn't really excited about what I was hearing until the end. Overall, a pretty dull time travel novel.

The narrator has a unique voice and addresses the reader directly by commenting on the text itself, but I ultimately felt it was poorly written. It is told in the first person, as a memoir of the narrator, Tom. He is constantly apologizing for being a bad writer because in his world, they don't read novels. The chapters are very short (there are over 100 of them!) and after about 40 or so, there is a Cliff's Notes-like summary. I felt like my intelligence as a reader was being insulted and that Mastai was just trying to cover for not being a good writer by making Tom's inadequacies relevant to the plot. After the first bit of action to actually get my attention, he ruins it by writing, and I quote, right after getting out of bed with a beautiful intern, "For some reason, I decided to check my laptop." Lo and behold, all the answers he needs to advance the plot are right there in the latest document pulled up on the screen. That is not poor narration. That is being a lazy writer.

If you can get over the lazy writing, then the questions raised in the novel are actually intriguing. Tom travels back in time and a simple mistake alters the future. He is looping through time for the rest of the book trying to save the future he knows. But who is Tom to decide that a future he is familiar with is the best future for everyone? Lionel Goettreider, the creator of so many life-altering technologies, including the engine needed for time travel, can share his inventions with the world, or hoard them for his own use. Which action will result in a future where he can spend it with the love of his life?

There is some science/math involved, but not on the level of, say, Weir's The Martian. So yes, this is a SciFi book, but I felt that in the end, it was a love story. (What isn't, right?) In the end, Tom uses memories of his one true love to save the day and right the timeline. Goettreider only wants to invent time travel so he can go back to be with his lover one more time. But is there a timeline where both Tom and Goettreider get the girl?

In conclusion, the poor writing did this one in for me. (And this is a whole other can of worms I don't really want to get in to, but there are some horribly degrading sexual descriptions and encounters where women in general come out on the losing end. Suspension of belief for time travel is one thing, but asking me to believe that Penny would actually be in a relationship with Tom of her own free will is asking too much.) The fun of time travel and Mastai's description of the future didn't redeem it for me. Skip to the end and read about the time loop adventure, or just skip it altogether.

Kristina wrote: "All Our Wrong Todays

Review with spoilers. Not that I am going to recommend this one...

I just finished the audio version of this book, narrated by the author. Some authors are no..."

Kristina, girl!
First of all I'd like to thank you for your dedication to this month's theme by continuing to read what by your account is a weird read.
Second of all, thank you for sharing with us!
-Caitlin