**** Too much distance in these
time travels
Don’t be fooled by the fact that the author indicates that it is
“science fiction romance”. This information is even given inside the book. This
is not a science fiction romance novel, but a science fiction novel with
romantic elements. The reason is simple: the plot will hold up on its own even
without the romantic involvement between the two protagonists. In my opinion,
this is a plus for the book that presents a very interesting and well
structured time travel story. There is action, suspense, adventure, science
fiction elements, but also feelings.
Personally I wouldn’t have insisted on the latter in labelling the book,
because it is here that the author fails to engage the reader. I found it very
difficult to identify in the two main characters. The constant use of filter
verbs and telling (instead of showing) gave me the impression that someone, an
external narrator, was telling a story, instead of having to deal with
characters showing it to me. The sense of distance is continuous throughout the
novel, and although the story is very well thought out, it failed to engage me,
just for this reason.
Another thing I found quite ridiculous is the continued use of
euphemisms to avoid the foul language (for example, the repeated use of “dam”
instead of “damn” is absolutely annoying). It is absurd, for example, that a
CIA agent willing to torture people to get information (by the way I found this
character so over the top as to be grotesque and implausible) uses euphemisms.
This greatly contributed to undermining the suspension of disbelief.
For all these reasons, I cannot go beyond the four stars, but it is
still a good book.
Collision - A Sci-Fi Romance
on Amazon.
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