The Future of Another Timeline
Books | Fiction / Science Fiction / Time Travel
3.9
(230)
Annalee Newitz
“A revolution is happening in speculative fiction, and Annalee Newitz is leading the vanguard."--Wil WheatonFrom Annalee Newitz, founding editor of io9, comes a story of time travel, murder, and the lengths we'll go to protect the ones we love.1992: After a confrontation at a riot grrl concert, seventeen-year-old Beth finds herself in a car with her friend's abusive boyfriend dead in the backseat, agreeing to help her friends hide the body. This murder sets Beth and her friends on a path of escalating violence and vengeance as they realize many other young women in the world need protecting too.2022: Determined to use time travel to create a safer future, Tess has dedicated her life to visiting key moments in history and fighting for change. But rewriting the timeline isn’t as simple as editing one person or event. And just when Tess believes she's found a way to make an edit that actually sticks, she encounters a group of dangerous travelers bent on stopping her at any cost.Tess and Beth’s lives intertwine as war breaks out across the timeline--a war that threatens to destroy time travel and leave only a small group of elites with the power to shape the past, present, and future. Against the vast and intricate forces of history and humanity, is it possible for a single person’s actions to echo throughout the timeline?Praise for The Future of Another Timeline: "An intelligent, gut-wrenching glimpse of how tiny actions, both courageous and venal, can have large consequences. Smart and profound on every level.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)"You close the book reeling with questions about your own life and your part in changing the future."—Amy Acker, actress (Angel and Person of Interest)At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Science Fiction
Time Travel
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Author
Annalee Newitz
Pages
272
Publisher
Tor Publishing Group
Published Date
2019-09-24
ISBN
0765392127 9780765392121
Community ReviewsSee all
"This book started out strong but ended up kind of losing steam for me. The idea of the time machines and the way they influence life in every era was really interesting (down to slang and soap opera plotlines). However, most of the characters are pretty thinly written and don't do much, which kind of makes some of them (especially among Tess’s friends from 2022) feel like points on a checklist. One thing they actually do though is argue: it feels like nearly half the book is various characters bickering about what to do next.<br/><br/>Much of the subject matter is extremely heavy: suicide, abuse, sexual assault, for example, but then other parts feel very silly. For all their malevolence the evil off-brand incels from the future feel like clowns a lot of the time (the guy calling the Pinkertons ”chads” almost made me put the book down in embarrassment) and there's a very silly orgy scene as well. I also don't think that the revelation of Tess’s identity in the past is handled very well - there's a secondary layer of deception that's really only there to make the ending make sense. It feels like an afterthought and the way the author has to write around Tess thinking about her relationship with Beth because of this is very weird.<br/><br/>Despite all of this, if you're interested in unique time machine concepts and have a strong enough stomach to handle some really detailed descriptions of rape and incest you might want to check it out."
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awesome_user_984860
"Wow! This book is severely underrated. Go read this book now! It is a diverse, feminist, punk, novel that was just so engaging and enjoyable to read. How do you go wrong with a book about kick-ass women and non-binary folk who travel through time to fight the patriarchy? You don't. <br/><br/>On top of that, I am absolutely obsessed with the world this novel is set in. The time travel featured in this novel was based on geology and the Travelers were geoscientists. This concept blew my mind, and I need to know more. In fact, I am about to down a rabbit hole looking for books with a similar take on time travel. I can't get enough, and I would love to see more novels by Newitz exploring this world. <br/><br/>As enjoyable as this book was, I do have a few criticisms. First, I felt like the novel read younger than an adult novel. I think this book would fit better as a YA. I also believe with some editing the book could have been shortened down some. I read this novel as an audiobook and 12 hours was just way too long. I believe editing the novel down some would allow for more poignant moments and scenes."
Sarah Trubee
"Fans of The Handmaid’s Tale, I am talking to you about this one!! This was a fabulous feminist sci-fi novel, and I recommend it to every woman and man out there because this is the kind of stuff we should be thinking and talking about. The high level summary is that the book revolves around an “edit war,” in which a fierce group of female time travelers are battling out the history of women’s reproductive rights with a group of male “Comstockers” who think women shouldn’t have rights at all. I’m sure I don’t have to explain why I am passionate about this subject. The story is split between Tess, one of the time travelers who is focusing on saving women’s rights in the late 19th century, and Beth, who is a teenager in the early 1990s, and is dealing with her own personal set of issues. At first glance those two stories do not seem related, but trust me, they are. There is science and honestly, some magic, because a lot of the aspects of time travel just can’t be explained. I’m more than fine with that since I am not a technically minded person, but if you are looking for a really in depth time travel explanation, this is the wrong book to read. What I find most interesting about the time travel in this story though is that instead of it being invented in a future time, it is an inherent part of the world that people have been studying since the dawn of humanity. There is a lot going on in this book and all of it is great, which is why I also feel that it would be a fantastic book club novel. I’m certainly going to discuss it at my next book club, but for anyone who needs a little punk rock riot grrrl energy in their life right now, this one is for you!"
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Allie Peduto