Thomcat
6/17/2021
A long novella, this has some interesting characters and world building which are unfortunately buried by the interests of the main characters. Oh, it also ends abrupt
... though allegedly there is a second part coming soon. Released in 2018, this is the author's first novel. I nabbed it from the category of "time travel" on worldswithoutend for a challenge on that site, and there is time travel, exact method undefined. Changes in the past are (supposedly) to a pocket universe which collapses, according to scientists in the setting. I kinda think the author is going to flip that in the sequel.
Back to the novel - the world building is interesting, what there is of it. The characters live it and don't think or talk about it - so we don't get to see it. It seems to be post environmental catastrophe, or possibly post-apocalyptic also. Interestingly, the stated purpose for time travel is to measure the original state of something in order to get back to it, to reestablish nature as it were. Does that even make sense - can all the conditions be met? I'm probably overthinking this.
The characters are also distinguishable with their own personalities and quirks and... don't think or talk about themselves much. I get "show don't tell" but the reader needs at least one of these to keep up. I just wasn't invested in these characters.
So, confusing world, characters I don't especially like, and the main character very focused on procuring water samples. This makes for a book that is "just okay", and not the best use of my time. Overall recommendation - wait for the sequel to be available and then decide if you want to give your time.