All Bouncers Are Alike
Some truths about the world never change. One of the lesser-known universal truths is that all bouncers are alike. Whether in the here and now or in the futuristic world where time travel is a thing. They don’t just act the same, but they engage the same use of figurative language:
“A pig like you belongs down here with the other swine. Go away before I beat you so terribly your mother feels it.”
A Lesson: Never Travel Without a Rad Band
The thing about science fiction is that one can invent metaphors wholly out of nothing. Or, if one prefers to keep a balanced sense of the here and now with the future unknown, simply gives a familiar simile a little tweak that makes it seems out of place:
“His shirt was soaked, and his skin burned and itched as if he had wandered onto the surface of Mercury without a rad band.”
Overlooking Cringy Bay
At one time Michael Bay was reported as being attached to direct a film version of the novel. The good news is that the dialogue already sounds like something from a Michael Bay film. Unfortunately, that’s also the bad news. Let’s be honest: some of the dialogue in this novel is a little cringe-inducing. Especially when the use of metaphor treads too deeply in the waters of emotional engagement:
“No, James, it’s not. Open your eyes and let people in. Like you let me in.”
Who is Grace Priestly?
Short answer: the most interesting character in the story. Longer answer: the most interesting character in the story by far. Grace’s own answer:
“Grace Priestly…The Mother of Time, High Scion of the Technology Isolationists, one of the six great millennial minds—”
The Time Laws
Grace Priestly, it must also be noted, is the author of the Time Laws which are a set of rules for time travel considered to be inviolate no matter what the circumstances. Of course, if everyone actually felt that way, there would be no story:
“Levin knew about ChronoCom breaking the Time Laws. He knew that the agency he held in such high regard was nothing but a sham. It was eating him up inside, but he still obeyed their orders.”
