The good
- Starts of really strong: a big mystery and tight pacing makes the book hard to put down.
- Cool and somewhat unique premise, at least as far as time travel books go, based on quantum physics and the multiverse.
- A neat glimpse of life in 14th century France. I have no idea if it’s actually historically accurate, but it feels like Crichton did his research.
The not so good
- While it starts strong, the book progressively gets worse and worse. The final 25% feels rushed, as if Crichton was trying to squeeze it in for some deadline.
- None of the characters feel like real people at all. They act more like action heroes than historians, shrugging of brutal murders and other horrific acts of violence like they are no big deal.
- Some of the key implications of time travel aren’t really addressed or consistent. E.g., They have a whole discussion about how they travel to the past by going to different universes, and how you individuals can’t really affect the future anyway, and yet, they are able to do exactly that just a few chapters later.
Rating: 4 stars
Yevgeniy Brikman
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