Broken Time

ISBN: 0-451-45785-4 Order from: Amazon.com

Entertaining, and with a captivating heroine, this novel of the future war, aliens and crime suffers from anachronisms, choppy narrative and weak plot.

Reviewed by David on February 11, 2001

Genre: Science Fiction (Aliens)

Synopsis: Siggy Lindquist, a young woman with no special skills, accepts a job as a janitor in the Institute for the Criminally Insane. There, she finds good friends in her colleagues, mean, hateful politicians in her superiors, and frightning and ocassionally pitiful monsters in the inmates.

When her recollections of a rare time distortion phenomenon start to interest one of the most dangerous prisoners, the seemingly unimportant janitor becomes a player in a dangerous game that threatens stability of human civilization.

Full Review: The book is hard to put down. The sympathetic nature of Siggy, fragile yet resilient, her decency and optimism involve the reader. Part of that appeal is the highly anachronistic nature of the narrative, with customs, technology and speech almost indistinguishable from our own, despite interstellar travel, and many other fundamental developments in the supposed fourth millenium. The plot becomes episodic, with long gaps between events, and the core mystery of the book is revealed to be rather implausible and disappointing.

Thus, the book presents a strange contrast between appealing characters and style, and deeply flawed plot and inconsistent universe. One could almost wish the author to eschew science fiction and write a contemporary novel.

Overall: 5.5; Plot: 4; Characters: 5.5; Style: 5.5; World-building: 5; Originality: 5.5;

ISBN: 0-451-45785-4 Order from: Amazon.com