Feedback (4 stars)
This is a pretty simple short story by Dennis E. Taylor, released on Audible.
It tells the story of a group of scientists who create a time machine. They then fine themselves living out “the grandfather paradox” (without any actual dead grandfathers), and then try to find a way to get the timeline back to where it’s supposed to be.
Short, simple (but complex), and interesting. And it’s narrated by Ray Porter – who is one of my favorite narrators. There isn’t much to say against this.
The Salvage Crew (3.5 stars)
First and foremost – the audiobook of this was narrated by Nathan Fillion. It was everything I wanted it to be.
The story itself was…good. But not what I’d hoped.
A salvage crew consisting of an AI overseer and three human members lands on a planet to salvage a crashed vessel. The overseer is a little disgruntled because his crew isn’t particularly good. They may be the worst members of the UN, in fact.
That’s pretty much the synopsis as I remember it, and it’s also most of the book.
It started off well. As I said, Nathan Fillion did a great job. Wijeratne is a good writer, with a dry, acerbic sense of humor. The two are a great pair. For the first third of the book, I was all in. It was engaging and funny, and I couldn’t wait to see where it was going.
And then…it didn’t really go anywhere. For a long time. It was just about these characters being stranded on the planet. One of the characters was pretty unlikable, another was MIA for much of the story, and the third was suffering from shock and indecision. I can’t even sit here, now, and criticize Wijeratne for his plot choices – I think it all makes sense and plays out in a realistic manner. I just…wanted more than was here.
To be clear – where it ends up was satisfactory. I don’t think this was a bad book, by any means. But my excitement fizzled the further into the story I got.
So, while I do recommend it, maybe temper your expectations a bit.
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