Book Review: Sea of Tranquility

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel is as intriguing as they come. Speculative fiction with a literary bent, it explores the themes of love, loss, duty, and destiny through the lens of time travel.

It's difficult to explain the setup for this book. Three seemingly unrelated people from three different time periods (early 20th century British Columbia, 2020 Brooklyn, and 23rd century moon colony) have a shared experience/vision that appears to be an anomaly in time.

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

Gaspery-Jacques Roberts is sent by the Time Institute to gather information about the anomaly. A ne'er do well with a brilliant sister, Gaspery grew up on a moon colony but has had no real direction in life. This anomaly, however, sparks something within him, and he undergoes training to blend in to the different time periods where he'll interview the central players.

What follows is a time-spanning narrative that seems disconnected at first until it all comes together--clicking in brilliant fashion as the novel reaches its conclusion.

Mandel excels at small character moments and world building. The moon colonies of the 23rd century feel just as lived in and lush as the 1912 British Columbia forest locale that is so essential to the plot mechanics. Gaspery himself is a relatable protagonist thrust into a seemingly unsolvable situation.

The novel plays with the themes of time and place and destiny. It explores relationships, both familial and romantic, in unique ways. And while I'm fairly certain the anomaly really amounts to a gigantic, unsolvable time paradox, that's par for course in any story that deals with time travel.

Sea of Tranquility won't be for everyone. 

The first few chapters involve disconnected characters and rely on the central mystery to lure readers in. 

If it doesn't catch you immediately, you may find yourself bored by what appears to start as a dry introduction to a monied 20th century English transplant who's trying to find his way in the North American wilderness. 

Then, suddenly, you're in 2020 Brooklyn reading about the fallout of a Ponzi scheme before being whipped into the 23rd century on a book tour with an author whose novel about a pandemic also includes a scene referencing the very anomaly Gasper is investigating. 

It can be jarring, no doubt. My advice would be to stick with it.

Book Review: The Last One

The Last One by Will Dean is a thriller set aboard the RMS Atlantica, a luxury cruise ship.

The main character, Caroline (Caz) and her boyfriend set off on a romantic weekend with hundreds of other guests. 

When she wakes up the morning after the ship departs, Caz discovers the Atlantica is empty except for three others: Daniel, a 30-something adventure sports instructor/jack of all trades; Francine, a 20-something college student; and a surly passenger simply known as Smith, an American who runs a vending machine business.

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

Together, the four must figure out where the ship is going, why the Atlantica's crew and passengers disappeared, and how to survive when the massive luxury liner has no electricity, no food, and no running water.

To say much more would spoil this briskly paced read. Then again, there's part of me that would like to spoil it so you could decide whether or not the entire novel is a waste of your time. 

I'm kind of fifty-fifty on that. It's a perfectly intriguing setup, although the stakes escalate at a ridiculous pace and the ultimate payoff made me roll my eyes, as did the "ending." I'll just say that there are some truly horrific elements and tension that end up being completely undercut once Caz reaches the finale.

I'm also not sure I liked many of the characters, which is a problem given that the book prominently features four people and is told by Caz through a first-person perspective. Daniel seems too good and competent; Francine too naive and whiny; Smith too inaccessible and brusque. Caz's personality seems to mold itself to whatever the book's next false crisis requires, and she's almost always overdramatic.

Listed at 445 pages, The Last One has 133 chapters, meaning chapters average less than three and a half pages each. It's clearly designed to suck you in with short chapters that'll have you saying "just one more" with each miniature cliffhanger. It is effective, I'll give it that.

My recommendation would be to give it a try, just so that we can commiserate on whether the many twists and turns were worth it, given where things end up.

Book Review: The Paradox Hotel

 The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart is part science fiction, part locked-room mystery, and part crime noir.

The main character, January Cole, once worked for a law enforcement agency dedicated to protecting time. She's traveled so much, however, that she's in the second stage of a temporal crisis that makes it nearly impossible for her to tell the difference between the current reality, the past, and the future.

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

She now works as the head of security at an establishment affectionately known as "The Paradox Hotel." It's a waypoint between wealthy travelers and the Einstein Intercentury Timeport--essentially an airport for time travelers. That's right, time travel is possible in this world as long as you're rich enough to take advantage.

Jan, as jaded and hardboiled detective as any, goes about her daily business to keep the hotel safe and the patrons as happy as possible (although she herself doesn't care much if the patrons are happy).

When she flashes forward to a locked hotel room with a body inside, well, the game's afoot. She has to figure out who the dead guy is, where he came from, and how she's connected to all of it. Oh, it's  also possible the whole thing could be a time-shifted fiction created by her less-than-anchored-to-the-present mind. Along the way, she'll encounter sniveling guests, confront personal trauma, grapple with sudden time shifts, and uncover a conspiracy that threatens to upend everything she thought she knew.

It's an enjoyable enough read, although Jan is so sarcastic and competent (and considers everyone around her completely incompetent) that she registers more as a trope than a character sometimes. I didn't mind it--I've encountered plenty like her in fiction--but her cavalier attitude, constant quips, and unrelenting cynicism can become grating. A clever, sharp sense of humor helps keep things going.

From a character standpoint, it all works out in the end, as Jan sees some much-needed (and much-appreciated) personal growth. The plot is thick with mystery and high-concept ideas that are intriguing enough to keep you going, and I'll rarely criticize a book that has characters tracking down temporally displaced velociraptors that escaped containment during an attempted smuggling operation.