The Future of Another Time Line, by Annalee Newitz

So this is a pretty straightforward time travel story, meant to use time travel as a way to talk about our present. Which it does, very effectively. The main point of the book is a feminist vs. misogynist time travel edit-the-past war, and it stays logically true to what time travel would accomplish, but with a very interesting twist that in this telling, everyone has known through most of human history that time travel is possible. The premise is a side note to the main story, but brings up some interesting points Newitz kind of throws in along the way. The time travel machines no longer have an interface--worn away over geologic time--but are usable anyway by tapping on the rocks they appear to be. Travelers have gone back far enough to see the interface, and it has lights and buttons. Yet there is a discussion about whether they are made or a natural phenomenon. It seems obvious that they are made, but should it be? I think if I were living with something like this I would entertain the natural hypothesis, without any other evidence of other intelligence involvement. It's a lot like Intelligent Design.

The main story is a very 201- telling of a time edit battle, which serves as a platform to talk about feminism, lesbianism, and the lengths one can go to in defending an idea. It ticks all the boxes, from White Supremacy to moralism to abusive fathers. It's well done, but been done. The plot twists are worthy ones. A self-conscious time travel story is rarely explored territory--most of the others I know of are one-off events or secret societies. One very large exception would be the Terminator series, where it's invented and seems to be generally known about at the end of the future human-AI war. So overall, I'm glad I read it.

Goodreads Review

This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

I'm really starting to dislike time travel stories, because this is pretty much how you have to tell them. They aren't "stories" because stories have beginnings, middles, and ends. Time travel stories have no end. So the description of how a time war would work is pretty right on. And it's good to have an accurate framework to hang your "story" (narrative, tale, whatever) on.

The book is a love story, unapologetically so. Some are reading this as LGBTQ+, but the relationship between Red and Blue is not in any way sexual--it is agapic, if anything. The love is fueled by the highly cryptic means by which they communicate--letters as patterns in feathers, burning paper, flavors, etc. The descriptions of the form the letters take is probably my favorite part of the book.

That said, in order to truly enjoy it you have to enjoy romance of this sort. While I value it, it doesn't excite me the way a good space opera does. It was an interesting read, and well executed, but in the end just OK for me.

Goodreads Review

The Deep, by Rivers Solomon with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes

This is about a 3.6 rounded up. My opinion improved as I read some of the supporting material, and understood this as an origin myth. It reads like one and the protagonist is imperfect in the way that godlike originators often are. So many heroes are unflinching, or have misgivings but no real weaknesses. Yetu is sensitive and struggles under the pressure of being the Historian, and even runs away from her problems.

The pain of the Middle Passage is central to this book but is not extensively dwelled upon, though there are a few graphic descriptions. The writing style actually reminds me of Nnedi Okorafor, in that it is very direct and can seem a little stiff. It's a fine story, especially as an origin myth. Am glad I read it. 

Goodreads Review

The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow

As this book got rolling, I really began to enjoy it. The prose is a bit self-conscious, but January Scaller is a fine protagonist, at the end truly grounded in herself and very honest with the reader all the way through. The plot twists nicely and the story thoroughly explores how hard it is to go against one's instincts, and against someone you love and loves you, even if you must. I am glad I read it.

But I do have my misgivings. Seanan McGuire has been doing a YA series on magical doors that lead to fantastic places and appear to only certain people, and that series has been up for most of the same awards. The style of prose is even similar, kind of flowing and self-conscious in the same way. Maybe I have had enough of Doors? Possibly I have even had enough of people who have decided, against all evidence, to believe in magical things. We have a lot of that going on right now and it has gotten us nowhere good.  

My Goodreads Review