This is a pretty standard time-travel story, but adds to that literature in a good way. Time is a crystal with flaws--people who know about time travel can add to those flaws, but can't break it. The protagonist and colleagues are trying to save what's left of the future by stealing some seeds that can grow in mostly sterile soil, because pretty much all small-scale life has died during the Scouring. There's nothing left to grow and stored food is running out.
The story is set in Russia, which gives it an exotic twist and explains the laconic feel of the story. The protagonist is an interesting person--she is a 71-year old teacher, and in the book she is an action hero. Good on you Al!There are some loose ends--the teacher is recruited because her mother invented the mathematics that permitted time travel, and worked out some of the theories with her daughter. They think she can help, but it's not clear that her math knowledge really helps at all. But overall it is good stuff--the desperation is conveyed through circumstance, and the strain on the characters, rather than any over the top explication.
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