Lost in Time by A.G. Riddle was the August pick for the Goldsboro GSFF box. A Sci-Fi book set in both AD 2027 and 201,320,641 BC? I was totally here for it. Goldsboro did a complete redesign for the cover which is absolutely stunning. I’ll show you them both below.
This book is a sci-fi mystery thriller, with time travel, murder, and a sprinkling of dinosaurs just for good measure. I absolutely adored the convolution of the time travel through this book. It’s always an almost impossible task to write about time travel, and I enjoyed how Riddle tackled this and actually mentioned the difficulties within the book. It made our scientists efforts seem that much more believable.
That sprinkling of dinos? One of only two things I didn’t like about this book. Because I loved that section!!! But it felt far too short, as though the publishers made Riddle cut out an entire section of the book. I would have loved if this novel had been 100-200 pages longer just to include more time in 201,320,641 BC. I really enjoyed the survival aspect being mixed with the mystery and I need more of that in my life! (and the dinos of course).
Despite me missing the lack of dinosaurs, the mystery section of this book back in AD 2027 is absolutely absorbing and I could barely put the book down! The twists and turns, the time travel and the knowledge we have compared with what we don’t? It was balanced beautifully by Riddle and I enjoyed every second. This was the massive redeeming factor for me, against the two things I didn’t like as much about the book.
That second thing? (the first being lack of Dinos god damnit) How the book ended. There is already what I would consider a good ending in this book. But there’s another couple of chapters after that, where Riddle ties everything up in a nice pretty pink bow and I just… that wasn’t needed. The readers are more intelligent than he’s giving them credit for. We can envision how things could progress. We don’t need the happy, cliché, ending handed to us on a platter. Or at least I don’t. It really brought the end of the book down for me. Thankfully it would’ve had to have been something huge to counterbalance the really well done body of the book.
On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 8, Writing: 9, Plot: 7, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 8, Enjoyment: 9, with a total of 8.43 and a 4.5* rating.
Highlight here for content warnings: death of parent, cancer, death, terminal illness, grief, murder, drug abuse, addiction, alcoholism, car accident, abandonment, false conviction.
This is a fantastic read, it’s not quite perfect but it is a wild ride that I really enjoyed! I’m glad I’m getting into some more Sci-Fi reads! Will you pick this one up?
Abi of Pellinor 