Review: The End of Time by Karyne Norton

I read this book as a judge for SFINCS4. However, these are my own views and do not necessarily reflect those of the judging team as a whole.

The Book:

The world is ending in five years, and humanity's solution is a mass exodus to the past. What could go wrong?

Renee's job for Serendipity is simple: she relocates families to the past so they don't die when the asteroid hits Earth in five years. On top of a paycheck, she earns her own time travel slot to escape the end of the world. Everyone wins.

But then Beckham shows up in her office, claiming she sent him from the past to find her. On top of that, he wants her help taking Serendipity down. As much as she likes the idea of sticking it to some of her bosses, she also really likes the idea of being alive after the Earth is destroyed.

But as Beckham spills more secrets about the dangers of time travel, Renee is forced to decide between securing her own happy ending and preserving thousands of others.

My Thoughts:

This is a very decent speculative thriller novella which would appeal to fans of authors such as John Maars.

The concept is really interesting and Renee is an engaging character. The resulting tangle of multiple timestreams and hopping across between them was well thought out and a lot of fun to read. The author has clearly thought about all the problems and paradoxes time travel can cause and has woven these issues into a compelling storyline. Time travel stories can be difficult to do well, but this one really works.

My only gripe is that I would perhaps have liked to feel more chemistry between Renee and Beckham, as this was a major plot point. 

But that aside, this book was great fun to read and I enjoyed it very much.