Reviews for Time and again

The average rating for Time and again based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-09-06 00:00:00 Richard Spiering I made a deal with a friend this summer. This friend read a good amount of romance novels, and much to my chagrin I forgot myself and said something offhandedly disparaging- which was promptly answered with 'Have you ever read one?' To which I had to say 'No.' So she suggested that I do so, and then tell her what I thought. And. Um... I found this one at the library book sale and paid fifty cents for it. And I thought... hmm, time travel, could be good... Read it pencil in hand, marking it up like a maniac, a habit I developed in AP Language and Composition last year. What follows is the exact text of the e-mail I sent my friend, based on the marks I made a I read. Chock full of shameless spoilers, just so you know. Okay. The book I bought contained two novels, 'Time Was' and 'Times Change'. They center on a pair of brothers, Caleb and Jacob Hornblower, from the twenty-third century who travel back to our time and meet a pair of sisters, Liberty and Sunny Stone. No prizes for guessing what happens next. I'll consider each novel from three perspectives, and then when I've finished with both I'll draw conclusions based on the two of them. The perspectives are as follows: Science Fiction. One of the reasons I chose this book instead of one of the others was the time travel; I find it a particularly intriguing subtheme of scifi in general and was curious to see how someone who wasn't a science fiction novelist by trade would handle it. So this will be my evaluation of plausibility of the time travel mechanism and what details of the twenty third century we are given, as well as the culture shock both brothers experience when they arrive in our present day. Feminism. I can't help it; I see every book through this lens. However, it's particularly relevant to this because romance novels are often criticized for being antifeminist or misogynistic. So this perspective will be my breakdown of the gender roles presented, the power dynamic of the relationships, and anything particularly praiseworthy or glaringly bad that relates to how characters of each gender are treated. Narrative. Simply put, how's the writing? The plot, the pacing, the dialogue, the word choice? That analysis will be in this section. Book One: Time Was. Back-of-book blurb: "He was stranded in the present, but time traveler Caleb Hornblower's biggest predicament wasn't returning to the 23rd century... it was leaving behind beguilingly innocent Liberty Stone, who'd shown him a love more powerful than Time Was." Spoilerific Summary: Caleb crash-lands his ship in the mountains of Oregon during a rainstorm- and Libby is watching from the front porch of her family's cabin. She drives out, because she thinks it's a plane crash, to see if there are any survivors; all she finds is Caleb on the side of the road. Naturally, she brings him back to the cabin and tends his wounds. There's a good deal of awkwardness as he tries to figure out where he is, and shock when the realization hits. Because they're both obscenely good looking, a situation which could have stayed awkward for a long time turns romantic, what with her showing him a little about our time and caring for his wounds. Sex ensues, which (this isn't clear) is either Libby's first time or the first time she's really enjoyed it; either way, the emotional complication deepens. Then there's tension about his leaving to return to his time; he fixes up his spaceship and gets it to figure out how to make a return trip, but doesn't want to leave her, etcetera. Libby's parents show up for some cringeworthy scenes, including one in which Caleb grabs her mom's butt, and then leave them alone after deciding that their little girl can take care of herself. Launch day arrives, Libby watches the ship take off from the same porch where she watched it crash... and Caleb comes running up. Good news! He set the ship on autopilot; it can return to the 23rd century without him! He can stay with her forever! How does one become a pilot in these primitive times? Analysis- Science Fiction: Could have been better, could have been worse. Roberts clearly knows she's out of her depth as far as spaceships go, so she keeps things vague- instead of talking about specific controls, for instance, in the first chapter, she mentions 'the instrument panel'. Instead of specific voice warnings, as appear on other ships in science fiction (Serenity's Cantonese life support failure message, etc) there are 'warning bells'. This is fine. For someone who has no chance of writing decent 'hard science fiction', IE SF in which all the details have lengthy scientific explanations, this is a good option. But let's talk about the glimpses of future society we get. Caleb comes on to Libby almost as soon as he regains conciousness, which aside from being gross suggests that sexual mores have changed a lot in two hundred years. He also doesn't seem to understand why being naked around a complete stranger is a problem- "Because it seemed important to her, Cal tugged on the sweats." This presents a bizarre picture of a future society, to say the least. And one of the biggest and most important companies? The inanely-named Herbal Delight, a tea company founded by Libby's father. FULL STOP. Tea company. One of 'the ten biggest and most powerful companies on Earth and its colonies'? Yeah right. Even if it does make organic fuel, that coincidence is way too convenient. Setting aside the fact that from the things he mentions or thinks- about wood being super rare, natural cotton being expensive, etc- there shouldn't be enough resources to support a major organic fuel market, unless they're growing the ingredients in some kind of artificial system like hydroponics. And at that point, you have to wonder if that even constitutes organic anymore. For the next item, let's consult the book for a quote- "In another hundred years we'll probably have robots that will stack the dishes inside themselves and sterilize them." "More like a hundred and fifty." DISHWASHER ROBOTS? Does no one do anything for themselves anymore? And the fact that clearly her guess at how they would generally work was spot on, because all he corrected was the time, not the mechanism. Again, unlikely coincidence. Now I come to the part where we find out how the heck Cal got here. Now, wait for it, wait for it... he skimmed the edge of a black hole. Um, yes, let me repeat that one: BLACK HOLE. AKA enormous superdense ball of matter with such gravitational pull it draws in light and will literally pull anything else that it gets ahold of out into one-atom-thick spaghetti. Created by the collapse of a SUPERNOVA. Detected not because scientists can see it, but because they can observe the effect it has on the planets and stars in its vicinity. And the one he metaphorically stumbles onto? Wasn't on the charts. "It had just been there, and his ship had been dragged toward it." YEAH RIGHT. HE WAS FLYING A 'ROUTINE ROUTE' BETWEEN MARS AND EARTH AND DIVERTED TO AVOID A METEOR SHOWER. He would not have left the solar system. And there are no black holes in the solar system or in our immediate area. I think we'd notice being atom-spaghettiized. Even if it wasn't in the solar system- because I'll admit, we know Mars was one end of the run but we don't know the other- any spacegoing society is going to know the locations of every major interstellar travel hazard for lightyears around the actual routes and colonies. In short, this is total bull. It's also the second-most annoying thing I found in this book. Feminism- This part starts with the back cover blurb. Yup, you read that right. The back cover blurb, and here's why: The men travel. The women are in stasis. The men come to them, and this to me resonates strongly of a male-dominance pattern. It doesn't play out this way, but it insinuates 'man goes off to work and exciting things, woman stays and tends house'. So that's the first thing. But I bet you're dying to know what Cal's like, am I right? Well, here you go: he's a sex-crazed, arrogant, misogynistic bastard. His only redeeming moments are when he's talking or thinking about flying, when he shows a love for something other than himself. You want me to prove it? Can do. Page 18, first instance of unwanted advances: "I only see one." Smiling, he reached up to touch her subtly pointed chin. "One beautiful one." Page 21, after they fall down- him on top of her, how convenient: 'And she felt like heaven beneath him.' Page 24, Libby's thinking: 'A ripple of unease ran through her. He'd be strong. When his injuries healed, his body would be as strong as she sensed hsi mind was. And they were alone... as completely alone as any two people could be.' Also Page 24: 'He wasn't used to women backing away from him.' Page 37, when he's poking around in her bedroom: 'She'd said she wasn't matched, yet it was obvious that she wore things to please a man. Apparently she preferred the romance of past eras even when it came to her underwear. Far from comfortable with the ease with which he could picture Libby in this little chocolate-brown swatch with the white lace, he shoved the drawer shut again.' (Because she can't wear underwear like that because she likes it for herself- it's obviously to please a man.) Page 40, when she's helping him back to his bed as he can hardly stand: 'But his arm stayed around her shoulders long enough to keep her close, just close enough to brush his lips over hers.' Page 44, an encounter in the dark when the power goes out in a storm: 'His fingers tightened on her arms, hard enough to make her gasp.' Page 48, Caleb's response when she asks if he's married: "No. It wouldn't be wise for me to want you if I were." Page 49, and this one speaks for itself: "We'll get to know each other tomorrow. Then we'll sleep together." Page 65, also speaks for itself: "I make you nervous." His thumb caressed her knuckles. "It's very stimulating." Also page 65: "Relax," he murmered, and slid his hand up to the back of her neck. "I'm not going to make love with you. I'm only going to kiss you." Panic had her straining away. "No, I don't..." The fingers at the back of her neck shifted, tightened, held firm.' NOTE: This scene continues with her head 'falling back in submission'. Page 88: "I want you, and if I stay near you much longer, I'm going to have you." Page 89: "You can have all the say you like." Taking both her arms, he pulled her against him. "But I'll have something before I go." This time she struggled. It was pride, pride and anger, that had her jerking free. Then his arms came around her, twin vises that clamped her body unerringly to his. She would have sworn at him, but his mouth closed hard over his. It was nothing like the first time. Then he had seduced, persuaded, tempted. Now he posessed, not as if he had the right, but simply taking it. Her muffled protest went unheeded, her struggles ignored. NOTE: This scene continues with the following some paragraphs later: 'And she was in love.' Page 145, post-sex: "Why don't I watch while you fix me a sandwich?" She traced lazy patterns on his chest with her fingertip. "So, male chauvinism survives in the twenty-third century." Page 201: 'In one long, possessive stroke, his hands ran up her body, then down again with no lessening of force. She might have protested. There was something here that frightened her, that left her weak- not meltingly, but with an open-ended vulnerability that made her struggle to find her feet again. There was no gentleness here, nor was there the sense of urgent desire he had once shown her. Instead, the kiss was like a punishment, and a brutally effective one.' Page 203: 'He couldn't stand it- the thought of someone else touching her, kissing her. Undressing her.' Page 214: "Do you think that every emotion a man has toward a woman is gentle, kind, loving?" Further page 214: "Maybe it's time I taught you the rest." Page 214-215: "Think of this. Whenever anyone else touches you, tomorrow, ten years from tomorrow, you'll wish it was me. I'll see to it." With his words still hanging in the air, he pulled her to the bed.' So there are the solid examples. I'm sure you can see what bugs me about Cal from these, but I have to elaborate a little bit more: his critical flaw, the one that makes him utterly unlikeable in my eyes, is that at more than one point he threatens, insinuates, or attempts to rape Libby. This is the woman he's supposedly going to love forever. Now, I doubt this point needs belaboring, but RAPE IS WRONG. Utterly, completely, horribly wrong. Under no circumstances, under no emotional duress, is it acceptable or explicable. Under no circumstances is it an act grown out of true love. It comes from a disregard of the rights of the other person, a belief that in some way their choices are not their right, that the rapist is justified in causing pain mental and physical. Thus, at the point that any so-called 'love interest' behaves in any way like a rapist, he- or she- becomes abhorrent. Can it be handled in a way that doesn't ruin the book? Yes. I can even name one manipulative bitch of a character who I actually liked a lot, because the author accepted that her treatment of sexual partners was a deep flaw and treated it as such, making it a part of her character and the way she related to other people. The author never condoned this woman's behavior, and indeed built a lot of sympathy for the victim by showing the poor man's emotional fragility and utter terror of his tormentor. And that's the other thing- it's just plain creepy if someone who is the victim or almost-victim of a rape or almost-rape forgives the perpetrator. An encounter like this should set off big, red warning lights and a siren. Maybe a voice-over that yells, 'BAD HUMAN BEING, RUN LIKE HELL THE OTHER DIRECTION'. Not 'And she was in love'. That is not an appropriate reaction on Libby's part, nor is it an appropriate handling of the situation on Nora Roberts' part. Showing relationships where one partner is afraid of the other as normal, or even as extraordinary 'timeless loves', is sick and harmful. This is one of the flaws of Twilight, as well, but I'm not getting into that. A few more things: The use of the word 'submission'. This word is a big red flag. The idea that any part of a relationship should involve one member- and make no mistake, it's almost always the female- submitting to the other is ridiculous. That suggests inequality in the relationship itself, at which point said relationship is no longer healthy. Unless Caleb 'submitted' to Libby at one point- which he never did- there is no equality. Initiation of sex. This was handled rather better than some of the other things. Libby actually demands sex at more than one point, and though it's hard to tell, may do so more than Caleb. Like all things, a perfect balance is the ideal, but rather unlikely; this is better than it would have been if he had been the one making the demands (thus sending the message that sex and sexual pleasure are a man's realm and his right, and a woman is merely a tool to an end). Lampshading. Libby was not as strong as I might have liked, but every now and then she would out and out call Caleb on his sexist bullshit. My favorite: "I did you a favor, and I don't appreciate you insinuating that I should hop into bed with you just because you've- you've got an itch. I don't find it flattering- in fact, I find it very insulting- that you think I'd make love with a perfect stranger just because it's convenient." Monogamy. Let me preface this with the statement that I find nothing wrong with monogamy in a relationship. Personally, I think it's a good idea flat out health-wise, as someone who is monogamous is less likely to contract and spread an STD. And I would probably blow a gasket if I found out a boyfriend of mine had cheated. So my issue isn't with that kind of monogamy, but with something else. Libby explains it best- 'She had, even as a child, believed that there would be only one man for her.' Now, is it possible for this to happen and end happily? Of course. Is it common? Not at all. And is this a necessarily healthy attitude? No. First off, scientifically- National Geographic suggests that the feeling we experience as falling in love is actually a chemical/hormonal high our bodies create. An internal drug dose, if you will, that lasts approximately four years. (Coincidentally- or maybe not- guess when most marriages break up? Around the three or four year mark.) Believe that or not, that's your call. Secondly, this attitude is not reflected in Caleb. This is something that bothers me in a lot of books, and in fact in many societal mores. The woman is expected to be a virgin until she marries, for instance- to the point that brides in some Islamic cultures will have (once would have had? Not sure if it still happens...) surgery (don't ask me to explain this because it's gross) so that their husband thinks they're 'pure'. But there's no such expectation of a man. It helps that there's no way to tell if a man is a virgin or not (or maybe there is, but hell if I'm going to ask someone about this). My point is this: The fairy-tale 'my Prince Charming will come and sweep me off my feet and we'll live happily ever after' isn't a problem if the man is just as determined to love one woman in his entire life. So I suppose my problem with this is not the exclusivity Libby idolizes but the double standard. Narrative: Formulaic and not outstanding, but I've read worse. There was a clear central conflict present through the entir ebook, if under the surface at first. Caleb's reactions to the modern world were well handled, and his fish-out-of-water state was somewhat plausible. Dialogue wasn't outstanding, but it wasn't awkward or jarring, and I could mostly imagine real people saying these things. I still don't like the pacing of the romance itself; I would have preferred to see a little more development, but if it were done to my satisfaction it would be too long for a good section of Roberts' target audience, so I can let that slide. The only thing that really needed more development was their emotional connection, as it seemed to be more pure horniness than anything else. There weren't many character details given at all,, actaully, so there's no wonder there was little emotional connection- again, it reminded me of Twilight, though it did better than that at least. Caleb's a pilot, former military, who's flight-crazy, and that's all we know about his personal interests and passions. Libby is an anthropologist, likes Casablanca, was raised by hippie parents, and that's mostly what we get about her. Her parents showed up, but they seemed to be a plot device- intended mostly, by my watch, to talk with Libby and Caleb and have them demonstrate through their words that they love each other. Oh yeah, and talk about the importance of love and free sex, and have some of their own. There may possibly be a plot point for the next book in the fact that Libby's mother is pregnant again, but I have no way to know that yet. Final note: Caleb's last name really annoyed me. Especially when he was referred to at one point as 'Captain Hornblower'. I don't know if you've heard of them, but there's a very famous series of naval novels set in the Napoleonic War era whose main character is Horatio Hornblower. I haven't read them myself, but every time someone mentioned Caleb's full name that was all I could think of. There have got to be other things he could have been called. (Continued in comments)

Review # 2 was written on 2012-06-09 00:00:00 Frederic Vigneron I read the first half of the book then skimmed the rest. It was a predictable sleezy romance novel, plain and simple. The thing that bothered me most was the fact that Cal was not even LIKABLE. He was a self centered jerk who showed no true care to Libby's feelings but only to his own desires, and that just sickened me. I'm reading this and thinking, "Okay, so I have this male character who is-of course-oooh so handsome (as is his brother, OF course...so shallow and not realistic but anyhow) and he is arrogant, pushy, bossing, demeaning, manipulative, and takes advantage of women, with no character whatsoever...and I'm supposed to swoon over this fellow and come out wishing I had a man like him (b/c isn't that the stupid goal of these novels anyhow?) ?" The description on the back made me think this novel would perhaps be something other than what it was but yeah, I was ready to be done w/ this one and read something that wasn't pointless trash. I gave it 2 stars merely b/c her writing in and of itself is not atrocious, just the story...