Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Book Review: An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim

An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim

Hardcover, 309 pages

Published July 10th 2018 by Touchstone

Look I really thought this sounded cool at first. I was rooting for this book. I am going to keep this kinda short.

Ocean of Minutes is a sappy time-travel romance that was going for Time Travel's Wife vibe but it was such a confusing and flat mess I just couldn't get into it. I'll try to explain the plot to you but in doing so I think I found the key problem. The plot is all over the place and doesn't make much sense. The main point of view character is Polly she falls in love with Frank, but wait they are already married. The romance was highlighted in well written but poorly placed flashbacks. Oh yeah there is a pandemic killing almost everyone. Don't worry about the details This novel is not super interested in that aspect of the story. By the way the romance during the end of the world was kinda what hooked me when I was browsing the book at Mysterious Galaxy.

Don't worry about the end of the world in 1991, because humans have invented Time Travel. You can only go back 12 years, and there are airports for time Travel. Only people with valuable skills like our main character's ability to uh... restore furniture give you the pass to travel to the post plague future. So the idea is we are supposed to learn why Polly is so devoted Frank and why after they get sent to separate futures why they would look for each other.

I think this is a sci-fi book that would work better for non-sci-fi readers. The world building is terrible, and worse it seems inorganically driven by the needs of the plot. Many round pegs are forced into square holes. I could have forgiven this if the characters worked for me better. There were moments, like when Frank got her furniture back from an asshole ex-boyfriend. Mostly I felt totally uninterested or invested in the world, the characters and had very little desire to finish reading.

I think Non sci-fi readers could probably over look many of these elements. A less critical eye might be able to just let this story go on it's merits. Not for me. Lim certainly has talent. I just not sure sci-fi is the best use of her talents. I know I was hard on this book but I would actually give her second novel or short stories a shot.

That said for time travel romance I say stick with Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson.

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