Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - The Psychology of Time Travel

The Psychology of Time Travel has some of the tightest writing I’ve ever read. Given that it’s a book about time travel, that was absolutely vital!

Kate Mascarenhas somehow wrote a book about a mystery that gives you all of the information you would typically get in a trial without the trial. She also writes an incredibly tight time travel system with a closed loop (my favorite kind!) and clear rules for what is and isn’t possible. The passage of information from different versions of the same person is also done very well, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the time travel aspects of the book!

What I didn’t like as much was the Ruby timeline, specifically toward the end of the book

with her romantic relationship with Grace

It felt a bit rushed, and I wish there had been even ten more pages of development.

All in all this book was really well written, but I don’t know if I was the target reader. The first half was really hard for me to get through, but once I did I flew through the second half. I think that because there was so much set up, and so many different chronologies to follow, it made it difficult for me to get invested in the book. I think this would make a really interesting miniseries, and that the visual medium would help convey where in time we are more easily than the chapter headings do.

Unrelated to anything that’s actually related to the writing or story, but all of the characters in the book were women and seeing a STEM field full of women made me so happy!

Would I recommend this book? Yes. Will I read it again? Probably not. 3.75 stars.

Content Warnings

cheye13's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

mandkips's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

towardinfinitybooks's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Content Warnings

leialou's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Key Themes:

Mental Health, Grief, Friendship, Death.

Best (or Worst) Moments:

I found the best moments were those viewed from Audette's POV - just found it more interesting with the murder and mystery solving, and she had an agenda and clear goals which also helped.

Was this Book What I Expected?:

No - with it being called ‘the psychology of time travel’ I expected it to focus even more on psychology. I’m an MSc Psychology student so obviously love psychology so I think I would have enjoyed the book even more if it went into more detail about the actual psychology behind it all - not just basic ‘she would have had those mental health problems without time travel’. I know there was some explanation but just felt it wasn’t enough - but maybe that would be too much for someone without a background in psychology?

Review:

This book was okay - I enjoyed it but it just wasn’t what I was expecting and it kind of disappointed me as a result.

Things to Research Further

The concept of how time travel could impact a person psychologically is so interesting - obviously not applicable until time-travel is a thing but would be such an interesting topic to study.

Content Warnings

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I enjoyed this book. It had a really interesting exploration of time travel and the rules governing travelers. I also thought the characters were interesting and I'm always delighted to find queer representation in random books I pick up.

📘The Gist 📘: Time travel takes the mystery out of everything, including death. It also makes it possible to solve certain crimes. When a woman in her 80s is murdered in a locked room, her death spawns am investigation that stretches across time.

📒Representation📒: wlw mc, bipoc mc and sc, senior mc

💕 For readers looking for 💕: interesting time travel, mystery, a touch of romance

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