Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Psychology of Time Travel

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

26 reviews

aseel_reads's review against another edition

funny mysterious 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

4.5

This was so fun!! I loved how everything connected in the end. I also loved the psychology elements and how good the bad/annoying characters were

glaring at Margaret

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jesswho's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

Loved this book! It's a book about psychology, relationships, and our relation with death told in the setting of time travel and a murder mystery. Incredible ensemble of believable characters. Almost all characters are women and the main romantic relationship is queer, and both are done in a way that feels entirely natural.

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forestfloor's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

I have to say I was shocked when I got to the end and read that this was Mascarenhas' debut novel - it was so good.

The plot and world building are what really won me over: a time travel plot with multiple timelines and character perspectives is had to keep all together and yet this book had a strong plot concept which it executed really well. It's a really original take on time travel as well. It focuses less on the impacts of the alternative technology, culture and aesthetic etc. of different time periods on the characters, and does away with common tropes around paradoxes. Instead, you're left with a fascinating look into the culture and mental state time travellers acquire simply by being time travellers.

Where the book lost me a little bit is in characterisation - the characters were really well developed as far as their motivations and personality were relevant to the plot, but not outside of this. That missing layer of enriching but not necessarily relevant description would have let them feel more like fully developed people.

The other thing that bothers me slightly is two points I felt were left a little unfinished:
First, I think that wrapping up the story with Ginger and her husband was missing, because we left them on a very tense note.
Second, while Ruby is by no means painted as an aggressor, she is considered to be Margret's murderer. I feel that actually, Angharad holds that position, and I think that the discovery of this was missing, or not quite concrete enough, in the book.

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bookwyrm242's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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fjalar's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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sarahs9's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

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kitrook's review against another edition

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4.5

This was really good, but it would have been perfect if two things had been done differently.

1. The main romance felt SO out of the blue. I don't care that it didn't feel terribly romantic as yes- it is an atypical relationship, but there was no significant build up for anything that happened which lead to me feeling no emotional connection to that plot

2. I feel as if the story could have been wrapped up a bit better. I fear Ginger didn't get a proper ending, and the end felt imperfect.

With that out of the way, here are the things I loved

- The idea of this book. The title speaks to what it is: the trials and tribulations of time travel on mental health. Such an interesting concept I haven't seen done before and I really enjoyed how it was interwoven with mystery.
- The interweaving of all the stories is so so so! interesting! Many unpredictable moments of revelation that make you want to keep going deeper into the book
- There are quite a few characters in this book, but I never once felt confused about who was who, as I often do in books with many characters. It's not confusing, which is something a lot of authors fail hard at doing.
- No one ever questions the women in this book for doing what they do based on their gender, their roles in science, or their roles in power. It's just not there in the book. It's refreshing.
- Lesbian calls herself a lesbian. Nice!
- The way time travel works here is fabulous. Theres no hang ups on paradoxes, such as the baby hitler paradox/grandfather paradox which was definitely the right choice as any hang ups on that would have taken away from the novel, in my opinion. I liked that it was just a norm to time travel, and the fact that you could not change the future or past no matter how hard you tried, as it was all pre-determined. The way people would walk around at certain ages certainly bends your brain when you think about it at first, but in the end its a relatively easy concept for the reader to grasp. 10/10 time travel universe rules

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