Reviews with content warning for Abortion - The Future of Another Timeline

Creating a believable time travel story is bound to be difficult because it never makes sense once you start to analyze it. This story is so good that it was believable throughout - I wasn’t even tempted to try to analyze it because the plot fit together so perfectly.

This book is topical, having been published in 2019, three years before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. It describes a 1993 and a 2022 where abortion has never been legalized, and time travelers work to edit the timeline in favor of women’s rights. Of course, the people who deny rights to women are just as busy trying to edit the timeline to crush women and turn them into breeders. (It feels all too real in that sense.)

Engaging story, valiant characters, salient topic - an excellent book.

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rafaelsampaio's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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thesawyerbean's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

This was a very enjoyable read. The research done for this novel was insane: the character, setting and plot writing were incredible. I loved the alternating points of view and the interweaving timelines, and the stakes were real, tangible and exhilarating. The effortless inclusion of diverse ethnicities and queer identities was fantastic to read too.

However, where this book falls short is I’m not sure the vision of the fundamental aspect, the time travel and its mechanics, were as defined and clear as they should have been. I did have to suspend belief and go along with it at certain points because it did seem like they flouted their own predefined rules in order for the plot to continue. By the end, although it was satisfying and a satisfactory end, there were still so many questions left unanswered - the characters and I were both left asking ‘who knows?’. In certain ways it made it more convoluted than it already was trying to justify some of the plot points.

Overall this book was good and definitely worth a read. A powerful feminist sci-fi novel, full of historical context and loveable characters, with an overarching plot-line we can all feel impassioned about.

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my_forest_library's review

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adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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thepermageek's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

*Phew* I feel like I need to catch my breath after reading this wild ride of a book!

If yr looking for a fast-paced, feminist/riot grrrl-themed novel about needing to fight the time-travelling patriarchy than look no further!

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leweylibrarian's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

4.75

I enjoyed the bejeezus out of this book and really mostly only regret that I couldn't read it in bigger chunks.

I want to point out that this is a rare book in which there are queer and gender nonconforming people and it doesn't revolve around romance at all, just them existing and doing badass time travel stuff which is dope.

It's really cool that this alternate history does incorporate so much real history. I really enjoyed the social commentary parts about reproductive rights, gender roles, the patriarchy, etc., and the murder and serial killer parts were also really enjoyable.

I think the only struggle I had, and some of this may have been because I had to read it in smaller chunks over more time that I would've liked, but I had a hard time keeping track of characters and storylines sometimes. The settings changing so much in time and place could be a bit unsettling to adjust to, and the how of this time traveling is never really explained, so that was a bit confusing. Also, I know we did officially find out very clearly that

Spoiler

Beth is NOT Tess but Tess is actually Lizzy,

but man did my brain have a hard time accepting and retaining that lol

Overall, I can't fault this book too much in my mind because it was truly really fun, and that last line in the acknowledgements is going to stick with me.

Quotes:

Nothing is inevitable, and you always have to go back farther than you expect. (282)
...I don't tell them everything about the timeline I remember. I don't want them to know how close we are to that other version of history. I want them to have hope. (282)
It wasn't that I didn't believe in great men anymore. But now I could see that every great man was actually a tiny piece of something much larger: A movement, an institution, or possibly a set of loosely interconnected people. Maybe the only real difference between the Great Man perspective and the Collective Action one was that great man had followers instead of communities. (309)
Collective action means that when someone does something small or personal, their actions can change history too. Even if the only thing that person ever does is study ancient rocks, or listen to a friend. (309)
I remember a world where abortion was legal in my country. I hope you do too. (347)

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