TimeLiners

BY EMILY BLAISDELL

RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 15, 2025

A time-hopping dramedy that’s often fun and insightful.

In Blaisdell’s debut SF novel, time travel becomes commonplace—and then unexpected flaws emerge.

With the invention of “digitime™” in the 2020s, traveling into the past becomes possible, as well as widely accessible. Transportation services called TimeLiners take passengers to various times in history, although no further back than 1850. The trip can be personal—one may see one’s late mother as a child, for instance, or watch one’s first kiss; alternatively, some wish to see a particular historical moment unfold live, such as a notorious criminal’s shootout. For some people, the nostalgia quickly wears off, as visits to the past tend to put its worst elements into sharp relief, such as racism and sexism. For others, though, the past offers a place to hide. Purple-haired stand-up comedian Casey Clement, for instance, has dealt with her share of turmoil in her life, and, in order to avoid her ex-husband, she escapes into yesteryear. Around the same time, Guy McGee, after learning a secret about his parents, goes on a quest to 1955. Much of Blaisdell’s story has a tongue-in-cheek tone, as when time-travelers experience turbulence when passing through “turbulent years.” However, the ensemble cast is seriously engaging; it includes Casey’s physicist mother, who searches for her missing daughter; fans who literally chase after such celebrities as Albert Einstein; and the Timemaster, the creator of the time-travel tech, who has a personality and social-media presence that the public generally despises. Many readers will appreciate when characters reluctantly acknowledge that memories don’t always accurately represent the past. The author aims to simplify the story’s time travel elements, essentially disregarding the famed butterfly effect to allow for mass, worry-free travel. “Disruptions,” however, remain possible, which raises questions than aren’t satisfactorily answered. A plot turn in the final act, although predictable, begets a fantastic ending.

A time-hopping dramedy that’s often fun and insightful.

OUR VERDICT: ✓ GET IT