2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Time Machine Emergency by Dan Busby is a science fiction novel about time travel, history, and politics combined with the biggest questions which face the concept of time travel: if you were to change history, which event should you change? How big—or small—a change will actually affect the future? Most importantly, what will you come back to once the changes start taking effect? These questions plague the minds of science fiction fans every time they pick up a book about time travel, and Busby is not too shy to address them directly.
Derek is a 22-year-old university student working in the lab of Professor Kibble, who has grown fond of his student and calls him a “boy genius.” While working on new forms of honey with a more appealing texture and taste, Derek notices something peculiar happening. As the centrifuge spins, the clock on the jar of honey appears to be ticking backwards. Dan continues to observe and experiment with this phenomenon until he’s finally ready to reveal his discovery to Professor Kibble: time travel is possible, and they have the equipment to make it a reality.
Through a series of trial-and-error in Professor Kibble’s garage, the two construct what they believe to be a workable time machine. They, along with a new member of their team named Lex, successfully send Derek backwards in time and bring him home again. As they revel in their success, reality hits; Russia and China are relentlessly expanding their borders and threats of nuclear war loom on the horizon. The trio know that they must do something—after all, what use is time travel if you can’t use it to make the present a better place?
But which event should they change? How can they change the past without making the present worse? Once in the past, how will they even proceed? An adventure involving war and rewriting history follows, and one thing quickly becomes clear to our heroes: when changing the past, you cannot know what will change in your present until after you return.
As a science fiction fan, I was eager to read a story about time travel. As a history lover, I was also excited to find the world of Alexander the Great incorporated into the tale. I saw so much potential in this short novel. The past and present political tensions, the possibility of unintended side effects from bringing modern weaponry to Alexander’s army, and the possibility of not liking the present they return to all promised a gripping story. Unfortunately, Busby’s work fell short of my expectations.
The concept is this novel’s biggest strength, in my opinion. Busby demonstrates a great knowledge of history and I feel that he thought through, very carefully, how history would have changed if certain events had happened differently. The thought of using time travel to prevent catastrophic events always interests me and the inclusion of Alexander the Great is an angle I have not seen in other books. Busby’s knowledge of Alexander’s campaigns and conquests made the concept that much stronger and more compelling. Still, beyond the concept, I think that Busby could have developed the narrative better.
To begin with, I found myself fairly confused by how the discovery of time travel occurred. I just could not—and still cannot—fathom how being in a spinning centrifuge could at all lead to the object/person going back in time. Perhaps it’s because I’m a novice when it comes to such scientific principles and someone with a better grasp on such things would not have a problem. Nevertheless, the book does not sufficiently explain the leap for me.
This issue feeds into a larger issue I have with the book, namely that everything happens very quickly. The discovery of the concept and the creation of the time machine happen in a matter of pages when I would’ve expected such a process to make up a much larger portion of the novel. I appreciate the process being discussed, considering many such novels skip that part altogether, but I think that Busby needs to use more “show” than “tell” if building the time machine is included in the novel. They also encounter very few—in fact, I don’t think any—obstacles when convincing Alexander that they are from the future, which made that part of the novel rather quick. This pace removes all tension from these scenes for me, and I had a hard time suspending disbelief for most of Time Machine Emergency.
The pacing aside, the characters seem one-dimensional. The best-developed character, in my opinion, is Alexander the Great. He shows resistance when he disagrees, his body language matches his emotions, and I got a better feel for him as a person as the book progressed. The other characters, however, are flat. Their reactions are very predictable and they seem to go along with most suggestions without much resistance. The story is very plot-driven, to the point that Busby sacrifices character development to propel the plot.
In particular, I am disappointed by Lex. So few females appear in the story and Lex’s role, initially, is just as a housekeeper/cook/whatever else they need. While she helps with the fighting later on, I feel that she could be so much more. I understand females not playing a large role in Alexander’s time (outside of wives and concubines), but Derek, Kibble, and Lex’s present is in 2026. Why wouldn’t a woman from (our) future be stronger, more independent, and more engaged in the action? She does serve as Devil's Advocate from time to time, which is when I liked her most, and the other characters would acknowledge her concerns. Still, for the most part, she does not hold as influential a position in all this as the men do, despite the fact that she has been there since almost the beginning of the project.
I would love this novel if everything hadn’t gone by so quickly and the characters weren’t so flat. I also discovered a fair number of proofreading errors, such as misplaced punctuation and capitalization where it did not belong (or missing where it was needed). For these reasons, I have to give Time Machine Emergency a 2 out of 4 rating. I really do not want to because I think the basis is fascinating but the writing needs some work and the story would be much better if it were longer, perhaps even a book series, so that all aspects could get the attention which they deserve.
******
Time Machine Emergency
View: on Bookshelves
Like dragonet07's review? Post a comment saying so!
