Publisher: Shadow Alley Press
Publishing Date: November 2017
ASIN: B076KF2ZR3
Genre: SciFi / Fantasy
Rating: 4.3/5
Publishers Description: Jubal Van Zandt is running out of time to find a cure for the plague. His only hope is the Garden of Time, where actual, physical time is grown and stored. Anything that can be stored can be stolen.
Review: Cover art rocks.
Let’s be clear here….I can’t stand the character Jubal. A manipulative, sociopathic, undermining sneak trying to steal a good mans woman. While you hope he suffers a million deaths by a pack of fanged venomous Girl Scouts, he still manages to slip the Reaper, time and again. In short I just want him to fookin’ die…by any means possible. Carina is a fantastic character that was built to balance shjt heads sarcastic, unfunny diatribes. While this un-dynamic duo scrape their way across the pages, you are forced to revel in their interchanges with interesting turns to the story line.
This really only got interesting once the quest to find the the Garden of Time began. The movement increased with Jubal’s sarcastic anecdotes favorably diminished and the world building was allowed to breath deeply, unfettered.
This author has a hidden talent in the form of world building that couples superbly with the character development; once the movement is enjoined. Her expression is bent in the wrong direction, IMO, to sarcastic denigrating witticisms that derail the story line with embarrassing cringe worthy Jubalisms. You can be a misogynistic sociopathic asshole and still be palatable to read. It almost lends itself to that format by mere quality of association. There is no need to go over-the-top in every instance that Jubal opens his mouth. It makes for a character you really despise when I think the intent is to root for his success in all things. But I am not a mind reader so who knows.
Still a very good read by one of my favorite authors.