Earth has just begun to recover from worldwide ecological disasters. Minh is part of the generation that first moved back up to the surface of the Earth from the underground hells, to reclaim humanity's ancestral habitat. She's spent her entire life restoring river ecosystems, but lately the kind of long-term restoration projects Minh works on have been stalled due to the invention of time travel. When she gets the opportunity take a team to 2000 BC to survey the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, she jumps at the chance to uncover the secrets of the shadowy think tank that controls time travel technology.
Dioses, monstruos y el Melocotones de la suerte no es una novela corta convencional para el lector de ciencia ficción, pero sí una oportunidad para conocer otras voces, otros tipos de historias que se están contando ahora. Kelly Robson ha creado una sociedad interesante tanto por los aspectos sociales tras un desastre global, como por los tecnológicos; y habla de temas como las brechas entre generaciones o las cualidades y relaciones de trabajo aderezados con viajes en el tiempo.
Review of 'Gods, monsters, and the lucky peach' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
A long novella, this has some interesting characters and world building which are unfortunately buried by the interests of the main characters. Oh, it also ends abrupt
... though allegedly there is a second part coming soon. Released in 2018, this is the author's first novel. I nabbed it from the category of "time travel" on worldswithoutend for a challenge on that site, and there is time travel, exact method undefined. Changes in the past are (supposedly) to a pocket universe which collapses, according to scientists in the setting. I kinda think the author is going to flip that in the sequel.
Back to the novel - the world building is interesting, what there is of it. The characters live it and don't think or talk about it - so we don't get to see it. It seems to be post environmental catastrophe, or possibly post-apocalyptic also. Interestingly, the stated …
A long novella, this has some interesting characters and world building which are unfortunately buried by the interests of the main characters. Oh, it also ends abrupt
... though allegedly there is a second part coming soon. Released in 2018, this is the author's first novel. I nabbed it from the category of "time travel" on worldswithoutend for a challenge on that site, and there is time travel, exact method undefined. Changes in the past are (supposedly) to a pocket universe which collapses, according to scientists in the setting. I kinda think the author is going to flip that in the sequel.
Back to the novel - the world building is interesting, what there is of it. The characters live it and don't think or talk about it - so we don't get to see it. It seems to be post environmental catastrophe, or possibly post-apocalyptic also. Interestingly, the stated purpose for time travel is to measure the original state of something in order to get back to it, to reestablish nature as it were. Does that even make sense - can all the conditions be met? I'm probably overthinking this.
The characters are also distinguishable with their own personalities and quirks and... don't think or talk about themselves much. I get "show don't tell" but the reader needs at least one of these to keep up. I just wasn't invested in these characters.
So, confusing world, characters I don't especially like, and the main character very focused on procuring water samples. This makes for a book that is "just okay", and not the best use of my time. Overall recommendation - wait for the sequel to be available and then decide if you want to give your time.
