Review: Untimed – Andy Gavin
Charlie has lived his entire life in the shadows. No one takes much notice of him, not even his parents. While he’s been content with this fact, for the most part, he yearns for the small recognition that comes with being noticed. Most of all, he wishes that his parents would acknowledge him in more ways than one.
While walking home one afternoon, he encounters a man intent on killing him. Fighting for his life, Charlie does everything in his power to make sure the man doesn’t succeed in achieving his goal. Upon closer inspection, the man isn’t a man at all. He’s a clockwork invention that can manipulate time, a certainty he soon becomes privy to when he dives into the unknown.
His quick decision lands him smack-dab in the middle of 18th century London. Charlie has no idea how he’s arrived in such a place. He’s scared, hungry, and he has no place to stay. A chance meeting delivers him into the hands of Yvaine, another time traveler who knows what he’s going through. She’s quite learned in the ways of traveling through time, something he wants to take advantage of. Unfortunately, there’s one little hitch. Yvaine has a child to take care of, and she refuses to leave the little tyke behind.
Never-the-less, Charlie is intent on getting back home somehow. Yvaine is the very ticket for him to do just that, but she refuses to play his game. Her only thought is to take care of her beloved Billy. When the Tick Tocks come calling, the two soon realize there’s more at stake than they’d ever thought possible. In order to stay alive, they’ll need to manipulate time to suit their purposes. Sadly, that’s easier said than done.
The Tick Tocks need to eliminate everything that goes against time. Charlie knows they’ll need to remain one step ahead of them if they’re to succeed in getting back to present time. The rules of the game are sketchy at best, but he’s willing to make them work to their advantage. He soon finds out that traveling through time is as easy as baking a cake. The changes in history that come from jumping from place to place, however, are more than he and Yvaine bargained for.
This was honestly another great story written by an awesome storyteller. Andy has a way of drawing the reader in, and keeping their interest glued to every page. I’m a fan of all things Steampunk, and this story certainly doesn’t disappoint. The fantasy elements found within it makes the story an extremely entertaining read. The world is beautifully crafted around real life history, adding a deeper meaning to the science-fiction aspect of the story itself. I truly recommend this book for reading.
Available for purchase via the following retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble.
Synopsis:
Charlie’s the kind of boy that no one notices. Hell, even his own mother can’t remember his name. And girls? The invisible man gets more dates.
As if that weren’t enough, when a mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don’t take him seriously.
Still, this isn’t all bad. In fact, there’s this girl, another time traveler, who not only remembers his name, but might even like him! Unfortunately, Yvaine carries more than her share of baggage: like a baby boy and at least two ex-boyfriends! One’s famous, the other’s murderous, and Charlie doesn’t know who is the bigger problem.
When one kills the other — and the other is nineteen year-old Ben Franklin — things get really crazy. Can their relationship survive? Can the future? Charlie and Yvaine are time travelers, they can fix this — theoretically — but the rules are complicated and the stakes are history as we know it.
And there’s one more wrinkle: he can only travel into the past, and she can only travel into the future!
About The Author:
Andy Gavin is a serial creative, polymath, novelist, entrepreneur, computer programmer, author, foodie, and video game creator. He co-founded video game developer Naughty Dog and co-created Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. He started numerous companies, has been lead programmer on video games that have sold more than forty million copies, and has written two novels including The Darkening Dream, a dark historical fantasy that puts the bite back in vampires.
Connect With Him Online:
Website: http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andygavin
Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/andygavin
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/asgavin
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/andrewgavin/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Gavin
