Author says Paradox is “an engaging take on time travel”

by Admin | May 22, 2019 | Unelmoija

Author David Higgins completed the final book in the Unelmoija Series. Below, with his permission, is his review.

Unelmoija: Paradox by Elle Boca

Boca balances the mutability of the past with temporal inertia to create a time-travel story that is neither burdened with the irrevocable nor rendered insipid by the opportunity to redo things until they are right.

This book is the fifth in Boca’s Weeia series. Potential spoilers for previous volumes ahead.

Convinced that Amy’s father, Thomas McKnight, is responsible for the death of his father, Klaus threatens to blow up a nuclear reactor and expose the Weeia unless he is handed over immediately. Still reeling from the death of her mother, Amy attempts to use her timeshifting powers to discover the truth. With both Klaus and McKnight having memories of places and events that never happened, it is clear the past has changed. But what is the true past and will trying to restore it do more damage than good?

As with the previous volume in the series, the narration is full of explanations and short reprises of past events. While this does not create an overwhelming feeling of objective reportage—and might even assist readers who have not read the previous books recently—readers who prefer a more immersive point-of-view might find these ‘speeches to camera’ distancing.

In contrast, the other half of the narration—that of fresh events—is mostly free of these expositions, maintaining a greater sense of tension and subjectivity.

The plot is an engaging take on time travel: building on the idea that the past can be changed but only with risk that she introduced in Timeshifter, Boca provides the reader with character statements and images of history that do not all fully fit together, along with clear signs that both key figures in the inciting incident are suffering symptoms of having been affected by a change in their timeline. This evidence of at least two different pasts both undermines the reader’s usual certainty that if one person is telling the truth another is lying and conceals the original past, making judging the cost of restoring it (or not) more of a gamble.

Unfortunately, these threads do not explain why Klaus waited as long as he did to make his threat rather than attempting something during an earlier encounter with Amy; While readers might be able to guess possible reasons, the absence of explanation in a book where there is a clear explanation of many other matters stands out, creating a slight sense of author-driven rather than character-driven action.

In parallel with these unravelling timelines and the various threats, metaphysical and character-driven, that they pose, Boca also reveals more about Amy’s powers and place in Weeia society. Providing both a plausible explanation of the Unelmoija and a reason Amy’s impact will not continue to grow as she comes to better understand her powers, this is likely to provide readers with a satisfyingly certain conclusion to the series.

Amy is consistent with the previous books. As before, her powers grow beyond her experience, making her challenge more how to access her ability than whether she has the ability. Her compassionate and truthful nature both make her sympathetic and create further obstacles; while Klaus has treated her badly on several occasions and her father continues to act poorly, she rejects the easier courses of foiling Klaus or abandoning her father in favour of trying to uncover the truth and save both of them.

The supporting cast, both Weeia and human, each display a mix of commendable qualities and understandable frailties, providing alternate perspectives to Amy’s that both showcase her virtues and her imperfections.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I recommend it to readers who enjoyed the previous volumes in the series.

Dave Higgins, speculative fiction author
(see it and other reviews on his website at https://davidjhiggins.wordpress.com/2018/10/05/unelmoija-paradox-by-elle-boca/

Author says Boca creates “urban fantasy that is both fresh and accessible”

by Admin | Nov 9, 2018 | Unelmoija

David Higgins has reviewed the first three books of the Unelmoija Series. With his permission here is his review of Unelmoija: The Timeshifter, book four.

Boca continues to mix plausible modern-day characters with a magical world that doesn’t rely on stereotypes, to create urban fantasy that is both fresh and accessible.

This novel is the fourth in the Weeia series. Spoilers ahoy!

Amy’s past is literally catching up with her: sometimes when sleeping or under great stress, she finds herself back at significant moments in her life; she has her memories of what happened to help her navigate these revisits, but Weeia legend says that if something goes wrong a time traveller can become lost forever. And when she is in her own time, her powers are erratic and her health deteriorating.

The book opens with Amy already within the first relived event; but without any indication that it is the past. While this does create a sense of confusion for the reader that might enhance their sympathy for Amy’s struggle to understand what’s happening, the lack of flags as to when this is might leave some readers feeling denied facts the narrator knows.

This sense of concealed facts occurs occasionally throughout the book. At one point Amy refers to a movie as one she liked staring one of her favourite actors rather than using the name of either the film or actor; with no reason she wouldn’t use the names, this has an air of a riddle or concealment for the sake of it. However, for the most part, the narration seems trustworthy so this is not a major issue.

Ironically, Amy’s narration is sometimes too objective. Rather than describing what people are doing and leaving it to the reader to infer intent or emotion, she often provides a statement of what a character is thinking or feeling followed by her reason for that. This, combined with filtering language such as “She saw that…”, distances the reader slightly from the action, making the story potentially less engaging for those who enjoy trying to guess the answers to mysteries.

Although the plot does have both a ticking clock from Amy’s deteriorating health and a sense of threat from antagonists in the present and past, both Amy’s attempts to maintain a past that leads to her present and the overall investigative nature of the plot give the novel a slower, less active feel than previous volumes. This is compounded by Amy reacting to time-shifting rather than gaining a new advantage in the way she has during previous books.

Fortunately, Amy remains consistent with previous books and strives to overcome her new situation, making it likely that readers who have read this far will care enough about her survival to want to find out what happens.

The supporting cast are similarly both consistent and fully involved in events, adding further interest for those who have read the previous novels.

While this book does contain a complete arc from challenge to resolution, many of the events do rely on past matters that do not feature in Amy’s time-shifts; thus, this novel is unlikely to make a good entry point for new readers.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. I recommend it to readers who enjoyed previous volumes.

Dave Higgins, speculative fiction author
(see it and other reviews on his website at https://davidjhiggins.wordpress.com/2018/06/01/unelmoija-the-timeshifter-by-elle-boca/

Click here to buy Unelmoija: The Timeshifter (Weeia Book 4)