Kept me engaged in the mystery the whole time!

As someone very interested in these fringe topics, I always enjoy hearing about the details of things like time travel or futuristic tech, but what a refreshing read this book is when it comes to the relationship development and human issues covered throughout the book.

Had me wanting to hear more and see where things went throughout the entire story and the audio book is read so well by Craig Bowles!

A real pleasure to read/listen to!

3 people found this helpful

Abuse time... reap the consequences

Received a review copy from the author, this is an honest review. Narrated beautifully by Craig Bowles, comes this really intriguing, realistic, thought provoking journey about time travel and what happens if you could change things. Everything starts out innocently for Physicist Martin Riley, as he believes emails containing winning horse racing bets are hoaxes but when he makes a bet with the third email bet... and wins; Riley gets caught up in the high of the game but ponders could this gift from the future help mankind? Things get tricky once influential government people desire to tap into this temporal alterations and greed and agendas take over, costing innocent lives of these who could have been saved. Messing with time is serious business and to keep it all balanced, it means making harrowing decisions that will have unique consequences. Highly recommended.

1 person found this helpful

From the Micro to the Macro to the .. meta

Chronoscape surprised me a few times in what it was and the twists it took - and yet it all felt like a natural progression of the story arch, occasionally mentioned/introduced carefully in the previous sections.

It all starts with betting tips. Dr. Martin Riley receives messages from the future, Temporal Messages as they call it later, with betting tips. It also starts with just that personal impact of receiving these messages - are they spam? Should they give it a try? What if it works? and then evolves into something bigger. Could this be an actual scientific research project? How would they get funding?
What seems like an amazing scientific project at first though, quickly gets wrapped up in politics and that's where we start to move into the bigger picture. If you know a certain event is going to happen - should you try and change it? What is the deciding factor for when to step in and issue a veiled warning - and when not? And how does it feel when all these people around you get promotions etc. for something that you invented - but don't get much or any credit for?

Without spoiling too much, it then goes even further and farther into the future (and then back again) - who cleans up the chaos that you caused by messing with the timestream?

The title is very well written - it flows well and is easy to follow along. Plus you can totally imagine how these political games are happening; it all rings so true.

Craig Bowles did a great job with the narration :) definitely recommend listening to.

1 person found this helpful

Fun short novel

For those of us who grew up on the butterfly effect this novel is based on the same concept. However instead of effecting one persons life. Effect everyone in the world.

1 person found this helpful

Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Lately sci-fi has become nothing other than an interesting premise that is never developed, and the whole story consists of a few people running from some group. They are chased from place to place to place...and then it's over. This is something refreshing. If you enjoy alternate universes, time travel, mysterious future beings and their technology...I can only recommend this book.

1 person found this helpful

Time. And again. I love it!

Ley produces a riveting narative in this book. It manages to be fairly straight forward, while being riddled with complexities of choice and events. There is so much at play, I really enjoyed taking the time to listen again. having said that, this is not a "feel good novel". this is a no holds thriller.

Chronoscape feels very "unhollywood", in fact it feels almost indie-british, which is one of my favorite aspects of the book. It is not a spectacle of superintelligence and base evil. It isn't even StarTrekky in its weird timeline but ultimately "good will prevail" mumbo jumbo. Actions have irrevocable consequenses in THIS reality. and boy do they take actions.

I think (without having a scientific clue, really) that causality, temporal mechanics and the genesis (and long term application) of "timemedling" are excellently and logically rationalized. it makes sense and offers an interesting break from the usual deus ex machinegun versions of the genre, where all of a sudden base assumptions no longer apply.

I appreciate the work which must have gone into developing the motivations of the cast. Particularly the dynamics of idealist scientist, disillusionment, personal conscience, government and -most surprisingly- love !! are themes where this listen had me thinking "what would I have chosen to do?", which is a remarkable achievement in a techno thriller. There is a wonderfull mix of dynamics which represent different levels of involvement and getting all those angles is a real "wow" effect. particularly in the late part of the book, there are some VERY interesting life choices which are a delightful listen. (slight spoiler on this at the end)

As a repeat serial listener to Ley's novels (otherwise describable as "a fan"), I love the storyline crossover to other books and expansions on thought experiments which are only hinted at in this book, by virtue of the action. to me it feels like being in a series without the all but inevitable "did he not know when to quit" or "oh that old chestnut" pitfalls. Chronoscape has an "inceptionesque" feel, which stems from the time travel aspect, I suppose and I love it. when does something unreal become real? is it really really possible to intervene?

Some inspiration from "classics" where the protagonist is drawn into an underground organisation (gangsters, *cough* military government) is evident and skillfully navigated. they are also some of the more ironically humorous passages, as it were.

a word on performance
Bowles does a great job of capturing the different eras and nationalities. His way of creating the proper tones, the words' impact, the emotion comes together quite smoothly. I am impressed with his range and with the confidence this is read with. Bowels reading is delightfully clear and smooth. it feels as if there was time to read and reherse every line, which was absolutely great.

listen!
listen!
Time and again!


(***** slight spoiler****
one may find an interesting parallel to "better than us" when it comes to some of the dynamics)

Great story

Really well developed story & characters. A few sex portions that didn't feel like they fit with the storyline. Narration was great except for the American accents.

awesome !!!

great story and narration!
If you love time travel buy this audiobook! If you hate time travel buy this audiobook you will change your mind!!!

Great Book

I've really enjoyed this one it really makes you think about time travel. Can't wait for more by Roger.

Recommend. Fresh take on revisited topic.

Received free book from author for honest review. Enjoyed story. Looking forward to sequel. I felt like everything was tied up nicely at the end. The narrator did a fantastic job.