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Title: Lost in Time
Author: A. G. Riddle
Published: 1st of September 2022 – Head of Zeus
Format: Hardback – 464 pages
Hello Hello! How are you today?
First and foremost I would like to apologise for my post being a day late. As I logged on to my laptop late last night (or tonight since I’m writing it Saturday night!) to schedule my post for today (Sunday, you know what I mean!), I checked my calendar and I realised that my review was due on Saturday and not Sunday… So all my apologies to the blog tour organisers, the publisher, and the author, but at least it is up now!
When I got the email about this book and blog tour, I was really intrigued from the get-go as I love books that feature time travel. I’m so glad I gave it a shot because it was amazing and I just loved it! It made me want to read all the author’s backlist, so if that’s not a compliment, I don’t know what is, ahah!
Thank you so so much to Jamie-Lee Nardone, Stephen Haskins, the publisher, and the author for letting me take part in this tour. And thank you for sending me a free copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
When his daughter is falsely accused of murder, a scientist must travel 200 million years into the past to save her. But there are secrets waiting there. And more than her life is at stake.
Control the Past. Save the Future.
One morning, Dr. Sam Anderson wakes up to discover that the woman he loves has been murdered. For Sam, the horror is only beginning. He and his daughter are accused of the crime. The evidence is ironclad. They will be convicted. And so, Sam does what he must: he confesses to the crime.
But in the future, murderers aren’t sent to prison. They’re sent to the past. Two hundred million years into the past—to the age of the dinosaurs—to live out their lives alone, in exile from the human race. Sam accepts his fate. But his daughter doesn’t. Adeline Anderson has already lost her mother to a deadly and unfair disease. She can’t bear to lose her father. She sets out on a quest to prove him innocent. And get him back. People around her insist that both are impossible tasks.
But Adeline doesn’t give up. She only works harder. She soon learns that impossible tasks are her specialty. And that she is made of tougher stuff that she ever imagined. As she peels back the layers of the mystery that ripped her father from this world, Adeline finds more questions than answers. Everyone around her is hiding a secret. But which ones are connected to the murder that exiled her father? That mystery stretches across the past, present, and future–and leads to a revelation that will change everything.
MY REVIEW
Trigger warnings: murder and suspected murder, suspected framing, death, disease, alcohol consumption, cancer, drug abuse, mention of violent incidents (i.e. car accident), blood, gore, eating insects, secrets.
Lost in Time by A. G. Riddle is a time travel science fiction novel that drew me in from the very first chapter and did not let me go until the very last line. I’ve not been so engrossed in a book for such a long time and it was such a great feeling.
I usually break my review down into “Setting”, “Characters” and “Themes” sections to detail each, but A. I don’t think that format would do this book justice because you really need to go in just knowing the blurb or even that it’s a super cool time travel story and B. I don’t think I can wrap my brain around it without just screaming the whole time. I loved this book so much as a whole and the setting, characters and themes are all super unique, but I think you need to discover them for yourself without me describing everything (non-spoilery about them).
As it is mentioned in the blurb, this book does literally span past, present and future. I don’t think I actually knew what I was getting myself into when I started it, but watching it all unfold for us and for the characters is amazing. Honestly some things like finance and quantum physics went over my head, but once I got the gist of everything, the story just slotted into place and kept evolving.
I also liked that we got multiple perspectives (I won’t say whose) and also at different times in their lives. This was really clever and made things come together really cleanly. It has been an age since I read a book where I didn’t guess a lot of things that will happen or who people are, but let me tell you, Lost in Time gives absolutely nothing away and things are dropped on you and on the characters. This makes each reveal feel so much more authentic and really keeps the reader engaged. Let’s face it, I’m sure we all get annoyed when the big reveal is hinted at a long time before things slot into place. None of that happened here, it was just fluid, mesmerising and really dragged me on for the ride.
The author, A. G. Riddle, has written a very, very clever book, that wasn’t boring at all (sometimes scientific elements worry me because they go over my head if I don’t understand them), it kept me thoroughly engaged and I can’t tell you the number of times my jaw dropped or I shouted “NO!” out loud!
Also, the characters are all great. They are ALL very human. Despite being very intelligent and specialists in their fields, they aren’t smug, they aren’t like MEGA nerdy, and they have all very real and raw feelings, emotions and reactions. There is no awkwardness in the dialogues or their relationships apart from when the author makes it so which comes across really well, and most of all, you just don’t know who can trust until the final couple of chapters. I loved Sam for the love he has for his children and wanting what’s best for them, I loved Adeline for the intelligent and determined person she was, and I grew to suspect and/or love all the others, but the ending just made everything and everyone just fit where they needed to. And that’s all I can say because you need to read it for yourself! Oh, I also really loved Daniele, but I won’t say why!!
Finally, I feel like there is a very clear message in this book which I really enjoyed and that made me feel weirdly peaceful despite how fast-paced and twisty this story is. What came across for me is that you can’t change the past, you can however have a say in your future and you have to use all the tools at your disposal to get where you want to go. I mean it’s something that comes back a lot in novels, especially in time travel, but for some reason, this time it really resonated with me and I can only put that down to the way this book was written and just how good it was.
MY THOUGHTS AND RATING
It has been a long time since I’ve read a book like this and I think I had gotten in a bit of a rut with just-average books, or very predictable plots because those just annoy me and make me roll my eyes. This was the complete opposite and because of that, it was one of the best reading experiences I’ve had all year if I’m honest. Lost in Time is up there, as a contender for favourite book of 2022 with The Grace Year by Kim Liggett and One for All by Lillie Lainoff, so I suppose they will be tied because at this point in the year, I just can’t pick and nothing else comes close – and all 3 are SO different.
As you’ve probably guessed, I gave Lost in Time by A. G. Riddle 5 stars. I absolutely adored it and I just loved how everything slotted in so seamlessly to reveal such a great ending. As a character says at one point in the book, I couldn’t have imagined that outcome in a million years, but it was an amazing ending and an amazing book.
If you love science-fiction with time travel, a murder mystery, a plot spanning through the past, the present and the future, real and raw characters you can identify with and root for, completely unpredictable twists and turns and you like having a smile on your face when reading that very last line, then this is 100% the book for you. I’ve told my mum to read it next, and when that happens, you know it’s bloody good!
Thank you again to everyone at Black Crow and at Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read this book. I had the best time ever and will definitely be looking out for more books by the author and checking out his backlist very soon!
ASPECTS RATING
Atmosphere – 7
Start – 8
Pacing – 8.5
Ending – 10
Characters – 8.5
Theme – 8
Style – 8.5
Total: 58.5
ABOUT THE AUTHOR – A. G. RIDDLE
A.G. Riddle spent ten years starting internet companies before retiring to pursue his true passion: writing fiction.
His debut novel, The Atlantis Gene, is the first book in The Origin Mystery, the trilogy that has sold a million copies in the US, is being translated into 19 languages, and is in development at CBS Films to be a major motion picture. His recently released fourth novel, Departure, follows the survivors of a flight that takes off in 2014 and crash-lands in a changed world.
Riddle grew up in a small town in the US (Boiling Springs, North Carolina) and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill. During his sophomore year of college, he started his first company with a childhood friend. He currently lives in Florida with his wife, who endures his various idiosyncrasies in return for being the first to read his new novels.
Author’s Links: Website – Twitter – Facebook – Instagram – Goodreads
That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this post and will give this book a chance, it definitely deserves it!
See you soon, stay safe,
Ellie x