Total Pageviews

Saturday, February 17, 2018

REVIEW: Paris Adrift by E.J. Swift

*Thank you to Netgalley and Solaris for an ARC in exchange for a review*


Publisher's Summary:
Determined to escape her old life, misfit and student geologist Hallie packs up her life in England and heads to Paris. She falls in with the eclectic expat community as a bartender at the notorious Millie’s, located next to the Moulin Rouge.

Here she meets Gabriela, a bartender who guides her through this strange nocturnal world, and begins to find a new family. But Millie’s is not all that it seems: a bird warns Hallie to get her feathers in order, a mysterious woman shows up claiming to be a chronometrist, and Gabriela is inexplicably unable to leave Paris.

Then Hallie discovers a time portal located in the keg room. Over the next nine months, irate customers will be the least of her concerns, as she navigates time-faring through the city’s turbulent past and future, falling in love, and coming to terms with her own precarious sense of self.

_______________________________

The cover is what drew me to this book.  I liked the concept. The novel begins with a bleak glimpse at the future.  The world as we know it is in ruins and the humans left have little hope.  Their only chance is one last mission go back in time, find a particular person and hope that they can re-write history.

Time travel books have a tendency to get messy and often complicated.  In general, I enjoyed Paris Adrift.  The story was engaging and I liked Hallie as the main protagonist.  I did; however, find fault with a few aspects.  Some reviewers argue that the pacing was off.  I did not have to slog through, per se, but I will agree that I wold have liked to see the writing tightened a bit for general aesthetic. The whole purpose for the mission is revealed and wrapped up far too quickly. 

Overall, the general characterization could have been polished, giving more depth to some of the secondary characters and I wanted significantly more world-building for the futuristic premise.  I do not believe that readers need to constant hand holding for science fiction; however, there are a significant amount of undefined terms which need better definitions to round out the reader's experience.

Final rating: 3 out of 5 stars

No comments: