(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I felt this book was quite an interesting, unique idea. The thought of waking up one day to find that your life is different to what you originally experienced, even in a small way, is an incredibly scary one. It happening repeatedly is a terrifying idea.
A lot of this book came across as almost an autobiography. The relationships that Nigel formed (or attempted to form) didn’t tend to come across as all that real, because a lot of his life before he began to time travel seemed to be glossed over… at least a lot of the relationships.
Penelope’s character was a really interesting one, though I did figure out her connection to Nigel fairly early on. I liked how a lot of their meetings weren’t really linear – they weren’t always at the same age and there were times when the differences in their ages seemed vastly different. There were certain clues that I picked up on later that I was surprised Nigel didn’t… although I suppose that did fit with his character, since he seemed a bit clueless about certain things.
I did like Helen for a lot of the book and it was nice to see her almost-permanent optimism throughout. The only time I didn’t like her so much was towards the end. As much as I could understand what she was saying, I felt it was unnecessary.
I wasn’t really left with the thought that much changed in the book. The different Nigels were a confusing aspect and in a way, I would have thought it interesting to see different ‘clones’ of certain other characters. I couldn’t really see much in the way of similarities between the different Nigels, though.
The differences in the various time streams came across quite well and it was interesting to see the kind of advances humanity had made in the different times Nigel was in. I couldn’t really relate to the villain throughout a lot of this book. I could have to begin with… but then I found it impossible.
The author did a very good job of keeping the confusion level down and I felt that the events fit together really well. Although I was disappointed in the ending, I did think this was a really entertaining read and I would definitely read more books by this author in the future.
Get a copy: Unhappenings
Ink of Blood 