The Time Cage

by Frank Butler

It wasn't the first time Patrick Martin woke up early and ended up at a 24-hour diner. It wasn't the first time someone had tried to kill him there either. In fact, it wasn't the first time he, or anyone else on Earth for that matter, had been alive. Though from that night forward, the unlikely and reluctant hero starts an incredible journey that reveals to him the true nature of time and the ancient hidden past as well as his unwitting role in saving humanity from the mortal prison of the time cage.

Genres: Science Fiction

265 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 13, 2013

Reviews

[Tavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

What would you do if you found out your entire life and all you thought you knew of the world was wrong? Patrick Martin is trapped in a miserable life that he cannot escape from – a “dead-end, stressful, low-paying, purgatory time-reducing, shitfest of a job” where his only company was “[his] own thoughts and Stacy the Slut [who] lived in the apartment above [him] and made wild animals sound tame…at night when [he] was trying to sleep.” He has no friends, is distant from his family and has never experienced love. All this changes early one morning in a sleazy little diner as Patrick encounters a strange, bald-headed assassin who leaves behind a chip that embeds itself in Patrick’s hand as his life is changed forever. We follow Patrick all over the world as he learns the truth that has been hidden from behind humanity’s existence and the role only he can play that in saving the world.

This story had some interesting ideas about human consciousness and how we are all interconnected, as well as what happens once we die. It was overall fairly enjoyable to read as it had a fairly novel perspective/plot angle revolving around the main character’s struggle with a truth that few knew of yet affected every single person in his world – the fact that human history as we know it is true to an extent but there are forces few can comprehend that manipulate that history for their own benefit.

I personally found the first half of the book very hard to get into as a lot happens but there’s very little explanation for what is going on. There’s just one weird experience/event on top of another that quickly gets a little tiring as you try to puzzle through who is who and what each of the different character’s goals are that you are introduced to. Once you start to piece the puzzle together though, I found that I was able to enjoy the story more and the second half was a much more enjoyable read. The development of our protagonist and the information we learn as he comes to grips with what he needs to do makes for a more involving read that you can lose yourself in.

While there were a few structural issues with the pacing and a little more editing would go a long way in resolving some of the grammatical errors and typos I found, I thought that for a first novel Mr. Butler did a really good job. He created a plausible world with strong, well-defined characters and had a definite point of view while writing. The themes of loneliness, inadequacy, pain and sacrifice that echo throughout the story are interesting and I very much am looking forward to Mr. Butler’s next novel. “The Time Cage” has definitely whet my appetite for more from this author!

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is, without any doubt, the strangest book I have ever read.
The story starts with Patrick, our protagonist, sitting in a diner in the middle of the night. The strangeness starts immediately as someone tries to kill him, a computer chip embeds itself in his hand, he is attacked by a devil dog and an octopus. He's befriended by a monk who turns out to be evil. He learns that he has special powers because his father is essentially immortal. Eventually, he discovers that people's souls are captured upon death in large crystals and he must set them free.

It actually started out ok but the more I read, the less I wanted to. I almost stopped completely about 3/4 of the way through but I decided to not let this book defeat me.

One of the issues I had was that even though this was clearly a bit of a fantasy, there still needs to be some rules that have to be followed.
For example, if Patrick has the ability to transform into pure energy and travel through power lines, if he can become a current and a trickle of water, why could he not transform into anything else? If he could transform into the energy of a current of water, should he not be able to transform into the energy of wind?
If he started in the Yucatan Peninsula, jumped into a power line, how did he jump out in Egypt? Pretty sure there are no lines across the ocean

There were several other issues along with a few editing misses, but I think I have spent enough time with this story. Time to move on.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because it was free on Amazon, had a 5 star rating, and I wanted to test out my new Kindle. The premise was intriguing, and the first few chapters were enough to hold my attention.

However, the writing was a mess! I don't know if it's because I had the eBook version, but many sentences were incomplete or had extraneous words, and the grammar was atrocious. The writing vacillated between choppy and disjointed and rambling tirades. The second half of the book was near unbearable, and it was a serious struggle to finish the novel. In addition to the haphazard writing, the characters became frustrating and the plot predictable. The story seemed as if it was carelessly thrown together and transitions completely forgotten.

Overall, the premise is interesting, but I cannot recommend this book to anyone.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting premise but poor execution. The author has some really strange turns of phrase including a sentence with quadruple negatives. The book is brimming with grammatical errors including numerous homophone substitutions that make me think the author is a non-native speaker of English. A very frustrating reading experience.

[Jackie Kittle · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty decent story but every time I read 'winded' instead of wound I shuddered. The author would have done well to find an editor or proofreader before putting this out before the public.

[Stuart Mcgrigor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice premise .... ends rather abruptly... author needs the services of a good editor.