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Time Sniffers #1
Shadow World
alternate cover edition of ASIN:B005WFDOA6
An explosion at a secret laboratory. A rift in space-time. Alien dogs that can camouflage and sniff rips in time with their supervac noses.
Be prepared to traverse shifting time streams and deeply entrenched shadow worlds in a wild and crazy fantasy/sci-fi near-future that will make your head spin and your heart pound.
Chock-full of science and romance (yes, the two are compatible!), follow Bria Harrison, brilliant teenage daughter of two prominent scientists, as she searches for her mother, whom she insists is alive, despite the devastating explosion at the National Laboratory. While re-creating her mother's last experiment in her basement, Bria, her autistic brother Dylan, and four friends cause a rip in time-space--and out of the resultant black hole tumbles K-Six, a time sniffer who has come to get them.
This doglike alien takes them back through the rip to his training world, where the teens must be altered to adapt to dangerous time confluences and worlds they must traverse to save the scientists trapped in a time eddy. If the scientists cannot be rescued soon, dark energy, now streaming into the galaxy at an alarming rate, will cause horrific destruction--including the end of all life on earth
If you like wild time-travel paradoxes, this novel's for you!
An explosion at a secret laboratory. A rift in space-time. Alien dogs that can camouflage and sniff rips in time with their supervac noses.
Be prepared to traverse shifting time streams and deeply entrenched shadow worlds in a wild and crazy fantasy/sci-fi near-future that will make your head spin and your heart pound.
Chock-full of science and romance (yes, the two are compatible!), follow Bria Harrison, brilliant teenage daughter of two prominent scientists, as she searches for her mother, whom she insists is alive, despite the devastating explosion at the National Laboratory. While re-creating her mother's last experiment in her basement, Bria, her autistic brother Dylan, and four friends cause a rip in time-space--and out of the resultant black hole tumbles K-Six, a time sniffer who has come to get them.
This doglike alien takes them back through the rip to his training world, where the teens must be altered to adapt to dangerous time confluences and worlds they must traverse to save the scientists trapped in a time eddy. If the scientists cannot be rescued soon, dark energy, now streaming into the galaxy at an alarming rate, will cause horrific destruction--including the end of all life on earth
If you like wild time-travel paradoxes, this novel's for you!
Kindle Edition
First published October 16, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 14, 2017
Bria’s Nobel-prize winning scientist mother has died in a lab explosion. Or has she? Only Bria notices the strange recurrence of a symbol in places it could not possibly exist – leaves, breakfast cereal, that sort of thing. Is her mother trying to communicate from the other side? Or from somewhere else?
So when her brother Dylan, a child with special needs, hears something sniffing in his closet, things take a very strange turn. After re-creating her mother’s last experiment and ripping a hold in space/time, a very odd creature tumbles out of the hole and into their basement. It might look like a dog—once it’s stopped being invisible—and it might sniff and eat like a hungry dog, but it also speaks Latin.
Along with a posse of friends and hangers on, Bria embarks on a mission to save her mother, and also the world, for the damage to space/time has opened a way for an evil invader who is poisoning the planet with the same dark energy that the scientists had thought to harness.
Lakin has created a unique concept—that of the time sniffer, dog-like creatures that can sniff out places where the aware can move from one time stream to another—and built a complex yet understandable plot, complete with paradoxes and science that is explained in such a way it doesn’t impede the action or muddle the reader any more than it does the characters trying to understand what they are dealing with.
Pretty much all the characters blossom during the story, and it was fascinating to discover the unexpected depths lying behind their teenage facades. I did find myself skimming over some of the more angsty passages, but that might just be because I’m a cynical oldie, and no longer a hot-blooded young thing.
The details of the near future are scarily believable, as shown through the lens of teenage eyes, and while this book is an action-packed adventure, it is also about developing relationships and responsibility without being heavy handed in the telling.
While rounding this tale off nicely, it also sets up a sequel that promises to be just as exciting.
Recommended for lovers of YA, time travel with a difference, dogs, nerdy science, and anyone with a huge imagination.
So when her brother Dylan, a child with special needs, hears something sniffing in his closet, things take a very strange turn. After re-creating her mother’s last experiment and ripping a hold in space/time, a very odd creature tumbles out of the hole and into their basement. It might look like a dog—once it’s stopped being invisible—and it might sniff and eat like a hungry dog, but it also speaks Latin.
Along with a posse of friends and hangers on, Bria embarks on a mission to save her mother, and also the world, for the damage to space/time has opened a way for an evil invader who is poisoning the planet with the same dark energy that the scientists had thought to harness.
Lakin has created a unique concept—that of the time sniffer, dog-like creatures that can sniff out places where the aware can move from one time stream to another—and built a complex yet understandable plot, complete with paradoxes and science that is explained in such a way it doesn’t impede the action or muddle the reader any more than it does the characters trying to understand what they are dealing with.
Pretty much all the characters blossom during the story, and it was fascinating to discover the unexpected depths lying behind their teenage facades. I did find myself skimming over some of the more angsty passages, but that might just be because I’m a cynical oldie, and no longer a hot-blooded young thing.
The details of the near future are scarily believable, as shown through the lens of teenage eyes, and while this book is an action-packed adventure, it is also about developing relationships and responsibility without being heavy handed in the telling.
While rounding this tale off nicely, it also sets up a sequel that promises to be just as exciting.
Recommended for lovers of YA, time travel with a difference, dogs, nerdy science, and anyone with a huge imagination.
May 15, 2023
An Intriguing Title, A Fun Story
I found CS Lakin through her nonfiction articles about getting reviews for books.
As a novelist myself, I always look for new ways to engage new readers.
Her nonfiction drew me to look into her fiction and when I saw the title Time Sniffers, I was intrigued. My books, The Luke In Time Mysteries, explore many themes of time, so it’s a subject matter I really enjoy.
If I’m honest, my first impression of the title was not entirely positive.
But I decided I wanted to give the book a try because I had liked Lakin’s nonfiction writing.
And I am very glad I read the book. The various explorations of time, the time sniffing dogs, the plucky Bria, hunting for her mother all make for a really fun and surprising story.
Certain elements seemed kind of similar to Madeline L’Engle‘s A Wrinkle In Time.
I found CS Lakin through her nonfiction articles about getting reviews for books.
As a novelist myself, I always look for new ways to engage new readers.
Her nonfiction drew me to look into her fiction and when I saw the title Time Sniffers, I was intrigued. My books, The Luke In Time Mysteries, explore many themes of time, so it’s a subject matter I really enjoy.
If I’m honest, my first impression of the title was not entirely positive.
But I decided I wanted to give the book a try because I had liked Lakin’s nonfiction writing.
And I am very glad I read the book. The various explorations of time, the time sniffing dogs, the plucky Bria, hunting for her mother all make for a really fun and surprising story.
Certain elements seemed kind of similar to Madeline L’Engle‘s A Wrinkle In Time.
January 29, 2013
Blending classics, science and a modern teen voice with the mystery of a poetry-quoting dog and a quest to save the world, C. S. Lakin has created a story that will refuse to let you go, and characters that will keep you enthralled. The time-traveling dogs sniff out rifts and holes in the universe, while an interesting teen protagonist sets out to save her mother and ends up rescuing the multiverse. With well-told touches of science and speculation, and plenty of scares, this book should keep young teens happily reading for many hours--or long travels in time.
Time eddies are beautifully imagined and cleverly portrayed as Bria and her friends navigate shifting streams between the explosion in her mother’s laboratory and a strange shadow world of curious allies and dangerous foe. Contemporary cultural references abound, from Star Wars to American football, with chapter headings cleverly built onto beautifully chosen quotations. Neat metaphors lead the reader quickly into the protagonist’s point of view. And touches of future history, with convincing science and scarily plausible technology, make both Bria and her world very real. A touch of teen romance distracts me, mostly I suspect because I'm not a teen. But the distraction couldn't stop me reading and the story kept me eager for more--I really hope there will be more... A standalone novel filled with imagination and fun... and dogs... what more could I ask for?
Disclosure: I “bought” an ecopy when it was free because I couldn’t resist it.
January 18, 2013
This is an action-packed story for teens. I am an adult, but the wonderful writing, plot, characters and inventive setting kept me engrossed to the end.
CS Lakin has created a suspenseful and enthralling book that kids from eleven to a hundred will love. Well done!
CS Lakin has created a suspenseful and enthralling book that kids from eleven to a hundred will love. Well done!
November 28, 2017
CANNABIS RUDERALIS LEADS TO SUCH DELIRIUM
Sorry folks, if I am slightly late but I was only asked recently to read this book and what’s more I got lost in the time streams of real life between real places and real activities.
You will like this book if you like the adventures of a bunch of teenagers, you know, just before their first kiss, with no impulses of any sorts and with an over-attachment to their mothers that is pathetic. We are living in a mother’s world and the only father in the story is just plainly a non-entity that you like, more than love, with the need for the survival he provides in everyday dreamless life.
You will like this book because you like traveling everywhere and particularly in worlds that are nowhere and no-when just lost in time and space streams and maelstroms. Let yourself be charmed by hostile worlds where all life is nothing but plants made of crystal. There might even be a bear here and there and time sniffers will guide you from one rabbit hole to one mole-hole, from one world to the next, through a culvert or a door, maybe a window and then you will choke on a strange atmosphere with no oxygen. Great.
You will like this book because it is the story of a mad scientist, and this mad scientist is a woman. You can see that gender has little to do with madness or scientism. Wild experiments provoke and cause a catastrophe whose only victims are the mad scientists themselves. What a nice fantasy! Anyone would say good riddance except the daughter of the main mad scientist who decides to look for her and starts the same line of experiments. Crazy, I am telling you.
You will like this story because in spite of obvious promiscuity between boys and girls, or between boys and boys, or between girls and girls, all possible development is nicely kept secret except maybe one kiss that remains straight, as straight as a ruler, not even the ruler some boys keep in their pockets. When people are supposedly lost in such horrible, variable, extreme and unpredictable situations and circumstances they always seem to fall back onto extreme violence that kills everyone around or extreme promiscuity just as the antechamber of the previous extremism. But here none of that. The world, even monstrously out of joint, remains normal, straight, banal in a word.
You will like this story because in the end the mad scientist is more or less retrieved and salvaged, retrieved like the gloves you lost or misplaced yesterday when you visited the station to get some schedule to the end of the world, and salvaged like a road wreck that ends up in parts and pieces that will be useful for other cars to get a new period of efficiency with borrowed prosthetic substitutive mechanical organs. But she does not deserve that since her madness is able to create havoc for the world without her even thinking twice.
You will love this book because Trump is right: science is just plain BS and what they say or do is useless because it does not aim to and target an economic profit in good old greenbacks, in other words, dollars. This science fiction is not speaking of the potential of science but only of the danger of science, the disruptive absurdity of science. Just go on licking your ice cone and let the world be what it will, shall or want to be.
You will like this book because it is entirely told from the point of view of the mad scientist’s daughter who is nothing but a mad scientist in the making and she will be one thousand times madder than her mother, and I should have said with Michael Jackson badder. She is the baddest scientist in the making that no one has ever met and I hope no one will ever meet. If you like fear and dissatisfaction in front of the perils of the future modern world, you do not need to read the dystopian books by Ray Kurzweil, just read this one and you will shiver all night and be haunted by the nightmares of nowhere, nightmares that are more night-vampires than night-dragons.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
Sorry folks, if I am slightly late but I was only asked recently to read this book and what’s more I got lost in the time streams of real life between real places and real activities.
You will like this book if you like the adventures of a bunch of teenagers, you know, just before their first kiss, with no impulses of any sorts and with an over-attachment to their mothers that is pathetic. We are living in a mother’s world and the only father in the story is just plainly a non-entity that you like, more than love, with the need for the survival he provides in everyday dreamless life.
You will like this book because you like traveling everywhere and particularly in worlds that are nowhere and no-when just lost in time and space streams and maelstroms. Let yourself be charmed by hostile worlds where all life is nothing but plants made of crystal. There might even be a bear here and there and time sniffers will guide you from one rabbit hole to one mole-hole, from one world to the next, through a culvert or a door, maybe a window and then you will choke on a strange atmosphere with no oxygen. Great.
You will like this book because it is the story of a mad scientist, and this mad scientist is a woman. You can see that gender has little to do with madness or scientism. Wild experiments provoke and cause a catastrophe whose only victims are the mad scientists themselves. What a nice fantasy! Anyone would say good riddance except the daughter of the main mad scientist who decides to look for her and starts the same line of experiments. Crazy, I am telling you.
You will like this story because in spite of obvious promiscuity between boys and girls, or between boys and boys, or between girls and girls, all possible development is nicely kept secret except maybe one kiss that remains straight, as straight as a ruler, not even the ruler some boys keep in their pockets. When people are supposedly lost in such horrible, variable, extreme and unpredictable situations and circumstances they always seem to fall back onto extreme violence that kills everyone around or extreme promiscuity just as the antechamber of the previous extremism. But here none of that. The world, even monstrously out of joint, remains normal, straight, banal in a word.
You will like this story because in the end the mad scientist is more or less retrieved and salvaged, retrieved like the gloves you lost or misplaced yesterday when you visited the station to get some schedule to the end of the world, and salvaged like a road wreck that ends up in parts and pieces that will be useful for other cars to get a new period of efficiency with borrowed prosthetic substitutive mechanical organs. But she does not deserve that since her madness is able to create havoc for the world without her even thinking twice.
You will love this book because Trump is right: science is just plain BS and what they say or do is useless because it does not aim to and target an economic profit in good old greenbacks, in other words, dollars. This science fiction is not speaking of the potential of science but only of the danger of science, the disruptive absurdity of science. Just go on licking your ice cone and let the world be what it will, shall or want to be.
You will like this book because it is entirely told from the point of view of the mad scientist’s daughter who is nothing but a mad scientist in the making and she will be one thousand times madder than her mother, and I should have said with Michael Jackson badder. She is the baddest scientist in the making that no one has ever met and I hope no one will ever meet. If you like fear and dissatisfaction in front of the perils of the future modern world, you do not need to read the dystopian books by Ray Kurzweil, just read this one and you will shiver all night and be haunted by the nightmares of nowhere, nightmares that are more night-vampires than night-dragons.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
July 24, 2017
I am a long-time fan of alternate world/world-within-world stories. My love of the genre probably started with Madeleine L’Engel’s amazing books (particularly A Wrinkle in Time/the Murray family series). I consumed her books as a kid, and have re-read them countless times throughout my life. There’s something so magically compelling to me about the idea of stepping sideways into another world, one that is like but not-like this one…
Time Sniffers, the first in a new series by C.S. Lakin, is redolent of – but not derivative to – Wrinkle, and that may be what really drew me into the story. I was intrigued by the description, and while it was very thorough in its explanation, after reading the blurb I expected a bit more of a time travel component – it is, after all, referred to as a “deep time-travel story”. I don’t consider this one time-travel in the traditional sense – it’s more of a time skip, with a lot more time spent in parallel/alternate worlds than in history (the backwards movement is never more than a couple of weeks). Still, that expectation aside, the story was very interesting and there were enough intermingled science, adventure, coming-of-age, and alternate world elements to keep me engaged and entertained. There was also a more traditional sci-fi element mixed in (in the form of the Sniffers and Searchers). I enjoyed this; it gave the story a fresh feeling that I quite liked.
The characters were a big part of what I found so enjoyable. I liked the variety in personalities and skill-sets and the unexpected depths that emerged throughout the course of the story. This was probably where I found the most comparison to Wrinkle and where another reader might have felt that the two books were overly similar. Bria is pretty spot-on Meg Murray, Dylan could not be more Charles Wallace-esque, and Jace is pretty tightly Calvin, right down to his tragic home life. BUT I did not mind this; after the initial descriptions, the story – and characters – developed on their own tracks and on the whole Bria, Dylan and Jace were distinctly their own personalities, such that my ongoing mental comparisons to the L’Engel cast fell away fairly quickly.
The book weighs in at a hefty (for YA) 347 pages (100+ pages more than Wrinkle). Frankly, I think it was a little long. There were several sections where it felt like the descriptions/setups were unnecessarily lengthy, and the pacing was not always as even as I would have preferred. Then again, I had L’Engel in my head throughout my reading, and she is a master of pacing and balancing the desire for explication with the need for forward momentum. I recognize that it is not fair to compare the stories (even if subconsciously), and it’s possible that this was a part of my frustration during those portions of the book – if so, my apologies to Ms. Lakin, but I did find myself shifting between frantic page turning and the desire to skim ahead more than once so felt it worth mentioning. It did not detract from my enjoyment or my desire to see the story through to the end though, and that’s the important take-away.
There are “romance” elements in the story, but they are managed very well and incorporated into the overarching plot in a way that is rare to find in young adult stories, which (in my experience) tend to either go overboard and make the entire book about the love interests or to underplay those elements until they feel gratuitous. Bria is growing up, and a part of growing up is growing into yourself – her interactions with Jace and Ryan are major parts of that personal growth, and as such they were valuable additions to the story.
The book is described as the first in a series. I think there’s solid potential here, and look forward to seeing what Bria and her friends (and hopefully her indomitable mother) come up against next!
Time Sniffers, the first in a new series by C.S. Lakin, is redolent of – but not derivative to – Wrinkle, and that may be what really drew me into the story. I was intrigued by the description, and while it was very thorough in its explanation, after reading the blurb I expected a bit more of a time travel component – it is, after all, referred to as a “deep time-travel story”. I don’t consider this one time-travel in the traditional sense – it’s more of a time skip, with a lot more time spent in parallel/alternate worlds than in history (the backwards movement is never more than a couple of weeks). Still, that expectation aside, the story was very interesting and there were enough intermingled science, adventure, coming-of-age, and alternate world elements to keep me engaged and entertained. There was also a more traditional sci-fi element mixed in (in the form of the Sniffers and Searchers). I enjoyed this; it gave the story a fresh feeling that I quite liked.
The characters were a big part of what I found so enjoyable. I liked the variety in personalities and skill-sets and the unexpected depths that emerged throughout the course of the story. This was probably where I found the most comparison to Wrinkle and where another reader might have felt that the two books were overly similar. Bria is pretty spot-on Meg Murray, Dylan could not be more Charles Wallace-esque, and Jace is pretty tightly Calvin, right down to his tragic home life. BUT I did not mind this; after the initial descriptions, the story – and characters – developed on their own tracks and on the whole Bria, Dylan and Jace were distinctly their own personalities, such that my ongoing mental comparisons to the L’Engel cast fell away fairly quickly.
The book weighs in at a hefty (for YA) 347 pages (100+ pages more than Wrinkle). Frankly, I think it was a little long. There were several sections where it felt like the descriptions/setups were unnecessarily lengthy, and the pacing was not always as even as I would have preferred. Then again, I had L’Engel in my head throughout my reading, and she is a master of pacing and balancing the desire for explication with the need for forward momentum. I recognize that it is not fair to compare the stories (even if subconsciously), and it’s possible that this was a part of my frustration during those portions of the book – if so, my apologies to Ms. Lakin, but I did find myself shifting between frantic page turning and the desire to skim ahead more than once so felt it worth mentioning. It did not detract from my enjoyment or my desire to see the story through to the end though, and that’s the important take-away.
There are “romance” elements in the story, but they are managed very well and incorporated into the overarching plot in a way that is rare to find in young adult stories, which (in my experience) tend to either go overboard and make the entire book about the love interests or to underplay those elements until they feel gratuitous. Bria is growing up, and a part of growing up is growing into yourself – her interactions with Jace and Ryan are major parts of that personal growth, and as such they were valuable additions to the story.
The book is described as the first in a series. I think there’s solid potential here, and look forward to seeing what Bria and her friends (and hopefully her indomitable mother) come up against next!
May 12, 2017
“Time Sniffers” has that soft-core science fiction feel I loved when I was a young teen. Author C.S. Lakin blends a touch of science with time travel while mixing in a few dashes of teenage romance, evil minions, and a generous dose of adventure.
Bria believes her scientist mother is not dead, and that the unnatural signs she has seen are enough proof to what may have happened. Soon, she and her brother Dylan, along with Bria’s friends, are whisked into a tear in the fabric of time, traveling with an alien dog on a quest to save her mother.
One of the wonderful pieces of this book is that the characters are not fleshed out as in other novels. Instead, readers learn about the motivations of each person through the eyes of Bria. In other words, Bria explains everyone’s motivations through her filter. Yes, it’s been done before, but the author carries it off well…or should I say, Bria carries it off well, because her descriptions of the actions of the other characters range from thoughtful to angst-ridden to just plain hilarious. Bria is a smart and sassy teenager who can carry her weight in a scientific discussion but might fall to pieces if prompted to deliver a dissertation on her feelings about one of her male friends.
There were few things I didn’t enjoy while reading this book. One was the stretch of present day time to 2056. There simply weren’t enough differences between now and 2056 to allow me to believe in the chosen era. Neither the world nor the speech patterns of the children worked for me, and I questioned why Bria and friends weren’t placed in 2021 or thereabouts. Also, at times the story would hit a point and it seemed like the author had decided to quickly end that section. A quick explanation and what I thought would take 50 pages to solve was settled in less than half a chapter.
But no matter. If this was a book aimed at adults, these might be serious issues that would remove stars. For a YA book that appears to be aimed at younger teens, the abrupt mini-climaxes work to propel the story forward. Bria’s romantic urges do not overwhelm the book, and it all seems natural. All things considered, a fun romp through time, and one that left me looking on the sales page to see if there was a Book Two. Four stars.
Bria believes her scientist mother is not dead, and that the unnatural signs she has seen are enough proof to what may have happened. Soon, she and her brother Dylan, along with Bria’s friends, are whisked into a tear in the fabric of time, traveling with an alien dog on a quest to save her mother.
One of the wonderful pieces of this book is that the characters are not fleshed out as in other novels. Instead, readers learn about the motivations of each person through the eyes of Bria. In other words, Bria explains everyone’s motivations through her filter. Yes, it’s been done before, but the author carries it off well…or should I say, Bria carries it off well, because her descriptions of the actions of the other characters range from thoughtful to angst-ridden to just plain hilarious. Bria is a smart and sassy teenager who can carry her weight in a scientific discussion but might fall to pieces if prompted to deliver a dissertation on her feelings about one of her male friends.
There were few things I didn’t enjoy while reading this book. One was the stretch of present day time to 2056. There simply weren’t enough differences between now and 2056 to allow me to believe in the chosen era. Neither the world nor the speech patterns of the children worked for me, and I questioned why Bria and friends weren’t placed in 2021 or thereabouts. Also, at times the story would hit a point and it seemed like the author had decided to quickly end that section. A quick explanation and what I thought would take 50 pages to solve was settled in less than half a chapter.
But no matter. If this was a book aimed at adults, these might be serious issues that would remove stars. For a YA book that appears to be aimed at younger teens, the abrupt mini-climaxes work to propel the story forward. Bria’s romantic urges do not overwhelm the book, and it all seems natural. All things considered, a fun romp through time, and one that left me looking on the sales page to see if there was a Book Two. Four stars.
June 15, 2017
I'm now a senior citizen but as a teen I loved science fiction. This novel is one I thoroughly enjoyed now and would have devoured then.
This novel has everything that makes science fiction so much fun. There are adorable aliens and really scary ones too. There are lots of advanced scientific technique and gadgets. There is space and time travel, with rips in the fabric of space time. There are great teen characters who must save the world from evil.
That brings up the allegorical nature of the story. Lakin has crafted a good plot that parallels the introduction of evil into our world and its growing influence in our society. A subtle aspect of the battle against the evil forces is how the teens have to work together. Each teen has a unique skill and only as they work together can they counter the many facets of the evil aliens.
I recommend this novel to teens who love science fiction involving the battle between good and evil. You'll be entertained by some great science fiction scenes and you'll be encouraged to think about overcoming your obstacles and working with others.
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the author. My comments are an independent and honest review.
This novel has everything that makes science fiction so much fun. There are adorable aliens and really scary ones too. There are lots of advanced scientific technique and gadgets. There is space and time travel, with rips in the fabric of space time. There are great teen characters who must save the world from evil.
That brings up the allegorical nature of the story. Lakin has crafted a good plot that parallels the introduction of evil into our world and its growing influence in our society. A subtle aspect of the battle against the evil forces is how the teens have to work together. Each teen has a unique skill and only as they work together can they counter the many facets of the evil aliens.
I recommend this novel to teens who love science fiction involving the battle between good and evil. You'll be entertained by some great science fiction scenes and you'll be encouraged to think about overcoming your obstacles and working with others.
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the author. My comments are an independent and honest review.
May 7, 2017
Kindle Unlimited but got it somehow through one of my freebie days or maybe from being on the writer's email list but have the kindle mobi.
Glanced at the reviews, after finishing the book of course as usual, and not aware of a previous book of this type so can't say how much alike or different this one is from the other writer's. I did think there was a bit too much teen angst girl/boy stuff but that could be just me. I did like the premise, and the robot dog, the technology and other related bits, and of course alternate universe type things, as have been a huge doctor who fan for years. Not sure of the genre, would guess sci-fi/time travel of course but a bit more of something else perhaps. I didn't dislike the book, just didn't luv it, which is where the 4 came in, but it was worth a read.
Glanced at the reviews, after finishing the book of course as usual, and not aware of a previous book of this type so can't say how much alike or different this one is from the other writer's. I did think there was a bit too much teen angst girl/boy stuff but that could be just me. I did like the premise, and the robot dog, the technology and other related bits, and of course alternate universe type things, as have been a huge doctor who fan for years. Not sure of the genre, would guess sci-fi/time travel of course but a bit more of something else perhaps. I didn't dislike the book, just didn't luv it, which is where the 4 came in, but it was worth a read.
May 16, 2017
FUN SCI-FI ADVENTURE
I thoroughly enjoyed the voice of this novel. I'm a sucker for a novel that uses science experiment gone wrong as a vehicle for action and conflict. The interpersonal relationships of the teenager Bria and friends were believable. The author made me care. A teen dealing with the loss of her mother and refusing to believe she is dead hit home for me as I lost my mother as teen and would have given anything for it not to have been true.
It is well written. The science is fun. Great teen adventure. I like how the author told the whole story through Bria's point of view. Definitely, would recommend.
I thoroughly enjoyed the voice of this novel. I'm a sucker for a novel that uses science experiment gone wrong as a vehicle for action and conflict. The interpersonal relationships of the teenager Bria and friends were believable. The author made me care. A teen dealing with the loss of her mother and refusing to believe she is dead hit home for me as I lost my mother as teen and would have given anything for it not to have been true.
It is well written. The science is fun. Great teen adventure. I like how the author told the whole story through Bria's point of view. Definitely, would recommend.
May 23, 2018
This is a fun ya/middle reader book. The first line is a great grabber. The story builds with a good pacing and leads you deeper and deeper into the story without giving huge info dumps or using other contrivances...something I appreciate very much. The romantic back story is appropriate to the age level and felt "right" ...I was happy that there was no over the top drama with it.
The sci-fi concepts were told well and made sense without putting the reader into a coma with over explaining and long technical diatribes.
I enjoyed all the characters different, and sometimes surprising, personalities. Loved the Time Sniffers and want to know more about the Searchers.
Overall, well done!!.
The sci-fi concepts were told well and made sense without putting the reader into a coma with over explaining and long technical diatribes.
I enjoyed all the characters different, and sometimes surprising, personalities. Loved the Time Sniffers and want to know more about the Searchers.
Overall, well done!!.
May 31, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. I felt like I was going on an adventure along with the characters. The characters are all well defined. I feel the story concept is very unique. I never expected a story to unfold the way this one did. It kept my attention. Very well written. It has some grammatical errors(digital version). But I like that it does. Because as an aspiring novelist myself, it helps me to realize that my work does not have to be 100% perfect in order for me to put it out there. Lakin is an excellent writer. I recommend this book for a good read and an interesting adventure.
May 17, 2017
Crossing Through Time
I gave this book a rating of 5 because i loved it . It showed how much they would go through to save the world and Bria and Dylan's mother along with the others that were working with their mother. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves books deal with time traveling and science fiction
I gave this book a rating of 5 because i loved it . It showed how much they would go through to save the world and Bria and Dylan's mother along with the others that were working with their mother. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves books deal with time traveling and science fiction
October 1, 2017
I'm not a sci-fi fan, but wanted to read a book by Lakin since she gave me good advice as an editor. It gave a fun ride, but the plot lagged in sections.
September 24, 2020
Fun Read
Might have been a little younger of a storyline than I would typically partake in. But I enjoyed the adventure of the characters' journey. Plus it was light enough to provide a nice, mental break from some of the heavier books I read. https://bld.li/home
Might have been a little younger of a storyline than I would typically partake in. But I enjoyed the adventure of the characters' journey. Plus it was light enough to provide a nice, mental break from some of the heavier books I read. https://bld.li/home
July 8, 2013
In Time Sniffers, the word time in the title gave me an incline of subject matter for this story, but the word sniffers, I would have never guessed what that meant. What I uncovered as I read through chapter after chapter was a purity in writing that I see seldom. There are so many great writers I have read, but sometimes you read something special. For one, I felt a kindred to Stephen King as she writes similarly in the same technical fashion when writing Sci-Fi. As a lay person all the Science subject matter was not too familiar to me, however when the author wrote about specific topics she wrote like she lived the very experience she was detailing in her story. Without spoiling the action, I will comment on the vocabulary and voice she uses. It was exceptional and her ease of writing would be a good model for any middle school or high school classroom. As it is a high interest topic it will fair well with young adults, but for any Sci-Fi buff it has some meat you can sink your teeth into.
One of the highlights of C.S. Lakin's writing is the flow. This is so hard to teach and most times it is a gift. So as an ex-English teacher I appreciate it, but as a reader, I love it. I do tend to lose my place when things slow down, so I feel like I have to close the book and come back later to finish it. I didn't have to do that here. I read through the story. I wanted to know how the story ended and how the groups of protagonists, so it seemed all found their bravado during a time in need when it meant so much for themselves, their families, their friends, and the planet. Time Sniffers may be Sci-Fi for now, but there may come a time where it will just be Science.-Mirta Espinola
C.S.Lakin is an author and a writing coach. She has authored twelve novels and it looks like she is not stopping there. For more information on C.S.Lakin:
http://www.cslakin.com/
One of the highlights of C.S. Lakin's writing is the flow. This is so hard to teach and most times it is a gift. So as an ex-English teacher I appreciate it, but as a reader, I love it. I do tend to lose my place when things slow down, so I feel like I have to close the book and come back later to finish it. I didn't have to do that here. I read through the story. I wanted to know how the story ended and how the groups of protagonists, so it seemed all found their bravado during a time in need when it meant so much for themselves, their families, their friends, and the planet. Time Sniffers may be Sci-Fi for now, but there may come a time where it will just be Science.-Mirta Espinola
C.S.Lakin is an author and a writing coach. She has authored twelve novels and it looks like she is not stopping there. For more information on C.S.Lakin:
http://www.cslakin.com/
March 8, 2014
(Reviewed by Paul Lappen for the Kindle Book Review)
First of a series, this novel is about a group of young people who are the only thing keeping Earth from being destroyed by an evil alien.
Set in the near future, Bria Harrison is the brilliant daughter of two famous scientists. Several weeks previously, her mother's experiment with lasers went very wrong, and her entire laboratory vanished. Bria is convinced that she is still alive.
Attempting to re-create Mom's experiment in her family's basement, Bria creates a small hole in space/time. A time sniffer pops out of the hole and into her basement. It looks like a big, shaggy dog who can camouflage itself (like a chameleon) and can sniff out time streams with its nose (it also speaks English).
The time sniffer, named K-Six, tells Bria (and several friends) that the disappearance of the laboratory (Mom is still alive, but trapped somewhere in time) has created a huge rift in space/time. It has allowed an alien named The Interloper to pour huge amounts of dark energy into our galaxy. The Earth will eventually be destroyed.
K-Six tells the humans that the only way to close the rift is from the inside, by finding the right time stream. They are taken through the space/time hole, where they are trained and physically altered. After several close calls on other worlds, the group finds itself inside the lab, before it disappears. Of course, it isn't as easy as Bria simply explaining to her mother why the experiment should be cancelled.
This is a really good YA story (at least four stars) that is full of science. Things may get a bit convoluted at times, but sticking with it will be worth the reader's time. Teens and adults will enjoy this story.
(The Kindle Book Review received a free copy of this book for an independent, fair and honest review. We are not associated with the author or Amazon.)
First of a series, this novel is about a group of young people who are the only thing keeping Earth from being destroyed by an evil alien.
Set in the near future, Bria Harrison is the brilliant daughter of two famous scientists. Several weeks previously, her mother's experiment with lasers went very wrong, and her entire laboratory vanished. Bria is convinced that she is still alive.
Attempting to re-create Mom's experiment in her family's basement, Bria creates a small hole in space/time. A time sniffer pops out of the hole and into her basement. It looks like a big, shaggy dog who can camouflage itself (like a chameleon) and can sniff out time streams with its nose (it also speaks English).
The time sniffer, named K-Six, tells Bria (and several friends) that the disappearance of the laboratory (Mom is still alive, but trapped somewhere in time) has created a huge rift in space/time. It has allowed an alien named The Interloper to pour huge amounts of dark energy into our galaxy. The Earth will eventually be destroyed.
K-Six tells the humans that the only way to close the rift is from the inside, by finding the right time stream. They are taken through the space/time hole, where they are trained and physically altered. After several close calls on other worlds, the group finds itself inside the lab, before it disappears. Of course, it isn't as easy as Bria simply explaining to her mother why the experiment should be cancelled.
This is a really good YA story (at least four stars) that is full of science. Things may get a bit convoluted at times, but sticking with it will be worth the reader's time. Teens and adults will enjoy this story.
(The Kindle Book Review received a free copy of this book for an independent, fair and honest review. We are not associated with the author or Amazon.)
February 18, 2016
Blending classics, science and a modern teen voice with the mystery of a poetry-quoting dog and a quest to save the world, C. S. Lakin has created a story that will refuse to let you go, and characters that will keep you enthralled. The time-traveling dogs sniff out rifts and holes in the universe, while an interesting teen protagonist sets out to save her mother and ends up rescuing the multiverse. With well-told touches of science and speculation, and plenty of scares, this book should keep young teens happily reading for many hours--or long travels in time.
Time eddies are beautifully imagined and cleverly portrayed as Bria and her friends navigate shifting streams between the explosion in her mother's laboratory and a strange shadow world of curious allies and dangerous foe. Contemporary cultural references abound, from Star Wars to American football, with chapter headings cleverly built onto beautifully chosen quotations. Neat metaphors lead the reader quickly into the protagonist's point of view. And touches of future history, with convincing science and scarily plausible technology, make both Bria and her world very real. A touch of teen romance distracts me, mostly I suspect because I'm not a teen. But the distraction couldn't stop me reading and the story kept me eager for more--I really hope there will be more... A standalone novel filled with imagination and fun... and dogs... what more could I ask for?
Disclosure: I "bought" an ecopy when it was free because I couldn't resist it.
Time eddies are beautifully imagined and cleverly portrayed as Bria and her friends navigate shifting streams between the explosion in her mother's laboratory and a strange shadow world of curious allies and dangerous foe. Contemporary cultural references abound, from Star Wars to American football, with chapter headings cleverly built onto beautifully chosen quotations. Neat metaphors lead the reader quickly into the protagonist's point of view. And touches of future history, with convincing science and scarily plausible technology, make both Bria and her world very real. A touch of teen romance distracts me, mostly I suspect because I'm not a teen. But the distraction couldn't stop me reading and the story kept me eager for more--I really hope there will be more... A standalone novel filled with imagination and fun... and dogs... what more could I ask for?
Disclosure: I "bought" an ecopy when it was free because I couldn't resist it.
July 7, 2017
In the future when our world is in need of a alternative source of energy and scientist are desperately looking everywhere for one, one set of scientists are looking at harnessing black matter for a new energy, but they don't fully understand the consequences of doing that until the day they disappear. It is just assumed that they blew up. But the daughter (Bria) of one scientist knows her mom didn't blow up, she knows her mom is alive somewhere and when she sees a strange sign everywhere she knows she must do something to find her mom. That is when K-Six comes into Bria and her Autistic brother Dylan's life to help them, and their friends sniff out the time her mom and the other scientist are trapped in and to close the rip.
I don't want to say much else and give anything away. I will say that the first couple of chapters are kind of science laden but once you get through that it is so good, action packed and full of twists and turns and I really hope there is more to come because there are certain things I need to find out what happened with as I am sure you will too if you read the book.
I don't want to say much else and give anything away. I will say that the first couple of chapters are kind of science laden but once you get through that it is so good, action packed and full of twists and turns and I really hope there is more to come because there are certain things I need to find out what happened with as I am sure you will too if you read the book.
March 18, 2012
This is a book targetting young adults. I think it has a broader appeal.
Have you ever read a book with a subject that is outside and beyond your ken but as you read you think ‘Yes, I get this’? The year is 2056. Oil is running out and the search is on for an alternative energy source to sustain the world. Real food is out of the price reach of most. Lasers, black holes, and dark matter that is a hold-your-breath kind of possibility for that alternative source are what it’s all about. And then there’s time travel. But not the kind that needs a Tardus or any other machine.
Given the bleakness it could be a depressing read, but it’s not. The writing is sharp and snappy and there’s one hell of a story.
There are a couple of instances where the author has confused her characters, but I’m not holding that against her.
Have you ever read a book with a subject that is outside and beyond your ken but as you read you think ‘Yes, I get this’? The year is 2056. Oil is running out and the search is on for an alternative energy source to sustain the world. Real food is out of the price reach of most. Lasers, black holes, and dark matter that is a hold-your-breath kind of possibility for that alternative source are what it’s all about. And then there’s time travel. But not the kind that needs a Tardus or any other machine.
Given the bleakness it could be a depressing read, but it’s not. The writing is sharp and snappy and there’s one hell of a story.
There are a couple of instances where the author has confused her characters, but I’m not holding that against her.
August 14, 2016
Excellent story - good undertones which enhanced the story... When do we get book 2?
May 15, 2017
Starts with a bang and moves quickly with plenty of adventure and characters to enjoy. Seems to refer to and has a feel of "A Wrinkle in Time." Leans mightily on science/physics and time travel via streams and anti matter. Let's not forget the young love aspect, which is dealt with tastefully enough. There is a strong climate change, care for our world, be more mindful of looming earth disasters flavor. Can be propaganda-like. Personal family life matters tug on the heartstrings. I did find it a little too contrived when everything fell into place toward the end. I thought-is this a trick and more harrowing experiences are coming? Strong female main character is fun.
Read
June 24, 2017The first-person narrator is Bria, a science geek who is the daughter of two scientists—Dad designs parts for the Mars Rover (they’re up to the 2055 model), and Mum is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who works at the Greenfield National Laboratory undertaking laser experiments for the Department of Energy.
And one of those experiments apparently killed Mom—the entire lab disappeared. But Bria has her mother’s notes and is trying to recreate some of her experiments in their basement laboratory. (I’m thinking as I write this that this should be unbelievable, that Bria has the knowledge and equipment to undertake top secret research in her basement. But I believed it. It works.)
Anyway, Bria’s experiment works, and she creates a singularity. But there are consequences, and soon Bria is on a big adventure to find her mother and save the world. She is accompanied by her autistic younger brother, Dylan, Debby (Dylan’s babysitter), and three friends from school: Ryan, Jace, and Lauren. And it is an adventure.
I thought Time Sniffers was excellent. Okay, it may have benefitted by comparison to the book I read immediately before—a Christian speculative young adult novel, but one with no Christian content, a trying-too-hard element to the world building, a big reveal that should have been obvious to anyone who has ever read a sci-fi novel or seen a sci-fi movie, and a cliffhanger ending—the wrong kind, where the story feels like it’s finishing in the middle.
In comparison, Time Sniffers was brilliant. It’s not Christian fiction (and not advertised as such), although there is a clear theme of the battle between good and evil. The world-building was excellent and flowed nicely out of the story. The things which were obvious were meant to be obvious, and there were no major surprises—it’s a sci-fic adventure romp and the focus is on the journey. It even has a cliffhanger ending—but the right kind, where the story finishes, and the cliffhanger is of more a teaser for the next adventure.
This is the first book in the Shadow World series. It’s a young adult novel, but the presence (and importance) of Dylan means advanced middle grade readers could also read and enjoy it (as long as they can overlook the innocent romantic subplot). Recommended for sci-fi fans, and those looking for a good adventure story.
Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.
And one of those experiments apparently killed Mom—the entire lab disappeared. But Bria has her mother’s notes and is trying to recreate some of her experiments in their basement laboratory. (I’m thinking as I write this that this should be unbelievable, that Bria has the knowledge and equipment to undertake top secret research in her basement. But I believed it. It works.)
Anyway, Bria’s experiment works, and she creates a singularity. But there are consequences, and soon Bria is on a big adventure to find her mother and save the world. She is accompanied by her autistic younger brother, Dylan, Debby (Dylan’s babysitter), and three friends from school: Ryan, Jace, and Lauren. And it is an adventure.
I thought Time Sniffers was excellent. Okay, it may have benefitted by comparison to the book I read immediately before—a Christian speculative young adult novel, but one with no Christian content, a trying-too-hard element to the world building, a big reveal that should have been obvious to anyone who has ever read a sci-fi novel or seen a sci-fi movie, and a cliffhanger ending—the wrong kind, where the story feels like it’s finishing in the middle.
In comparison, Time Sniffers was brilliant. It’s not Christian fiction (and not advertised as such), although there is a clear theme of the battle between good and evil. The world-building was excellent and flowed nicely out of the story. The things which were obvious were meant to be obvious, and there were no major surprises—it’s a sci-fic adventure romp and the focus is on the journey. It even has a cliffhanger ending—but the right kind, where the story finishes, and the cliffhanger is of more a teaser for the next adventure.
This is the first book in the Shadow World series. It’s a young adult novel, but the presence (and importance) of Dylan means advanced middle grade readers could also read and enjoy it (as long as they can overlook the innocent romantic subplot). Recommended for sci-fi fans, and those looking for a good adventure story.
Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.
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