Broken Time

by Maggy Thomas

Siggy Lindquist is a janitor at The Institute, home to the galaxy's deadliest criminals. When two of the most dangerous inmates take a twisted interest in Siggy, she becomes caught in a potential war between two races -- a war that only a forgotten secret from her past can prevent...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

Maggy Thomas is a pseudonym of Emily Devenport.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Broken Time' is a messy, brilliant, juvenile, sophisticated, awkward, stunning novel that veers from being embarassingly bad to thoroughly engrossing and back again, and just won't let up flailing about and somehow still managing to win your attention. Ultimately, I made it all the way through it and was happy I did so, but I cannot express how infuriatingly bad parts of this novel are.

What saves the novel is the fact that it is absolutely chock full of intriguing ideas. Unlike alot of bad science fiction novels where I would have a hard time telling you what they were about a few years later or even remember that I read them, this one I've never forgotten and numerous scenes are still fresh in my memory. In fact, if anything there is probably too much going on in this very ambitious novel. In addition to making you think, half the time with a throwaway line, Maggy Thomas draws her characters so well that you can't help but care. You care for and fear for Siggy. Jerry Gross is truly as terrifying as he is pathetic. So you keep reading through the cringes to get to the good parts - like when you figure out why Jerry calls The Professor Beelzebub.

Although the author has written other books since, this is the first and only novel that the author has written using this psuedonym - which is as it should be. It's embarassingly bad enough as to discredit the name. But it is also good enough that I want this author to keep writing, because there is real talent here waiting to be honed.

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am rounding up to 4 stars because this did have a lot of interesting and original elements, and I liked it a lot to begin with. At page 200 I saw why people didn't rate it so highly and the last 100 pages were weaker. It felt rather as if that part had possibly been written earlier and not revised adequately.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book just grabs and doesn't let go. I'm a notorious skimmer, but there were no slow parts, and I up was reading this book until 3:30am on a Wednesday night. This is very good scifi.

Siggy works as a janitor at the Institute for the Criminally Insane, especially assigned to mop the floors of Monster row - where the worst of the worst are housed. She's encouraged to converse with them to help doctors analyze them. There's also the Enigma - an astrophysical singularity that works as a series of wormholes, allowing humans to settle colonies, and bring them into conflict with an alien race called Speedies. There's also Time Pockets - areas of space that get twisted up in time, trapping people there, like one of Siggy's childhood friends. And it's all somehow connected. We follow Siggy's POV as she gets accustomed to work at the Institute, talks with the insane criminals, and tries to find her friend stuck in time.

It's very, very interesting, tense, suspenseful, and impossible to put down. I have no idea why the other person called the writing bad; I'm quite picky about my prose, and this was good. The book is out of print, but it's available as an e-book with author's name listed as Emily Devenport.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I couldn't wait to finish this book before starting the review. So this review is part before and part after. I did not know what to expect. I probably would not have started it, if I had know the strongest theme in the story. But I am enjoying it. The book is holding my attention and hard to put down.

First the negative. The main theme in the book is serial killers! Who knew. I am not normally a fan of serial killer stories. I don't watch them and I don't read them; I consciously avoid serial killer stories. But, surprisingly I am enjoying this story.

As other reviewers say, this book is chock full of ideas. I think the amazing references to FTL travel, black holes, time pockets, bio-enhancements, dancing to facilitate diplomacy etc., are almost too much for one book. I think 4-6 books could be made using the ideas in this story

This was a fascinating story. I was interested in the main character and wanted her to be safe. This was not a war story, but there was potential for galactic war. There were aliens who played a major part in the story. Dancing is used by Siggy to bridge the communication gap with the powerful hostile aliens.

Now to try to identify potential readers. As I said, I would probably not have read this, if I had heard the plot. But I am so glad I did. I like the mystery aspects of the story. Where are the killers, and what are their goals. I like that all of humanity is in danger, but we don't see many people die. Only one character we care about dies. I liked most of the story. What a joy to find this.

[J'aime · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's easy to see why this was nominated for a Philip K. Dick award. Siggy works as a janitor at an insane asylum for criminals. One of the inmates takes a scary interest in her - and her ability to perceive time pockets. Siggy knows that there are some people who do not exist, but once existed before falling into these pockets. Aside from dealing with a serial killer's interest, Siggy has to content with her world being in danger from a race of beings who move and live so fast, they feel humanity is in their way.

Maggy Thomas is a pseudonym for Emily Devenport. I've read nearly all her other books, and she usually writes straightforward science fiction adventures (Shade, Scorpianne, Godheads, etc.). However, this novel is more intricate and thought-provoking than that previous work. The story has many surprises and an interesting heroine. If you've seen the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, the scene at the end is the way I envisioned these time pockets. A highly original and entertaining novel - it's a shame it is out of print. Absolutely worth searching down a copy.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel bad for you, but good luck finding this book. Of all the sci-fi I have ever read, this is the one I would say I'll never get out of my head. It is compelling, tight writing with well-paced character revelation. It's a thriller, graphic in a way that is necessary and terrifying. In that way, it made me think of Silence of the Lambs, but it is NOT that story. It does have an exceedingly strong, sympathetic female hero figure -- no cape, all awesome.

If you ever run across it, get it. If you don't like it, please give me a chance to buy it off you -- my copy is dog-eared and dying, and it will be a sad day when it falls apart.

[Shellie (Layers of Thought) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original review written by Shellie posted at Layers of Thought.

Shellie’s quick take: A fast paced, complex but easy-to-read science fiction romance story that had me quickly turning the pages. It has a believable alien, cool science oriented “time warps”, and a wonderful, strong and likeable female lead. It was nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award and is an unbelievable .99 cents at various ebook retailers. What a deal!

Shellie’s description: On a distant planet in the distant future, our heroine Siggy Lindquist has grown up on a planet that is much like ours but where trips to other nebulas and galaxies, and other futuristic phenomena are the norm. However, this world is recognizable and Siggy has a life similar to a regular girl (excluding her beautiful and unusual contrast of brown skin and white hair), with her various interests and life events. For example, she is a terrific dancer and believes she is going to marry her childhood sweetheart.

The drama starts when Siggy graduates from high school and her dreams for the future fail unexpectedly; she accepts an undesirable job on a distant planet knowing that this may be her only option of getting away from her heartbreak and earning a living. It’s not by any means a dream job – since Siggy will be doing janitorial work in a maximum security prison/hospital for the criminally insane. That the inmates are the absolute bottom of the heap when it comes to human nature is an understatement; worse yet is that they are brilliant. Get in, get it finished, and get out is her motto. But when the “Director” of the prison requires Siggy to ascertain information from the patients for research, things get a bit more complicated.

Then to twist things nicely there are the aliens called “Speedies” - who do everything that humans can except much faster - who are occasionally attacking the planet. It all creates a story even more wonderfully convoluted than what I have summarized here.

Shellie’s thoughts: Emily Devenport is one of those unusual writers who writes complex plots in a way that makes them feel easy to read and simple. Broken Time was one of those books for me. I did not struggle with it or have to re-read any parts because it flowed, yet it’s layered with intriguing plot lines, subplots and themes. The only negative thing I can say about this book is that I could see it easily being a third or more longer; maybe there will be a sequel?

I like science fiction anyway – especially science-based science fiction – and I loved this book. It does help that I also enjoy books with a wonderful strong female character, and Siggy certainly fits the bill; it is also nice to see great science fiction written by a woman. I also love the dark psychological aspects, including the insane yet brilliant inmates that give the book a taste of horror.

That is five big pluses in my opinion, so I cannot recommend this book enough, especially for those who like science-based science fiction, those who enjoy romance and are perhaps looking to try out the sci-fi genre, and perhaps for fans of Lois McMaster Bujold. It was a 4.5 star read for me. I will definitely be reading more from this author with her accessible but complex writing style.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Siggy gets a job at an interplanetary supermax prison, she doesn't know she's going to become a conversational pal with a pair of serial killers. Or that this relationship will hinge on the fact that she's one of the few people who has encountered time pockets more than once. Also, ballroom dancing.

Broken Time is an odd book, with lots of interesting ideas but not tight enough to work well. A few thoughts:

- There are a bunch of great ideas and sketches of great ideas that the book doesn't follow through on. Among the ideas we don't learn enough about: a Lost Fleet that is trapped in time, showing up occasionally to attack a planet long after the war is over and an interstellar economy that's brutal and punishing but we only hear about a little bit at the beginning of the novel. The book also features an alien species, the speedies, who move far more quickly than we do. It's a cool premise that could also have had more attention.
- I like the novel's focus on Siggy's interest in ballroom dancing, and it has a nice payoff later. The novel also takes some solid narrative steps to give Siggy the skills and ideas she will need later.
- The references to differences in planets gives the book the feel of grandeur, but in practice the planets don't get enough descriptions to really show how they're different. Siggy might just as well have been in two different cities or countries on Earth.
- I like the insight that in times of war, we will do whatever it takes, including science that destroys the people it aims to help.
- Last, it's a little off-putting how much Siggy's job in the supermax prison feels like The Silence of the Lambs. From the hallway she has to walk down (passing rude and awful prisoners to get to the most horrible one) to his temperamental interest in her to his habit of standing very still, one can't help but see that famous film. Adding just a few touches to make it feel different would have helped this part of the book a lot for me.

Overall, this wasn't my favorite. It took a long time to capture my interest (I actually said "If I don't like it a lot more tonight, I will put it down"), but the main character is nicely developed and the book focuses more on her character than on techno-wizardry.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best science fiction makes you think. It doesn't force you to do so, it tantalizes and teases your brain into working overtime, making connections within the plot of the book and thinking about the nature of things outside of it. I've read quite a lot of science fiction over the years but nothing quite like Broken Time by Maggy Thomas. On the surface it is the story about a bright young woman in the ultimate welfare state universe. There just aren't a lot of jobs out there except for the very best and brightest of people, and smart as Siggy is, she's just not quite in that category. So she takes a job on a planet far from home as a janitor in an asylum for the criminally insane. There she becomes the pawn of the asylum's director as he uses Siggy to try and draw out some of his notorious inmates, ultimately with disastrous results.

If that is all that Broken TIme was about, it would have been a thoroughly enjoyable novel. But it's also about an alien race called the Speedies because they appear to experience time at a different rate than humans do. It's also about a bizarre cosmic anomaly in the area of Siggy's homeworld which has somehow taken a Speedy invasion fleet out of sync with the rest of the universe so that it is still traveling on the warpath more than a century after hostilities were terminated, still struggling to pop back into normal space and obliterate her planet. It's also about a brave young man who disappears in a "time pocket" when Siggy is a child and only she can remember him. And it's about the struggle to communicate with people and cultures that are different from yours. And, well, I could go on for several more paragraphs trying to explain what this book is about. Suffice it to say, that it's still intriguing me several weeks after I finished it, and if I didn't have so much else on my plate right now I'd be reading it again.

[Lectus · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book started sooo interesting and intriguing with The Professor... *sigh* but then the story goes back to when Siggy was a child and she saw David disappear in a "time pocket." What I found illogical was that David disappeared and so did people' memories of him. And that was fine, he was erased from history. But then siggy started researching him and found proof that he acually existed. It is not a big thing, really, because plots must be based on something. But it was sooo easy for Siggy to find out about David that it felt like a joke.

After this, the story goes back to the institute: how Siggy started working there, the attack she suffered by one of the inmates... I lost interest on that because the story started with Siggy's last day at the institute because she wasn't going to work there anymore after she was attacked.

Since I already knew that Siggy had quit, I wasn't really interested in reading about her begining in the institute.

***spoiler question***
Who was the serial killer without identity called The Professor? Did it turn out to be David? Or did he come from where David go?

[Star · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Broken Time has it all - romance, suspense, heartbreak, serial killers, aliens, time distortions...

As I read more of Ms. Devenport's work, I am very impressed with how deftly she builds worlds and characters into which you can easily get swept away. Siggy was definitely my favorite character, but there are so many you come to care about, too. I was intrigued by the Professor, one of the serial killers on Monster Row, and the mystery of who and what he really is. The Time Pockets were something I'd heard of, in theoretical physics, but the way they were put to use here was ingenious. Altogether, Broken Time is a spellbinding book of galactic proportions. It will be difficult to put it down once you've picked it up!

[Ericka Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

From ignorance to astonishment

I did not know anything about Devenport, was unfamiliar with her work, unsure what the book was even about (Why had I bought it?); I could barely put it down! Did it have deep meaning? Not really, but perhaps it spoke a bit about the human condit,ion. Mostly it is a fascinating story, in an interesting setting, with imaginative characters.

I don't have the focus and word memory any more to write you a great review that will make you want to buy this book, so you'll just have to trust me. Buy it, read it--you'll enjoy it.

[Steph Bennion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sci-fi with serial killers? Weird time pockets and broken memories? This book was chock full of ideas that kept me engrossed for hours. The scenes in the prison were particularly memorable. Recommended for readers who like quirky yet thoughtful science fiction...

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've owned a copy of the book for years and I still come back to it time and again.

[aetnensis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Romanzo con pro e contro ma che alla fine non mi ha convinta.
La base è ricca ed interessante, prova a mettere insieme cose molto diverse per creare un intreccio unitario: colonie umane in tutto l'universo, alieni, viaggi nel tempo e istituti di massima sicurezza per serial killer. Il tutto condito da una grandissima inclusività, come si direbbe oggi, senza che questa venga presentata come descrizioni di personaggi di D&D. Il problema è che tutto questo non è stato mixato bene. La trama mi è sembrata un po' infantile, i personaggi non hanno un vero e proprio carattere, neanche la protagonista, Siggy, che ha come unico tratto il saper ballare (trovata particolare comunque per capire i rapporti tra Speedy, la razza aliena, e gli umani). Il sapore è molto Young Adulti, tra balli di fine anno, innamoramenti fulminei per i "mostri" rinchiusi nell'Istituto per i pazzi criminali (spero che sia un errore di traduzione...) e un mondo pieno di buoni sentimenti ma incomprensioni, nettamente diviso dai cosiddetti psicopatici.
Ho trovato anche piuttosto irritante come in un futuro che sembra lontanissimo, tutti i riferimenti culturali siano ancora quelli di oggi. Ci sta, ma il libro è una continua citazione. Senza parlare del fatto che si mandano ancora la posta scritta perché "costa meno" rispetto al connettersi alla rete. Va bene che negli anni 2000 internet era legato alla linea telefonica ma un po' di fantasia dai... 

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

An underachieving janitor at a future institute for the criminally insane possesses the ability to twist time.

[Brown Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An oblique look at psychopathy, which involves convoluted timespace physics, enigmatic ETs and a diffuse human interstellar civilization.

Odd, with a not-completely adequate resolution.

[Rachel Molino · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Hard to follow a story with so many time jumps back to back without resolving any of the plots in the original times.

[ala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 3.5 stars

Short summary: Siggy, our spunky, perceptive heroine, after having a friend fall into a time-warp (time pocket), goes to work as a janitor at an asylum for the criminally insane. There she grows to know three bizarre inmates -- sociopathic Jerry Wolfe, biotech-damaged Joseph Bell, and the enigmatic "Professor". With her knowledge of them and the time pockets, she becomes the go-to person for solving the mystery when one of the inmates escapes.

I have to say, I really liked this one up until the end. The author launches a number of intriguing plot threads into the air and appears to juggle them successfully until taking a huge back-step on the dismount (excuse the multiple mixed metaphors). It ended and I was left, "huh"??? I almost felt like I was missing something deep and profound that was just beyond my reach. Really though, I think it was a miss for the author, who almost had something profound to say.

One of my favorite themes in sci-fi is the exploration of the alien vs. human (ala Ender's Game) and the interactions/misunderstandings that emerge. This was something else that I thought started off strong, but by the end, fell into the same anthropomorphist trap that afflicts so many in the genre. Except for one alien who remains too mysterious -- you still didn't really know what it was trying to do. The idea is that by the end, you want learn more about what makes the aliens tick, but without them ticking like humans. I don't think this was achieved.

Ultimately there were just too many loose ends (spoilers to follow):
--what did happen Joseph Bell?
--why was Siggy the one who find/open the time pockets?
--why did the professor need Jerry Wolfe? And what the heck did he really want??????

A final minor beef: Siggy's final love interest came out of nowhere, appearing suddenly as her boyfriend in chapter 14 (out of 18). I kind feel like that's a cop-out in a book -- like in a mystery novel when the author invents the perpetrator at the very end. You want the guy to be there all along, so that if you were smart enough you might have figured the mystery, or in this case, the love interest out. Deus-ex-amore insta-love is annoying.

Anyway, I still enjoyed this book for being imaginative and original. This book was my first Emily Devenport novel and I *think* it was an early work. Will definitely read more by her to see if her writing matures.

[Sbulf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggy Thomas dà un'ottima prova di stile per un libro godibile nelle sue imperfezioni.
Qui la recensione completa: http://clarkevivo.blogspot.it/2013/09...