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The Forest on the Edge of Time
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Expected 3 Feb 26Win a free print copy of this book!
5 days and 08:51:09
50 copies available
U.S. only
The Future of Another Timeline
meets
The Bone Clocks
in this dazzling piece of time-travel climate fiction.
Recruited by the mysterious Project Kairos to change history and save the future from ecological disaster, Echo and Hazel are transported through time to opposite worlds. Echo works as a healer’s assistant in Ancient Athens, embroiled in dangerous politics and wild philosophy. Hazel is the last human alive, in a laboratory on a polluted island with nothing but tiny robots and an untrustworthy AI for company.
Both women suffer from amnesia but when they fall asleep, their consciousnesses transcend time and they meet in their dreams. Together, they start to uncover their past – but soon discover the past threatens humanity’s survival.
If Echo and Hazel have a chance of changing the future, they must remember to forget…
THE FOREST ON THE EDGE OF TIME is a novel about family and duty and the worlds we try to save along the way.
Recruited by the mysterious Project Kairos to change history and save the future from ecological disaster, Echo and Hazel are transported through time to opposite worlds. Echo works as a healer’s assistant in Ancient Athens, embroiled in dangerous politics and wild philosophy. Hazel is the last human alive, in a laboratory on a polluted island with nothing but tiny robots and an untrustworthy AI for company.
Both women suffer from amnesia but when they fall asleep, their consciousnesses transcend time and they meet in their dreams. Together, they start to uncover their past – but soon discover the past threatens humanity’s survival.
If Echo and Hazel have a chance of changing the future, they must remember to forget…
THE FOREST ON THE EDGE OF TIME is a novel about family and duty and the worlds we try to save along the way.
368 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication February 3, 2026
694 people want to read
About the author
Jasmin Kirkbride
8 books15 followersJasmin Kirkbride is an author and academic.
Her debut science fiction novel, THE FOREST AT THE EDGE OF TIME, is due out with Tor in February 2026. Her short speculative fiction has appeared in places including Reactor, and her story ‘Sand’ was featured in Some of the Best from Tor.com 2021.
Her eco-poetry has appeared in places including Frogpond and Presence, and she was the 2022 Researcher-in-Residence for the British Haiku Society, investigating haiku in the climate crisis.
An ex-editor and book trade journalist, Jasmin holds an MA in Ancient History from King’s College London, and an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia (UEA). Her research explores hope in dystopian climate fiction and intergeneration healing in feminist mushroompunk.
By day, she is a Lecturer, and lives in Norfolk (UK).
Her debut science fiction novel, THE FOREST AT THE EDGE OF TIME, is due out with Tor in February 2026. Her short speculative fiction has appeared in places including Reactor, and her story ‘Sand’ was featured in Some of the Best from Tor.com 2021.
Her eco-poetry has appeared in places including Frogpond and Presence, and she was the 2022 Researcher-in-Residence for the British Haiku Society, investigating haiku in the climate crisis.
An ex-editor and book trade journalist, Jasmin holds an MA in Ancient History from King’s College London, and an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia (UEA). Her research explores hope in dystopian climate fiction and intergeneration healing in feminist mushroompunk.
By day, she is a Lecturer, and lives in Norfolk (UK).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 24, 2025
This was such a wild take on a time-travel/cli-fi story, featuring adorable little robots, sassy AIs, and also Xenophanes who has got to be one of my top three pre-socratic philosophers!
Picture a seesaw, except that seesaw is the timeline. As a part of a mysterious project to secure to safe future of humanity, Hazel and Echo travel through time. Hazel moves forward to an isolated research station in the far future inhabited by CHARL1E, a cheeky AI, and the Tinys, a group of little helper robots. On the other end of the time seesaw, Echo ends up in 514 BCE Athens to establish a school of philosophy that will hopefully improve the eco-consciousness of the future. In the middle, at the hinge of the seesaw, teenager Anna is struggling with the usual teenager issues during COVID-19.
Is the seesaw analogy too much? Well, the time travel system in this book is a little complicated, so it helped me to think of it that way. Big fan of the Tinys, I was picturing them all as little Wall-Es, and I appreciate the idea that a very sophisticated AI like CHARL1E would end up being kind of bitchy so I'm a fan of him too. I followed the 514 BCE pov a lot less but love that like everyone there was gay, this was biblically accurate Ancient Greece, and the discussions around citizenship and class-based slavery were engaging. This isn't a very character-driven story so I wasn't blown away by the characters, but that's not a big deal. Some of the scene transitions, especially at the beginning, were hard to follow for me. I also definitely favored Hazel's pov at the beginning, but I warmed up to the other two as the story went on. I will say that Anna's texts with her friends made me cringe so hard. I was about the same age as Anna during COVID and I promise I never typed "im rlly curious bt im not sur i shd read it, yknow" or "even wen she isnt rite shes at least tryin. Idk mbbe its coz its just u 2 or sumthin."
Fun book, super wild and I love new takes on time travel because it's inherently cool, but I was left a little wanting. Now, where can I get myself a Tiny to me me shitty tea and make me go outside?
Thank you to Jasmin Kirkbride and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
Picture a seesaw, except that seesaw is the timeline. As a part of a mysterious project to secure to safe future of humanity, Hazel and Echo travel through time. Hazel moves forward to an isolated research station in the far future inhabited by CHARL1E, a cheeky AI, and the Tinys, a group of little helper robots. On the other end of the time seesaw, Echo ends up in 514 BCE Athens to establish a school of philosophy that will hopefully improve the eco-consciousness of the future. In the middle, at the hinge of the seesaw, teenager Anna is struggling with the usual teenager issues during COVID-19.
Is the seesaw analogy too much? Well, the time travel system in this book is a little complicated, so it helped me to think of it that way. Big fan of the Tinys, I was picturing them all as little Wall-Es, and I appreciate the idea that a very sophisticated AI like CHARL1E would end up being kind of bitchy so I'm a fan of him too. I followed the 514 BCE pov a lot less but love that like everyone there was gay, this was biblically accurate Ancient Greece, and the discussions around citizenship and class-based slavery were engaging. This isn't a very character-driven story so I wasn't blown away by the characters, but that's not a big deal. Some of the scene transitions, especially at the beginning, were hard to follow for me. I also definitely favored Hazel's pov at the beginning, but I warmed up to the other two as the story went on. I will say that Anna's texts with her friends made me cringe so hard. I was about the same age as Anna during COVID and I promise I never typed "im rlly curious bt im not sur i shd read it, yknow" or "even wen she isnt rite shes at least tryin. Idk mbbe its coz its just u 2 or sumthin."
Fun book, super wild and I love new takes on time travel because it's inherently cool, but I was left a little wanting. Now, where can I get myself a Tiny to me me shitty tea and make me go outside?
Thank you to Jasmin Kirkbride and Tor Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
Want to read
July 17, 2025anything with time travel is right up my alley - reference to bodies definitely intended
October 12, 2025
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a sucker for a time travel book. In The Forest on the Edge of Time, a pair of time travelers are recruited to join Project Kairos, a secretive organization created to prevent the future from cascading into disaster by changing ancient events. They must travel to the dystopian future and the ancient Grecian past, but in doing so will forget their memories, their purpose, and their connection. Our travelers-Hazel and Echo-learn that they can communicate within the “dreamscape,” a place that their consciousness travels when they’re asleep. They must collaborate despite their restrictions in order to save humanity’s collective future.
I found this book both interesting and challenging at various times (but in a good way)! You meet an advanced AI and peculiar helper robots in the future that help the forward traveler survive and learn her mission objectives. In Ancient Greece, you meet the ruler’s son, a healer, ancient philosophers, and their companions, who help the backwards traveler complete her mission. Both travelers have difficulty adjusting to their role and experience the frustration of profound confusion and loss of identity. But there is so much hope baked into the story!
For me, the language was occasionally a bit dense, but appropriately so given the subject matters and settings (I did look up a word once or twice only to discover it was made up for the novel which lol). I loved the interaction and personalities of the Tinys and would watch a full cartoon series of just their lives. Some of the existential dread felt a bit over-the-top, but it’s near-future earth where humanity has essentially been wiped out—so the dread makes sense!
Overall, I’d recommend picking this one up when it comes out if you have a thing for ancient history, time travel, sci-fi, or a confusing mystery of a ride. Thank you to NetGalley and Tor/Forge for the advanced egalley copy!
I found this book both interesting and challenging at various times (but in a good way)! You meet an advanced AI and peculiar helper robots in the future that help the forward traveler survive and learn her mission objectives. In Ancient Greece, you meet the ruler’s son, a healer, ancient philosophers, and their companions, who help the backwards traveler complete her mission. Both travelers have difficulty adjusting to their role and experience the frustration of profound confusion and loss of identity. But there is so much hope baked into the story!
For me, the language was occasionally a bit dense, but appropriately so given the subject matters and settings (I did look up a word once or twice only to discover it was made up for the novel which lol). I loved the interaction and personalities of the Tinys and would watch a full cartoon series of just their lives. Some of the existential dread felt a bit over-the-top, but it’s near-future earth where humanity has essentially been wiped out—so the dread makes sense!
Overall, I’d recommend picking this one up when it comes out if you have a thing for ancient history, time travel, sci-fi, or a confusing mystery of a ride. Thank you to NetGalley and Tor/Forge for the advanced egalley copy!
November 5, 2025
Wow, there is a whole lot going on in this read. We have two very different timelines via time-travel, an ecological catastrophe, a mysterious organization called Project Kairos and high stakes that hold the future in it’s hands. We have two protagonists, Echo, living in ancient Athens and Hazel, the last human alive. Eventually, through the unique version of time travel their timelines merge. The time travel system seems very complicated and I do wish there was more intricate detail but I realize that would turn some readers off. I am just all about the details in my sci-fi but I know others are not and this story is already pretty dense at times so might have been a good call overall for the success of the novel.
This read was both challenging and intriguing at the same time, leaning heavily n the latter. There are many references to historical, philosophical, religious and political systems throughout history but lets be honest that is to be expected since they are all ubiquitous to humanity and it’s culture. This novel takes on some heavy themes. For example, the idea that even when civilizations vanish, humanity persists, offering hope that empathy can transcend distance and time. Another example is ecological collapse and the eventual renewal, reflecting current anxieties about climate change and humanities survival.
Overall this was a challenging yet fascinating read that I truly enjoyed.
This read was both challenging and intriguing at the same time, leaning heavily n the latter. There are many references to historical, philosophical, religious and political systems throughout history but lets be honest that is to be expected since they are all ubiquitous to humanity and it’s culture. This novel takes on some heavy themes. For example, the idea that even when civilizations vanish, humanity persists, offering hope that empathy can transcend distance and time. Another example is ecological collapse and the eventual renewal, reflecting current anxieties about climate change and humanities survival.
Overall this was a challenging yet fascinating read that I truly enjoyed.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews