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The End of Time
The world is ending in five years, and humanity's solution is a mass exodus to the past. What could go wrong?
Renee's job for Serendipity is simple: she relocates families to the past so they don't die when the asteroid hits Earth in five years. On top of a paycheck, she earns her own time travel slot to escape the end of the world. Everyone wins.
But then Beckham shows up in her office, claiming she sent him from the past to find her. On top of that, he wants her help taking Serendipity down. As much as she likes the idea of sticking it to some of her bosses, she also really likes the idea of being alive after the Earth is destroyed.
But as Beckham spills more secrets about the dangers of time travel, Renee is forced to decide between securing her own happy ending and preserving thousands of others.
Renee's job for Serendipity is simple: she relocates families to the past so they don't die when the asteroid hits Earth in five years. On top of a paycheck, she earns her own time travel slot to escape the end of the world. Everyone wins.
But then Beckham shows up in her office, claiming she sent him from the past to find her. On top of that, he wants her help taking Serendipity down. As much as she likes the idea of sticking it to some of her bosses, she also really likes the idea of being alive after the Earth is destroyed.
But as Beckham spills more secrets about the dangers of time travel, Renee is forced to decide between securing her own happy ending and preserving thousands of others.
78 pages, ebook
Published October 15, 2025
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Karyne Norton
14 books181 followersWant a FREE short story from Karyne Norton?
Grab the prequel to her fantasy series, The Half-Light Chronicles, here: https://BookHip.com/BNBMKQG
Or grab a standalone sci-fi time travel novella here: https://BookHip.com/RMHZCDJ
Karyne Norton hasn’t found the key to time travel, immortality, or infinite lives, so she’s taking a break from nursing and photography to focus on raising four human beings while writing epic fantasy and science fiction. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, which is why she’s also the host of the Finding Fantasy Reads podcast, where she reads a new short story every week from a variety of fantasy authors. Blood of the Stars, the first book in the Half-Light Chronicles, is her debut fantasy novel and The Things We Can Change is her debut sci-fi time travel thriller.
On reviews: I usually give 4-5 stars to every book I finish because a) I don't have time to finish books unless I'm loving them b) even books that have content or themes I disagree with can positively impact me c) stars don't mean a ton to readers, but they mean a lot to the authors. If you want more detailed impressions on books I'm reading, come find me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/karynenorton/) or head over to my website and sign up for my newsletter: https://karynenorton.com
Grab the prequel to her fantasy series, The Half-Light Chronicles, here: https://BookHip.com/BNBMKQG
Or grab a standalone sci-fi time travel novella here: https://BookHip.com/RMHZCDJ
Karyne Norton hasn’t found the key to time travel, immortality, or infinite lives, so she’s taking a break from nursing and photography to focus on raising four human beings while writing epic fantasy and science fiction. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, which is why she’s also the host of the Finding Fantasy Reads podcast, where she reads a new short story every week from a variety of fantasy authors. Blood of the Stars, the first book in the Half-Light Chronicles, is her debut fantasy novel and The Things We Can Change is her debut sci-fi time travel thriller.
On reviews: I usually give 4-5 stars to every book I finish because a) I don't have time to finish books unless I'm loving them b) even books that have content or themes I disagree with can positively impact me c) stars don't mean a ton to readers, but they mean a lot to the authors. If you want more detailed impressions on books I'm reading, come find me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/karynenorton/) or head over to my website and sign up for my newsletter: https://karynenorton.com
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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October 20, 2025An interesting standalone thriller novella! Full review later!
November 13, 2025
A short science fiction story that explores the complexity of time travel and just how far humans are willing to go in order to save our species as we know it.
Renee's job is a simple but an important one. In a not-so-distant version of Earth, it is predicted that an asteroid will crash into the planet and kill humanity in only a few short years. Desperate to save the species, a group of elite scientists come together and form Serendipity, a program that is meant to relocate families back in time in the hopes that they can live a happy life albeit in a different time period. Unknowingly, humans are once again doing more harm than help. When a strange man by the name of Beckham returns to Renee and begs her to help him save the world, she can't exactly say no now, can she? And thus, a journey through time to save humanity begins.
I have really enjoyed all of Karyne Norton's short stories that I have consumed in the past, so I was interested in checking out what a sci-fi short story from her would look like. Much like most science fiction writers, Norton found herself unable to ignore the urge to explore the idea of time travel, despite the confusing paradoxes and all the nitpicky details that one must attempt to keep straight when doing so.
I myself am very hit or miss on time travel stories. If they are too confusing, I often lose sight of the point of the story. Unfortunately, this was a bit of the case for this one. I found the beginning concept of this story to be really intriguing, but I soon found myself lost in the overwhelming number of Renees and Ruperts and all the jumping to different time periods. I think Norton did a great job of keeping everything straight and crafted a well-oiled story, I just found myself drifting off from time to time and couldn't find the brain power to keep it all straight.
The end of the world has been explored in many ways over the years, but I don't recall ever reading a book that used time travel as a solution for humanity's survival. Okay, maybe I've seen time travel used to change the ways that humans act in the past, so we are less likely to kill the planet in the future, but I've certainly never seen it used to give refuge to those that need to escape imminent death.
The romance between Renee and Beckham sort of comes out of nowhere, but it also feels rather fated. Renee definitely deserves her own happy ending after being abandoned by the man she thought she loved, so I'm glad that Beckham was able to help her out. I can't say I overly ship them or anything, but their relationship was nice enough for it not to raise any red flags in my brain.
Overall, "The End of Time" is a short science fiction story that explores the complexity of time travel and the literal end of the world. I found it to be a tad confusing as it jumps around in time quite a lot for such a short story, but Norton's writing was still very strong. Renee and Beckham were interesting characters to follow, and it was fun seeing what they valued most tested over the course of this short story. I am super interested in reading Norton's science fiction novel, "The Things We Can Change" when I get my hands on it in the near future!
Audiobook Note: Karyne Norton narrates her own books, which I think is pretty darn cool. She also runs a fantasy podcast, so it's no shocker that she is a guru in the audio world. I personally think that she did an amazing job narrating this story. I was so sold by her performance that I didn't even feel the need to speed it up! I hope to listen to more of her narration in the future, because I truly think she did a great job of bringing all the different types of characters to life. This story featured many different personalities and I feel she nailed them all equally. Overall, I'm very impressed by her work.
Renee's job is a simple but an important one. In a not-so-distant version of Earth, it is predicted that an asteroid will crash into the planet and kill humanity in only a few short years. Desperate to save the species, a group of elite scientists come together and form Serendipity, a program that is meant to relocate families back in time in the hopes that they can live a happy life albeit in a different time period. Unknowingly, humans are once again doing more harm than help. When a strange man by the name of Beckham returns to Renee and begs her to help him save the world, she can't exactly say no now, can she? And thus, a journey through time to save humanity begins.
I have really enjoyed all of Karyne Norton's short stories that I have consumed in the past, so I was interested in checking out what a sci-fi short story from her would look like. Much like most science fiction writers, Norton found herself unable to ignore the urge to explore the idea of time travel, despite the confusing paradoxes and all the nitpicky details that one must attempt to keep straight when doing so.
I myself am very hit or miss on time travel stories. If they are too confusing, I often lose sight of the point of the story. Unfortunately, this was a bit of the case for this one. I found the beginning concept of this story to be really intriguing, but I soon found myself lost in the overwhelming number of Renees and Ruperts and all the jumping to different time periods. I think Norton did a great job of keeping everything straight and crafted a well-oiled story, I just found myself drifting off from time to time and couldn't find the brain power to keep it all straight.
The end of the world has been explored in many ways over the years, but I don't recall ever reading a book that used time travel as a solution for humanity's survival. Okay, maybe I've seen time travel used to change the ways that humans act in the past, so we are less likely to kill the planet in the future, but I've certainly never seen it used to give refuge to those that need to escape imminent death.
The romance between Renee and Beckham sort of comes out of nowhere, but it also feels rather fated. Renee definitely deserves her own happy ending after being abandoned by the man she thought she loved, so I'm glad that Beckham was able to help her out. I can't say I overly ship them or anything, but their relationship was nice enough for it not to raise any red flags in my brain.
Overall, "The End of Time" is a short science fiction story that explores the complexity of time travel and the literal end of the world. I found it to be a tad confusing as it jumps around in time quite a lot for such a short story, but Norton's writing was still very strong. Renee and Beckham were interesting characters to follow, and it was fun seeing what they valued most tested over the course of this short story. I am super interested in reading Norton's science fiction novel, "The Things We Can Change" when I get my hands on it in the near future!
Audiobook Note: Karyne Norton narrates her own books, which I think is pretty darn cool. She also runs a fantasy podcast, so it's no shocker that she is a guru in the audio world. I personally think that she did an amazing job narrating this story. I was so sold by her performance that I didn't even feel the need to speed it up! I hope to listen to more of her narration in the future, because I truly think she did a great job of bringing all the different types of characters to life. This story featured many different personalities and I feel she nailed them all equally. Overall, I'm very impressed by her work.
October 26, 2025
Content:
Profanity: None.
Violence: Mild to barely there. There's an end of the world threat looming over everyone. There are mentions of people dying in past events (like the French Revolution) and being imprisoned, but nothing happens 'on screen'. Guns pointed and held against people, being shoved to the ground etc.
Sexual: Mild. Just hand holding, temple kisses, and tight hugs.
Content warning: There is drinking/smoking/illegal activity going on in the background as people put their "it's the end of the world so may as well" attitude on. It's very mild.
Time travel done well is one of my favorite genres. This quick novella did a bang-up job at balancing the chaos of paradoxes and time streams and keeping rules in place so my confusion didn't hamper the story. And yes, there were confusion moments, but they were on purpose and poking fun at the mess that time travel really presents. Beckham has a line that is totally insane that cracked me up and I read it three times before I even partly unraveled it.
This rendition starts with the apocalypse via asteroid. Renee works at Serendipity (the name makes me snicker), a non-profit that relocates people to the past so they can survive and escape planet death. When a crazy dude shows up saying that she sent him from the past to warn her about a major plot, that's when things get wibbly-wobbly fast.
The time stream issue being addressed was both funny and wince-worthy as the issue with sending people from the future to the past and not mess everything up just doesn't work. I enjoyed the way the author played with the ridiculousness of the entire idea, while making it a thrilling aspect at the same time.
The romance was lackluster though. It was an insta-attraction/fated soulmate kind of deal. There isn't much beyond that though.
But I was here for the time travel. And Rupert was fantastic. I wouldn't be averse to a sequel novella about him and kicking butt and taking names across time streams.
I could see this as a sci-fi tv mini series.
Profanity: None.
Violence: Mild to barely there. There's an end of the world threat looming over everyone. There are mentions of people dying in past events (like the French Revolution) and being imprisoned, but nothing happens 'on screen'. Guns pointed and held against people, being shoved to the ground etc.
Sexual: Mild. Just hand holding, temple kisses, and tight hugs.
Content warning: There is drinking/smoking/illegal activity going on in the background as people put their "it's the end of the world so may as well" attitude on. It's very mild.
Time travel done well is one of my favorite genres. This quick novella did a bang-up job at balancing the chaos of paradoxes and time streams and keeping rules in place so my confusion didn't hamper the story. And yes, there were confusion moments, but they were on purpose and poking fun at the mess that time travel really presents. Beckham has a line that is totally insane that cracked me up and I read it three times before I even partly unraveled it.
This rendition starts with the apocalypse via asteroid. Renee works at Serendipity (the name makes me snicker), a non-profit that relocates people to the past so they can survive and escape planet death. When a crazy dude shows up saying that she sent him from the past to warn her about a major plot, that's when things get wibbly-wobbly fast.
The time stream issue being addressed was both funny and wince-worthy as the issue with sending people from the future to the past and not mess everything up just doesn't work. I enjoyed the way the author played with the ridiculousness of the entire idea, while making it a thrilling aspect at the same time.
The romance was lackluster though. It was an insta-attraction/fated soulmate kind of deal. There isn't much beyond that though.
But I was here for the time travel. And Rupert was fantastic. I wouldn't be averse to a sequel novella about him and kicking butt and taking names across time streams.
I could see this as a sci-fi tv mini series.
November 7, 2025
I have never read anything quite like this before. A sci-fi read with timelines aplenty, each one different to the rest. An astroid looming. A dying world, time travel the only means out of the impending devastation. Which is why a handful of people started a company called Serendipity. What started off as a way to save humanity, fell to corruption and lies.
Renee is an employee of Serendipity, hired by the original developer of this tech, Rupert Neiman, now deceased. She's biding her time until she too can travel to another time, a safer time. I got a sense of who she is right from the start. She's hurting...the man she'd planned to spend her life with, ups and travels, without her. As she prepares and executes time travel for others, a stranger turns her life upside down. Or sideways... Beckham reveals truths, about the system, about her, about the so called leadership, about the dangers and how the 2 of them can change the system.
Ms Norton brings to life a story rife with doubt, conspiracy, an action filled time travel read, through the past, the future and the present, in a compelling story. The despair is replaced with hope, one where mankind can survive, and a sweet budding love.
November 20, 2025
Time travelling audio novella, with a possible romance/love story. Entertaining listen, read well by the author herself.
Dealing with the paradoxes of time travel is a complicated thing to get right in any story. The author makes that topic nicely blend into the mix of a race to save mankind, and finding a time, place and the right person to be there with you.
The only slight issue I had was the speed of zero to all in between the main characters. Then again who says love at first sight isn’t a thing. Especially if the first sight happens before you’ve met. (Time travel paradox - you get the idea?)
Thank you to Karyne Norton for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.
Dealing with the paradoxes of time travel is a complicated thing to get right in any story. The author makes that topic nicely blend into the mix of a race to save mankind, and finding a time, place and the right person to be there with you.
The only slight issue I had was the speed of zero to all in between the main characters. Then again who says love at first sight isn’t a thing. Especially if the first sight happens before you’ve met. (Time travel paradox - you get the idea?)
Thank you to Karyne Norton for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.
November 7, 2025
This quick time travel adventure was fun and exciting! There was a hint of romance that was developing into a love triangle, but the length of the story made any development of that situation impossible. Everything was clean and uplifting, and I found the way time travel in this book happened to be sensible and interesting! I loved the way the main character looked at the whole picture and was able to make her decisions so well! She was a great problem solver!
November 19, 2025
This is quite an enjoyable time travel novella based on the premise of a multiverse created from diverging quantum events. I enjoyed how the author built in the basics of quantum physics into the premise of this story and worked with the science foundation to create a fun and engaging story with a cute romantic subplot and a pair of characters I really rooted for. If you like high stakes adventures with time travel where history can be changed, you'll likely enjoy this quick read.
October 29, 2025
This was an enjoyable novella! Time travel normally gives me a headache, but Karyne Norton handles it well, and the characters are most enjoyable. An excellent segue into some of her full length work, I think. (Also, this is available for free! Link in Karyne's bio. I would recommend checking it out!) It's a fun, quick read.
November 22, 2025
Likeable characters, fast pace, satisfying ending. I read this on a plane, and it was perfect--an engaging, fast-paced story. It was fun to guess at the puzzles of time travel and how the different versions of each character worked. And you gotta love her job--placing people in the past!
October 17, 2025
A quick, fun read! I loved the characters, and the time travel premise was entertaining and mind-twisting in a fun way. Definitely recommend this story for fans of Karyne's or of time travel!
October 23, 2025
Quick read. Interesting premise. An enjoyable half-hour spent. I’d recommend this story if you are into this genre.
November 11, 2025
A short story that's a fun and light hearted look at time travel. I'm glad the author is as confused by the concept as I am. It made for an enjoyable read that isn't full of physics and maths 😃
November 14, 2025
This short story was well written. This was a free audio book given by the author.
November 17, 2025
Fantastic!!! I loved this novella I received from the author and now need to read her other series. This is a great story with characters you fall in love with. Thank you so much for this!!
November 21, 2025
Book was short but good! A little more development on the romance relationship would have been awesome but still enjoyed the listen!
December 3, 2025
This was such a great read, with loads of time and space travelling, angst, and a dash of romance. I devoured this book!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews