Life Out of Order

The Time Traveler's Wife #2

by Audrey Niffenegger

Alba DeTamble has never lived a life in order. Born with the same rare Chrono-Displacement Disorder as her father Henry, she slips unpredictably through decades, haunted by the secrets of a future she can witness but cannot change. As Alba strives to maintain a normal life with Zach, her safe, supportive anchor, she forms a tight-knit community of artists and activists who fight to take care of each other in an increasingly unstable world. 

At once intimate and expansive, Life Out of Order plunges readers into a world of Niffenegger’s dazzling imagination: from the riot-torn streets of a dystopian Chicago, to a digital museum for forgotten memories and lost artifacts. Curating this ever-expanding museum is Isadora, Alba’s mysterious stepsister and an unsettling presence in their family – whose fate may be intertwined with Alba’s in more dangerous ways than she knows.

Told through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, the story moves through a boundless, unfolding universe of virtual reality, skimming the wildest reaches of technology and our natural world. The result is a testament to the power of art and community to sustain us in these fractured times—and an epic tale that’s set to define an entirely new genre in a way only Niffenegger can.

Genres: Time Travel, Fiction, Science Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Audiobook

12 pages, Audible Audio

First published October 6, 2026

About the author

Audrey Niffenegger (born June 13, 1963 in South Haven, Michigan) is a writer and artist. She is also a professor in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Columbia College Chicago.

Niffenegger's debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife (2003), was a national bestseller. The Time Traveler's Wife is an unconventional love story that centers on a man with a strange genetic disorder that causes him to unpredictably time-travel and his wife, an artist, who has to cope with his constant absence.

Her Fearful Symmetry (2009), Niffenegger's second novel, is set in London's Highgate Cemetery where, during research for the book, Niffenegger acted as a tour guide.

Niffenegger has also published graphic and illustrated novels including: The Adventuress (2006), The Three Incestuous Sisters (2005), The Night Bookmobile (2009), and Raven Girl (2013). Raven Girl was adapted into a ballet by Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and the Royal Opera House Ballet (London) in 2013.

A mid-career retrospective entitled "Awake in the Dream World: The Art of Audrey Niffenegger," was presented by the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C.) in 2013. An accompanying exhibition catalogue examines several themes in Niffenegger's visual art including her explorations of life, mortality, and magic.

Reviews

[Courtney « semi-ia dealing with health nonsense »]

Soft DNF @ 20% - think I’m going to revisit, but the book is making me too mad and frustrated at the moment to continue



**** This review will have ENORMOUS spoilers for The Time Traveler’s Wife. I cannot get my thoughts down without doing so. Don’t read unless you’re cool with that****




This book really was a choice, and from where I’m at right now, not a good one. I could tell before I got to the first page that it was going to be not what I was expecting. The early reviews have been extremely mixed, and there was even a cautionary foreword by Audrey Niffenegger stating that this is not a love story, and that The Time Traveler’s Wife doesn’t need to be read before this book. Odd, but ok. 


I had read an excerpt six years ago in the back of a newer paperback of The Time Traveler’s Wife taken from an early draft of this book, which was when I first started anticipating a sequel. In the excerpt, Henry has gone far back into the past and purchased a house under Alba’s name in perpetuity, filled it with clothes for all age ranges and survival items. The scene opens with Clare taking young Alba to this house and telling her what Henry has done, that it’s meant to be a safe haven for her whenever she is time traveling that she can always go to. At the 20% mark I have not seen any mention of this house, and the story does not seem to be going this direction at all. It could still be coming, but it’s not similar to what I’ve read so far.


So far, it seems as though the author decided she wanted to write a dystopian, political novel and for some inexplicable reason has used this series to do so. The book starts with Alba age 21, whereas I believe TTW ended with her around 7 years old (Henry dies when she is 5, but there are of course some scenes after). Nearly everything that happens during this 14 year gap is told, not shown. Imagine my disbelief when offhandedly it is thrown out that Clare remarried and Alba has a stepsister. And then the story just glides past. Excuse me, what? Could we back up and spend some time on that? Oh, no, we’re busy talking about having nazis abducted by some unseen force and taken away in vans for Reasons. 


In fact, so far Clare has had no screen time or dialogue whatsoever. But to my disbelief, Gomez is being brought around as some kind of… fatherly figure for Alba? You mean the slimy bastard that cheated on Charisse twice and took advantage of Clare while she was grieving her dead husband? Yes, that Gomez! None of that is mentioned or given any thought, because now he’s helping run some revolution, again for Reasons, and he’s kind, wearing a hot dog apron, feeding Alba and her boyfriend, taking her boyfriend in because he’s homeless! Man, what a great guy! It’s almost like the last book didn’t even happen… 


The emotional beats in this book also don’t land at all. There’s nearly an identical playback in this book as what happens in TTW, where the characters find out very early into meeting that they will be married at some point in the future. For Clare and Henry, who find out separately and at different points in their lives, this is a huge moment for each character and almost like the North Star that they’re being guided by. Isn’t that why Henry keeps visiting Clare? 


When the knowledge is dropped on Alba and her future husband in this book, it’s treated with all the significance of, “Oh. Ok.” Everyone in this sequel seems to be a block of wood. You’re my future husband? 





But the politics are really what confuse me. The plot seems to basically revolve around them entirely. There’s nazis, there’s people masking up because of COVID, there’s the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis, there’s some mysterious curfew that all citizens are forced to follow. Everything the characters are doing is in regards to some sort of underground revolution that has yet to be explained. I don’t understand, and I don’t want to. This for sure is not the book I signed up for. I may come back to it, because it isn’t written poorly! But it’s almost not written for fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife which is just such an odd move when it’s… a sequel. Audrey Niffenegger, you can just write a book. You don’t need to abduct our beloved characters to do so. 

[Angela M]

DNF
I enjoy a good time travel story occasionally and since I loved The Time Traveler’s Wife, I was excited to get an advanced copy of this sequel. I’m disappointed that this is a DNF at 38%. Too many characters, too many time frames and too much going on that wasn’t explained, two Albas from different times in the same place - all too much for me to enjoy.

I received a copy of this book from Harper Collins through Edelweiss.

[Krystal · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

A VERY long novel that came up short.

The announcement of this long-awaited sequel piqued my interest. However, I'm still grappling with my thoughts after finishing. I'm not sure if the fact that I'm torn makes me an outlier as I write this prior to publication, but my actual rating would be a firm 2.5 stars. Although there were moments and settings I enjoyed, the novel felt like it was lacking in cohesiveness as well as plot and character development.

If you're familiar with The Time Traveler's Wife Alba is the child born in that novel. We learn in book one that she is a time traveler like her father. The aptly titled Life Out of Order is supposed to be Alba's story. The first issue I have with this novel is that it is so meandering that Alba doesn't feel like the main character. Is there a main character? Maybe not. Are there too many characters? Yep.

More focus less watering down the muddled plot would have been a start. There is no reason this novel should be 560 pages it is filled with tangents that seem like they would've served better as separate books altogether. Especially, the heavy leaning into politics and futuristic tech that read as flat filler with the barest of connections. Multiple characters pulled 180s on what we know about them some of that is explained (convenient) some of it is just there (glaring). The characters didn't feel genuine they held attributes that seemed like checking off a list which I find problematic as it lessens actual development.

What I liked most was the house Alba had for a place to land when time traveling. I thought it was a brilliant idea alongside the way music tied into both her life and the house and its other visitors. Time travel is an intriguing catalyst, and I thought these scenes explored how creative one would have to be to problem solve under those circumstances.

Although there were moments, I found myself engaged. Overall, it felt like less would've been more.

2.5 stars rounded up
*Reading is subjective so please be sure to check out other reviews if this one has caught your eye.*

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing | Hanover Square Press for providing an ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Darla]

This is the sequel I did NOT need. Too confusing with creepy political undertones.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

**am I the first person to leave a review for this!!?? absolute insanity**

I don’t quite know where to begin with writing a review that captures the depth and breadth of this 560 page epic follow up to The Time Traveler’s Wife, but alas I must. My undying gratitude to Hanover Square Press and The Hive for the eARC of one of my most anticipated reads, well ever. #hiveinfluencer

First, as a reader and admirer of The Time Traveler’s Wife (read 6x), I LOVED seeing what happened to some of our beloved characters in the future. Audrey masterfully handled each of their stories. The scenes that overlapped or that I recognized from The Time Traveler’s Wife really got to me. While the is being marketed as a sequel/companion novel, they are also saying it can be read as a standalone. But I would argue that the experience was made much richer having read and loved the first book.

She masterfully switches between multiple distinct POVs. The plot was propulsive and somehow paced perfectly throughout 560 pages that took me nearly 12 hours to read on my kindle. Audrey’s writing has a beautiful cadence and flow to it, making it just feel good to read.

THAT said. It is not the same as the Time Traveler’s Wife. Audrey does something here much more unique and sweeping. At its core, the first book was really about the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare and their love story. This book has a number of love stories, but at it’s core it its quite speculative and dystopian. It’s political. We’re talking AI. Climate change. Upheaval. Pandemics. And time travel in the midst of it all!! Audrey paints a picture of an alternate present, that feels terrifyingly possible, as well as near future that, given the advances in AI and the progression of climate change….doesn’t feel far-fetched. Which is, honestly, horrifying.

It made me think. Feel deeply. Worry. Wonder. Weep. And at times it made me feel uncomfy and unsettled. I must say, there were some parts that got a little weird for me. It felt dark. Mysterious. Haunting. Full of tension. OH! But also, it did feel hopeful. And somehow in the midst of all the loss and despair, there is this thread of uplighting art and music that made my heart sing. It begs the question, does art matter if it’s not inherently useful (if it can’t feed or clothe you)? What will last when we are far gone?

Readers of the Time Traveler’s Wife, take note - this book is not just Alba’s story. Do not expect this to be like Henry and Clare’s story. This book is so much more than a love story (although it does have it). It’s a sharp commentary on our present as well as a peek into a possible unnerving future Audrey has imagined.

CW: loss, AI, climate change, suicidal ideation and attempt, closed door-ish/SLIGHTLY fade to black with a lot of implied intimacy

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m crying. FINALLYYYYY 😭

[Books Before Bs · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a fan of ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’, Audrey Niffenegger’s ‘Life Out of Order’ was one of my most anticipated books of the year. Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the worst reading experiences I’ve had. The synopsis is by far the best part of the book, both in terms of the strength of the story and the quality of the writing, and I only wish I had stopped there.

What is promised is the story of Alba DeTamble, a time traveller caught in a love triangle across time while dealing with the difficulties of a changing and increasingly hostile world. What we actually get is a series of scenes and vignettes, many of them only tangentially connected to Alba or to the supposed central love triangle. Although these sections are written from a vast array of perspectives, they share an identical voice, one that is indistinguishable from Alba’s.

The result feels less like a novel than a collection of disconnected moments and ideas. Individual scenes have little or no intrinsic plot, while the accumulation of scenes never develops into an overarching narrative. The book moves from left-wing activism to climate change to artificial intelligence to the love triangle, as though ticking subjects off a list rather than allowing them to emerge organically from the story. The problem is not that the novel is ambitious; it is that so few of its ideas are meaningfully woven together. Niffenegger repeatedly creates ambiguity and fragmentation without turning either into narrative or emotional coherence, and the novel consequently never develops a sense of direction, purpose or momentum.

The political world in which the story takes place is particularly problematic. There are curfews, helicopters, disappearances and violent conflict between opposing factions, apparently involving fascists and Antifa, but the novel does nothing to establish who these groups are, what they want or how the situation has come about. Whatever political context Niffenegger assumes the reader will bring to the book, the novel itself provides very little. I was frequently left trying to work out what was happening rather than being drawn into the world.

The same lack of clarity applies to the sprawling cast. Names are constantly introduced, often in passing, and with so many relationships and connections to keep track of, I frequently found myself unable to remember who people were. Niffenegger also repeatedly withholds basic information about characters and then reveals it later as a kind of “gotcha” moment. Beck, for example, is female, although this is not made clear initially. The reader is encouraged to make an assumption about Beck’s gender and is then effectively invited to recognise the supposed bias behind that assumption when the truth is revealed.

The problem is not the ambiguity itself, but the method. Information is withheld not because the withholding creates dramatic or thematic tension, but so that the reader can later be confronted with their own assumption. It is a tactic the novel employs repeatedly: allow the reader to believe one thing, withhold the information that would allow them to know otherwise, and then present the revelation as evidence of the reader’s own preconceptions. Rather than feeling like clever manipulation of perspective, I found it increasingly transparent and irritating, particularly when the book seems more interested in making a point about the reader than in telling a story.

The tangled web of romantic and sexual relationships only adds to the confusion. There are numerous overlapping relationships and a large number of bisexual and pansexual characters, but the issue is not the subject matter itself; it is that, combined with the deliberate withholding of information, this makes it increasingly difficult to understand who anyone is, what they want or how they relate to one another.

The writing does little to compensate. It is dull and emotionally flat, frequently bogged down in descriptions of what characters look like or what objects and foods are present in a room, while giving surprisingly little weight to emotion or dramatic tension. There is also a persistent clunkiness to the prose, with four words used where one would suffice and words repeated awkwardly within the same phrase—“unconventional naming conventions” and “well-fortified in my fort” being two particularly memorable examples. With so little plot, emotion or tension to pull the reader forward, the result is a remarkably slow slog.

Even the central love triangle, which ought to provide the novel with its emotional core, fails to engage. Alba and Zach’s relationship begins out of nowhere and has the flatness of insta-love rather than the gradual development of a convincing attachment. There is little chemistry between them, and I never believed in the relationship. Her relationship with Oliver is equally unconvincing and, at times, deeply uncomfortable: the idea of a seventeen-year-old becoming sexually involved with a septuagenarian is not something I particularly wanted to read about, and the novel does little to make the dynamic feel less creepy.

The eventual resolution is no better. Rather than satisfactorily resolving the love triangle, the book simply throws the characters into an abrupt threesome. It feels simultaneously horrifying, inexplicable and like a convenient cop-out—a way of ending the triangle without actually having to decide what to do with it.

There are also frustrating inconsistencies in the novel’s treatment of time travel. The problem is not that time travel needs scientifically coherent rules; it is that the novel establishes a particular logic and then appears to violate it without adequately explaining why. We are repeatedly told that the future is fixed and cannot simply be changed by passing information into the past. Yet older Alba later starts deliberately sending messages back in an attempt to alter events, including telling Beck to move her servers so that they will not be destroyed. The rules become malleable when the plot requires them to be, undermining one of the concepts on which the novel is built.

The novel is also remarkably preachy about politics and climate change. Neither subject is inherently problematic, and both could have made interesting components of the story, but here they often feel like lectures inserted between the actual narrative. There is an especially glaring disconnect between the novel’s warnings about climate change and Beck’s enormous consumption of energy for her AI project, a contradiction the book never addresses.

By the end, I found myself admiring the sheer number of things the novel manages to get wrong more than anything it actually does well. ‘Life Out of Order’ is certainly a discussion-starter, but not in the way a novelist presumably hopes.

Needless to say, ‘Life Out of Order’ is a big no from me. As much as I enjoyed ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’, this was an extraordinarily disappointing follow-up, and one of the rare books I genuinely wish I had never finished. I will also never now be able to return to its prequel in quite the same way.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Audrey Niffenegger, and Jonathan Cape for the ARC.

⚠️ Death of parent, violence, infidelity, self harm, suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, blood, adult/minor relationship

[Kristen]

Review of advance copy received from Netgalley

I recently re-read The Time Traveler’s Wife so I could read this one with some clarity. In the past I had rated the first book a 4 star, this go around I updated my rating to 1 star. The book was too long, the writing mediocre, and the main character is beyond problematic. The book made me feel gross.

So, having already requested this one… I was not excited going in. Hopeful, yes, having had 13 years between the two books, maybe some writing growth was to be had.

Long story short, I wasn’t going to put myself through another aggravating book. This was a DNF.

This book is overwhelming to a point I thought I might time travel from stress. Too many characters, too many Albas in one place, too much left unexplained yet still so many words used. Where is the editing?!

I get the sense that Audrey Niffenegger finished book one and immediately began working on this, it just took 13 years to get it to… this.

Not for me, but neither was book one.

[suspenseisthrillingme · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

A cautionary tale for our increasingly bleak and fractured times, Life Out of Order was a thought-provoking and timely deep dive into the possible future of humanity and how it will be impacted by the choices we make. These themes—alongside of the enduring power of love and the idea of fate vs free will—impacted every bit of this provocative time-travel novel. Taking a hard look at technology, climate change, political instability, and societal collapse while also evoking the beauty of music, community, and art, this saga-like epic became quite the ambitious and relevant mix. Bringing together speculative, literary, and science fiction with more than a bit of romance, it was beyond unique. That being said, this was nothing like The Time Traveler’s Wife. Focusing more on how the characters coped with the changes to a dystopian world, the scope of this book was far greater than “just” a love story—even if it sort of missed the mark.

As much as I loved the deeply prophetic feel and mind-bending vibes, the complex plot, slow-burning pace, and unnecessary details did drag the whole book down. Often missing Niffenegger’s lyrical prose, it was as if the step of editing had been skipped for parts of this novel. On top of that, some of the characters were without the emotional depth I was expecting. Perhaps due to the broken-up-style of the nonlinear timeline, I found it difficult to connect to many of them as the plot moved along. Well, except for Zach, Alba, and Oliver, of course. The three of them had me racing through the 500+ pages despite all of the above. And let me tell you, that ending absolutely did me in. Poignant, haunting, and yet also somewhat obscure, the emotion hit both sides of the coin and felt both hopeful and deeply unsettling. All told, it was a time—and gut—twisting read of love and loss that I won’t forget anytime soon. Rating of 3.5 stars.

P.S. One thing I forgot to point out is that I was pretty disappointed to not have a better and clearer explanation for the time-travel rules and I would’ve liked a closer look at what was going on in the world at the end. That being said, I mostly pushed those objections to the side once I reached the brilliant last few chapters. After all, it had me using up tissue after tissue by the time I flipped the last page.

Read if you’re a fan of:
- Genre-bending reads
- Prophetic and timely vibes
- Very literary fiction-esque
- A found-family feel
- Thought-provoking themes
- Nonlinear timelines
- Magical realism
- Layers of mysteries
- A dystopian backdrop
- Time travel/loops
- Immersive world-building
- Near-future settings
- A sense of foreboding

SYNOPSIS:

Alba DeTamble has never lived a life in order. Born with the same rare Chrono-Displacement Disorder as her father Henry, she slips unpredictably through decades, haunted by the secrets of a future she can witness but cannot change. As Alba strives to maintain a normal life with Zach, her safe, supportive anchor, she forms a tight-knit community of artists and activists who fight to take care of each other in an increasingly unstable world. 

At once intimate and expansive, Life Out of Orderplunges readers into a world of Niffenegger’s dazzling imagination: from the riot-torn streets of a dystopian Chicago, to a digital museum for forgotten memories and lost artifacts. Curating this ever-expanding museum is Isadora, Alba’s mysterious stepsister and an unsettling presence in their family—whose fate may be intertwined with Alba’s in more dangerous ways than she knows.

Thank you Audrey Niffenegger and Hanover Square Press for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

PUB DATE: October 6, 2026

Content warning: mass shooting, gun violence, suicide attempt, death of a parent, murder, grief, stroke, death, pandemic, infidelity, police brutality

[Alan (The Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Ocotober 12, 2026 Update Added a soundtrack playlist to the soundtrack section below.

More than just The Time Traveller's Daughter
A review of the Penguin Random House Canada / Knopf Canada eBook ARC via NetGalley of a book to be published in hardcover / eBook / audiobook on October 6, 2026.

And life is eternal and love is immortal, and death is only an horizon, and an horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. - William Penn. (Used not as an epigraph, but is quoted in the book)

[4.5 stars due to a few quibbles, but bumped up to a NetGalley 5 star]
This is quite the doorstopper of a book in both time and space as it spans about 120+ years in its settings and 560 pages on paper. A first read is probably not enough to grasp it and it is somewhat slow going in Part One "Life Out of Order." as you meet so many characters about whom you will know very little at first. So to restless readers all I can say is that you need to be patient and your patience will be rewarded. When I reached Part Two: The Muse in the Machine, I was completely hooked and could not stop reading.

This book goes well beyond what perhaps many would expect as romance fiction, which often became the label for The Time Traveller's Wife (2003). It is centered around Alba, the daughter of Clare and Henry from the first book. It expands into a century+ world of her loves and family and goes to the end of our present world and then with a glimpse of the world beyond. It is both a Frankenstein story and a Pinocchio story i.e. a monster is created and the monster wants to become human.

The key persons to watch for are of course Alba, but then both Zach and Oliver (who appears later), Clare and her new partner Beck (Rebecka), Beck's daughter "Isadora", Lucinda and Nadia (who disappears early, but makes a key appearance late). Yes, Henry returns in a few cameo appearances, as well as a few others (Gomez & Clarissa) from the first book. My main quibble is that a Cast of Characters would have been helpful to orient the reader, although perhaps that would have ended up as spoilers. The one oddity in character names was Caralora, who is frequently (sometimes in the same sentence) referred to as C-lora and once even typoed as Clora (although I expect that will be fixed in the final published book).

Of course the time travel aspect will be a blocker to those who don't enjoy that fantasy sort of element. It doesn't bother me as I think of it more as a metaphor for the people in our lives who come back to us in dreams and visions and our imaginings. In any case, I don't see this book as science fiction or romance fiction. It is dystopic and apocalyptic yes, yet it still leaves you with exhilaration and hope in the end.

Soundtrack
There is an enormous amount of music mentioned in this book as both Alba (violin) and Oliver (piano) are musicians and Alba is a composer as well. There is everything from baroque & romantic era composers, late 20th/early 21st century pop & rock, early 20th century dodecaphonic (12-tone) composers to late 20th/early 21st century minimalism, and I tried to note all of the references in order to do a Spotify playlist in the future. I couldn't get it done in time for the archiving due at NetGalley on October 6, 2026, but will add it to my Goodreads and LibraryThing reviews in a week or so.
Soundtrack playlist added to Spotify here. This includes primarily pieces specifically named in the book, except for The Grateful Dead's "Touch of Grey" which I added on a whim. Other composers, singers and bands are named but without a specific work, so I did not include those. Some works are not available on Spotify such as La Monte Young's "Trio for Strings".

Meanwhile, there is a Life Out of Order playlist already on Spotify, but I think it was done more in anticipation of the book's release, as I don't recognize the songs as being mentioned in the book. You can listen to it on Spotify here.

Trivia and Links
There is a short promotional video with the cover reveal of Life Out of Order which you can watch on YouTube here. The significance of the murmuration and the sheets of music note paper become apparent late in the book.

Added this book to the Goodreads Listopia Fictional Characters Who Love Arvo Pärt due to the following quote:

Soon we were ploughing through her enormous music collection, spending whole days listening to Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, and then skipping backward to Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, then early composers like Thomas Tallis.

[DeAnn · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

3.5 Time Travel Stars

Twenty-plus years ago, I read Audrey Niffenegger’s debut novel, “The Time Traveler's Wife,” and I’ve seen the film adaptation. I really liked the story and eagerly wanted to read this follow-up.

This rambling time-travel saga, all 560 pages of it, takes us on a journey with some of the same characters as the debut, Clare, Alba, and Henry, and introduces a whole host of new ones, Oliver, Zach, Isadora, and Beck. We get short chapters from a wide range of characters and points of view. Alba feels like the main character, though.

Alba and Henry (daughter and father) see each other many times and help each other as much as they can. However, Clare and Henry don’t get much time together in this one. It must be strange to know what the future holds and be unable to change it. And it must be hard not to tell everyone what will happen.

This one goes far into the future, and I think it’s a cautionary tale about AI and what one future for planet Earth could be. So it feels part dystopian, part character-driven, part unbelievable time travel, and part political.

I enjoyed being reunited with Clare, Henry, and Alba. I really loved their family in the first book. Henry had too short a life, but I liked seeing what the author had in store for Clare and Alba.

At times, I had to remind myself who some of the characters were because the point of view hopped around a lot. The characters appeared at wildly different ages. Each chapter started with the explanation, though.

It took me quite a while to read this one, and I think it would have been better if I could have read it over a shorter period. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book, but I found it to be an interesting exploration of the future.

My thanks to Harlequin Trade/Hanover Square for the opportunity to read this one and share my honest review.

[Stephen the Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twenty three years after the publication of The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger returns with a sequel : Life Out of Order.

The first book introduced readers to the world of Henry and Clare and their daughter Alba and the genetic anomaly that resulted in Henry travelling through time without fully. being able to control when he may vanish or return and the subsequent impact on the lives of those around him up to his death

This new book focuses on the life of Alba beginning in 2022 when she meets her partner- to-be Zach and s the story progresses he soon comes to understand that Alba is different. The book follows different moments when Alba travels forwards into her adult years into a very disturbing new world and back to her younger years as a child and teenager. Woven with this premise is also an exploration of AI and a creation called Isadora. Her father, Henry also returns to the story.

Having been intrigued and enjoyed the first book written in a world before smart phones and technology controlling so much and human interactions being more direct and intimate , this new book unfortunately wasn't for me. Maybe it's an age thing or connection with city- living younger people in the 2020s but I struggled to really find a plot that grabbed me.

Chapters were laborious at times and the time shifting didn't really make for clarity in the overall plot. I was willing something purposeful or exciting to happen but by just putting the time travelling into another period of time and with Alba as the central character didn't add anything new. The world of AI within human interaction leaves me cold and this instance especially when there is a sense of "humanising ' a computer /technological created object- it was beyond me.

I know there will be many people who will adore this book but sadly as much as I persevered this was a very rare occasion when a book wasn't for me. I felt little if any empathy for the characters except for Clare. Maybe I was expecting too much but 2.5 out of 5

Thank you to Jonathan Cape and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this advance copy for an honest review

[Shantha (ShanthasBookEra) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Two great loves. A world in chaos. And a life that never lands in order.

Discover the highly anticipated new novel from Audrey Niffenegger, which can be read on its own or as a companion to her multi-million copy bestseller The Time Traveler's Wife."

Alba DeTamble has the same involuntary time travel disorder as her father. She moves randomly between present, future and past, carrying the weight of secrets she does not have the ability to change. She is a gifted violinist, artist and activist with a close group of friends. Digital artifacts are stored in the Museum of Lost Souls, curated by Alba's unpredictable stepsister Isadora.

Life Out of Order is the sequel to The Time Traveler’s Wife but is a very different approach. Rather than focusing on time travel and the love story, it is speculative fiction that is large in scope and ambition. Niffenegger explores the worries of the modern age in a dystopian world. She explores political unrest, an unstable environment, and the potential consequences of technology. The beauty of community, humanity, love, and art are threaded throughout the narrative. The characters you came to love in The Time Traveler’s Wife are refreshed for a modern and post apocalyptic world. I found it very different than The Time Traveler’s Wife which remains one of my all-time favorite books. Life Out of Order can be read as a stand-alone and is a compelling and thought-provoking read. Highly recommend for fans of speculative literary fiction.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Hanover Square Press, HTP Books and Audrey Niffenegger for the gifted advance reader's copies. All opinions are my own.

[Ryan Davison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out my review in the Chicago Reader

https://chicagoreader.com/books/book-...

Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Hanover Square Press for a review copy.

[Louise · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

Confusing and boring. Very disappointing. DNF'ing this, at least for now. I may try to pick it up again later.

Edit: I did go back and finish this, albeit with a bunch of skimming. Still disappointed. Never connected with the characters and the story was too complicated and disjointed.

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book. This is my honest opinion, unfortunately

Life Out Of Order is the follow up novel to The Time Traveler’s Wife. I adored the first book so when the opportunity came to request an arc for this book I didn’t hesitate. First thing to note, this book is a lot different. Life Out of Order is a darker world: a dystopian surveillance state instead of ‘mostly our world but with some time travel thrown in.’ It’s a political thriller with heavy commentary on the current political climate in America.

If you’re interested in a straightforward love story following Alba, you’ll be sorely disappointed. This is a multi-POV story with POV changes within chapters. The POV shifts are simply designated with the name in bold followed by a colon. It’s reminiscent of a play. Personally, I am not a fan of this structure. I prefer alternating chapters for multiple POV.

In the positive, the writing immediately strikes me as more mature. Without having recently re-read TTW, this might not be an accurate statement but only a perceived change. The author is quite adept at writing highly consumable prose. Her prose style is simple without being simplistic. It takes a lot of talent to write so clearly in a way that feels effortless.

However, that said, the story itself felt listless, and often times I was bored. Somehow there are a lot of things happening in the book but no plot progression or impact to the story. During a scene, it would feel but then in the next chapter or a few down the line it was no longer mentioned. For example, the opening chapter sets up tension and a problem that is seemingly not relevant to the overall story since it’s dropped and not mentioned again. In short, a lot of nothing happens and it doesn’t resonate or advance the plot. I’m not exactly sure what the plot is since it meanders so much. Perhaps this would’ve been better if it was solely in one POV. Honestly, I would’ve been happier if this was mainly about Alba with one or two major scenes focused on Clare and Henry somewhere.

At first, I was really excited to follow Alba. We get a quick peak at her in TTW so, naturally, following Clare and Henry’s daughter in her own story was very appealing. Unfortunately, it’s not her story, not solely. Alba isn’t a compelling character the way she is portrayed – possibly because, at one point, the books switches to primarily Clare’s POV. Which brings me to the point that there’s too much Clare PoV in a book allegedly about Alba. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to read about her love story with Beck. I get that Henry has been gone three years but this whole scenario feels like a huge departure from her character. To me, if feels like a rewrite, or an overwriting, of TTW. From 40 – 48% it’s all Clare and Beck. Then finally at 48% there’s a scene with Henry. At 60% we are still in primarily flash back scenes of Alba as a child and many pov chapters are Clare’s.

The book also suffers from a bit of logic problem for me. Perhaps I’m missing something, so please enlighten me, but if the future can’t be changed why do characters pop up and give cryptic instructions? Like Oliver saying Nadia needs to learn to code. If you can’t change anything why do they announce anything? Surely it will happen if that’s how it is in the future. These types of interactions started to annoy me because other times the characters would say I can’t tell you. Pick a side.

I’ve never felt so viscerally angry at a book before. I really don’t want to DNF but honestly this book feels like a money grab. I feel like the author wanted to write a political commentary and cram a bunch of ideas into a book but in order to ensure people bought and read it, she threw it into the TTW universe since it was her most successful book. It feels like a deceitful disservice to fans of TTW.

Readers who didn’t like TTW or haven’t read it might feel completely different. I think I might’ve liked this book if it wasn’t set in this universe and populated with characters from a book I once loved. If you’re looking for a speculative dystopian story with heavy commentary and references to our current situation and near past events, this might be a fit.

Ultimately, the book’s synopsis is not the same as the story presented.

DNF at 60%. I skimmed the last 20% but I’m not enjoying this reading experience. I wanted to finish to know what happens but I’m not sure it’s worth it. I also read some reviews that allude to some concerning scenes I hadn’t read yet. Overall, I’m so disappointed.

[Bolt Reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never thought I'd say this, but I wish Life Out of Order had never been published.

This book feels like Go Set a Watchman did to To Kill a Mockingbird. Instead of enriching The Time Traveler's Wife, it weakens the emotional impact of one of my favorite love stories.

The first third of the novel is absolute chaos. Characters are introduced so quickly that it's difficult to keep track of who anyone is or why they matter. The story jumps from one thread to another, constantly stopping and starting. It feels like listening to a toddler tell an exciting story but getting distracted every other sentence. Eventually the narrative settles down, but by then it had already lost me.

What frustrated me most was Claire's story. The Time Traveler's Wife ends with heartbreak, but also hope. Henry dies, yet because of his time traveling, Claire knows she will see him again. Their love literally transcended time. Having Claire remarry completely undercuts that ending. I understand that not everyone will feel the same way, but I couldn't believe that Claire would move on when she knew Henry would still come back to her.

I also expected this to be Alba's story. Instead, she often feels like an afterthought. There are interesting moments, but some are simply disturbing. Alba develops a relationship with another time traveler whom she first knew when he was much younger, eventually marries him even though she is already married to Zach, and the solution becomes that they all sleep together. Rather than exploring the emotional consequences of time travel, the novel spends an extraordinary amount of time focused on Alba's sex life.

The entire book feels like it was written in two different eras. It starts with one idea, then shifts into another that never quite fits with what came before. The result is a sequel that feels unfocused and disconnected from the heart of the original.

The Time Traveler's Wife is unforgettable because it is, at its core, a beautiful love story. Life Out of Order replaces that heart with something cynical, chaotic, and emotionally hollow. I finished it wishing Audrey Niffenegger had let Henry and Claire's story end where it already ended perfectly.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Grace Towery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't stopped thinking about this book since I read it. It's beautiful, brilliant, entertaining. I will never get enough of the DeTambles.

[Liana Gold]

The Time Travelers Wife was a book of a lifetime. Truly a magnificent piece of literary/science fiction. Time traveling is a concept that is quite difficult to grasp and even more difficult to write about. It explored so many parts of life in such a flawless way, perfectly combining the imaginative with present-minded. Twenty three years later...here comes a sequel. A speculative story set in futuristic dystopian society with the return of Alba, Henry and Clare's daughter, whose story promises to move through unfolding universes.

I began reading this story back in August but I had a hard time getting into it, so I put it aside. I remember thinking how different it was from the original story. So here I am about 20% through and I can't believe I am reading a sequel that completely nullifies the concept of original story that was so compelling. It feels completely messy and fragmented.. there is zero emotional intimacy between the main characters..Alba should be the main focus of this book but the story is too fragmented and diluted with unexplained plots... I will continue to push through but LORD, I think I might DNF.





Many thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and the author, Audrey Niffenegger for the ARC.

Publication: October 6, 2026

[Nora]

Let's goooooooo, Alba!

[Trisha]

A sequel - book 2 - to The Time Traveler's Wife??

their child - and it's set in a Dystopian world?! WHAT!? I'm in!

Pub Date: 10/2026

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

**** ARC REVIEW

Listen this book is NOT a sequel to Time Travelers Wife. This book is a fever nightmarescape that I hating finishing the entire way through. The amount of times I wanted to DNF is upsetting and I wasted hours I won’t get back.

No story’s are wrapped up it’s like the author just gave up on plots or made us wade through a shit storm of words all for a nothingburger

Oh let’s not forget half of the book if not more isn’t about Alba ya know the daughter who the book is supposed to be about. I do not care about an AI “Wild thing” daughter/robot/person. I don’t want to read a story where the FMC is ACTIVELY cheating on her husband with another man whom she then marries. ESPECIALLY if your gonna have her be 40 and him 17 for there first kiss and then him 17 AGAIN for them to have send and then let’s make it worse with a cherry on top and the NEXT CHAPTER SHES 74 and he’s 17 and they have sex. GTFO

The first part was so promising!!! World is in peril climate change and Alba and gang were making changes to help there community!! Like how did we go from that to a weird AI side character plot line to most of the story being about Clare and Beck?? Clare had her story!! I did not need all of this, no one needed all of this. It’s like no one told the author no the entire time. This is an everything but the kitchen sink book and it’s NOT worth the calories

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got an advanced copy of this book from Edelweiss.

Let me start by saying that The Time Traveler’s Wife is my second favourite book of all-time after Harry Potter.

Life Out of Order is the most anticipated book I’ve had in almost two decades. I’ve been following it since the excerpt almost ten years ago and when it was originally called The Other Husband.

With that out of the way, I loved it. It’s not without some flaws but I’m willing to overlook most of them because where they lead is truly interesting and satisfactory.

The Yellow House is one of my favourite concepts in any time travel novel. I absolutely loved what Audrey did with it. I’m actually obsessed with it.

The biggest departure for this book is that, unlike the first one, this book follows Alba who lives well into a future that we don’t have a record of. In The Time Traveler’s Wife it lives in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and early aughts. So it’s bound by existing history.

This story takes place in an unwritten future so Audrey has to make it up. That means it leans into speculative fiction quite heavily, based on current trends in politics, climate, technology, and especially AI.

The part of the book where people will probably get frustrated is with the character Beck. I think she is just one of those characters people won’t want to accept just by the nature of her role. Her plot involves technology and I didn’t care for it until it became really cool and interesting. Which was a huge relief.

I loved the way the book played with secrets and layered reveals. It has strong messages about love and fate. Love is way more fluid in this book which is a nice message but sometimes feels very random and I wish was explored a little more internally.

Returning characters are giving truly wonderful moments. It ties up every question you might have about the characters we loved from the first and goes very far into the future.

The novel did make me cry several times.

There’s a lot to say but unfortunately it’s packed with spoilers. I can’t wait to see people react to this and hope for the best for Audrey.

[Dori Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Time Traveler’s Wife is my favorite book of all time. And when my brother was dating his now wife, she and I bonded over this and now we are sisters and best friends. And my childhood best friend also loved it, and she and I excitedly saw the movie together in the theaters which, wow, so long ago.

Needless to say we were all extremely excited to learn about Life Out of Order. I feel incredibly lucky to have this ARC because I don’t know how I possibly could have waited. And wow, this far exceeded any expectations. Audrey Niffenegger created a masterpiece, and I don’t say that lightly. I picture her office like that meme of Charlie from Always Sunny when he was “smart,” tracking timelines and encounters and connecting them together. I truly can’t comprehend how one human’s brain created this.

Once I started reading I texted both friends to let them know I wish I reread the original first because I didn’t clearly remember the side characters and their connections to each other. I did look them up in the original to refresh myself though, which helped. But I actually think it would be fascinating to go back to the original after this one, to find little moments referenced that I didn’t notice. Niffenegger’s attention to detail is really incredible, and everything is done carefully and with respect to the original.

As for the story — just wow. We follow Alba, Henry and Clare’s daughter, through her own time traveling life and learn how she shapes the lives of everyone around her as a result. We get POVs from many of the side characters as well. The story spans decades, many in a dark future that feels wholly possible and is completely terrifying. You have to be patient, here. Some things are alluded to and others don’t make sense, but it eventually comes together in the most satisfying way. Your patience will be rewarded.

I read some reviews from people who DNF this, which is totally valid — I sometimes DNF books that others adore. But what those reviews have in common is that the information they treat as fact are blatantly wrong in their reviews, and the reason is that they didn’t stick around long enough to learn the actual facts. I say this not to attack the validity of the reviews, just to let you know that all is not what it might seem. And oh how I delighted when different pieces came together or different truths were revealed.

I will be thinking about this story and these characters for a very, very long time. I didn’t love every element in it (honestly, one part in particular toward the end felt forced and slightly cringe) but as a whole this was pretty close to perfection. My mind is blown. I will absolutely be coming back to this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Marissa C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read The Time Traveler’s Wife, so wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Life Out of Order. However, I find time traveling quite interesting. I definitely got confused on which Alba was where and had what knowledge at times, but overall I think I was able to follow. It definitely helped having her ages (as well as others) listed at the beginning of the chapters. There was a lot packed into this book. But, it jumped around a lot and I do struggle to keep up at times.
This book touched on many topics including, and perhaps most prominently was family and marriage. Whilst I don’t know what I would do if I or my spouse was a time traveler, I the integration of Alba relationships odd, but still emotional and complex. All of Niffenegger’s characters were very well rounded and complex. In particular, I enjoyed Madeline and Beck, perhaps because both were artists and felt deeply. I also loved Henry. Where I got lost a little was the Nadia/Nick story and Isadora/Lucinda. I had a hard time grasping the concepts around these characters.
I definitely found myself thinking over many life events. I was amazed at the wide many political and societal issues were touched upon. I can’t imagine knowing some of the things coming like these time travelers. I did find the technology interesting, and I also appreciated the integration of music. I was intrigued by The Museum of Lost Souls, and could have been interested in even more on that.
Overall, I think jumped a bit around too much for me and a bit too many characters. I appreciated the writing and the complexity of the time traveling concept.
A big thanks to NetGalley and Hanover for the ARC!

[Lindsay Makowicki Kappel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible sequel to The Time Travelers Wife. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was surprised, delighted, and brought to tears by some things that happened, which to be honest I was secretly hoping for and didn’t think we’d get. It was a great service to lovers of The Time Travelers Wife and I highly recommend rereading that book before diving into this one. This book goes way deeper into a not so dystopian future that was scary at times but ultimately we’re left with hope in a way that brings to mind Emily St. John Mandel especially for fans of Station Eleven.

[Rogue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where to start with this one. Oh my. First off if you’re looking for a follow up to Time travelers wife this is sadly not it. It is so different it’s almost the opposite. I sadly did not enjoy the way the author took the story. I’m not even sure all of it was explained. It starts off as a dystopian Chicago where the youth are some sort of social movement to fight the politicians, I think, I can’t say for sure what they were doing because the story moves on to other characters and never really explains exactly what Alba and her friends were doing? Claire never sees Henry again and moves on with life , like he wasn’t her everything in the first book?! The book moves along into a different direction almost and two new characters are introduced, Beck and Oliver and we get their stories. While they seem like interesting people there seemed to be a lot of pointless information that just made the book drag on. I’m trying to make this review honest without spoilers in case someone wants to try it, so I think if you want a time travel book that includes a political opinion and an end of the world , that is heavily LGBTQIA+ friendly, with AI and death of all we know but has art and music thrown in this one’s for you. I’d give it no stars BUT the author does the time travel aspect as well as she did the first time, and her writing is remarkable. This just didn’t vibe with me and quite frankly it depressed me. I would have DNF’d it but I wanted my NetGalley Camp badge 🤣

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing / Hanover Square Press for this early review copy.

The TLDR: Everybody’s bi, and everybody dies, eventually.

I started this book with high expectations, although also with caution, because I loved The Time Traveler's Wife, but I did not think it “needed” a sequel. I enjoyed my reading experience, but when I finished, I was so frustrated that I dashed off a five page long rant complaining about all the things that did not need to be in this book and all of the plot lines that did not add up. I couldn’t exactly post a long rambling review, so I edited it down to this. (And I wish Niffenegger had exercised the same restraint. This book was too long and bloated.)

Apropos of the title, this is told in a chronological jumble, various characters in various times are all lumped together. Each chapter opens with the date and the ages of the characters involved, as well as the POV telling the story, which is good, because otherwise it would be impossible to keep track. Each character is wildly different, but each POV voice sounds identical. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, all interacting in different times.

I enjoyed my time reading but that that’s because I trusted Niffenegger to tie it all together and make the chaos make sense. She did not. Sure Alba’s life is chaotic and out of order, and the book was chaotic and out of order (haha so clever!) But a good book needs to have a reason for the chaos. It needs to be a cohesive whole. This …. Was not.

Because of the way it is organized, it feels like an interconnected collection of short stories. Each part of this book feel very different, as if she wrote this in fits and starts over decades, and then stapled it together. Characters appear, seem important, and then are never heard from again. So many plot threads just fizzle out and are never explained, never have any bearing on anything else.

In the first section, I became quite impatient, because there's a lot of back and forth and back again, they go here, they go there, they go to another place. They go to a party, but they have to leave, because reasons. They go to a friend's for lunch, but they have to leave, so they go home. They have tea in the kitchen, then sit on the sofa, because Alba said "let's sit on the sofa." Nothing feels natural or organic or even terribly interesting. It's like one of those video games where you're just walking through mysterious hallways picking stuff up and occasionally running from bad guys. I didn’t feel any emotion between the characters, it was just mindless back-and-forthing. One character says: " We’re fucked, oh well, what’s for lunch?” and that captures my feelings perfectly. With all the back-and-forthing and forth-and-backing and vague sense of impending doom and random urgency, this reminded me A LOT of Gibson’s Agency (and that's not a good thing).

Some of the character choices are dumb. For example, Alba makes a big deal about not wanting to tell anyone what happens in the future. (This is a CONSTANT theme.) One morning, Zach asks her about his future, she writes down some things he will do (we, the readers, are not privy to these things, making this entire scene exceptionally dull) and then a minute later she goes to the kitchen to burn the list. What? If it was so important that the list not be preserved, why not just TELL him? Why write it down at all?

One of my main frustrations: If you want to write a dystopian, write a dystopian. Show us how the dystopia affects the characters. There was none of that here, Niffenegger just hammered home the AI aspects and climate change without it truly affecting the plot. Rain, flooding, disease, death … but the characters just keep on keeping on, like it’s just painted scenery behind them.

There are so many POV but they all have the same voice. I often lost track of who and when I was following. At first I would page back to check but eventually I did not care.

And the thing that bothered me most: no one (except Gomez) has a job that pays money. Ok Zach works for Gomez (and later for Rosa, who barely exists in this book) doing something that is never fully defined. How is Clare making money? She makes art, but when does she sell it? And Beck? She spends all her time in the basement working on a program that the rest of the world never sees. And Oliver? Sure he’s a world class pianist, but he spends decades living in the past, in the magically funded Yellow House. When is he actually bringing in a paycheck? What do any of them do for a paycheck!??? The world is (supposedly) plagued by scarcity, but these people always have plenty. There’s a throwaway line about Alba using her future knowledge to successfully invest in the stock market, but what about the rest of them?

Niffenegger is very aware of all the “child-grooming” criticism her earlier book got, and she slyly addresses it here when Alba’s new boyfriend learns Clare’s story.

"... Wow. That’s—romantic?” I say. I’m extremely uncomfortable with the idea of a child meeting her adult future husband naked in some lonely meadow.

Clare blushes. “I don’t tell that story to many people, it squicks them out.”

... Alba says, “I think those people are missing the bigger problem. If your life is a huge causal loop, you don’t have freedom of choice. There’s no moment when you or Dad chose each other; you were always locked together in a great big deterministic circle.”

“Fortunately, neither of us minded,” Clare says. “We would have chosen each other—we did choose each other, moment by moment, day by day. I feel very lucky to have loved and been loved by Henry.

And then, oddly, Niffenegger does it again, this time with an elderly Alba and a young teen Oliver. Whaaaat? Why ? It felt so inappropriate and pointless.

I thought I enjoyed this book, but after I finished, and started writing my thoughts …. The more I thought about it the angrier I got. It was such a jumble! So many needless extra stories, with no satisfying resolution. And now for my long list of other complaints, that I include only for my own future reference - this include lots of spoilers, but they are too long to cram into the "private notes" section:
What was the reason for Nadia? Why all the secret spy crap in the beginning? What did Isadora add to the plot? This book did not need Cara-Lora or Nick or Nadia or Lucinda or Celia or Isadora or Jasper - alllll of those storylines could be excised.

Who was Junior? Why did he need to be abducted? Arrested? Who did it? Was Zach working for the FBI or something?

What was the curfew for?

What was the point about Beck’s very boring museum of lost objects? Why the whole Isadora story? Why did she call herself a wild thing? What was Beck’s goal in creating her? Why did Beck call her a brat? If she was being a brat, why not just turn the speakers & mic off so they could not hear her and she could not hear them??? What was the point of Jasper? He was set up to be this big antagonist and nothing came of that. Why was Beck afraid of him? Who raided her studio and why? Who were the creepy men on the corner watching her? SO much build up there, and NOTHING came of it!!

Why was it important for beck to teach Nadia to code? Why add in the Interstices into this already jam packed novel? Why the little Nadia story arc where she’s SOOO important, and then disappears, and then REAL QUICK shows up again, and it wasn’t even all that important after all.

What was Zach’s background? We get his POV but we never learn ANYTHING about him. Why was Oliver added? The whole “Chinese dissident parents killed in prison” story seemed very out of place. The “dystopian flooded London” also made no sense within the rest of the story.

Why did Alba have two husbands? That just made no sense, since - for her - the marriages were simultaneous, so she was just a plain old polygamist. I never felt any love build between Alba and either man. It just: poof! Suddenly happened!

Why include Oliver's suicide attempt? Why the threeway sex? The love triangle had no tension, it just carried on like limp ropes laid alongside each other. Alba and Zach spent a few weeks being apart and then – poof! they were totes over it? All is well! Let’s hop in bed, all of us together! Wheeee?!?!! That really disappointed me.

Oliver was my favorite character, but he felt very out of place in the rest of the novel. Actually, all of them felt out of place: Zach, Oliver, Beck, C-lora, Lucinda, Isadora - they all rubbed elbows uncomfortably, never fitting nicely into one whole cohesive creation.

Why the AI takeover of Lucinda? Why was Lucinda always depressed? That entire subplot felt shoehorned in. It was some kind of attempt by Niffenegger to reassure herself that life has no ending, the afterlife is real, even if the generator dies and the servers shut down. The repeated quotes from the Quaker death poem hammered this message home.

Characters are introduced, are important for a few chapters, and then just dropped. That happened too many times. I suppose a life feels like that, our lives have seasons in which some people are important and then fade away, and things don’t always happen for a reason. But a novel is NOT a life and I expect more cohesion and meaning from it

What was the deal with the yellow house? Who supplied it in the early years? Who paid taxes and utilities? Who maintained the property? Why wasn’t it overrun by squatters? You can’t just buy a house for $100 and keep it forever. Who made sure cigarettes and candles were put out (I mean, no WONDER it burned), who turned off the water, who closed the windows and brought laundry in off the clothesline, etc etc etc This was very distracting. She tried to explain it away by having Clare and Beck stop by occasionally, but that still didn't explain everything. Who mowed the lawn?? Who collected the inevitable junk mail?? Didn't neighbors wonder about who lived there??



And, finally: Voltairine is the dumbest baby name since Renesmee

[Shannon Hickey · Rating 2.75 out of 5]

Just finished and have a lot of thoughts on this one, but not sure how I felt about it....review to come

Update to finally get my thoughts out:

Like almost everyone else, I adored The Time Traveler’s Wife, so when I received an ARC of Life Out of Order, I immediately moved it to the very top of my (long) TBR.

After finishing it…this is a surprisingly difficult review to write.

There were moments I enjoyed and others that had me either thinking, “Huh?” or rolling my eyes. My feelings seemed to change chapter by chapter, and even now I’m still trying to untangle how I actually felt about this, but I will try.

The story jumps constantly in this book ( Life Out of Order indeed! ) weaving together multiple timelines, characters, and POVs. I actually enjoyed this aspect, but at times it did make things confusing and I had to go back and forth (so I can see how some readers would be annoyed). That said, I am such a time traveler trope sucker, that I enjoyed piecing everything together like a fun puzzle. Niffenegger has a remarkable ability to make every time period feel vivid and lived in. Each setting is immersive enough that you feel like you’re experiencing it alongside the characters.

Alba was an interesting main protagonist, she made really idiotic (not to mention damaging) choices, and irritated me to no end. However that said, I did find myself rooting for her overall (which honestly I don't know why, because again, she annoyed me for about 90% of the novel).

A lot of my qualms come from how the book evolved and plot points, and as I don't want to spoil, the below might be a bit vague.

To start, I struggled with the worldbuilding. I was never entirely sure whether this was meant to be our present day, an alternate version of it, or something approaching dystopian fiction (still not sure why it opens with such a strict curfew in Chicago Winter 2022)?

There's also this whole AI aspect of this story that is just......strange and disconnected. I couldn’t quite work out what it was trying to say (is it pro or anti?), and despite the amount of page time it received, it was probably the aspect I was least invested in.

The romantic relationships also left me conflicted. I liked the love interests as individual characters, but how the romantic relationships evolved, particularly towards the end, made me go "huh??? This is the resolution??" (if you read the book you will know what I am talking about). There’s also one particular scene involving Alba and one of the romances that made me genuinely stop and think, “what the hell did I just read?” and I suspect will be one of the book’s more divisive moments once it’s released.

Similarly, the novel introduces several political themes that I found interesting in theory, but never felt fully developed. I quite enjoy books that weave politics into the story when it meaningfully deepens the narrative, but here those ideas felt surface level.

However, despite all of my many issues, I never wanted to stop reading. For a novel of nearly 600 pages, it moved surprisingly quickly, and I was consistently invested in seeing how everything would come together. Even when I questioned the direction the story was taking, I still wanted answers. It’s an ambitious, imaginative novel, and Niffenegger’s talent as a writer is undeniable.

I feel like this review is extremely contradictory and a bit all over the place, but truly, that's how my thoughts are on this book. So if you made it this far in the review, bless you, and I am still conflicted on my feelings Ultimately, I would give it a 3.5 rounded down because of certain issues noted above, however I don't regret my reading of this at all. I'm also very excited for this to be released and others read it so I can fully discuss.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger

I just completed reading this book, which was the second book in The Time Traveler's Wife series. The first book was written many years ago back in 2003.

This newest book is due out next month, and as it was such a long time ago that I read The Time Traveler's Wife, it took me awhile to get into the rhythm of this one.

The book covers off Time travelling, or as we learn a rare Chrono-Displacement Disorder. Our main character Alba has this disorder, as had her father before her.

Maintaining a normal life for Alba, whom is a very talented violinist is very difficult.

I must say that I found this book rather difficult to follow, and keep interest in for most of the time.

It became quite draining with the many characters. I tried to like it more than I actually did, but was determined to read it to the end.

The first book for me was just so much more engaging.

It however was beautifully written, and will give enjoyment to many readers.

Thank You to NetGalley, Author Audrey Niffenegger, and Penguin Random House Canada/ Knopf Canada for my advanced copy to read and review.