As We Fall Through Time

by Claire North

Fall through history on a thrilling journey of shattered time, broken futures, and a love that can never be erased, perfect for fans of This is How You Lose the Time War and The Ministry of Time. 
 
In the beginning, the world will end. This is the story of what happens next.
 
When Cal meets a soldier of the French Revolution, he knows his lover is destined to die. But what's the point of being a time traveler if you can’t make a few small tweaks to the course of history? A little paradox here, an alteration there—nothing Cal can’t fix, to save the man he loves.
 
When Fadimatu walks into a museum in 2018, she stumbles upon her own mummified corpse, setting her on the path to a betrayal that has already killed her, and a murder that has not yet come to pass.
 
And when a sudden rupture in the fabric of history rips through the lives these travelers have built, breaking both past and future, they must reckon with death foretold, love forsaken, and a secret that will shatter time itself.

​An extraordinary tale of time travel, betrayal, and a love that echoes through the centuries, from Claire North, the multi-award-winning author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Adult, LGBT

414 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication October 13, 2026

About the author

Claire North is actually Catherine Webb, a Carnegie Medal-nominated young-adult novel author whose first book, Mirror Dreams, was written when they were just 14 years old. They went on to write seven more successful YA novels.

Claire North is a pseudonym for adult fantasy books written by Catherine Webb, who also writes under the pseudonym Kate Griffin.

Reviews

[Courtney « finally forced to lower my reading goal » · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my fourth book by Claire North and it’s heavily influenced my review, but c’est la vie.

DNF @ 40%

My first book by this author was Slow Gods which I think set me up for a belief about Claire North that may or may not be true. A sweeping, epic space opera that was ambitious and imaginative, I couldn’t wait to see what else they had written, especially with such an extensive bibliography.

The next book I read was The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August which is wildly, insanely different from Slow Gods but still really well done, and I enjoyed it a lot. From there I moved on to Touch and was disappointed to notice almost immediately that it was basically Harry August with the skin of a different scifi concept layered on top.

Now I’ve come to As We Fall Through Time and I’m stunned to find the same thing has happened. In all 3 novels, North has taken an MC with some kind of ability that enables them to exist as an outsider to humanity and the constraints of time/location/whatever else. It shows clearly in all 3 books that North has some sort of higher education in history and geography, and can’t seem to hold back from absolutely lathering books with this knowledge. In every single book they get into this writing loop of just bouncing their MC around endlessly instead of actually telling a story. By whatever chosen method of scifi the book is employing, somewhere in the story the plot is completely abandoned to start a series of bouncing. The MC will be using trains, boats, planes and their method of ability (in this case time travel) to just bounce absolutely everywhere. Start in Berlin, take a train to such and such, stop to time travel a decade forward, take a boat to someplace, time travel a century in the past, take a camel to other place, time travel forward ten years to when they’ve invented XYZ, blah blah blah blah. Meanwhile during all this North is peppering the reader with historical facts about every single location, or method of travel, or dropping tidbits about how the MC has a previously established bank account in such place and it’s now overflowing with money, et cetera.

This was charming the first time I read it. It’s not as charming reading it for the third time. In fact, the third BOOK, and it had already happened multiple times in this book alone by the 40% mark when I became completely and totally bored with it.

I really love how Claire North writes. I easily could have finished this book IF it was the first book of theirs I’d ever read. But sadly it was not, and looking at it, and looking at Slow Gods, I’m left wondering how this severe departure happened to create such an intense space opera, only to return to the status quo for the very next novel. I’m not sure I’ve totally given up on them as an author but I would need to be absolutely sure I wasn’t being lured in to another bounce about novel before I tried again.

[Jae · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10

All I need now is Baran Bo Odar to adapt this into television. Oh but what a fantastic story.

I was enthralled by the writing style from the get go - and if one thought they knew where this was heading simply from the first few chapters - you would most certainly be wrong.

I was a bit disappointed earlier on thinking oh it’s just going to be a romance story - but this is much more. I’d even argue that there was more chemistry between the main character and Bede than with Olivier.

As We Fall Through Time is a story about a time traveller who falls in love with a non-time traveller and follows his quest in doing “everything” he can to be with said person despite time and age - and that “everything” includes the doom of humankind, a timeless friendship and a charming mentor turned enemy.

I was so confused at times, because there is quite a lot of perspective changes. At first I thought the author was breaking the 4th wall - which I kind of did not like, but trust it’s not that, keep reading!!!!! I did get accustomed to the pov changes and eventually also needed up liking it.

Pacing was good, plot was plotting, and characters were annoying and likable and consistent. I think I want a whole ass story for Fadimatu - such a brilliant character.

I also loved the lore of timetraveling - that there’s more to it than just being able to travel time - each traveler had their own individual abilities to it.

My biggest criticism is how are there so few travelers???? The general lack of any sort of authority like the TVA is just unbelievable.

Beyond that this was a solid book - I liked the philosophical intrigue, it was thought provoking, it was sombre and it was atmospheric.

[BookishKB]

⏳💫As We Fall Through Time 💫⏳

📖 Bookish Thoughts

My full review will be shared closer to the publication date.

✨ What to Expect
• Time Travel Romance
• Queer Romance
• Multiple Timelines
• Time Paradoxes
• Star Crossed Lovers
• Epic Sci Fi
_ _ _ _

📅 Pub Date: October 13, 2026
Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is one of my all-time favorite books, and I’ve searched and searched, but nothing since has scratched the same itch. Until now. I’d say As We Fall Through Time is one step more complex and harder to visualize, but it’s absolutely worth it for lovers of speculative fiction.

I love that it jumps through time so aggressively you find yourself a little dizzy and disoriented. I love that the narrator is hard to get to know and slowly uncovered. And I love how the cli-fi dread quietly creeps in underneath the relationships between characters.

It’s a rare book that I finish and immediately want to reread. This is my favorite book of 2026 so far.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books!

[Hannah MacLeod · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley.

My mind is kind of swimming as I try to put into words how I feel about this book. I liked it, in fact I liked it enough by about 50% of the way through that I added more Claire North to my TBR, since this is my first book by her. But there are some sticking points that I do feel like I need to bring up:

1. This is an extremely slow-paced novel, which is kind of funny given it's about time travel. North explicitly talks about time travelers liking to skip past the "boring" bits like waiting for a plane. I wouldn't say this ever got boring, per se, but it takes a very long time to get to where we're going. Some of this slowness is the fault of North's writing style, though: she writes extremely densely, with long descriptions for even the tiniest things. That didn't always bother me, I could see things happening very clearly in my mind because of that, but as we neared the climax of the book it started to get more and more annoying.

2. There's a twist (reveal?) about 2/3rds of the way through this book that almost made me stop reading. I'll be honest: I don't think the book needed it. It does add to the stakes of what is happening, and pushes the morality scale firmly in one direction, but it came so out of left field that I imagine quite a lot of readers are going to just stop there.

That said, I like so many other things about this book. Cal, our main character, is complicated and messy and often makes terrible choices because they are human and in love. (I thought it was interesting that North refers to Cal by she/her when they're in a female-presenting body, and he/him when in a male one. It was confusing at first, but once I got used to it I liked it. Will be referring to them as they/them just for simplicity here, though they themselves do not identify as nonbinary.) I appreciated that as the reader you're not sure if Cal is the one causing all of the problems, so you're not sure whether to root for them or not. Their friendship with Fadimatu was also really wonderful and lived-in. Fadimatu is, frankly, the MVP of this entire book. She is the real hero here.

I liked the descriptions of how North's time travel works a lot. She does break some of those rules later in the novel (though she explains it), and that always bothers me a little though. Still, having to use objects that have been around long enough to get to another time period is really neat. Paradoxes are the bane of many a time travel novel, but I think they were handled perfectly here.

There are also a lot of themes in this book that resonate so much with the world as it is in this moment. Whether the future is "inevitable" most especially, since tech bros love to throw that word around so much. Whether or not the people with power have the responsibility to make the world better. (Including, in this book, the people with the power to time travel.)

But I think the part that worked best for me is the love story at the heart of it all. When we meet Cal, they've been pretty firm to not make long attachments. They've seen enough people they love die. Their tryst with Olivier is supposed to be just that: a tryst. But then we watch as Cal starts to break their own codes and go against their own beliefs to keep this man alive, and what happens when they try. It didn't bring me to tears or anything, but it made me understand Cal no matter what reckless thing they were up to.

I do think the "villain" could have been introduced/explained a LITTLE earlier in the book, just a smidge, but that's as much as I'll say without spoiling anything. It still worked for me.

I really like this. I don't know that everyone will. It's slow, it's dense, it's messy. But I hope the people who will like it find it, as I did.

[Scott Whitmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

First things first. As We Fall Through Time by Claire North is simply the best novel I’ve read so far this year, and in the top 10 over my lifetime. In turns my heart was warmed and then broken as the story unfolds from one couple’s love story into an existential crisis for the planet. Too often these days, regardless of the medium — books, movies, TV — audiences are told ‘the stakes have been raised (dum dum DUM!)’ to manufacture drama and interest. Here, the author subtly entices the reader on a journey of increasing complexity and scope encompassing hope, fear, love, regret, and acceptance, with each reveal along the way serving to pull us deeper into the story.

This review is based on an advance copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley for that purpose. The book will be available on October 13, 2026.

The tale opens in Paris after the Revolution, with Cal, who is a time traveler, attending a soiree and meeting Olivier, an army officer. Cal has a reason for being in 1789 Paris which we’ll learn about later, but for now there is the spark of mutual attraction with Olivier that must be delicately navigated.

There is of course Cal’s knowledge of future events and his decision to opt for comfort over accuracy in his choice of underwear and a mango-scented deodorant, and while Cal can change genders — the how and why of which is brilliantly explained later — he meets Olivier as a man at a time when discretion is called for. Further complicating their budding romance, Olivier is an army officer, and France will be at war with various coalitions of European nations for many years to come, forcing Cal to contemplate using time travel to save the life of his love — and then face the consequences of doing so.

From this intimate beginning, the story steadily expands outward, growing in scope and complexity, as more is revealed about Cal’s life and ability, and the world they inhabit. We meet other time travelers, and learn most use their unique gift for personal pleasure — to seduce or party with famous figures from the past or to observe key events — and Cal’s relationship with Olivier certainly seems to fall into this category. It can be argued using such a powerful ability this way is selfish and narrow-minded, especially given the hints about the planet’s grim future, but Cal’s choices and decisions are informed by experience, as we’ll see — in time.

So much of my pleasure in reading this novel is how small details are simply presented, especially in the early chapters — such as Cal’s gender swapping ability — and explained or clarified later, seamlessly within the course of narration. These reveals, including the identity of the narrator, were very satisfying and served to draw me deeper and deeper into Cal’s story. Woven throughout are questions about some big issues — the nature of and appropriate use of power, justice, inequity, and societal obligation, for example — but at no point does the narrative become preachy or judgemental. Ultimately Cal is who he has become, and acts accordingly.

I became interested in this author after reading their previous novel, Slow Gods, an outstanding space opera I found original and imaginative, and — similar to As We Fall Through Time — with a lot to say, quietly, about some pretty big questions. Both of these works were thought-provoking and wholly satisfying reads, and I absolutely plan on further exploring the writer’s backlist as well as any future novels.

[Jensen McCorkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.25

The premise is immediately compelling. A time traveler determined to save the man he loves from a death that history seems determined to preserve. What unfolds is far more than a conventional science-fiction adventure. Instead, Claire North delivers a heartbreaking examination of how love can gradually transform into obsession. Each attempt to rewrite the past unleashes unforeseen consequences, making this a novel not only about time travel, paradoxes, and the delicate fabric of history, but also about grief, longing, and the lengths people will go to avoid loss.

The time-travel mechanics are both inventive and intellectually satisfying. North excels at illustrating how even the smallest alterations can send shockwaves through history, producing outcomes no one could have anticipated. What impressed me most, however, was her understanding of the emotional logic behind obsession. Cal's choices are frequently irrational, selfish, and destructive, yet they remain deeply understandable because they stem from a profoundly human refusal to let go. North never excuses his actions, but neither does she diminish the sincerity of his love.

That said, the novel occasionally becomes tangled in its own complexity. There are moments when the shifting timelines can be difficult to follow, and several secondary characters never evolve beyond their narrative functions. The cyclical nature of Cal's repeated attempts to change history reinforces the book's themes, but it can also slow the pacing. The ending is emotionally rewarding, though it leaves certain questions unresolved. Readers who want every paradox neatly explained may find this frustrating, while those comfortable with ambiguity will likely find the conclusion both powerful and moving.

Overall As We Fall Through Time, is a beautifully written and emotionally resonant novel that demonstrates how the finest time-travel stories are ultimately stories about the human heart. It is neither a puzzle-box science-fiction novel nor simply a romance dressed in speculative-fiction clothing. Its success lies in the way it balances both elements, offering a thoughtful meditation on causality and consequence while telling a deeply affecting story about the impossibility of accepting certain losses.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing I took from this book was that the author is warning us about climate disaster and the greed of the few. “When did the promise of this species become that you could be in the top one per cent and damned be the ninety nine? When did people forget what it was to be part of something bigger than ourselves?”

So the story is about the destruction of the planet and human kind but also…hang on, it’s about time travellers. Can they not go back in time and change the outcome? It’s also a love story. Cal in the 17th century falls in love with a French revolutionary soldier. He started as female but seems to be able to change gender at will. This love resonates throughout the centuries. But it’s complicated. Did Cal’s lover Olivier, really exist? There is a tiny hint a while into the story of a change of perspective. Of the breaking of the 4th wall. Perhaps an all knowing narrator? It is definitely not what you think or expect so keep reading!

Cal, Bede and Fadimatu. Three time travellers zipping around time trying to mend a breach in time and space which threatens the whole of reality. Or is one of them causing it and keeping it open. If so - why? Cal comes to realise a devastating truth which profoundly changes his/her perspective.

There are so many strands to the novel that I did get slightly tangled in the various threads. Much of it is very cinematic as the author describes the shifting changing time into future into past into future into present etc..She does this very graphically and vividly but I did find myself getting slightly impatient with the whole novel as she was really repeating herself but i can imagine this as a film which would depict these ideas on screen very effectively.

North’s novel is beautifully written, mostly fascinating and worth the effort of concentration I found it to be. I definitely recommend this novel to people who enjoy brilliant and original time travelling sci-fi with a twist!

Thanks to NetGalley for my kindle ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Sarah Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big Big fan of a time travel novel so when I saw this one on NetGalley UK I requested and it quickly went to the top of my to read pile
I have not read any of the authors previous novels
The writing style is almost poetic at times. I love some of the sentences “past rushes back to where it belongs future tumbles into the journey cascade of the deep unknown.”
Of course time is impossible and the impossibility of it is described perfectly in the novel
I like the way the characters change sex spontaneously from time to time. I didn’t really understand it though and is it wrong that I spent a lot of time wondering about the specifics of the time travel system
This is probably the most complex time travel novel I’ve ever read. It makes my head ache thinking about all the consequences, perhaps because of this I find I’m struggling a little bit with this book really like it.
There is a climate change story in the background
Most of the story has narrated from the point of view of Cal a time traveller who switches between male and female throughout the novel.
The mystery/Jeopardy at the heart of the novel is a time paradox that is threatening to destroy the universe and with it humanity and the life that comes after humans
The last quarter of the novel is told from a different point of view without giving away Story lines I can’t say very much about this in this review, but it adds a freshness and a momentum to the Story
I love the end it was nearly perfect
I written copy of the novel on NetGalley UK in return for an honest review. The book is published in the UK. on the 13th of October 2026 by Little Brown book
This review will appear on NetGalley UK, Goodreads, StoryGraph, Anne And my book blog bionicSarahSbooks.wordpress.com. After publication it will also appear on Amazon and Waterstones online.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I requested As We Fall Through Time after reading and really enjoying Claire North's earlier novel, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. I received a free ARC from NetGalley, and this is my honest review.

I really enjoy time travel novels, but after finishing this book, I really needed to sit with it for a while and work out whether I'd followed it and whether I actually liked it. I've decided that I did enjoy this novel, but I had to work really hard to follow and ultimately understand it all. I had a feeling I wasn't supposed to understand everything until later in the book.

The story features frequent time travel, choices that create fractures and paradoxes, and multiple timelines that constantly shift. There were so many timelines that I often felt confused, but strangely, I felt compelled to keep reading. I was confused until about 60%, and then things became clearer before becoming mind-boggling again! This book really made me work!

It explores themes of love, loss, memory, reality, relationships, and human connection. I loved the relationship between Cal and Olivier, but I also really enjoyed reading about Cal's brief relationship with his wife.  The novel is mostly written in the third person, but there are also mysterious first-person passages whose narrator is only gradually revealed. Claire North's writing is detailed and atmospheric. It's an epic, ambitious story, although I did lose my way at times. I think this is a novel I would reread in the future, as I'm sure I'd pick up on details I missed the first time around.

I liked the ending, and it genuinely made me emotional. I also appreciated that the book is open to interpretation, and I think I'll be thinking about it for quite a while.

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one, I didn't love it, and I think that's mostly down to how messy it felt. Not messy in the sense of being hard to follow exactly, but messy in the sense that every single step the characters take through time comes loaded with more information than I feel is necessary. I'm sure she had a blast writing this. But I did have to make myself finish this one.

Dialogue is limited throughout, so a lot of the reading experience is just..our MC on his own, or her own, depending on which version you get - this person in that time, having to go back in order to go forward, jumping sideways into other times, back and forth, back and forth. It messed with my reading rhythm, making it hard to settle in. It didn't really feel like there was an anchor in this story.

The last two books by Claire North, this one included, just haven't scratched the itch since I first read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. I want to be swept away. But the style and rhythm of this one never quite pulled me under.

Fadimatu was the highlight for me, by a wide margin. I could have read a whole book about her. But that's the luxury of being a side character, isn't it? You get to be fascinating in small doses without having to carry the structural weight of the entire plot. The Ones, the main characters, the ones things actually happen to, rarely get to be as effortlessly compelling because they're too busy being load-bearing.

So, liked it, didn't love it. What this book did, though, was send me back to The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, which has been one of my all-time favorites and which I am now strongly considering rereading. I've only read it once, so now I'm wondering if it still lives up to my hype.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time traveller who has ever trodden on a butterfly has created a ripple through time. These ripples make more ripples which make more travellers, the snake swallows its tail... [loc. 694]

Cal is a time-traveller, and something of a paradox: sometimes male, sometimes female. He encounters Olivier, a French soldier, in 1789, and falls in love. Which seems to be somehow connected to the temporal paradox sparked by fellow time-traveller Fadimatu encountering her own corpse in The Museum of the Unmasked Conspiracy...

This is a love story, a story of climate activism, and a murder mystery. It's narrated in first person by a mysterious observer. Time is infested with ghosts and witches, 'fathomless creatures of unlived realities': paradoxes can be healed, or at least ameliorated, by paradoxical objects ('amaranthines') such as a ceramic flower that did and did not crack in the kiln.

I am already looking forward to rereading this next month for the full review...

Read because: Claire North has become one of my favourite authors -- from the 'Songs of Penelope' trilogy to the awesome Slow Gods. Obviously I read this as soon as it landed on my Kindle... Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for the full honest review I'll write nearer UK Publication Date -- 10th October 2026.

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As We Fall Through Time has a premise that immediately hooked me but I have to say I struggled somewhat with this book.
The world building is complex but I did enjoy the early chapters as Cal and Olivier's relationship develops and here the time travelling elements work and are easy to understand. Cal's journey to keep Olivier alive is interesting and emotional and made good reading.
However towards the middle of the book the story becomes more fractured and I found it increasingly hard to follow. Several other time travellers are mentioned but we have no introduction to them and they are nothing more than names on the page. I found one chapter easy to read and follow but the next often appeared to twist round and debunk what I had just learned and towards the end the multiple Bede's were completely exhausting.
Having said that there were flashes on interest in the story, in the way history is perceived and the ideas of future proofing our society. I loved the whole idea of the time travel and not having to bump into yourself for fear of creating a paradox and the complications that this lead to for Cal were all understandable. But overall I found the book rather chaotic and difficult to follow, although the writing is good and descriptions and places are well laid out.
I'm sure there are many who will love this complex tale but it was a mixed read for me.
With thanks to Netgalley, the author and Little Brown UK for an early read in return for an honest review.

[sarai · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is incredible.

reading this on the heels of harry august, it's clear that north felt that they weren't done with time travel (and various permutations thereof). cal is kind of the opposite harry - while harry is tied to the same stretch of time forever and ever and often has to play lifetime-long waiting games, cal jumps around with ease, skipping through the tedium of daily life just as easily as the end of human history itself. with harry august i did feel that some of the implications of the system were left unexplored. this book takes time travel with all its warts and runs away with it, dealing in grandfather paradoxes and unstable timelines and the implications of seeing your own corpse besides. the prose is evocative, poignant and unconventional at the same time, and the plot is incredibly gripping. might be kind of confusing for those who have not already consumed extensive time travel content - fortunately, that is not me.

also very, very clearly informed by doctor who and amy pond. do with that what you will.

i'm also a huge fan of the secretly first-person narration trope as well as the actual reveal of the narrators/the witches. they might be a cockroach but they're a stuffy academic cockroach. "arthopodization" is a hysterical term to use in peer review.
thanks to netgalley and orbit for the e-arc!

[Samantha Bray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of As We Fall Through Time in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

As We Fall Through Time began with a premise that immediately hooked me. I was completely invested in Cal and Olivier's relationship, and the time-travel elements were intriguing without being overly confusing. Their romance had real emotional weight, and honestly, that story alone could have made a fantastic novella.

Unfortunately, as the book progressed, the narrative became increasingly disjointed. The middle section felt scattered and lacking in direction, jumping between so many ideas that I found myself losing sight of what the story was actually trying to say. While I could follow the individual pieces, I struggled to understand how they all fit together, which made it difficult to stay emotionally invested.

The final third was a definite improvement. The pace picked up, the stakes became clearer and the story became much more exciting. However, by that point, the confusion and lack of focus in the middle had already taken me out of the experience.

There is undoubtedly a good story here, with fascinating ideas and a genuinely compelling romance at its heart, but for me the execution didn't quite match the ambition.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never done this before for a book review: I am pasting in the exact book review I wrote for one of the author’s previous books. I like Claire North’s work and AS WE FALL THROUGH TIME is another in her bold attempts to play with time and space. Yet. In reading a previous review, I don’t think I can say anything different this time round.

Some sections of this book are fantastic and others are almost sleep-inducing. The concept is creative and complex; the execution is complicated for this reader to fully enjoy or dislike. I was never completely sure what was happening. I kept wanting to stop reading the book but did not. The characters I was certain I did not care about in the slightest have stuck with me throughout the rest of the day, after I finished the book, and they just won't get out of my mind. The description of the book was enough to make me want to read it and once begun, I disliked it almost immediately. And just couldn't seem to put it down. If that kind of love/hate sensation with a book entices you, then this book is just right.

I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Phoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claire North’s prose is polished and precise. It veers from poetic descriptive epithets to fragmented internal dialogue without losing her smooth narrative quality. The result is that she can tell a yarn about almost anything.

Here she leads us on a journey of time travellers: people who are able to use focused loci, fixed points, to jump in time; people who are themselves unmoored, whose stories are fragments of the relationships they have and the events they behold. When one of them creates a small paradox to save the life of a beloved, it seems harmless - something that can be fixed by feeding it with the product of another paradox - but soon matters begin to spiral.

Intimate but huge in scope, North somehow focuses the plot by concentrating it on her characters. The heart of it is a love story that never was, but the brain of it, insistently making itself heard again and again, is humanity itself, the repetition of mistakes, and the inevitability - or not - of destruction.

A clever introduction of a narrating voice was something I enjoyed but some may find jarring in its perspective - it took me out for a second but roll with it.

If you enjoyed Dark, you’ll like this.

[Emy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because I can see the potential and don't think the book is an absolute disaster. Some people will love this.

I find it incredibly hard to review this book because, to put it simply, I don't think it was for me.

Here's what I think affected my appreciation of the book:

- This is an ARC, I'm not sure if the format is final but I found it hard to follow. Some sentences would just skip to the next line or the next paragraph. It could be the final format as it makes the story distorded so maybe that was the author's goal. If that's an ARC's format mistake ignore this point.
- I know time travel has no rules, but the lack of explanation and the way the reader has to follow along almost made me DNF multiple times
-POV changes were not announced in any ways. Just a line change. I understand it's part of the mystery but a clear sign (multiple lines skipped, for example) would have helped.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite science fiction subgenres is time travel, so I was excited to pick this one up. Every author has to decide the rules for how time travel works, and Claire North came up with some really creative ideas that felt fresh to me.

This isn't the kind of book you can breeze through, though. More than once I found myself flipping back a page or rereading a scene to make sure I understood exactly what had happened. I actually enjoyed that, Piecing everything together was part of the fun, and I liked how the story trusted the reader to keep up instead of explaining everything over and over.

The mystery of how it would all come together kept me hooked, and I found myself looking forward to carving out time to read every day. I had to know where it was all leading.

If you enjoy time travel stories that make you think as much as they entertain, I'd definitely recommend this one. Just be prepared to pay attention because this isn't a book to read on autopilot. The payoff is worth the effort.

[Emboldened · Rating 4 out of 5]

As We Fall Through Time is a beautifully crafted novel that blends time travel with themes of love, loss, and the impact of clinging to the past. North tells a compelling story that begins with a personal relationship and evolves to show how one decision can lead to surprising consequences. The mood and emotional depth really stood out to me. Even when the story gets complex, it remains focused and engaging. The time travel elements feel meaningful in relation to the characters, adding richness to the narrative. However, the book does require some patience, as the shifting perspectives and timelines can be confusing, and some parts move slowly. Still, the strong writing and emotional impact make it worthwhile. Overall, this smart and imaginative read will appeal to those who enjoy thoughtful speculative fiction that explores what we’re willing to sacrifice to change our losses.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the advanced copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

[RUTH GUCKIEAN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

As We Fall Through Time is a big, brainy time-travel story that isn't afraid to get complicated. North weaves together travelers scattered across history—Cal, who keeps "fixing" the timeline to save the man he loves, and Fadimatu, who literally finds her own mummified body in a museum and gets pulled toward a betrayal that's already killed her. The scope is enormous, and the questions about love, death foretold, and rewriting history hit hard when they land.

This was my first Claire North book, and what really grabbed me was the POV structure—the way she moves between perspectives and eras is so unique and kept me on my toes. It's ambitious enough that I didn't sink into every thread equally, and it asks a lot of the reader, but I finished it genuinely wanting to read more of her work, which says a lot. A strong, inventive introduction to an author I'm now excited to explore further.

Unique, ambitious, and worth the ride. 3 stars.

[Mélanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit I struggled with this novel.
The world-building is dense, and I generally really enjoy time-travel stories.
But in this case, things were sometimes confusing. There is mention of other travelers who are merely alluded to; we don't know how they know—or recognize—each other, or how they communicate to meet up.
There is a romance, but it feels more like love at first sight followed by manipulation. It seems as though they are forced to love one another, without ever considering other possibilities.
When the conflict kicks in, we get multiple battle scenes—original ones, certainly—but they sometimes follow one another without actually adding anything to the story.
Yet, there are good elements: a look at our era and society, and the pitfalls awaiting us; a reflection on humanity's place in history; and writing that plays with time (shifting to the next day or to the distant past). However, the whole thing feels a bit chaotic, with characters who lack depth.
All in all, I have mixed feelings about this book.

[Zoe Lipman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Yes, I did read two time travel books back-to-back. Yes, that was a bit weird and confusing.

I did think the mixing of genres and topics in this book was well done. I liked that it wasn't just a romance, it used that to build off of, but there was a lot more to it. The time travel really was the focus.

Sadly, I didn't find this to be as memorable of a book as I was expecting it to be. (But maybe that's just me and my brain.)

This was definitely an atmospheric read, which I really appreciated. But sometimes, the characters could be a bit irritating to me. They were consistent though, so I'm assuming that was on purpose. But they are the kinds of characters that not everyone will love.

The willy-nilly time travel did lowkey stress me out, but that feels accurate to me. And added to the fun and intrigue and made me think.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

[bakwardshatbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for an honest review!

This book wasn’t what I expected in the slightest. From the description, I was expecting a romance with light time travel elements, and it was very much the reverse of my expectations. The time travel concepts are so interesting and different than I’ve read before, and that leads to unexpected twists. The main character has a lot of layers, as one would expect from someone who has seen tons of history. I particularly find the idea of items that simultaneously exist and don’t exist to be fascinating.

I think this book is very approachable scifi, and like all time travel stories, it’s best if you don’t think about the ins and outs too hard. Enjoy the ride, and you’ll enjoy this one.

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this arc!

This book shines with its whirlwind of events, exploring profound themes such as the impermanence of relationships and the concept of “home” is a mental construct instead of a physical place. While I appreciated this book for its depth, I struggled with its challenging structure and character development.

The premise of this story is full of things I should love; time travel, history, and mystery. Unfortunately for me, the heavy emphasis on the fluidity of these characters in time and space left me feeling uncertain as to who these characters were as people, especially since their histories and motives were largely hidden. As a reader who derives much of their enjoyment from strong characterization and setting, the fluid nature of the characters’ identities and constantly shifting time periods (both in world history and the personal history of the characters) was disorienting to an unmanageable degree. While I appreciate this fragmentation was, presumably, constructed by design to comment on the instability of our lives, this structural device was a hindrance to comprehension instead of an enhancement.

Ultimately I would recommend this book to those who are interested in reading a deep, dreamlike, and at times mind-bending story.

[Lynn Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this was not the book for me. I read the first 40% and then skimmed through the rest, to read the final 50 pages.
The historical depth was amazing, but there was too much of it at points. Multiple countries and time periods could be mentioned in just one paragraph, with no time to breathe in between. The writing style was disjointed and made the book somewhat difficult to read at times, especially the switching between using quotation marks for conversations and not using them.
This would be the perfect book if you enjoy complicated time travel stories, where you don’t mind not knowing exactly what’s happening and why.

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this review copy.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possible spoilers

I read Claire North and time travel and skipped the rest of the blurb. That was enough for me.
So for quite some time I thought this was just going to be a love story between Oliver and Cal.
It was, until it became so much more.
Some clever ideas here from North, and some that made my head hurt.
I probably don't need to hear the word paradox again any time soon.
I definitely got swept up in the whole thing, until about 2/3 rds of the way in when things change.
Wasn't sure how I felt about that.
It turns out I felt even more eager to get on with the story.
Hugely enjoyable, and I like to think Cal is going to be one of those characters I think of for years to come.

Thanks to netgalley for the free digital copy

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claire North absolutely captivated me with their first few books - Harry August, Touch, The Sudden Appearance of Hope, the Gameshouse trilogy of novellas - but then totally lost me with later works, to the point where I didn't bother picking up their new releases for quite a while. I'm glad to say this book came back to the style I enjoy much more. The writing is lush and atmospheric. While that does sometimes lead into "unfocused" and "wandering" (as evidenced by the fact that the plot didn't really get to the point until about 60% of the way through), it was still engaging, and the second half of the book was much sharper. The overall dreaminess really works for how it seems like the time-traveler characters must live their lives. Thank goodness it had a satisfying ending. Can happily recommend this one.

(Thank you to Orbit Books, via NetGalley, for providing the advance copy to review.)

[Fernanda (ivyfer_isreading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the rating is for the writing, because I truly liked that but the plot was not... Ideal.
I think I went into As We Fall Through Time expecting This is How You Lose The Time War or The Invisible Life if Addie LaRue two books that I deeply love, and this fell short. Not the characters nor the plot was strong enough to make me want to read the entire book, but I did it because I wanted to be able to give a valid review. The key word is lacking. What is lacking? I couldn't tell you. It just didn't click, I wasn't interested.
But I will say the writing is good.

Thank you Netgalley and Orbit for the ARC.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

As We Fall Through Time is a disjointed, interesting, and suspenseful time travel novel that has a lot of big ideas. It's a bit of a mess, but life is messy. Time travel is messy. Cal is a bit of a mess as he tries to untangle a paradox that threatens to end the world.

Cal and his friend, fellow time-traveler Fadimatu, attempt to stop a giant paradox and set things right. The writing style is a little lofty but it doesn't take away from the plot. I did really like the way those who could time travel did so, by moving through the history of buildings, Neat idea.

While not my favorite time travel novel, I enjoyed this book. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.