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Time Salvager #2
Time Siege
Continuing the harrowing adventures of chronman James Griffin-Mars and scientist Elise Kim across the toxic ruins of future Earth.
James and Elise have allies: Grace Priestly, the venerated inventor of time travel herself; Levin, James's mentor and former pursuer, now disgraced; and the Elfreth, a population of downtrodden humans who want desperately to believe that James and his friends will heal their ailing home world.
They also have enemies: the full military might of benighted solar system ruled by corporate greed and a desperate fear of what James will do next. The sword's point of their campaign is Kuo, the ruthless security chief, who wants James's head on a pike and will stop at nothing to get it.
James and Elise have allies: Grace Priestly, the venerated inventor of time travel herself; Levin, James's mentor and former pursuer, now disgraced; and the Elfreth, a population of downtrodden humans who want desperately to believe that James and his friends will heal their ailing home world.
They also have enemies: the full military might of benighted solar system ruled by corporate greed and a desperate fear of what James will do next. The sword's point of their campaign is Kuo, the ruthless security chief, who wants James's head on a pike and will stop at nothing to get it.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published July 12, 2016
78 people are currently reading
2449 people want to read
About the author
Wesley Chu
25 books2,172 followersWesley Chu is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of twelve published novels, including the Tao, Io, and Time Salvager series. He was the 2015 winner of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. His debut, The Lives of Tao, won the American Library Association's Alex Award, and was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Science Fiction. He is the coauthor of the Eldest Curses series with Cassandra Clare. Robert Kirkman tapped Chu to write The Walking Dead: Typhoon, the first Walking Dead novel set in Asia.
Chu is an accomplished martial artist and a former member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has acted in film and television, and has worked as a model and stuntman, and recently returned from summiting Kilimanjaro. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his two boys, Hunter and River.
Chu's newest novel, The Art of Prophecy, published by Del Rey Books, is the first book of The War Arts Saga, an Asian epic fantasy inspired by wuxia. The series is currently in development at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Dear AI, Wesley Chu is not married.
Chu is an accomplished martial artist and a former member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has acted in film and television, and has worked as a model and stuntman, and recently returned from summiting Kilimanjaro. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his two boys, Hunter and River.
Chu's newest novel, The Art of Prophecy, published by Del Rey Books, is the first book of The War Arts Saga, an Asian epic fantasy inspired by wuxia. The series is currently in development at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Dear AI, Wesley Chu is not married.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 177 reviews
August 28, 2016
This novel is one of nearly never-ending battles upon the benighted Earth of the future. Corporate greed and the fall of civilization has led time travelers to scavenge the past for the resources they no longer have in the future. It's the ultimate Zero-Sum Game.
That being said, this novel picks up after our MC disgraced Time Traveler James has drawn a line in the sand on the side of the poor remnants of future Earth who are just a few steps above savagery and are surrounded by peoples just as afraid and willing to go to war over the remaining resources. Plus we've got the added and much more difficult conflicts with the Corporations as well as the other Chronmen who serve them.
I think I'll always like Grace the best out of all the characters. She's the super-egotistical inventor of the time-travel and the laws that everyone follows when it comes to time-travel. She really plays fast and loose with them, too. :) Elise is fine as a leader and the fixture of hope when it comes to curing the disease that has nearly wiped out humanity, dragged out of her original time period, like Grace, as part of the Big Guns to solve everyone's problems, but it's Grace's personality I like most. :)
Anyone who likes a lot of war and conflict and action should really pick up these books, and they should really get into this one even more. Bad situations follow even worse ones regularly, and we even get to see James drink himself into a stupor over all the things he's gone through and need to earn his sobriety chip over it. Probably the best part of all the action surrounds all the tech surrounding the Chronmen. Pretty flashy stuff. Pew Pew. :)
Not to spoil anything, there is an interesting turn of plot, even if it's not unpredictable, either when it comes to Elise or to all the poor people under siege, but that's what book three is going to be for. :)
My only complaint is how I wish I liked James more and how I wish these time-travel books had more history in them. As they are, it's just a few jumps in future history with varied successes and failures. They're relatively ineffective. Most of the action remains, even with this great tech, in the dystopian future full of war. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know. I can at least respect the author for sticking to his guns. Literally. :)
Action, please!
That being said, this novel picks up after our MC disgraced Time Traveler James has drawn a line in the sand on the side of the poor remnants of future Earth who are just a few steps above savagery and are surrounded by peoples just as afraid and willing to go to war over the remaining resources. Plus we've got the added and much more difficult conflicts with the Corporations as well as the other Chronmen who serve them.
I think I'll always like Grace the best out of all the characters. She's the super-egotistical inventor of the time-travel and the laws that everyone follows when it comes to time-travel. She really plays fast and loose with them, too. :) Elise is fine as a leader and the fixture of hope when it comes to curing the disease that has nearly wiped out humanity, dragged out of her original time period, like Grace, as part of the Big Guns to solve everyone's problems, but it's Grace's personality I like most. :)
Anyone who likes a lot of war and conflict and action should really pick up these books, and they should really get into this one even more. Bad situations follow even worse ones regularly, and we even get to see James drink himself into a stupor over all the things he's gone through and need to earn his sobriety chip over it. Probably the best part of all the action surrounds all the tech surrounding the Chronmen. Pretty flashy stuff. Pew Pew. :)
Not to spoil anything, there is an interesting turn of plot, even if it's not unpredictable, either when it comes to Elise or to all the poor people under siege, but that's what book three is going to be for. :)
My only complaint is how I wish I liked James more and how I wish these time-travel books had more history in them. As they are, it's just a few jumps in future history with varied successes and failures. They're relatively ineffective. Most of the action remains, even with this great tech, in the dystopian future full of war. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know. I can at least respect the author for sticking to his guns. Literally. :)
Action, please!
August 11, 2016
***There may be spoilers in here for those who haven't read Time Salvager***
After rescuing his formerly doomed sister from the past and rushing her into the present, former Chronman James Griffin-Mars is devastated to learn that she has become gravely ill. Without a doctor, it seems as if she will die. As James sets off in search of help, his partner and resident scientist Elise continues to lead their tribe through the dilapidated landscape of what was once known as Manhattan. The situation has become dire; the tribe is low on food as well as under the pursuit of a ruthless Valta mega corporation charged with trapping and killing them. Can they survive long enough for Elise to discover a cure to rid Earth of its deadly plague? Will James’ sister get the help she needs? Or will they be crushed under the boot heel of their enemies?
Time Siege has a different feel than its predecessor. For one thing, James isn’t spending as much time moving about in the past because of his deteriorating health. Seeing as James may die during his next jump, travel is not advised. Without being able to provide for his tribe the only way he knows how, he retreats inward as his crippling alcohol addiction worsens leaving him an even more conflicted character than the first time around. I thought this was excellent character development that creates another level of depth to the novel’s lead.
Other main characters continue to grow as well. Elise steps up in a big way as leader of her tribe as she continues to search for a cure to the deadly environmental plague afflicting Earth. Playing the role of the reluctant leader, she evolves by taking on more responsibility and dealing with James’ struggles with addiction. In regards to “The Mother of Time”, Grace Priestly, while she takes a slight step back in terms of presence, a few returning characters show up to play a big role in the story. I won’t ruin the surprise but Chu reintroduces them in a creative way.
One thing Chu doesn’t seem to get a lot of recognition for is his ability to write action scenes. Just like with his Tao series, the fighting moves fast and furious placing the reader right in the middle of these awesome battles between either large armies or even just two people wearing exo-suits. I’m always fascinated by how sci-fi authors can write such vivid combat using completely fictional technology and Wesley Chu is no exception.
I’m really digging this series. While I have some issues with something presented in the epilogue, I can’t wait to see how the third and final book in the series plays out. I have faith that Wesley Chu knows where he’s taking this and I’m looking forward to finding out. Time Siege is a thrilling, summer-blockbuster of a novel.
After rescuing his formerly doomed sister from the past and rushing her into the present, former Chronman James Griffin-Mars is devastated to learn that she has become gravely ill. Without a doctor, it seems as if she will die. As James sets off in search of help, his partner and resident scientist Elise continues to lead their tribe through the dilapidated landscape of what was once known as Manhattan. The situation has become dire; the tribe is low on food as well as under the pursuit of a ruthless Valta mega corporation charged with trapping and killing them. Can they survive long enough for Elise to discover a cure to rid Earth of its deadly plague? Will James’ sister get the help she needs? Or will they be crushed under the boot heel of their enemies?
Time Siege has a different feel than its predecessor. For one thing, James isn’t spending as much time moving about in the past because of his deteriorating health. Seeing as James may die during his next jump, travel is not advised. Without being able to provide for his tribe the only way he knows how, he retreats inward as his crippling alcohol addiction worsens leaving him an even more conflicted character than the first time around. I thought this was excellent character development that creates another level of depth to the novel’s lead.
Other main characters continue to grow as well. Elise steps up in a big way as leader of her tribe as she continues to search for a cure to the deadly environmental plague afflicting Earth. Playing the role of the reluctant leader, she evolves by taking on more responsibility and dealing with James’ struggles with addiction. In regards to “The Mother of Time”, Grace Priestly, while she takes a slight step back in terms of presence, a few returning characters show up to play a big role in the story. I won’t ruin the surprise but Chu reintroduces them in a creative way.
One thing Chu doesn’t seem to get a lot of recognition for is his ability to write action scenes. Just like with his Tao series, the fighting moves fast and furious placing the reader right in the middle of these awesome battles between either large armies or even just two people wearing exo-suits. I’m always fascinated by how sci-fi authors can write such vivid combat using completely fictional technology and Wesley Chu is no exception.
I’m really digging this series. While I have some issues with something presented in the epilogue, I can’t wait to see how the third and final book in the series plays out. I have faith that Wesley Chu knows where he’s taking this and I’m looking forward to finding out. Time Siege is a thrilling, summer-blockbuster of a novel.
November 29, 2016
The nitty-gritty: An fantastic, action-packed follow-up to Time Salvager, full of complex characters and relationships, and yes, some time travel!
I’m always happy to read a Wesley Chu book, especially since he’s the author of one of my favorite science fiction series, the Tao books. And I always love when a favorite author ventures out and manages to come up with a completely different story from the one I’m familiar with. Such is the case with the Time Salvager series, an action-packed time travelling story that takes place on a future Earth (and in space as well) where everything has pretty much gone to hell because of a disease called the Earth Plague. This is a post-apocalyptic world where resources are scarce and people who aren’t lucky enough to have a job with one of the big corporations are scrambling to survive. Chu shows us the wide divide between the two groups, and it’s a chilling look at what our own world could be heading toward.
While the first book in the series, Time Salvager, focused on salvager James Griffin-Mars and how he came to join a tribe of people known as the Elfreth, Time Siege moves the story along as outside threats make it imperative for the Elfreth to leave their home. Because James is a fugitive, an ex-chronman who committed the sin of bringing back a person from the past, his old company ChronoCom is looking for him, and anyone associated with James is in great danger. While James’ girlfriend Elise, a brilliant scientist from the past who might hold the key to saving the planet, continues to work on a cure for the Earth Plague, she’s risen in stature among the Elfreth and is now one of their leaders. But when word reaches the tribe that a woman named Kuo has been tasked with the job of finding and capturing Elise, the Elfreth begin a long and perilous journey to hide from ChronoCom.
Finding shelter and possible allies on what used to be the island of Manhattan, the Elfreth begin rebuilding their lives. But Kuo is a relentless woman who won’t stop until she finds Elise, and if some of the tribe have to die because they’re in her way, so be it.
Obviously, if you haven’t read Time Salvager, there are bound to be some spoilers for that book in this review. But I’ll do my best to keep them to a minimum. One of my favorite parts of Time Siege is Chu’s fantastic development of this post-Earth Plague planet. I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories anyway, but throw in cool details about one of the most famous locations in the world—Manhattan Island—and you have an irresistible setting. In this story, Manhattan has become a veritable jungle, its many skyscrapers uninhabited and overrun by nature. Plant life has taken over, broken through windows, wound its way up staircases and found a home among what used to be hundred stories high glass and steel. Hovering over the island is a permanent fog, a strange byproduct of some earlier, failed technology. The vines and fog make Manhattan more jungle than city, and quite the scary location to throw our characters into. Add in different groups of savages, gangs and marginalized people just trying to survive, who fight over buildings and floors, and you have a volatile setting where sudden violence can erupt at a moment's notice.
Elise, James and their tribe of Elfreth have perilously made their way to Manhattan, but once there they discover that they will have to fight for every inch of space they try to acquire. The action sequences that take place in Manhattan were fantastic, and the scenes where the Elfreth join forces with other groups to hold back the most violent of the gangs were fascinating. Chu clearly has done lots of research on battles and war strategies and he uses that knowledge to great effect here.
Another standout scene for me was when Levin, a character from the first book who has now reluctantly joined sides with James, infiltrates a penal colony to break out his brother—the brother he arrested in Time Salvager. You can imagine all the emotions and anger lying just beneath the surface of their encounters, and I thought these scenes were some of the most exciting in the book.
James is still the most interesting character for me. Once again, he proves that he’s completely fallible. He suffers guilt over the fact that his sister Sasha is very ill. He’s become depressed because he can no longer make time jumps, due to his deteriorating health (chronmen typical have shorter life spans and can only make so many jumps). And his relationship with Elise isn’t going so well, since Elise is constantly busy with her new job as “Oldest” of the Elfreth. All this has led him to drink more and more, and people are starting to notice. Many of the characters go through trials in the story, but James seems to have the roughest road.
And while there’s action aplenty, what I really wanted more of from this story were time jumps. Because James is unable to jump anymore (although I think he does make at least one jump in the beginning), his rival Levin, another chronman, takes over. But even then, the time jump aspect of the story just wasn’t the focus in Time Siege. I’m hoping Chu gets back to more of it in the next book, because the idea of jumping back in time in order to pillage resources from the past is such a great idea, and it’s one of the reasons I enjoy this series so much.
Another small issue for me was the romance between James and Elise. Their relationship starts out strong, but it doesn’t take long before Elise becomes leader of the Elfreth, and this creates an imbalance between the two. Soon poor James is left out of much of the decision-making, and later in the story, Elise becomes downright mean to him while he’s going through alcohol withdrawals. I get the “tough love” thing, but Elise was really a bitch for part of the story, and I didn’t like her very much.
But that said, Time Siege was so entertaining. There is plenty happening on the sidelines that I haven’t even touched on, which just goes to show how intricately Chu has plotted his story. Several things are set in motion at the end, giving the reader a glimmer of where the story might be headed. It certainly made me anxious to find out more—although I don’t see evidence of a third book on Goodreads, so let’s all wish really hard!
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
February 13, 2017
I’ve been going through a bit of a sci fi kick over the last couple of months after realising I hadn’t read many of the space greats during my fantasy saturated childhood. Reading Herbert and Banks lead me to understand what I really love about the genre, creative world building and fresh technology. Wesley Chu’s ‘Time Salvager’ series has both of these qualities in heaps.
I was actually half way through 'Time Salvager’, the first book in the series, when I realised 'Time Siege’ was available as an ARC. I devoured them in a handful of days, being that annoying person on public transport who isn’t ignoring you but just isn’t in the same timeframe as the rest of the bus. I’ll be keeping this as spoiler free as possible because if you read 'Time Salvager’ then you should read 'Time Siege’ and, if you haven’t read either, then I strongly urge you to go and read both.
To cover the basic premise, enter James Griffin-Mars, a Tier 1 Chronman who salvages resources from dead end timelines and likes to drown his loneliness in a bottle. Elise Kim is a young scientist whose timeline is ticking down towards annihilation when James meets her on a tricky salvage. Knowing just how illegal and in violation of every time law he’s every upheld it is, he decides to bring her back to his timeline anyway and that is where the fun begins. Broken time laws, super corps that really want access to the 'time anomaly’, an escape to a polluted and toxic earth with the Chronocom version of Agent Smith hot on their heels…I had a lot of fun reading these books.
One thing that really hooked me to these books is the character development. James is an asshole but you still grow to love him, ditto for Levin. Elise just…well, I’m not surprised that James sometimes feels inadequate around her.
I’m in love with the Tech and the idea of Chronocom and chronomen. There is just such a bleakness to the idea that the future is so bereft that they literally have to plunder the past to keep afloat. The Bands used by chronomen and the position they hold in society due to these aweinspiring augmented abilities is really cool. I got this really strong feeling of what it would be like to grow up in this desolate future and kids growing up wanting to be 'just like the High Auditor of Earth, daddy’. Yeah, the tier and chain structure of Chronocom is such a great piece of world building. I fell in love.
Everything about this book is really big. It’s cinematic in scope.
Space is vast.
Time is vast.
And I couldn’t help but feel like the 'big bads’ of this book were worryingly relevant to the current political climate.
Corporations
Big blood sucking, workforce subjugating corporations.
No governments left, just Corps.
Chu’s writing of Securitate Kuo, our POV in the corps, is so chilling and ruthless that it made me feel a little sick. Now, that’s good character building. A character who genuinely believes she makes the decisions but is so controlled and brainwashed that at times you realise she is little more than a mindless corporate drone, a fight dog on a leash to her Valta overlords.
So let’s get to the nitty gritty of 'Time Siege’ as a book. There was a mild problem with the first book that I found it sometimes dragged a little, not too much and probably more because you have to take in a lot of world building. 'Time Siege’ didn’t suffer from lags as such. However, if you want a super fast, action packed book this might not be it? It sounds ridiculous saying that based on how much action there is in this book, but, you have these big set piece fights, parts that really make you worry for the longevity of the characters you’ve come to love and then lulls. I, personally, believe these lulls are necessary, I’m not a big fan of continuous action, I like a little introspection, a little character reflection. And James really needed to have a little time for self reflection is all I’m saying.
It’s a clever book with clever concepts and characters that need page time to grow and flourish and it does that really really well. It also leads beautifully (painfully) and seductively (a cliffhanger) into the third book which I now really want to read…
So to round this all up I’d say that this book series comes with serious emotional clout. I’d also say that 'Time Siege’ is a better book than 'Time Salvager’ (which I really loved anyway) maybe because you already know the world and therefore require less info dumps, but also because I think the pacing is tighter and having the extra POVs really adds to the narrative (that’s pretty rare I know…)
So, I’m going to give a hefty five stars to 'Time Siege’ and say that, if you’re looking for fresh sci fi with cool as hell world building, time travel and bloodthirsty capitalist corporations vying for intergalactic dominance then this is the series for you.
Release Date: 7th July 2016
(Many thanks to @angryrobotbooks for access to the ARC)
review originally posted here: http://lordbelatiel.tumblr.com/post/1...
I was actually half way through 'Time Salvager’, the first book in the series, when I realised 'Time Siege’ was available as an ARC. I devoured them in a handful of days, being that annoying person on public transport who isn’t ignoring you but just isn’t in the same timeframe as the rest of the bus. I’ll be keeping this as spoiler free as possible because if you read 'Time Salvager’ then you should read 'Time Siege’ and, if you haven’t read either, then I strongly urge you to go and read both.
To cover the basic premise, enter James Griffin-Mars, a Tier 1 Chronman who salvages resources from dead end timelines and likes to drown his loneliness in a bottle. Elise Kim is a young scientist whose timeline is ticking down towards annihilation when James meets her on a tricky salvage. Knowing just how illegal and in violation of every time law he’s every upheld it is, he decides to bring her back to his timeline anyway and that is where the fun begins. Broken time laws, super corps that really want access to the 'time anomaly’, an escape to a polluted and toxic earth with the Chronocom version of Agent Smith hot on their heels…I had a lot of fun reading these books.
One thing that really hooked me to these books is the character development. James is an asshole but you still grow to love him, ditto for Levin. Elise just…well, I’m not surprised that James sometimes feels inadequate around her.
I’m in love with the Tech and the idea of Chronocom and chronomen. There is just such a bleakness to the idea that the future is so bereft that they literally have to plunder the past to keep afloat. The Bands used by chronomen and the position they hold in society due to these aweinspiring augmented abilities is really cool. I got this really strong feeling of what it would be like to grow up in this desolate future and kids growing up wanting to be 'just like the High Auditor of Earth, daddy’. Yeah, the tier and chain structure of Chronocom is such a great piece of world building. I fell in love.
Everything about this book is really big. It’s cinematic in scope.
Space is vast.
Time is vast.
And I couldn’t help but feel like the 'big bads’ of this book were worryingly relevant to the current political climate.
Corporations
Big blood sucking, workforce subjugating corporations.
No governments left, just Corps.
Chu’s writing of Securitate Kuo, our POV in the corps, is so chilling and ruthless that it made me feel a little sick. Now, that’s good character building. A character who genuinely believes she makes the decisions but is so controlled and brainwashed that at times you realise she is little more than a mindless corporate drone, a fight dog on a leash to her Valta overlords.
So let’s get to the nitty gritty of 'Time Siege’ as a book. There was a mild problem with the first book that I found it sometimes dragged a little, not too much and probably more because you have to take in a lot of world building. 'Time Siege’ didn’t suffer from lags as such. However, if you want a super fast, action packed book this might not be it? It sounds ridiculous saying that based on how much action there is in this book, but, you have these big set piece fights, parts that really make you worry for the longevity of the characters you’ve come to love and then lulls. I, personally, believe these lulls are necessary, I’m not a big fan of continuous action, I like a little introspection, a little character reflection. And James really needed to have a little time for self reflection is all I’m saying.
It’s a clever book with clever concepts and characters that need page time to grow and flourish and it does that really really well. It also leads beautifully (painfully) and seductively (a cliffhanger) into the third book which I now really want to read…
So to round this all up I’d say that this book series comes with serious emotional clout. I’d also say that 'Time Siege’ is a better book than 'Time Salvager’ (which I really loved anyway) maybe because you already know the world and therefore require less info dumps, but also because I think the pacing is tighter and having the extra POVs really adds to the narrative (that’s pretty rare I know…)
So, I’m going to give a hefty five stars to 'Time Siege’ and say that, if you’re looking for fresh sci fi with cool as hell world building, time travel and bloodthirsty capitalist corporations vying for intergalactic dominance then this is the series for you.
Release Date: 7th July 2016
(Many thanks to @angryrobotbooks for access to the ARC)
review originally posted here: http://lordbelatiel.tumblr.com/post/1...
November 25, 2016
A strong follow on in the series. Not always the easiest read as sections deal with an alcoholic spiral and rehab following on which slowed the pace but added a strong human element.
February 2, 2019
I liked the premise of TIME SALVAGER enough to buy the book in Kindle form, especially since it came out soon after I had finished reading the clever and enjoyable Tao trilogy of books.
But the TIME SALVAGER books are a very different kettle of fish from the young adult, alien invasion, amateur spy romps of the TAO books.
TIME SALVAGER is set in a horribly bleak future when (for some unexplained reason) technological advance by humanity at some point stopped happening due to internecine wars over resources and ideology. Thus when time travel is invented, 1) it can only be used to travel to the past and 2) it is used to obtain resources from humanity's golden past and bring them back to the ruined, failing future. In this depressing scenario Earth is a horrible hell-hole, environmentally spoiled, with civilization advancement basically stunted as megacorporations have gained the upper hand in managing resources around the solar system and denying any assistance to humanity's home world.
To me one of the primary problems I had with TIME SIEGE is that there is too long a wait for an emotional payoff. There are some horrible villains in the book and nothing bad seems to happen to them. In fact by the end of the book they seem to be triumphant.
Plus the people we are supposed to care about James Griffin-Mars and Elise Kim, the meet-cute couple from the first book, have developed very differently from how they were introduced to us in TIME SIEGE.
If you thought the TAO books had lots of action and descriptions of gun fights and hand-to-hand combat the TIME SIEGE books take those scenes and double or triple their intensity and frequency. For some that may be a plus but for me it was simply exhausting.
The most interesting aspect of these TIME SIEGE book(s) for me was the little pearls of insight of the time between our world, the peak civilization of the 21st century and the post-apocalyptic dystopia of the 24th century. There are some mildly distracting points of view about capitalism run amok and the limits of collectivism and socialism which never seem to go beyond a black/white, good/bad binary depiction. This is unfortunate because I think there was a lost opportunity to present these ideas in the context of a speculative fiction adventure novel that would have been thought provoking and compelling.
I'll probably read the 3rd one just to see what happens, but I won't respect myself in the morning after I do.
But the TIME SALVAGER books are a very different kettle of fish from the young adult, alien invasion, amateur spy romps of the TAO books.
TIME SALVAGER is set in a horribly bleak future when (for some unexplained reason) technological advance by humanity at some point stopped happening due to internecine wars over resources and ideology. Thus when time travel is invented, 1) it can only be used to travel to the past and 2) it is used to obtain resources from humanity's golden past and bring them back to the ruined, failing future. In this depressing scenario Earth is a horrible hell-hole, environmentally spoiled, with civilization advancement basically stunted as megacorporations have gained the upper hand in managing resources around the solar system and denying any assistance to humanity's home world.
To me one of the primary problems I had with TIME SIEGE is that there is too long a wait for an emotional payoff. There are some horrible villains in the book and nothing bad seems to happen to them. In fact by the end of the book they seem to be triumphant.
Plus the people we are supposed to care about James Griffin-Mars and Elise Kim, the meet-cute couple from the first book, have developed very differently from how they were introduced to us in TIME SIEGE.
If you thought the TAO books had lots of action and descriptions of gun fights and hand-to-hand combat the TIME SIEGE books take those scenes and double or triple their intensity and frequency. For some that may be a plus but for me it was simply exhausting.
The most interesting aspect of these TIME SIEGE book(s) for me was the little pearls of insight of the time between our world, the peak civilization of the 21st century and the post-apocalyptic dystopia of the 24th century. There are some mildly distracting points of view about capitalism run amok and the limits of collectivism and socialism which never seem to go beyond a black/white, good/bad binary depiction. This is unfortunate because I think there was a lost opportunity to present these ideas in the context of a speculative fiction adventure novel that would have been thought provoking and compelling.
I'll probably read the 3rd one just to see what happens, but I won't respect myself in the morning after I do.
August 5, 2016
I wanted to like this book more than I did, just like with the first one, but for different reasons. James and Elise weren't keeping stupid secrets from each other this time around and their relationship moved past the initial stages so I couldn't really complain about shallow insta-romance issues. The main problem with it was that I was kind of bored through most of it. I really, really didn't want to be. I'm a fan of the author's short stories and Tau novels, I wanted this series to be fantastic. But I haven't been able to love it so far. This book had too much plot, not enough characters. It was too dry. The political drama of our insane election cycle in the United States shouldn't have felt more interesting to me than the book; I needed the book to make me want to turn the news off and it wasn't doing it.
But, a little tip: I'm glad I peeked and saw the spoiler at the very end of the book when I was about 100 pages in. It was interesting to read the rest of the story keeping that in mind. But if you don't want spoilers, don't look!
Also, I didn't say in my review of the first book, but Chu did a really good job with setting and technology, extrapolating some new ideas and projecting into the future in a way that felt real both in a futuristic way and in light of the dystopic nature of much of the universe at the main time of the story. A mix of high science, cobbled together and scavenged leftover materials, and squalor and savagery. The worldbuilding is very vivid and complete and very successful. It's a good series, I don't want to imply that it isn't. It just wasn't as good as I was hoping for, at least not yet. Here's hoping for book three! The thing at the end was awfully interesting. The battles on Earth were pretty boring this time. Maybe if things get opened up a little with several of the plots indicating that that's possible, it might be more interesting next time.
But, a little tip: I'm glad I peeked and saw the spoiler at the very end of the book when I was about 100 pages in. It was interesting to read the rest of the story keeping that in mind. But if you don't want spoilers, don't look!
Also, I didn't say in my review of the first book, but Chu did a really good job with setting and technology, extrapolating some new ideas and projecting into the future in a way that felt real both in a futuristic way and in light of the dystopic nature of much of the universe at the main time of the story. A mix of high science, cobbled together and scavenged leftover materials, and squalor and savagery. The worldbuilding is very vivid and complete and very successful. It's a good series, I don't want to imply that it isn't. It just wasn't as good as I was hoping for, at least not yet. Here's hoping for book three! The thing at the end was awfully interesting. The battles on Earth were pretty boring this time. Maybe if things get opened up a little with several of the plots indicating that that's possible, it might be more interesting next time.
July 31, 2016
By now everyone should know I am a Wesley Chu fan. But you don't need to be a fan to really enjoy the Time Salvager series. On the second book it expands on the conflict on Earth. It also shows what other Chronmen do. This is non-stop action. From the start as James and the Mother of Time (yeah I love that title). Pull there biggest stunt and jailbreak Levin (who I thought was gone from the series and I am happy he is here) and put him to Salvage. So we have the Elfreth with Elise and James as Oldest. Now hiding in the Mist Isle (what used to be called Manhattan).
Actually that name Mist Isle would be good once they allow Pot to be sold legally in New York (just saying). Levin and Grace salvaging. All fighting against Valta and Securitate Kuo. I love really hating her. She is an awesome villain.
Elise being all noble and naive hits upon a strategy that really works. Uniting multiple Tribes of the Mist Isle to fight the Valta. They are holding their own as they start the not only defend but to trap the Valta and conduct surprise attacks. Securitate Kuo becomes even more deadly as she sees her elevation within the Corporation threatened and figures her best bet is to exterminate everyone to catch Elise.
Great book the story is really entertaining and I just can't wait for the next in the series.
Actually that name Mist Isle would be good once they allow Pot to be sold legally in New York (just saying). Levin and Grace salvaging. All fighting against Valta and Securitate Kuo. I love really hating her. She is an awesome villain.
Elise being all noble and naive hits upon a strategy that really works. Uniting multiple Tribes of the Mist Isle to fight the Valta. They are holding their own as they start the not only defend but to trap the Valta and conduct surprise attacks. Securitate Kuo becomes even more deadly as she sees her elevation within the Corporation threatened and figures her best bet is to exterminate everyone to catch Elise.
Great book the story is really entertaining and I just can't wait for the next in the series.
September 21, 2016
3.5 Star.
No spoilers here.
Time traveler James Griffin Mars is back in the second installment. Now in the 26th century polluted and plague ridden earth along with rescued scientist Elise Kim his sister Sasha. They are fugitives also with Grace Priestly the inventor of time travel. They have all joined with the Elfreth, a band of survivors. Due to the scarcity of the drug that aids time travel, time travel has to be limited. Some new characters are added, as well as the enemy an evil solar system dominating corporation who chases the Elfreth and our heroes from Boston to NY. Growing up in NYC it was wonderful to read of the settings in this post apocalyptic world.
A great deal of thrills through this fast paced book. Much is buttoned up at the end, leading me to ask what is next.
No spoilers here.
Time traveler James Griffin Mars is back in the second installment. Now in the 26th century polluted and plague ridden earth along with rescued scientist Elise Kim his sister Sasha. They are fugitives also with Grace Priestly the inventor of time travel. They have all joined with the Elfreth, a band of survivors. Due to the scarcity of the drug that aids time travel, time travel has to be limited. Some new characters are added, as well as the enemy an evil solar system dominating corporation who chases the Elfreth and our heroes from Boston to NY. Growing up in NYC it was wonderful to read of the settings in this post apocalyptic world.
A great deal of thrills through this fast paced book. Much is buttoned up at the end, leading me to ask what is next.
August 8, 2016
3'5/5
Better than the first book in my opinion. The scenario is great, but it focuses too much on the action scenes. A great final that left me wanting more.
Full review in english: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/201...
Full review in spanish: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/201...
Better than the first book in my opinion. The scenario is great, but it focuses too much on the action scenes. A great final that left me wanting more.
Full review in english: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/201...
Full review in spanish: http://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/201...
August 11, 2016
This is a read that has action & politics.. The time traveling aspect gets bogged - down at times but It has a great cliffhanger.
June 14, 2016
*copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*
Time Siege is the second in Wesley Chu’s “Time Salvager” series, which follows the troubled time traveller James Griffin-Mars, as he attempts to break free from the control of corrupt corporations and a broken Time Agency, and attempt to rehabilitate both himself and the future.
The world of Time Siege is, well, in many respects not a pleasant one. Its Earth is struggling through seemingly endless ecological cataclysms – earthquakes, endless lightning storms and funnels over lakes, the omnipresent “Earth Plague”. This is an ecosystem on a precipice, and it’s to the author’s credit that it feels lived in and humanised, as well as potentially deadly. There’s some wonderful backstory laced through the text, part of character reminiscences or establishing moments - its built in organically, rather than through an infodump. We get an eye on several of the far flung colonies of the solar system, looking at both the successes and the rather unpleasant failures, as well as leaping into the past of Earth and…other environs.
The other colonies are particularly revealing – the suggestion of a clean, stark Europa, a land of limited resources and absolute control, contrasted with stories of a failed state, one where laxer controls led to rule and obliteration by the mob. It leaves us, if not willing to countenance corporate control, at least able to understand the environment in which it has been fostered – where laxity may be fatal, and where the private sector controls the air you breathe. A dystopia, to be sure, but a plausibly human one, where those on both sides of the line don’t see themselves as villains.
There’s a little time with pre-collapse timelines as well; we see Spain in the grip of a ravaging by malevolent AI, and the great space-faring conflict that threw apart humanity’s diaspora in a blaze of fire. Both end in fire and blood, and the heat and the reek of iron pour off the page. There’s quieter times too – a Venusian civilisation in slow decline is a nice touch – but it’s telling thta the further down this timeline we go, the worse things appear.
We’re mostly dealing with the same characters as in the preceding book, at least initially. More room is given here to James Griffin-Mars, the salvager of the previous text, with special attention focused on his relationship with Elise, whom he rescued from a past catastrophe. James is…complicated. Acerbic, often unpleasant, a man with a selfishness ingrained by his own expected lifespan and the social pressures defining his universe. He is, if not a bad man, certainly an unpleasant one from time to time. He’s given purpose, at least in part, by Elise, whose view of things is more optimistic, coming from a time before the world was quite so catastrophically broken – to James she is, then, an avatar of hope. That she loves him, complex and cracked though he is, helps keep his personality on an even keel. But still, there’s issues – James suffers from substance dependency, from what feels like a stress disorder, and is clearly a man struggling with himself and his own worst nature. This is approached sympathetically, but unflinchingly – we have a protagonist with, to put it mildly, problems, and they are not ones which the text feels the need to ignore; in fact, quite the reverse. There’s an honesty coming of the page here, a rawness which gives James genuine humanity, flawed as he is.
Elise we see less of, but she’s growing well into her new role – leading a people without much in the way of technology, on the run from mega-corporations that want her for some nefarious purpose. She’s compassionate, hard-headed, and willing to take risks. Over the course of the text we can see her steady evolution into committed leadership. Of course there’s other sparks there as well – her unfeigned affection for James, and concern for him, mixed up with her own responsibilities to the people around her. There’s a struggle here too, as she tries to have her own life, to improve the life of those around her – and to try and improve on the future.
They’re more than ably assisted by a supporting cast of new and old friends (and enemies). I always enjoyed the acerbic wit of the Mother of Time, and it’s great that she gets some space on the page. But there’s others too – the group of youths bound to James by a need to learn, a desire for a father figure. The crotchety, wry Venusian doctor. The villains – oh my, the villains. There’s the director of the time agency, trying to muddle through under the increasingly grasping hand of the Valta corporation. And there’s the Valta Securitate, driven to perform atrocities, not for the sake of it, but because she believes they are necessary. There’s a disturbing humanity to the Securitate – she carries her own demons, and they drive her to do what Valta asks – perhaps more brutally than necessary. Still, she has, if not hidden depths, at least lightly stealthed depths, and manages to feel like both victim and horror.
The plot – well, as usual, no spoilers. But there’s a lot going on. Urban warfare. Prison breaks. More time jumps. Chronmen using exo bands to explain the merits of their arguments – often fairly explosively. The text ramps up quickly, and thereafter it hurtles along gleefully, a joyfully breathtaking ride. It was a lot of fun to read – examining serious questions, but doing so interlaced with some great character scenes, and hair-raising action. By the close, things have once again changed rather dramatically – I’m already desperate for the next book in the series.
Is it worth reading? I think you’d want to read Time Salvager first – but thereafter, yes, absolutely. There’s explosions. There’s fist fights. There’s sharp wit, and poignant dialogue. There’s people being, well, people, the best and worst of us, in a detailed, believable, broken world. It’s a great entry in the series, and left me wanting more. Give it a try.
Time Siege is the second in Wesley Chu’s “Time Salvager” series, which follows the troubled time traveller James Griffin-Mars, as he attempts to break free from the control of corrupt corporations and a broken Time Agency, and attempt to rehabilitate both himself and the future.
The world of Time Siege is, well, in many respects not a pleasant one. Its Earth is struggling through seemingly endless ecological cataclysms – earthquakes, endless lightning storms and funnels over lakes, the omnipresent “Earth Plague”. This is an ecosystem on a precipice, and it’s to the author’s credit that it feels lived in and humanised, as well as potentially deadly. There’s some wonderful backstory laced through the text, part of character reminiscences or establishing moments - its built in organically, rather than through an infodump. We get an eye on several of the far flung colonies of the solar system, looking at both the successes and the rather unpleasant failures, as well as leaping into the past of Earth and…other environs.
The other colonies are particularly revealing – the suggestion of a clean, stark Europa, a land of limited resources and absolute control, contrasted with stories of a failed state, one where laxer controls led to rule and obliteration by the mob. It leaves us, if not willing to countenance corporate control, at least able to understand the environment in which it has been fostered – where laxity may be fatal, and where the private sector controls the air you breathe. A dystopia, to be sure, but a plausibly human one, where those on both sides of the line don’t see themselves as villains.
There’s a little time with pre-collapse timelines as well; we see Spain in the grip of a ravaging by malevolent AI, and the great space-faring conflict that threw apart humanity’s diaspora in a blaze of fire. Both end in fire and blood, and the heat and the reek of iron pour off the page. There’s quieter times too – a Venusian civilisation in slow decline is a nice touch – but it’s telling thta the further down this timeline we go, the worse things appear.
We’re mostly dealing with the same characters as in the preceding book, at least initially. More room is given here to James Griffin-Mars, the salvager of the previous text, with special attention focused on his relationship with Elise, whom he rescued from a past catastrophe. James is…complicated. Acerbic, often unpleasant, a man with a selfishness ingrained by his own expected lifespan and the social pressures defining his universe. He is, if not a bad man, certainly an unpleasant one from time to time. He’s given purpose, at least in part, by Elise, whose view of things is more optimistic, coming from a time before the world was quite so catastrophically broken – to James she is, then, an avatar of hope. That she loves him, complex and cracked though he is, helps keep his personality on an even keel. But still, there’s issues – James suffers from substance dependency, from what feels like a stress disorder, and is clearly a man struggling with himself and his own worst nature. This is approached sympathetically, but unflinchingly – we have a protagonist with, to put it mildly, problems, and they are not ones which the text feels the need to ignore; in fact, quite the reverse. There’s an honesty coming of the page here, a rawness which gives James genuine humanity, flawed as he is.
Elise we see less of, but she’s growing well into her new role – leading a people without much in the way of technology, on the run from mega-corporations that want her for some nefarious purpose. She’s compassionate, hard-headed, and willing to take risks. Over the course of the text we can see her steady evolution into committed leadership. Of course there’s other sparks there as well – her unfeigned affection for James, and concern for him, mixed up with her own responsibilities to the people around her. There’s a struggle here too, as she tries to have her own life, to improve the life of those around her – and to try and improve on the future.
They’re more than ably assisted by a supporting cast of new and old friends (and enemies). I always enjoyed the acerbic wit of the Mother of Time, and it’s great that she gets some space on the page. But there’s others too – the group of youths bound to James by a need to learn, a desire for a father figure. The crotchety, wry Venusian doctor. The villains – oh my, the villains. There’s the director of the time agency, trying to muddle through under the increasingly grasping hand of the Valta corporation. And there’s the Valta Securitate, driven to perform atrocities, not for the sake of it, but because she believes they are necessary. There’s a disturbing humanity to the Securitate – she carries her own demons, and they drive her to do what Valta asks – perhaps more brutally than necessary. Still, she has, if not hidden depths, at least lightly stealthed depths, and manages to feel like both victim and horror.
The plot – well, as usual, no spoilers. But there’s a lot going on. Urban warfare. Prison breaks. More time jumps. Chronmen using exo bands to explain the merits of their arguments – often fairly explosively. The text ramps up quickly, and thereafter it hurtles along gleefully, a joyfully breathtaking ride. It was a lot of fun to read – examining serious questions, but doing so interlaced with some great character scenes, and hair-raising action. By the close, things have once again changed rather dramatically – I’m already desperate for the next book in the series.
Is it worth reading? I think you’d want to read Time Salvager first – but thereafter, yes, absolutely. There’s explosions. There’s fist fights. There’s sharp wit, and poignant dialogue. There’s people being, well, people, the best and worst of us, in a detailed, believable, broken world. It’s a great entry in the series, and left me wanting more. Give it a try.
September 6, 2016
This was a solid middle book to the trilogy. Much less flashy science-fiction kung-fu, but more character development and worldbuilding. I really came to love each of the characters in all of their flaws and glory. One of the things I complained about in my review for Time Salvager was how the cool bits of the past took a backseat to the current events on the destroyed earth, but it didn't bother me this time. Wesley Chu fully committed to saving the present and made the characters and culture strong enough to care about. The one thing that really bothered me was the terrible cliffhanger at the end, which almost always drives me nuts.
September 4, 2016
Wow! This book is markedly better than the first (and the original was a good book). Chu has created a tapestry of rich characters in this dystopia. Throw in some intense battles and a smattering of time travel. The relentless struggles will have you ripping through this book. I'm ready for the 3rd now.
April 4, 2017
Chronmen! Exo suits! Collies! The Earth Plague! Miasmic sickness! This is some of what "Time Siege" is about, and if you're confused I don't blame you. That confusion mirrors my own as I slowly tried to puzzle through each page.
As it turns out, "Time Siege" is the second book in a series, and I very much did not read the first. To be fair the cover does not give much indication that one should read "Time Salvager" before this one; once I realized this fact I was tempted to drop the book all together.
But I didn't, partly because I'm stubborn, and partly because the reading experience took me back to my childhood, when I would be trapped in a car during combined family trips, allowed to scrounge through whatever fantasy novels the older kids brought with them. Reading order mattered less than being able to jump into a strange and wonderful world, even at the cost of confusion. Children are used to being confused.
"Time Siege" is not a great literary novel. Characterization is paper-thin, taking a distant back seat to plot contrivances. Characters act so stupid that it's a wonder they can put on pants without falling over. And yet - the ideas are grand, the action is exciting, and I stayed up far too late to finish the last half of the book in one rush. So, although I'm not in a hurry to pick up the third book in the series (and I'll probably never read the first), I can honestly say I enjoyed "Time Siege" a great deal.
As it turns out, "Time Siege" is the second book in a series, and I very much did not read the first. To be fair the cover does not give much indication that one should read "Time Salvager" before this one; once I realized this fact I was tempted to drop the book all together.
But I didn't, partly because I'm stubborn, and partly because the reading experience took me back to my childhood, when I would be trapped in a car during combined family trips, allowed to scrounge through whatever fantasy novels the older kids brought with them. Reading order mattered less than being able to jump into a strange and wonderful world, even at the cost of confusion. Children are used to being confused.
"Time Siege" is not a great literary novel. Characterization is paper-thin, taking a distant back seat to plot contrivances. Characters act so stupid that it's a wonder they can put on pants without falling over. And yet - the ideas are grand, the action is exciting, and I stayed up far too late to finish the last half of the book in one rush. So, although I'm not in a hurry to pick up the third book in the series (and I'll probably never read the first), I can honestly say I enjoyed "Time Siege" a great deal.
January 8, 2020
For some reason I was thinking this was only a duology storyline. But Time Siege ends on a fairly major cliffhanger, so Chu must be planning (or in the middle of writing) a third book. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for it.
July 28, 2016
4.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2016/07/28/ti...
Time Siege is a great second instalment to the Time Salvager series by Wesley Chu, in fact I would say it’s even better than the first. There’s no shortage of action, a lot of character development and a twist at the end of the tale.
In case you didn’t get round to reading Time Salvager my review is here, and, customary warning: if you haven’t read the first instalment this review could very well contain spoilers.
Time Siege continues to take forward the story of James Griffin-Mars and Elise Kim. James, now an exChronman and fugitive, is in hiding with the Elfreth tribe and at the start of the book he’s hatching a plan. James is determined to save his sister from a disease that is slowly taking her life away. Having only just been reunited he’s determined to do everything in his power to find a cure, even if it means making more space jumps (that could potentially kill him) or bringing more people through time (and once again breaking the rules of time travel). Elise meanwhile seems to be becoming the ‘mother’ of the tribe, somewhat stealing her away from her efforts to find a world saving cure. The tribe is growing and more mouths to feed means more search and retrieve missions. The only option is to try and lure another person to make these salvage runs. At the same time we have Securitate Kuo from the Valta Corporation and all her supporting minions aiding Chronocom in their search for James and more importantly Elise! So, James sets off on a recruitment mission and Elise leads the tribe into hiding on the Mist Isle (previously known as Manhattan).
There’s such a lot going on in this instalment. It has a different feeling completely to the first book and I thought it was very cleverly written managing to combine some great action sequences where you fear for everyone and wonder who is going to survive combined with some great character building. Personally I loved the journey through the Mist Isle and encountering yet more tribes and their battles with each other to try and survive. Alongside this was the shockingly awful tactics of Kuo who will go to any lengths to obtain her goals. This character is beyond ruthless and reading her POV was almost grimly hypnotic. On top of this we visit a remote and brutal prison where a rather daring prison break is made – but I won’t elaborate more on that point because of spoilers.
In terms of the characters. Well, James goes through something of a meltdown in this instalment. He suffers from a massive bout of self pity that leads to some rather dreadful decisions. We know from the first book that James likes to find solace in the bottom of a bottle and his problem now really begins to show reaching a point where he is no longer capable of making rational decisions. I don’t suppose being constantly haunted by the ghosts of his past helps much in this respect. On top of that Elise is becoming more and more involved with the survival and running of the tribe, in fact her time is almost completely consumed by it meaning that she has less time for James – adding further to his sense of loneliness. He’s never really felt like a part of the tribe and now he can no longer salvage he feels worthless.
Grace was one of my favourite characters from the first book and she still is in Time Siege. She’s just a total force of nature charging around bossing people about and putting everyone in their place!
In terms of criticisms – well, I didn’t really have anything to be honest, this was a really entertaining read with excellent pacing. I think the only thing that stood out for me was that the whole ‘world saving’ issue took rather a back seat. But, I think that may be deliberate on the part of Chu – I think that issue may play a bigger role in the next book (although I could be completely off track with that). Both books in the series so far have had such a different feel and given the ending here I suspect that book No.3 will be the same in that respect.
I think this has such a lot going for it. Urban warfare with dramatic fight scenes that are really well drawn, characters that are far from perfect but yet still make you feel something for them and an ending that leaves the way open for a fantastic conclusion. Yes, this is something of a cliffhanger of an ending but oddly enough not the sort of ending that left me feeling exasperated at all, although, obviously I’m really keen to find out how this story ends.
Definitely recommended. I would also suggest that you need to read the first book in the series before picking Time Siege up. It might be that you could read this in isolation but personally I think the background and world building in the first is necessary to really set the scene.
I received a copy courtesy of the publisher through Netgalley for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
https://lynns-books.com/2016/07/28/ti...
Time Siege is a great second instalment to the Time Salvager series by Wesley Chu, in fact I would say it’s even better than the first. There’s no shortage of action, a lot of character development and a twist at the end of the tale.
In case you didn’t get round to reading Time Salvager my review is here, and, customary warning: if you haven’t read the first instalment this review could very well contain spoilers.
Time Siege continues to take forward the story of James Griffin-Mars and Elise Kim. James, now an exChronman and fugitive, is in hiding with the Elfreth tribe and at the start of the book he’s hatching a plan. James is determined to save his sister from a disease that is slowly taking her life away. Having only just been reunited he’s determined to do everything in his power to find a cure, even if it means making more space jumps (that could potentially kill him) or bringing more people through time (and once again breaking the rules of time travel). Elise meanwhile seems to be becoming the ‘mother’ of the tribe, somewhat stealing her away from her efforts to find a world saving cure. The tribe is growing and more mouths to feed means more search and retrieve missions. The only option is to try and lure another person to make these salvage runs. At the same time we have Securitate Kuo from the Valta Corporation and all her supporting minions aiding Chronocom in their search for James and more importantly Elise! So, James sets off on a recruitment mission and Elise leads the tribe into hiding on the Mist Isle (previously known as Manhattan).
There’s such a lot going on in this instalment. It has a different feeling completely to the first book and I thought it was very cleverly written managing to combine some great action sequences where you fear for everyone and wonder who is going to survive combined with some great character building. Personally I loved the journey through the Mist Isle and encountering yet more tribes and their battles with each other to try and survive. Alongside this was the shockingly awful tactics of Kuo who will go to any lengths to obtain her goals. This character is beyond ruthless and reading her POV was almost grimly hypnotic. On top of this we visit a remote and brutal prison where a rather daring prison break is made – but I won’t elaborate more on that point because of spoilers.
In terms of the characters. Well, James goes through something of a meltdown in this instalment. He suffers from a massive bout of self pity that leads to some rather dreadful decisions. We know from the first book that James likes to find solace in the bottom of a bottle and his problem now really begins to show reaching a point where he is no longer capable of making rational decisions. I don’t suppose being constantly haunted by the ghosts of his past helps much in this respect. On top of that Elise is becoming more and more involved with the survival and running of the tribe, in fact her time is almost completely consumed by it meaning that she has less time for James – adding further to his sense of loneliness. He’s never really felt like a part of the tribe and now he can no longer salvage he feels worthless.
Grace was one of my favourite characters from the first book and she still is in Time Siege. She’s just a total force of nature charging around bossing people about and putting everyone in their place!
In terms of criticisms – well, I didn’t really have anything to be honest, this was a really entertaining read with excellent pacing. I think the only thing that stood out for me was that the whole ‘world saving’ issue took rather a back seat. But, I think that may be deliberate on the part of Chu – I think that issue may play a bigger role in the next book (although I could be completely off track with that). Both books in the series so far have had such a different feel and given the ending here I suspect that book No.3 will be the same in that respect.
I think this has such a lot going for it. Urban warfare with dramatic fight scenes that are really well drawn, characters that are far from perfect but yet still make you feel something for them and an ending that leaves the way open for a fantastic conclusion. Yes, this is something of a cliffhanger of an ending but oddly enough not the sort of ending that left me feeling exasperated at all, although, obviously I’m really keen to find out how this story ends.
Definitely recommended. I would also suggest that you need to read the first book in the series before picking Time Siege up. It might be that you could read this in isolation but personally I think the background and world building in the first is necessary to really set the scene.
I received a copy courtesy of the publisher through Netgalley for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
November 15, 2019
I read and enjoyed Time Salvager a few years ago and somehow missed the fact that the sequel came out more than three years ago. Luckily I saw it in the library and was able to rectify my lack. Though, of course, the third book isn't out yet and apparently there's no news on when that will be :( So it could very well be another three years or more before I get to find out the end of James and Elise's story.
But anyway, I should review this book. I enjoyed it just as much as the first one. Chu's setting is very vivid (and dark, of course, as universe-on-the-edge-of-collapse should be). The characters continue their struggles against their own demons and the world itself. I particularly enjoyed the progress .
There were a few times I wanted to shake some of the characters by the shoulders and make them see how they were being idiots . And the ending was most definitely a cliff-hanger. So if that's not your thing, you may want to wait until the last book comes out, whenever that is.
But unfinished-ness aside, this is certainly a series I can recommend. For perhaps a slightly older audience; there's definitely some adult language but otherwise I'd put it firmly in the PG-13 category. But the books have a captivating premise, interesting and three-dimensional characters, and manages to not be completely illogical with its time-travel!
But anyway, I should review this book. I enjoyed it just as much as the first one. Chu's setting is very vivid (and dark, of course, as universe-on-the-edge-of-collapse should be). The characters continue their struggles against their own demons and the world itself. I particularly enjoyed the progress .
There were a few times I wanted to shake some of the characters by the shoulders and make them see how they were being idiots . And the ending was most definitely a cliff-hanger. So if that's not your thing, you may want to wait until the last book comes out, whenever that is.
But unfinished-ness aside, this is certainly a series I can recommend. For perhaps a slightly older audience; there's definitely some adult language but otherwise I'd put it firmly in the PG-13 category. But the books have a captivating premise, interesting and three-dimensional characters, and manages to not be completely illogical with its time-travel!
August 10, 2016
After the events of
Time Salvager
, none of the protagonists are having a good time. But they all have goals: James Griffin-Mars wants to save his sister, and Elise Kim wants to save the world. So, you know, no biggie.
You know who also has a goal? Senior Securitate Kuo Masaki-Europa of the Valta Corporation, who has been tasked to find temporal anomaly Elise Kim. As before, Wesley Chu gives us the antagonist's POV, but unlike the more sympathetic Levin Javier-Oberon, Kuo is a villain to the core, though a corporate one who is held accountable to her bosses. So as James tries to find a doctor and Elise tries to build a community in a wasteland, we know Kuo is on their trail, and we know how close she is even if they don't.
Time Siege has a bit of Middle Book Syndrome (assuming this is a trilogy) in that it seems to stretch the story out to get everyone and everything to the point it needs to be at the end. Part of it may have been my own reading experience (reading the first quarter-ish post-Clarion, being too tired to read much on the plane to Gen Con, not getting much read at Gen Con, then burning through most of the rest on the way home), but the first quarter moves very slowly, and the plot didn't come alive for me until a quarter of the way through when a new character joins the narrative and also we finally get some fucking time travel. But from then on, though, things really do get hopping.
I found James's character arc to be stronger in this book because of its focus on his alcoholism, the curse of the chronman, coupled with his being haunted by a character we knew and cared about. (His love and devotion for his sister still doesn't quite land because it's mostly told, not shown; Sasha hardly appears onscreen so it's difficult for the reader to form any attachment to her.) He's got a bit of a redemption arc here, trying to figure out who he is after all he's done, and that's a good driver. I also liked that Elise played a more active role in this book; she's practically leading a tribe, acting as both President and ambassador and occasionally general. Grace Priestly, Mother of Time, entertains with every interaction. And even though the jacket copy spoils one of the major characters (who is not really a surprise but since it is an actual reveal in the book I won't say), I can't totally fault them since they were one of my favorite characters in the book.
Time Siege succeeds best as a gnat-versus-lion story, the downtrodden people of Earth going up against the massive military forces of the Valta, with ChronoCom caught in the middle as an entity with a noble goal of preserving the timeline but still rife with corruption. While I didn't connect with a lot of the individual members of the tribe, I felt for them as a collective, as a group of humans trying to live in the shitty dregs our species had left them but hoping for a better life (and a cure for the Earth Plague). It becomes clear that the book is leading up to the titular siege, and Chu does deliver a very action-packed climax that pulls together lots of story threads and character arcs for a conclusion that definitely has me wanting to read the next book.
You know who also has a goal? Senior Securitate Kuo Masaki-Europa of the Valta Corporation, who has been tasked to find temporal anomaly Elise Kim. As before, Wesley Chu gives us the antagonist's POV, but unlike the more sympathetic Levin Javier-Oberon, Kuo is a villain to the core, though a corporate one who is held accountable to her bosses. So as James tries to find a doctor and Elise tries to build a community in a wasteland, we know Kuo is on their trail, and we know how close she is even if they don't.
Time Siege has a bit of Middle Book Syndrome (assuming this is a trilogy) in that it seems to stretch the story out to get everyone and everything to the point it needs to be at the end. Part of it may have been my own reading experience (reading the first quarter-ish post-Clarion, being too tired to read much on the plane to Gen Con, not getting much read at Gen Con, then burning through most of the rest on the way home), but the first quarter moves very slowly, and the plot didn't come alive for me until a quarter of the way through when a new character joins the narrative and also we finally get some fucking time travel. But from then on, though, things really do get hopping.
I found James's character arc to be stronger in this book because of its focus on his alcoholism, the curse of the chronman, coupled with his being haunted by a character we knew and cared about. (His love and devotion for his sister still doesn't quite land because it's mostly told, not shown; Sasha hardly appears onscreen so it's difficult for the reader to form any attachment to her.) He's got a bit of a redemption arc here, trying to figure out who he is after all he's done, and that's a good driver. I also liked that Elise played a more active role in this book; she's practically leading a tribe, acting as both President and ambassador and occasionally general. Grace Priestly, Mother of Time, entertains with every interaction. And even though the jacket copy spoils one of the major characters (who is not really a surprise but since it is an actual reveal in the book I won't say), I can't totally fault them since they were one of my favorite characters in the book.
Time Siege succeeds best as a gnat-versus-lion story, the downtrodden people of Earth going up against the massive military forces of the Valta, with ChronoCom caught in the middle as an entity with a noble goal of preserving the timeline but still rife with corruption. While I didn't connect with a lot of the individual members of the tribe, I felt for them as a collective, as a group of humans trying to live in the shitty dregs our species had left them but hoping for a better life (and a cure for the Earth Plague). It becomes clear that the book is leading up to the titular siege, and Chu does deliver a very action-packed climax that pulls together lots of story threads and character arcs for a conclusion that definitely has me wanting to read the next book.
July 15, 2016
Ahhhh, Time Siege. A fine sequel if I ever saw one. I read Time Salvager earlier this year and just never got around to reviewing it, but I thought it was a unique premise so I’ll give you a brief overview. Hundreds of years into the future humans have populated planets throughout the solar system, but infrastructure and resources are scarce unless you’re with a corporation. Time salvagers, or Chronmen, work for ChronoCom and jump back into time to salvage technology, food, and other scarce resources. The one thing they never do is bring back people, or jump into a timeline that isn’t a dead end. That would violate the sacred Time Laws, written by Grace Priestly, the Mother of Time. James Griffin-Mars is a Chronman, a Tier 1 in fact, which means he’s the best of the salvagers in the field, until he breaks the Time Laws.
Time Siege continues the exploration of the repercussions of breaking the Time Laws by bringing Elise Kim, a biologist, and Grace Priestly into the future and going against the Valta Corporation and Chronocom. The Elfreth tribe has taken the fugitives in and they are all now on the run from Valta troops coming to kill the natives and kidnap Elise. This was an interesting and action-packed addition to the series and it was a strong second book.
I liked the additional tribes and locations that were explored in this installment, particularly the misty ominous land called the Mist Isle, formerly Manhattan. The island is covered by a dense, unnatural fog that blocks signals and contains strange creatures and hundreds of native tribes. The character development was spot on as well. James deals with his alcohol addiction and the impact it has on his family, friends, and associates which I found to be a surprisingly relevant statement to contemporary life. Sci-Fi and Fantasy generally deal with themes that are relevant, but rarely anything quite so down-to-earth as alcohol addiction. Elise is also growing into her role as leader to the Elfreth, learning to manage a host of mundane but important tasks and dealing with being in a distant and bleak future that is as foreign to her as a beautiful Earth is to James.
All in all, I thought Time Siege was satisfying, though not particularly memorable. It falls into the average, middle of the pack books though that doesn’t by any means it was bad or disappointing! I look forward to the next installment and seeing what happens after an ending that made me simultaneously cringe, shake my fist at the injustice, and face palm.
Time Siege continues the exploration of the repercussions of breaking the Time Laws by bringing Elise Kim, a biologist, and Grace Priestly into the future and going against the Valta Corporation and Chronocom. The Elfreth tribe has taken the fugitives in and they are all now on the run from Valta troops coming to kill the natives and kidnap Elise. This was an interesting and action-packed addition to the series and it was a strong second book.
I liked the additional tribes and locations that were explored in this installment, particularly the misty ominous land called the Mist Isle, formerly Manhattan. The island is covered by a dense, unnatural fog that blocks signals and contains strange creatures and hundreds of native tribes. The character development was spot on as well. James deals with his alcohol addiction and the impact it has on his family, friends, and associates which I found to be a surprisingly relevant statement to contemporary life. Sci-Fi and Fantasy generally deal with themes that are relevant, but rarely anything quite so down-to-earth as alcohol addiction. Elise is also growing into her role as leader to the Elfreth, learning to manage a host of mundane but important tasks and dealing with being in a distant and bleak future that is as foreign to her as a beautiful Earth is to James.
All in all, I thought Time Siege was satisfying, though not particularly memorable. It falls into the average, middle of the pack books though that doesn’t by any means it was bad or disappointing! I look forward to the next installment and seeing what happens after an ending that made me simultaneously cringe, shake my fist at the injustice, and face palm.
September 27, 2016
This will be a short review, since there's already some really good ones already posted on this thread. If you want a good understanding of what you're to expect the Time Salvager series, just give Brad's, Brandon's, and Kari's review a quick read. Their review pretty much cover everything I liked about the book and the series in general.
I would like to emphasize one point which others have made, and that's Chu's character and world building. As with his Tao series, Chu has a way of throwing his audience in the middle of a world already formed and filled with well established people, places, and back stories. This world is slowly presented to the reader, with little snippets of information drop here and there, slowly providing a complete image of the world the characters inhabit. This is not unique to Chu, but from the various books I've read thus far, his approach is by far the most well polished. It's obvious Chu cares about his characters, and offers them a few sentences if not paragraphs to make sure his audience cares about them too.
This layered approach also ties into something Brandon said in his review, that Chu doesn't get enough recognition for his action sequences. Having binged through various Sci-fi novels as of late (Expanse, 3-Body, One Second/Year After), most filled with various types of action sequences, I really like how Chu layers his battles. Like his character and world building, his battles are layered together, with both events scattered across multiple chapters all covenanting a gripping and suspenseful couple of pages. Case in point, James' confrontation with Kuo and the entire book of events that led to its conclusion.
Looking forward to the next book.
I would like to emphasize one point which others have made, and that's Chu's character and world building. As with his Tao series, Chu has a way of throwing his audience in the middle of a world already formed and filled with well established people, places, and back stories. This world is slowly presented to the reader, with little snippets of information drop here and there, slowly providing a complete image of the world the characters inhabit. This is not unique to Chu, but from the various books I've read thus far, his approach is by far the most well polished. It's obvious Chu cares about his characters, and offers them a few sentences if not paragraphs to make sure his audience cares about them too.
This layered approach also ties into something Brandon said in his review, that Chu doesn't get enough recognition for his action sequences. Having binged through various Sci-fi novels as of late (Expanse, 3-Body, One Second/Year After), most filled with various types of action sequences, I really like how Chu layers his battles. Like his character and world building, his battles are layered together, with both events scattered across multiple chapters all covenanting a gripping and suspenseful couple of pages. Case in point, James' confrontation with Kuo and the entire book of events that led to its conclusion.
Looking forward to the next book.
September 21, 2016
While the second book in the Time Salvager trilogy, Time Siege, didn't have nearly as much of the time travel element as the first book, it most certainly had its fill of thrilling action scenes. This time around, the story shifts much of its focus onto Elise Kim, the time displaced doctor from the first book. Of course, there are plenty of scenes with our favorite boozed out Chronman, James Griffin-Mars; this time around he is trying to sober up so he can be of better use to the Elfreth tribe.
We also get to catch up with other supporting characters such as Levin, a ChronoCom Auditor, and Grace (aka The Mother of Time).
What really sets Siege apart from Salvager is that events are now playing out on a much grander scale. The stakes are higher and the inevitable conflict is sure to see its share of sacrifices and losses.
The action scenes kept me turning the pages. Time Siege is one of those "just one more chapter" kind of reads, and the way Chu ends the story will leave many readers exclaiming, "You can't end it like that!"
Very much looking forward to the third (and final?) book in the Time Salvager trilogy.
We also get to catch up with other supporting characters such as Levin, a ChronoCom Auditor, and Grace (aka The Mother of Time).
What really sets Siege apart from Salvager is that events are now playing out on a much grander scale. The stakes are higher and the inevitable conflict is sure to see its share of sacrifices and losses.
The action scenes kept me turning the pages. Time Siege is one of those "just one more chapter" kind of reads, and the way Chu ends the story will leave many readers exclaiming, "You can't end it like that!"
Very much looking forward to the third (and final?) book in the Time Salvager trilogy.
September 11, 2016
Second book in a trilogy and the ride continues. There isn't anything particularly stellar about Chu's writing or the ideas he presents, but he does have the knack of good story-telling. This series is just a damn good read.
I do like his characters .... ex-chronman James Griffin Mars -besides having a GREAT handle- is as flawed a protagonist as they come. AND Chu knows better than many male sci-fi writers how to write 'strong female characters' so they are believable ... both heroic and human. too often a 'strong female character' is one who acts like a man .... well except for the fact that she must still be womanly. sigh. it gets old. FAST. so Wesley Chu? his women are not like that, except maybe the hard-ass ambitious Kuo. But the Mother of Time and our heroine Elise Kim as well as secondary female characters are actually interesting characters with lots to offer.
The Time series is just a damn good sci fi romp. Great fun to read, and as Time Siege ends, Chu has set the stage for a grand finale.
I do like his characters .... ex-chronman James Griffin Mars -besides having a GREAT handle- is as flawed a protagonist as they come. AND Chu knows better than many male sci-fi writers how to write 'strong female characters' so they are believable ... both heroic and human. too often a 'strong female character' is one who acts like a man .... well except for the fact that she must still be womanly. sigh. it gets old. FAST. so Wesley Chu? his women are not like that, except maybe the hard-ass ambitious Kuo. But the Mother of Time and our heroine Elise Kim as well as secondary female characters are actually interesting characters with lots to offer.
The Time series is just a damn good sci fi romp. Great fun to read, and as Time Siege ends, Chu has set the stage for a grand finale.
September 19, 2017
Time Siege picks up where Time Salvager left off. Once again, the book is filled with Writing 101 tropes including flawed characters who have Reasons for everything they do, evil villains whose past informs their world views (though in trite ways), and conflict at every turn.
For the duration of this book, the conflict is so intense, so over the top, that even the evil villain at several times asks what's the point. But her even more evil superiors force her to keep going. The heart of the story may be about the corporations that destroyed Earth for profit but the soul is about the science and drive to repair Earth and restore its people to civility. We get hints about the former and nothing about the latter. Even the characters complain that they don't get to work on the science part of the problem.
I can only hope that in book three some of the conflict eases up and that the story gets to the science and culture and literal world-(re)building that's needed. It's still worth reading.
Part two in a series (at this date, part three isn't out yet).
For the duration of this book, the conflict is so intense, so over the top, that even the evil villain at several times asks what's the point. But her even more evil superiors force her to keep going. The heart of the story may be about the corporations that destroyed Earth for profit but the soul is about the science and drive to repair Earth and restore its people to civility. We get hints about the former and nothing about the latter. Even the characters complain that they don't get to work on the science part of the problem.
I can only hope that in book three some of the conflict eases up and that the story gets to the science and culture and literal world-(re)building that's needed. It's still worth reading.
Part two in a series (at this date, part three isn't out yet).
May 26, 2016
I loved the first book in this series so was anxiously awaiting this one which comes out on July 12. The story started out great pulling me right back into this world. Then I hit the middle section. Which dragged for me. I also started yelling at the characters. A lot. The last section though redeemed the story as the plot and pace really picked up. I didn't know going in there was going to be another book but there sure better be after that ending! Overall it was still a strong story which I hope wraps up nicely in the next book. The author does do a nice job filling in enough of the plot from the first book that this one could be read alone, but I recommend reading Time Salvager first. Scifi fans will enjoy this Summer read.
July 7, 2016
Reviewed for SFRevu.com -- http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.p.... Will post full review here in a couple of months when their exclusivity expires. Overall, however, I can say that it is a great sequel and continues very nicely from where Time Salvager left off. There is less actual time travel in Time Siege, which was missed, but Chu expands greatly upon the characters, which adds quite a bit. Worth the read.
July 27, 2016
The second book in the series, and while it took a little bit to get going, it definitely felt like a freight train running to the end. A nice mix of familiar characters from Time Salvager and the introduction of new characters. Alliances are formed amongst adversaries and a higher purpose is sought out. Some interesting twists and turns. Definitely the ground work has been laid as well as good cliffhanger as we wait for the final book.
August 7, 2016
Classic science-fiction tropes, in the best sense, and better than the previous tome. Nevertheless, it is unbalanced (good start and better denouement, plodding middle) and the writing is nothing special, it just does the job. Could be much better, but could also be the basis of an excellent Syfy channel series. All in all, decent summer fun.
Kuo is amazingly conceived and serves her purpose magnificently. Kudos to Chu for a really brilliant antagonist.
Kuo is amazingly conceived and serves her purpose magnificently. Kudos to Chu for a really brilliant antagonist.
July 18, 2016
Another well written and thought provoking read from Mr. Chu. His time travel shenanigans will lead to much discussion around the bar. Middle book in the series so events proceed but are not resolved. Very much looking forward to the next one.
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