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Place in Time #2
The Grandmother Paradox
When Dr. Wells, the head of the Place in Time Travel Agency, learns that someone's trying to track down the ancestors of his star employee, there are few people he can turn to without revealing her secrets. But who better to jump down the timeline and rescue Elise from being snuffed out of existence generations before she's born than the very person whose life she saved a hundred years in the future?
But Juliette Argent isn't an easy woman to protect. The assistant to a traveling magician, she's bold, fearless, and has a fascination with time travel, of all things. Can the former secret agent Chandler, with his knowledge of what's to come, keep her safe from harm and keep his purpose there a secret? Or will his presence there only entangle the timeline more?
But Juliette Argent isn't an easy woman to protect. The assistant to a traveling magician, she's bold, fearless, and has a fascination with time travel, of all things. Can the former secret agent Chandler, with his knowledge of what's to come, keep her safe from harm and keep his purpose there a secret? Or will his presence there only entangle the timeline more?
110 pages, Paperback
First published July 10, 2018
53 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Nikel
118 books58 followersSign up for my author newsletter at https://landing.mailerlite.com/webfor... for news, giveaways, and other exclusive content!
Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author with a degree in elementary education, a fondness for road trips, and a terrible habit of forgetting where she's left her cup of tea. Her short fiction has been published by Analog, Nature: Futures, Podcastle, and elsewhere.
Her time travel novella series, beginning with THE CONTINUUM, was published in 2018-2019 from World Weaver Press
Visit http://www.wendynikel.com for more info!
Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author with a degree in elementary education, a fondness for road trips, and a terrible habit of forgetting where she's left her cup of tea. Her short fiction has been published by Analog, Nature: Futures, Podcastle, and elsewhere.
Her time travel novella series, beginning with THE CONTINUUM, was published in 2018-2019 from World Weaver Press
Visit http://www.wendynikel.com for more info!
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 13, 2018
I received this novella (as well as the first) from the publisher via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program.
This engaging sequel to The Continuum takes one of the side characters, Chandler, and gives him the starring role in a mission to the past. In the first novella, Elise traveled to the future to track down Chandler, a rogue agent living in a new technological marvel. It turned out Chandler wasn't such a bad sort, and that his employer, TUB, was the dark entity in the new time travel industry. Well, TUB blames Elise for some bad things that happen in the future, and therefore they aim to attack her very existence by trying to kill one of her ancestors.
This is where Chandler comes in. He's sent to protect Elise's distant relative Juliette during a vulnerable time when she spends the summer of 1893 traveling as the assistant of a sideshow magician. This allows the book to not only explore what magicians were like in this period, but also leaves room for some climactic action at the Chicago World's Fair.
This is a fun, fast read that brought to mind old favorite shows like Quantum Leap and Sliders. It's not aiming to be gritty and realistic, which is good, because I needed something light that made me smile. The romance within the book is a bit predictable, but the end still brought many twists and surprises. Nikel has created something delightful and fun in this series.
This engaging sequel to The Continuum takes one of the side characters, Chandler, and gives him the starring role in a mission to the past. In the first novella, Elise traveled to the future to track down Chandler, a rogue agent living in a new technological marvel. It turned out Chandler wasn't such a bad sort, and that his employer, TUB, was the dark entity in the new time travel industry. Well, TUB blames Elise for some bad things that happen in the future, and therefore they aim to attack her very existence by trying to kill one of her ancestors.
This is where Chandler comes in. He's sent to protect Elise's distant relative Juliette during a vulnerable time when she spends the summer of 1893 traveling as the assistant of a sideshow magician. This allows the book to not only explore what magicians were like in this period, but also leaves room for some climactic action at the Chicago World's Fair.
This is a fun, fast read that brought to mind old favorite shows like Quantum Leap and Sliders. It's not aiming to be gritty and realistic, which is good, because I needed something light that made me smile. The romance within the book is a bit predictable, but the end still brought many twists and surprises. Nikel has created something delightful and fun in this series.
March 25, 2018
Looks like I'm the first to review this. There isn't even a real cover yet, the cover is a mystery to be revealed at a later date. Anyway...more time travelling, this time with a paradox. I don’t really remember Continuum (the first book in this series) and it isn’t even so much the book’s fault really, I just read a lot. But I did remember that it was quick and entertaining and easy to follow (which is no small feat when it comes to time travelling), so I checked out the sequel. Very much on par with its predecessor quality wise, which is always good, this was also a quick entertaining read. With a magic show or two for an added bonus. If you think about the entire thing too much, it might not work. But if you want to sort of turn off the brain for about 100 minutes, this’ll do the trick nicely, enjoyable tale with likeable characters and some wild time space manipulating adventures. Fun brief diversion.
July 14, 2018
I received an ARC copy of this book from LibraryThing
I think I liked the first book a little bit better, but this is still a pretty compelling sequel. It picks up shortly after Continuum and gives us a better look at Dr. Wells and Agent Chandler as well as introducing Elise's grandmother, who is definitely a fun character. I think it would have been better if it was a bit longer because the whole thing felt kind of rushed, but overall it was a fun story and I'm definitely interested to see where it goes from here because they kind of backed themselves into a corner with that ending. Still, a well done time travel story is hard to pull off and I can find no major flaws here.
I think I liked the first book a little bit better, but this is still a pretty compelling sequel. It picks up shortly after Continuum and gives us a better look at Dr. Wells and Agent Chandler as well as introducing Elise's grandmother, who is definitely a fun character. I think it would have been better if it was a bit longer because the whole thing felt kind of rushed, but overall it was a fun story and I'm definitely interested to see where it goes from here because they kind of backed themselves into a corner with that ending. Still, a well done time travel story is hard to pull off and I can find no major flaws here.
June 7, 2020
Part of me feels bad that I can't read a book without nitpicking anymore; but the other part says that if I'm not criticizing, I've probably given up on the book, so it's actually a good thing?
Minor spoilers!
*****
A few chapters in: I believe it's the second chapter when Wendy mixes up briefing and debriefing...which I'll give a partial pass on, since it literally depends on who's talking.
- Dr. Wells says, "You need a debriefing, don't you?"
No, Chandler needs to be briefed.
Without the "de", it's a pre-action report: Wells is filling Chandler in on what he needs to know. With the "de", it's a post-action report: Chandler is telling Wells what he found. (But it can also be argued that Chandler reporting back is briefing, which is why it's tricky!)
- Repeated use of the word "Midwestern". I get not wanting to invent a new town or trying to find one that existed in the era Chandler goes back to, but if you're going to be specific enough to say "on the shores of Lake Huron", you might as well just say "a small Michigan town", because Huron touches Michigan and Ontario. That's it.
- Conflating Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay. As I just mentioned, Wendy said the town was on the shores of Lake Huron, and then she mentions a bay.
"What bay?" I thought.
Then she mentions Saginaw Bay a little later. Then the lake again. Then the sun is setting over the bay.
🤦🏻♀️
Yes, Huron feeds into Saginaw, but you cannot be "on the shores of Lake Huron" and watching the sun set over Saginaw Bay at the same time. That might fly with readers from out of state, but for someone from Michigan (like me), it will drive them crazy.
Rating: None yet. I'm going to hold off a bit longer.
=====
End: I can't believe it took me this long to cotton on: Dr. Wells? H.G. Wells? Hardy har har. 😋
Final question:
Otherwise, the book ended way too soon and could conceivably have been attached to the front of Cassandra Complex with a jump forward in time before sending back.
Minor spoilers!
*****
A few chapters in: I believe it's the second chapter when Wendy mixes up briefing and debriefing...which I'll give a partial pass on, since it literally depends on who's talking.
- Dr. Wells says, "You need a debriefing, don't you?"
No, Chandler needs to be briefed.
Without the "de", it's a pre-action report: Wells is filling Chandler in on what he needs to know. With the "de", it's a post-action report: Chandler is telling Wells what he found. (But it can also be argued that Chandler reporting back is briefing, which is why it's tricky!)
- Repeated use of the word "Midwestern". I get not wanting to invent a new town or trying to find one that existed in the era Chandler goes back to, but if you're going to be specific enough to say "on the shores of Lake Huron", you might as well just say "a small Michigan town", because Huron touches Michigan and Ontario. That's it.
- Conflating Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay. As I just mentioned, Wendy said the town was on the shores of Lake Huron, and then she mentions a bay.
"What bay?" I thought.
Then she mentions Saginaw Bay a little later. Then the lake again. Then the sun is setting over the bay.
🤦🏻♀️
Yes, Huron feeds into Saginaw, but you cannot be "on the shores of Lake Huron" and watching the sun set over Saginaw Bay at the same time. That might fly with readers from out of state, but for someone from Michigan (like me), it will drive them crazy.
Rating: None yet. I'm going to hold off a bit longer.
=====
End: I can't believe it took me this long to cotton on: Dr. Wells? H.G. Wells? Hardy har har. 😋
Final question:
Otherwise, the book ended way too soon and could conceivably have been attached to the front of Cassandra Complex with a jump forward in time before sending back.
August 13, 2018
This is the second novella in the Place in Time series. I enjoyed the first one so much that I decided to buy this one. I was not disappointed in the story itself, but I deducted one star because it was $4.00 for a novella that is only about 90 pages long - I read it in less than two hours. But it was good.
Dr. Wells of the time travel agency learns that someone is trying to track down the ancestors of Elise in order to prevent Elise from being born. He asks former secret agent Chandler, who was rescued by Elise in the first novella (The Continuum), to go back in time to protect Juliette, the ancestor he deems in the most danger. Chandler agrees, somewhat unwillingly. He locates Juliette who is working as a magician's assistant in the 1890s, but finds her a bit of a problem. She is feisty, doesn't appreciated being protected, and is very curious about time travel. So Chandler has to be very careful about what he tells her. He also finds himself falling in love with her, and when an early version of Dr. Wells appears, things get even more complicated. In the epilogue Chandler reads a letter given to him by Dr. Wells in the past that leaves a nice opening for more stories in the future. Sadly, I could find no record of a third book in the series - hopefully one will be published soon.
Dr. Wells of the time travel agency learns that someone is trying to track down the ancestors of Elise in order to prevent Elise from being born. He asks former secret agent Chandler, who was rescued by Elise in the first novella (The Continuum), to go back in time to protect Juliette, the ancestor he deems in the most danger. Chandler agrees, somewhat unwillingly. He locates Juliette who is working as a magician's assistant in the 1890s, but finds her a bit of a problem. She is feisty, doesn't appreciated being protected, and is very curious about time travel. So Chandler has to be very careful about what he tells her. He also finds himself falling in love with her, and when an early version of Dr. Wells appears, things get even more complicated. In the epilogue Chandler reads a letter given to him by Dr. Wells in the past that leaves a nice opening for more stories in the future. Sadly, I could find no record of a third book in the series - hopefully one will be published soon.
July 24, 2018
Despite this being the second in a series, I read it without having read the first (Continuum) and did just fine, thank you.
We start the story with Chandler getting sent back in time by time traveling genius Dr. Wells in order to protect the great-grandmother of Elise (main character in first book.) Chandler gets to hang out at a circus/magic show because Elise's grandmother is a magical assistant. Only, someone's obviously trying to kill her because they're messing with the magical props.
The circus bits, and later on, the world fair descriptions were the parts I most enjoyed. I get easily confused by time traveling paradoxes, although this one was pretty straight forward even when it became increasingly clear who the grandfather was going to be. This is a novella, and so while I wished we could have lingered longer in the World Fair, or had more dastardly sabotage attempts of the magic show, things moved along speedily.
Fun little entertaining piece.
We start the story with Chandler getting sent back in time by time traveling genius Dr. Wells in order to protect the great-grandmother of Elise (main character in first book.) Chandler gets to hang out at a circus/magic show because Elise's grandmother is a magical assistant. Only, someone's obviously trying to kill her because they're messing with the magical props.
The circus bits, and later on, the world fair descriptions were the parts I most enjoyed. I get easily confused by time traveling paradoxes, although this one was pretty straight forward even when it became increasingly clear who the grandfather was going to be. This is a novella, and so while I wished we could have lingered longer in the World Fair, or had more dastardly sabotage attempts of the magic show, things moved along speedily.
Fun little entertaining piece.
July 8, 2018
"You'd think I'd be used to this time travel stuff by now; this strange, in-between experience where I can punch myself and know I'm alive, but no one else I've ever known is yet?"
I really loved this little book I was given by the author in hopes that I might write an honest ,unbiased review. We meet Chandler, who has a task to go and save the progenitor of a family in order to protect someone in his current time. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Wendy Nikel alludes to every time travel mention from H.G. Wells to "Back to the Future" as she presents the ethical dilemmas that might occur when the possibility of the paradox of "I am my own Grandma" might actually happen.
A short novella that's worth the trip. Recommended 4.5/5
I really loved this little book I was given by the author in hopes that I might write an honest ,unbiased review. We meet Chandler, who has a task to go and save the progenitor of a family in order to protect someone in his current time. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Wendy Nikel alludes to every time travel mention from H.G. Wells to "Back to the Future" as she presents the ethical dilemmas that might occur when the possibility of the paradox of "I am my own Grandma" might actually happen.
A short novella that's worth the trip. Recommended 4.5/5
August 9, 2018
An enjoyable time travel read.
I really wish the author would write a novel instead of a novella. I think it could be improved with more development of the story. It all happens so quickly which makes the romance part rather far fetched. Sometimes it reminds me of an action film without character development and world building, just one event thrown in after another.
The story would be improved by characters going through more together, an exploration of TUB and showing us through events, rather than just telling us.
I really wish the author would write a novel instead of a novella. I think it could be improved with more development of the story. It all happens so quickly which makes the romance part rather far fetched. Sometimes it reminds me of an action film without character development and world building, just one event thrown in after another.
The story would be improved by characters going through more together, an exploration of TUB and showing us through events, rather than just telling us.
August 29, 2018
I love these books and I love Wendy Nikel's writing. The continuation of The Place in Time series reminded me of another much loved trilogy, BACK TO THE FUTURE, with as many twists and turns in a person's timeline as to make you stop and wonder, "Wait--if X went back and did this, and Y then did this, then that means...holy cow!" And then you have to pick up the next one and see how that all actually played out. And the ending to this one has a real interesting conundrum!
August 19, 2023
This is the second book in the series. The paradox is that how can Dr. Wells be born if his grandmother from the past is actually killed in the future? There is one person who can time travel and knows Elise's story and secrets.
I liked this one a bit more because a lot of it is set in the past. And in the Midwest :)
This is a very short read; could have been beefed up a bit more by adding more details. Many events seemed to happen to conveniently or without enough explanation.
I liked this one a bit more because a lot of it is set in the past. And in the Midwest :)
This is a very short read; could have been beefed up a bit more by adding more details. Many events seemed to happen to conveniently or without enough explanation.
August 30, 2018
Book 2! I hate not knowing what's going to happen AND having to wait for the next novel. Yes, yes, Nikel gave hints so you're not left completely in the dark, but it's not a satisfying ending..YET. I've enjoyed both books in this series so far and can't wait to see where Nikel goes in the future!
October 17, 2018
Just like The Continuum, this book tries to play with some interesting ideas. I enjoyed the story, but felt like it could have been so much better.
The pacing was well done until the last 18% of the story where it felt very rushed.
The pacing was well done until the last 18% of the story where it felt very rushed.
October 26, 2018
A terrific sequel to Wendy Nikel's "The Continuum." The story, while moving at a faster pace, does a great job on showing how all the characters -- Elise, Juliette, Chandler, and Dr. Wells -- are all connected.
May 13, 2019
This book was very interesting! The storyline was kinda of hard to keep straight sometimes and it harkens back to The Continuum, so I highly recommend reading them one right after the other. Overall I am really enjoying this trilogy and look forward to reading The Cassandra Complex! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
October 26, 2019
Book 2 in the series. A quick read, not as exciting or developed as the first book, but seemed like the story was setting up for the next part in the series.
*Received this book in exchange for an honest review.
*Received this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 28, 2018
I read this back to back with Continuum. I loved them both. Great time travel stories, quick to read but utterly complete in themselves. I hope there will be more.
October 8, 2018
Enough potential that I stuck with it. But always seemed a bit simplistic both in plotline and the travel setting / staging.
May 6, 2019
A quick, enjoyable read, although predictable at times. I still liked it enough to want to read the next one.
September 19, 2021
Some things I guessed, and others shocked me, but still a GREAT book that leaves me aching to read more.
July 26, 2025
This book was a fun sequel to the first book. It features action, science, adventure, and well-written, interesting characters. Perfect for an afternoon of escape from reality.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews