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Myriad
Myriad has been in so many time streams she’s lost count – hiding from her feelings about her brother’s death she works to prevent crimes from happening but finds herself committing one instead…
MYRIAD is a mind-bending time travelling sci-fi thriller that will keep readers guessing to the very end.
Agent Miriam Randle works for LifeTime, a private law enforcement agency that undertakes short-term time travel to erase crimes before they occur. Haunted by the memory of her twin brother’s unsolved murder at the age of six, Miriam thinks of herself as Myriad—an incarnation of the many lives she’s lived in her journeys to rearrange the past.
When a routine assignment goes wrong and Miriam commits a murder she was meant to avert, she is thrown into the midst of a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of LifeTime. Along with her partner Vax, Miriam flees into the past in an attempt to unravel the truth before LifeTime agents catch up with her.
But then her brother’s killer reappears, twenty years to the day since he first struck. And he’s not through with the twin who survived, not by a long shot.
MYRIAD is a mind-bending time travelling sci-fi thriller that will keep readers guessing to the very end.
Agent Miriam Randle works for LifeTime, a private law enforcement agency that undertakes short-term time travel to erase crimes before they occur. Haunted by the memory of her twin brother’s unsolved murder at the age of six, Miriam thinks of herself as Myriad—an incarnation of the many lives she’s lived in her journeys to rearrange the past.
When a routine assignment goes wrong and Miriam commits a murder she was meant to avert, she is thrown into the midst of a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of LifeTime. Along with her partner Vax, Miriam flees into the past in an attempt to unravel the truth before LifeTime agents catch up with her.
But then her brother’s killer reappears, twenty years to the day since he first struck. And he’s not through with the twin who survived, not by a long shot.
328 pages, Paperback
First published May 23, 2023
23 people are currently reading
275 people want to read
About the author
Joshua David Bellin
21 books271 followersI've been writing novels since I was eight years old (though the first few were admittedly very short). A college teacher by day, I've published numerous works of science fiction and fantasy: the Querry Genn Saga (SURVIVAL COLONY 9 and SCAVENGER OF SOULS), the deep-space adventure FREEFALL, the 5-part Ecosystem Cycle (ECOSYSTEM, THE DEVOURING LAND, HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE, THE LAST SENSOR, and THE GREAT FOREST), and the 3-part Book of the Huntress series (DAUGHTER OF DUST, DARK'S DOMINION, and SCARRED CITY). My latest novel, the time-travel thriller MYRIAD, released in May 2023.
In my free time, I love to read, watch movies, and spend time in Nature with my kids.
Oh, yeah, and I like monsters. Really scary monsters.
In my free time, I love to read, watch movies, and spend time in Nature with my kids.
Oh, yeah, and I like monsters. Really scary monsters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
July 25, 2025
A LOT of novel
Once when I was a postdoc at MIT, I heard physicist Alan Guth speak in the Physics Colloquium. Guth was known for having invented the idea of Cosmic Inflation, that the universe exploded in size just BEFORE the Big Bang, setting the initial conditions for the Big Bang. (Versions of this idea are now mainstream physics.) In his Colloquium, he discussed the possibility that inflation could start anytime, anywhere, from quantum fluctuations. This, he showed us, would lead to the creation of a new universe. He then asked how we might see this. And he showed us that since the new universe would be entirely unattached to the one in which it began, there would be no observable consequence in the universe in which it originated.
I was bemused. It felt to me as if he had walked down to the front of the room, pulled his hand out of his pocket and there unfolded an entire new universe. He then folded the new universe back up in his hand and put it back in his pocket, leaving nothing to show for it. That is how I felt on finishing Myriad.
Myriad is of course a time travel novel. This recalls something from Jasper Fforde's First Among Sequels.
I am not going to summarize the plot of Myriad. It is one of those giant time travel hairballs in which children travel back in time and kill their parents, and parents kill their children, and people meet different versions of themselves. And somehow in the end it all wraps up rather neatly. I don't fully understand everything that happened. A lot is explained by the time you reach the end of the book, but much is left unexplained. This, honestly, didn't bother me. A lot of modern Science Fiction has these giant tangle plots in which it is almost impossible for the reader to understand what just happened. Fine -- I'm used to it. In fact, these days, I'm almost disappointed if I understand a Science Fiction novel the first time I read it.
What bothered me more was that many of the people in Myriad are horrible and do horrible things to each other. It was difficult to like any of them. (To be sure, that was partly because many of the main characters came in multiple versions, and even if one version was a nice person, there was usually also another version who was awful.)
The literary genre "Horrible people being horrible to each other" is not one of my favorites. Myriad, alas, is a sterling example. Couple that with the sheer effort required to read and understand it, and you end up with a book that is difficult to enjoy. (Or, at least, it was so for me.) Still, it deserves points for creativity.
I thank NetGalley and Angry Robot for an advance reader copy of Myriad, by Joshua David Bellin. This review expresses my honest opinions. To be released 23-May-2023.
Blog review.
Once when I was a postdoc at MIT, I heard physicist Alan Guth speak in the Physics Colloquium. Guth was known for having invented the idea of Cosmic Inflation, that the universe exploded in size just BEFORE the Big Bang, setting the initial conditions for the Big Bang. (Versions of this idea are now mainstream physics.) In his Colloquium, he discussed the possibility that inflation could start anytime, anywhere, from quantum fluctuations. This, he showed us, would lead to the creation of a new universe. He then asked how we might see this. And he showed us that since the new universe would be entirely unattached to the one in which it began, there would be no observable consequence in the universe in which it originated.
I was bemused. It felt to me as if he had walked down to the front of the room, pulled his hand out of his pocket and there unfolded an entire new universe. He then folded the new universe back up in his hand and put it back in his pocket, leaving nothing to show for it. That is how I felt on finishing Myriad.
Myriad is of course a time travel novel. This recalls something from Jasper Fforde's First Among Sequels.
‘I was thinking of doing a self-help book for SF novelists eager to write about time travel. It would consist of a single word: don’t.’(First Among Sequels is the fifth book in a series that heavily features time travel, so it is obvious that Fforde doesn't take his own advice too seriously.)
--First Among Sequels, Jasper Fforde
I am not going to summarize the plot of Myriad. It is one of those giant time travel hairballs in which children travel back in time and kill their parents, and parents kill their children, and people meet different versions of themselves. And somehow in the end it all wraps up rather neatly. I don't fully understand everything that happened. A lot is explained by the time you reach the end of the book, but much is left unexplained. This, honestly, didn't bother me. A lot of modern Science Fiction has these giant tangle plots in which it is almost impossible for the reader to understand what just happened. Fine -- I'm used to it. In fact, these days, I'm almost disappointed if I understand a Science Fiction novel the first time I read it.
What bothered me more was that many of the people in Myriad are horrible and do horrible things to each other. It was difficult to like any of them. (To be sure, that was partly because many of the main characters came in multiple versions, and even if one version was a nice person, there was usually also another version who was awful.)
The literary genre "Horrible people being horrible to each other" is not one of my favorites. Myriad, alas, is a sterling example. Couple that with the sheer effort required to read and understand it, and you end up with a book that is difficult to enjoy. (Or, at least, it was so for me.) Still, it deserves points for creativity.
I thank NetGalley and Angry Robot for an advance reader copy of Myriad, by Joshua David Bellin. This review expresses my honest opinions. To be released 23-May-2023.
Blog review.
May 25, 2023
Timecop has so much to answer for. Myriad has an intriguing premise, our heroine Miriam Randle is literally a Time Cop, she travels back in time to stop murders from happening, but as close to the event as possible so the perp can still be charged. These time jaunts are usually within days of the crime to try to minimise the effect of causality having massive ripples, though Miriam doesn't seem very interested in the existential outcomes of her job beyond how it makes her feel about herself (her work persona she has dubbed Myriad because she is split over timelines and it mainly sounds like Miriam). She's fucking her partner - which is very against the rules - has had a job just go wrong and she keeps getting haunted by the unsolved school shooting of her twin brother that happened IN THE PAST.
Myriad takes time travel tropes and runs with them, though its never all that sure where it sits with branching timelines, multiple worlds and causation. It can get away with that partly because we are trapped with Miriam who is experiencing this increasingly bonkers ride. But it does make a lot of its lore up on the spot: you can only travel back in time a few days until suddenly you can do twenty years. Odd family behaviour ends up being sold as necessary for the plot, and at some point Miriam gains an adaptive body suit that seems to be able to do anything, in particular be plot armour whenever something new turns up. And the book seems unaware that time travel stories really only have a couple of narrative places they can go, and if you start the book with a school shooting by an unknown assailant you can be damn sure that'll be called back to in a terribly ironic way.
Myriad is an OK popcorn read, if you haven't seen or read much time travel fiction. Th police procedural part of it worked pretty well, so that when it went off the rails and Miriam became the fugitive it lost its hook. The last half of the book is a breathless leap from paradox to paradox with the odd action scene and loving description of her super suit. It's a bit of a mess really.
Myriad takes time travel tropes and runs with them, though its never all that sure where it sits with branching timelines, multiple worlds and causation. It can get away with that partly because we are trapped with Miriam who is experiencing this increasingly bonkers ride. But it does make a lot of its lore up on the spot: you can only travel back in time a few days until suddenly you can do twenty years. Odd family behaviour ends up being sold as necessary for the plot, and at some point Miriam gains an adaptive body suit that seems to be able to do anything, in particular be plot armour whenever something new turns up. And the book seems unaware that time travel stories really only have a couple of narrative places they can go, and if you start the book with a school shooting by an unknown assailant you can be damn sure that'll be called back to in a terribly ironic way.
Myriad is an OK popcorn read, if you haven't seen or read much time travel fiction. Th police procedural part of it worked pretty well, so that when it went off the rails and Miriam became the fugitive it lost its hook. The last half of the book is a breathless leap from paradox to paradox with the odd action scene and loving description of her super suit. It's a bit of a mess really.
May 15, 2023
Excerpt from my review - originally published at Offbeat YA.
Pros: Mind-blowing variation on the time-travel trope, full of twists and turns - but also heart. Well-crafted, compelling main character.
Cons: At least one of the protagonist's actions is based on a leap of logic. At least one of the rules of time travel is unclear.
WARNING! Blood and other bodily fluids. Gun violence. Abuse (off page). Parent with Alzheimer syndrome. Suicide.
Will appeal to: Those who love the intricacies of a complex time-travel mystery. Those who crave a deeply human angle to it.
First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Angry Robot for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.
SUCH A GREAT TIME
As a fan of all things wibbly wobbly timey wimey, I expected to get a kick out of Myriad, with its promise of changed timelines and temporal displacements - not to mention the dead sibling angle, whether the protagonist was supposed to try and save her brother in the past, or to fail to do that and continue to deal with her loss in the present/future. But after deceptively portraying time travel in a way that felt familiar for a while, Myriad ramped up the madness and let the unexpected take the wheel, with a series of wild twists and turns, up to the last, jaw-drop-inducing reveal...and beyond. I'll be honest - I picked up one of the clues early on, so there was at least one thing that I more or less expected...but you could say that the surprises in this book are as many as the timestreams Miriam enters, and I was floored by every single one of them after that first one (despite my being a seasoned reader and watcher of everything time travel). [...]
Whole review here.
Pros: Mind-blowing variation on the time-travel trope, full of twists and turns - but also heart. Well-crafted, compelling main character.
Cons: At least one of the protagonist's actions is based on a leap of logic. At least one of the rules of time travel is unclear.
WARNING! Blood and other bodily fluids. Gun violence. Abuse (off page). Parent with Alzheimer syndrome. Suicide.
Will appeal to: Those who love the intricacies of a complex time-travel mystery. Those who crave a deeply human angle to it.
First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Angry Robot for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.
SUCH A GREAT TIME
As a fan of all things wibbly wobbly timey wimey, I expected to get a kick out of Myriad, with its promise of changed timelines and temporal displacements - not to mention the dead sibling angle, whether the protagonist was supposed to try and save her brother in the past, or to fail to do that and continue to deal with her loss in the present/future. But after deceptively portraying time travel in a way that felt familiar for a while, Myriad ramped up the madness and let the unexpected take the wheel, with a series of wild twists and turns, up to the last, jaw-drop-inducing reveal...and beyond. I'll be honest - I picked up one of the clues early on, so there was at least one thing that I more or less expected...but you could say that the surprises in this book are as many as the timestreams Miriam enters, and I was floored by every single one of them after that first one (despite my being a seasoned reader and watcher of everything time travel). [...]
Whole review here.
May 29, 2023
4.5*
feel like I need to do my own TW: this book opens with a scene of a school shooting. And there is of course talk of it through the story.
I will admit, that was hard for me to open on. But once I got past those feelings, I was completely immersed in this story.
Miriam simply cannot get past the loss of her twin in this violent crime. She’s got serious survivor’s guilt, blames herself, and just doesn’t understand why she lives. But live she does, often living the same time period more than once. In Miriam’s world, time travel is a thing, but only in very close proximity to the present. She and her partner Vax try to correct minor wrongs, trying to “right” their timeline, if you will.
Only nothing is as it seems, and Miriam’s most recent case is likely to send her down a path she won’t be able to undo. It’s intense, it’s incredibly high stakes, and it’s a very fresh take on time travel and chock full of mind blowing twists.
Bottom Line: Highly recommend this story not just for the excitement and cool take on time travel, but for Miriam’s story and journey.
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
feel like I need to do my own TW: this book opens with a scene of a school shooting. And there is of course talk of it through the story.
I will admit, that was hard for me to open on. But once I got past those feelings, I was completely immersed in this story.
Miriam simply cannot get past the loss of her twin in this violent crime. She’s got serious survivor’s guilt, blames herself, and just doesn’t understand why she lives. But live she does, often living the same time period more than once. In Miriam’s world, time travel is a thing, but only in very close proximity to the present. She and her partner Vax try to correct minor wrongs, trying to “right” their timeline, if you will.
Only nothing is as it seems, and Miriam’s most recent case is likely to send her down a path she won’t be able to undo. It’s intense, it’s incredibly high stakes, and it’s a very fresh take on time travel and chock full of mind blowing twists.
Bottom Line: Highly recommend this story not just for the excitement and cool take on time travel, but for Miriam’s story and journey.
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
May 24, 2023
I enjoyed this fast-paced novel and did not expect the many twists and turns it took. It had all the things I love about time travel novels, including sending me down philosophical rabbit holes. The premise of time travel mechanics Bellin employs is one I haven't come across before. It was quite original! Overall, I thought he pulled off writing from a convincing female perspective, and her mental health struggles and choices felt authentic. I found myself rooting for her, and I had no idea if things would end well for her!
November 24, 2023
3.5, rounded down. An OK time-traveling story, but one that may have gotten too complicated for it's own good. At times it felt like the author was making up the time traveling rules as he went along. Still, it was easy enough to read through in just a couple of days, and there were a few twists near the end that made me give an appreciative "Huh"...even if I'm not quite sure it all made sense.
Rounding down, though, for the slightly cringe main character. I can't put my finger on it, but even if I didn't know the author's name I would be able to say "This is a woman written by a man." Nothing quite so obvious as "she breasted boobily down the stairs"...but there was something. Partway through the book she gets hold of a futuristic "Super Suit" (as she calls it), which can mold to her body perfectly, change appearance, make her invisible, and even eliminate her nicotine cravings. This suit is an overly convenient plot device, allowing her to do all kinds of things that would otherwise be impossible....but it also stops working at other plot-convenient times. It can also nip her waist and hoist her cleavage, and occasionally changes into slinky negligee. At one point when she's cleaning something, it changes into a sexy au pair outfit... which makes me wonder if the author knows what an au pair actually is.
Subtracting an entire star for the stupid Super Suit. I was seriously rolling my eyes every time the suit was mentioned.
Another kinda cringey thing is the MC referring to having casual sex with her coworker as "making love". Like, this term is used a lot. Maybe I'm immature, but I don't know anyone outside of cheesy movies or country songs who actually calls it "making love" in everyday conversation, ESPECIALLY to describe casual hook-ups. Blech.
So...I don't know whether to recommend this book or not. It's the right book for someone, but it's not my favorite time travel.
Rounding down, though, for the slightly cringe main character. I can't put my finger on it, but even if I didn't know the author's name I would be able to say "This is a woman written by a man." Nothing quite so obvious as "she breasted boobily down the stairs"...but there was something. Partway through the book she gets hold of a futuristic "Super Suit" (as she calls it), which can mold to her body perfectly, change appearance, make her invisible, and even eliminate her nicotine cravings. This suit is an overly convenient plot device, allowing her to do all kinds of things that would otherwise be impossible....but it also stops working at other plot-convenient times. It can also nip her waist and hoist her cleavage, and occasionally changes into slinky negligee. At one point when she's cleaning something, it changes into a sexy au pair outfit... which makes me wonder if the author knows what an au pair actually is.
Subtracting an entire star for the stupid Super Suit. I was seriously rolling my eyes every time the suit was mentioned.
Another kinda cringey thing is the MC referring to having casual sex with her coworker as "making love". Like, this term is used a lot. Maybe I'm immature, but I don't know anyone outside of cheesy movies or country songs who actually calls it "making love" in everyday conversation, ESPECIALLY to describe casual hook-ups. Blech.
So...I don't know whether to recommend this book or not. It's the right book for someone, but it's not my favorite time travel.
September 26, 2023
Was more into it than I thought. It was fun at first, but got messy and confusing near the end.
May 2, 2025
A timey-wimey, complicated murder / mystery, which was surprisingly good. I did work out the plot twist, but only because I didn't think it would be! Lots of time-travel - or is it? An excellent theory that time-travel is actually jumping time-lines in an infinite number of universes diverging from a set point.
Blurb:
Miriam Randle works for LifeTime, a private law enforcement agency that uses short-term time travel to prevent crimes from happening.
Though a seasoned time traveller, she is continually haunted by the death of her twin brother, whose murder remains unsolved years later.
When a routine assignment ends in a tragedy by Miriam's hand, she finds herself mixed up in a conspiracy involving the highest levels of LifeTime. Forced to flee into the past with her partner Vax, Miriam races to unravel the truth before its too late.
But the past is filled with horrors Miriam would rather forget... including her brother's killer.
It did get confusing as timelines changed, and there wasn't too much linear progression, but that's OK with a book about time travel. Well written, well-rounded characters (by no means perfect, and all too human at times), and some interesting theories. I'd recommend this to someone who wants to think, what have I just read? I need to think about this...
One from A Box of Stories #ABoS, I'm very glad to have read it... but will pass it on to get a wider audience.
Blurb:
Miriam Randle works for LifeTime, a private law enforcement agency that uses short-term time travel to prevent crimes from happening.
Though a seasoned time traveller, she is continually haunted by the death of her twin brother, whose murder remains unsolved years later.
When a routine assignment ends in a tragedy by Miriam's hand, she finds herself mixed up in a conspiracy involving the highest levels of LifeTime. Forced to flee into the past with her partner Vax, Miriam races to unravel the truth before its too late.
But the past is filled with horrors Miriam would rather forget... including her brother's killer.
It did get confusing as timelines changed, and there wasn't too much linear progression, but that's OK with a book about time travel. Well written, well-rounded characters (by no means perfect, and all too human at times), and some interesting theories. I'd recommend this to someone who wants to think, what have I just read? I need to think about this...
One from A Box of Stories #ABoS, I'm very glad to have read it... but will pass it on to get a wider audience.
June 8, 2023
Of the three most recent time travel stories I've read recently, this one is hands down my favorite. If time travel in the universe of Dexter Palmer's Version Control precludes paradox, time travel in Myriad's universe promotes and incorporates paradoxes. This leads to a much more tangled, and far more exciting story. I don't want to spend much time summarizing the plot, but it's exciting, and plays around with time travel tropes in a thrilling manner. The characters are interesting in all their incarnations and the trauma the main character experiences is intense. The pacing was great. All in all I had a fun time listening to the audio recording of this one. The narration was darn good, and the book was even better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2025
Myriad by Joshua Bellin is an enjoyable time travel novel. The main character, Miriam Randle, comes to life as a flawed individual struggling to wrestle her own demons while fulfilling her role to stop violence in the past. Her jumps through time get more complicated as the mysterious villain grows more dangerous.
The author builds tension, while introducing future technologies ranging from a super suit to automated taxis. Yet solid, familiar elements like a Glock and “cancer sticks” ground the story in reality. Bravo!
Five stars from me for this engaging story.
The author builds tension, while introducing future technologies ranging from a super suit to automated taxis. Yet solid, familiar elements like a Glock and “cancer sticks” ground the story in reality. Bravo!
Five stars from me for this engaging story.
May 24, 2023
Absolutely gripping and unputdownable! And now I will have to read it all again, once I’ve got my breath back, because there’s so much to take in, so many twists and turns and so many moments that left me breathless on a first read. I don’t want to miss anything, since Myriad is a truly amazing story, and so well told in Miriam’s… Myriad’s… voice. The time-travel concept is incredible, and fantastically well-handled. Loved it!
August 17, 2023
Thank you Angry Robot for my gifted copy for review!
Myriad is one of those stories that opens and closes with a bang, one that leaves you reeling before you really know what's hit you.
Our heroine Miriam is employed to time travel to arrest would-be perps for crimes they're about to commit. Battling day and night with the loss of her brother when he was only six, Miriam's grief stains every action she takes, every person she encounters, and every job she works. Holding the world at arm's length finally comes back to bite her one fateful day when her partner and lover, Vax, is shot in his own bedroom by none other than another time traveller. And so Miriam embarks on a journey that will take her right to the edge of her trauma and kick her into its abyss.
Miriam is not a likeable main character, but she is one who we can be sympathetic to. Anyone who has PTSD or has suffered trauma will be familiar with some (or most) of Miriam's coping strategies, and I personally found her very relatable. My heart hurt for her throughout the book, and I was rooting for some kind of resolution for this poor troubled young woman at every turn.
There are some really touching scenes between Miriam and her mother, who Miriam cares for, as well as reflection back on who her mother used to be. I liked this aspect a lot; it gave the story and Miriam a grounding humanity among the drama and trauma.
I don't read time travel books a lot only because I find that they can be very hard to follow, but I really do love them when I can. I was able to follow Myriad without issue, and I'm so glad I was gifted this book by Angry Robot Books. Miriam's journey through time and through trauma was a pleasure to read, albeit sometimes emotionally difficult (of course). I think Bellin is a talented writer of characters who feel *real* and I will definitely be picking up more of his works!
Myriad is one of those stories that opens and closes with a bang, one that leaves you reeling before you really know what's hit you.
Our heroine Miriam is employed to time travel to arrest would-be perps for crimes they're about to commit. Battling day and night with the loss of her brother when he was only six, Miriam's grief stains every action she takes, every person she encounters, and every job she works. Holding the world at arm's length finally comes back to bite her one fateful day when her partner and lover, Vax, is shot in his own bedroom by none other than another time traveller. And so Miriam embarks on a journey that will take her right to the edge of her trauma and kick her into its abyss.
Miriam is not a likeable main character, but she is one who we can be sympathetic to. Anyone who has PTSD or has suffered trauma will be familiar with some (or most) of Miriam's coping strategies, and I personally found her very relatable. My heart hurt for her throughout the book, and I was rooting for some kind of resolution for this poor troubled young woman at every turn.
There are some really touching scenes between Miriam and her mother, who Miriam cares for, as well as reflection back on who her mother used to be. I liked this aspect a lot; it gave the story and Miriam a grounding humanity among the drama and trauma.
I don't read time travel books a lot only because I find that they can be very hard to follow, but I really do love them when I can. I was able to follow Myriad without issue, and I'm so glad I was gifted this book by Angry Robot Books. Miriam's journey through time and through trauma was a pleasure to read, albeit sometimes emotionally difficult (of course). I think Bellin is a talented writer of characters who feel *real* and I will definitely be picking up more of his works!
October 12, 2023
This story is told in first person by Miriam who works as a private time-cop. I loved this character. She was gruff and irritable, smoking her way through the tough conversations which she inevitably ignored if they didn’t further her goals. Miriam is a whole lot of complicated with family issues from a mother that abandoned her after her twin brother was killed in a school shooting now needing care for Alzheimer’s to her obsession with finding the mystery man who killed her brother who is suddenly appearing in her jobs and sabotaging her cases and perhaps her life.
In addition, Miriam is having an affair with her partner, Vax. Vax fluctuates between caring partner, befuddled bystander and decisive action-taking professional. They work well together and while he clearly wants more from their personal relationship, Miriam stays closed off from the personal entanglement preferring to focus on finding her brother’s killer.
The story is told in four parts occasionally interspersed with the events of August 31, 2017, the day of the school shooting. It’s carefully labeled but the time travel sometimes confused me a little with its rules that seemed everchanging and unexplained. The story was utter chaos with paradox upon paradox that made my head spin with questions and plot holes, but I couldn’t look away. I think another point of view, perhaps from the shooter, may have made tied it together more.
Ultimately, the plot was convoluted and I’m still not sure I understand the reasoning behind some of it or how the paradox situation works in this time travel version, but I really enjoyed Miriam's journey.
In addition, Miriam is having an affair with her partner, Vax. Vax fluctuates between caring partner, befuddled bystander and decisive action-taking professional. They work well together and while he clearly wants more from their personal relationship, Miriam stays closed off from the personal entanglement preferring to focus on finding her brother’s killer.
The story is told in four parts occasionally interspersed with the events of August 31, 2017, the day of the school shooting. It’s carefully labeled but the time travel sometimes confused me a little with its rules that seemed everchanging and unexplained. The story was utter chaos with paradox upon paradox that made my head spin with questions and plot holes, but I couldn’t look away. I think another point of view, perhaps from the shooter, may have made tied it together more.
Ultimately, the plot was convoluted and I’m still not sure I understand the reasoning behind some of it or how the paradox situation works in this time travel version, but I really enjoyed Miriam's journey.
April 25, 2023
I always find stories involving time travel an enjoyable challenge. It is always interesting to see how the author handles the potential for paradoxes, as characters travel back and potentially change the course of history. Myriad doesn’t disappoint in this regard, with the rules and consequences of time travel slowly revealed as the plot progresses.
This is a plot driven book, and the action keeps up at a good pace, while the central mystery of who is pulling the strings remains a compelling thread throughout the story.
The title character, Myriad, is likeable enough, but I didn’t find the characterisation particularly deep or moving - which is a shame, given the importance of the relationship with her brother and mother.
And, while this is a book about time travel, I found some of the rules and consequences of time travel inadequately explored or explained - and this was a shame, as the book has an interesting perspective on some of the rules and consequences of time travel that I hadn’t previously come across.
While these issues prevented me from giving a higher rating, they did not stop Myriad from being an enjoyable read, and the final reveal and conclusion I found satisfying.
Thank you #NetGalley and Angry Robot for the free review copy of #Myriad in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This is a plot driven book, and the action keeps up at a good pace, while the central mystery of who is pulling the strings remains a compelling thread throughout the story.
The title character, Myriad, is likeable enough, but I didn’t find the characterisation particularly deep or moving - which is a shame, given the importance of the relationship with her brother and mother.
And, while this is a book about time travel, I found some of the rules and consequences of time travel inadequately explored or explained - and this was a shame, as the book has an interesting perspective on some of the rules and consequences of time travel that I hadn’t previously come across.
While these issues prevented me from giving a higher rating, they did not stop Myriad from being an enjoyable read, and the final reveal and conclusion I found satisfying.
Thank you #NetGalley and Angry Robot for the free review copy of #Myriad in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
May 4, 2023
A solid time travel story with an especially interesting explanation for time travel. I didn't like Miriam or Vax, which made it a little difficult to get into at first, but I eventually got super interested. The only problem with the book was that there was definitely some Man Writing Woman going on. Other than than, I really enjoyed reading this book.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 30, 2024
Ugh. The book starts out interesting with some time travel hijinks but quickly turns into a badly written hot mess. I thought of quitting halfway but kept reading in the hopes that it would improve. It doesn't.
July 31, 2023
Tough to rate for me. Could have been 4 stars but there was a lot going on that felt either too long or too confusing.
February 15, 2024
A twisty tale of time travel and trauma. It was enjoyable, although I personally found myself having a "that's bull, but I believe it" attitude once the twists started coming and didn't stop coming.
dnf
May 8, 2024DNF <25%
I got bored
I got bored
April 13, 2023
Joshua David Bellin’s MYRIAD is one of those books that feels like several different things, but that defies being placed into any one box. It’s a near future science fiction novel. It’s a thriller. It’s a mystery. It’s a time travel story. It’s an introspection on trauma, coping mechanisms, and PTSD. It’s all of these things. What this book is also is *entertaining*, even if I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what it was I took from this book. It opens in a jarring, gripping, horrifying way.
If you are squeamish about one of America’s great national shames (spoiler: school shootings) then perhaps this is not the story for you. But after the formative moment in the life of our protagonist, Miriam, she finds herself ultimately as an agent of LifeTime, a private police force of time traveling operatives who jump back in time to prevent murders. The book is punchy and fast-paced, and almost immediately she has a case go horribly wrong. When it does, Myriam finds herself at the center of a conspiracy that reaches to the top of LifeTime, back to the roots of her trauma and forward to the very end of her life (and kinda back again in an ever-tightening braid).
I recently read another forthcoming book that shall remain unidentified that aimed for a similar voice--the cynical, first person, gritty narrator. Humphrey Bogart, Harry Dresden, a protagonist carved from stone left behind by Dashiel Hammett. The other book failed, the voice felt forced and strained and unnatural. This is quite the opposite. The voice of this book owes much to the voices that have come before it, but it's compelling, fluid, natural...
... except for at least some portion of the narrator's fixation on her sexual relationship (or, perhaps lackthereof). There's a long and storied tradition of men writing women and doing so poorly. I'm not quite sure MYRIAD fits into that tradition, but somewhere in the middle of the book, the female narrator's processing of her relationship began to grate on me. It wasn't enough to put down the book by any stretch of the imagination, and it is all roughly in line with the narrator's voice, but it was a thing that I noticed that nudged me out of the narrative.
Ultimately, MYRIAD stands on its plot, and the (ugh) myriad plot threads that keep getting woven tighter and tighter until the third act is a series of very satisfying revelations about the characters we knew (or thought we did) and how they relate to one another. Time travel stories demand tight, satisfying explanations, and this book delivers.
The other thing that time travel stories require is a resolution to the inherent complications and paradoxes that time travel by its very nature tend to create. Scientific (or SF/pseudo-scientific) explanations, philosophical explanations, internal and external resolutions to the conflict need to be tethered to the central premise of time travel, and again this book provides that payoff.
At its core, MYRIAD is about trauma. It's about how trauma can bleed through to stain every aspect of a victim's life and how they experience it, their relationships, their past, and their future. It's about coping, mourning, and moving on. It's about failing to do those things. And, in its final pages, it's about asking the reader what, if anything, of the story truly happened.
After all, when the entire premise is based on empowering someone to travel back in time to change the past to prevent trauma and then dealing with the fallout of those change, it's easy to look at the final pages and wonder what exactly real is. It’s the spinning top at the end of INCEPTION, and in my opinion, the answer is up to you.
If you are squeamish about one of America’s great national shames (spoiler: school shootings) then perhaps this is not the story for you. But after the formative moment in the life of our protagonist, Miriam, she finds herself ultimately as an agent of LifeTime, a private police force of time traveling operatives who jump back in time to prevent murders. The book is punchy and fast-paced, and almost immediately she has a case go horribly wrong. When it does, Myriam finds herself at the center of a conspiracy that reaches to the top of LifeTime, back to the roots of her trauma and forward to the very end of her life (and kinda back again in an ever-tightening braid).
I recently read another forthcoming book that shall remain unidentified that aimed for a similar voice--the cynical, first person, gritty narrator. Humphrey Bogart, Harry Dresden, a protagonist carved from stone left behind by Dashiel Hammett. The other book failed, the voice felt forced and strained and unnatural. This is quite the opposite. The voice of this book owes much to the voices that have come before it, but it's compelling, fluid, natural...
... except for at least some portion of the narrator's fixation on her sexual relationship (or, perhaps lackthereof). There's a long and storied tradition of men writing women and doing so poorly. I'm not quite sure MYRIAD fits into that tradition, but somewhere in the middle of the book, the female narrator's processing of her relationship began to grate on me. It wasn't enough to put down the book by any stretch of the imagination, and it is all roughly in line with the narrator's voice, but it was a thing that I noticed that nudged me out of the narrative.
Ultimately, MYRIAD stands on its plot, and the (ugh) myriad plot threads that keep getting woven tighter and tighter until the third act is a series of very satisfying revelations about the characters we knew (or thought we did) and how they relate to one another. Time travel stories demand tight, satisfying explanations, and this book delivers.
The other thing that time travel stories require is a resolution to the inherent complications and paradoxes that time travel by its very nature tend to create. Scientific (or SF/pseudo-scientific) explanations, philosophical explanations, internal and external resolutions to the conflict need to be tethered to the central premise of time travel, and again this book provides that payoff.
At its core, MYRIAD is about trauma. It's about how trauma can bleed through to stain every aspect of a victim's life and how they experience it, their relationships, their past, and their future. It's about coping, mourning, and moving on. It's about failing to do those things. And, in its final pages, it's about asking the reader what, if anything, of the story truly happened.
After all, when the entire premise is based on empowering someone to travel back in time to change the past to prevent trauma and then dealing with the fallout of those change, it's easy to look at the final pages and wonder what exactly real is. It’s the spinning top at the end of INCEPTION, and in my opinion, the answer is up to you.
March 26, 2024
Time-travel novels can be hard to write. Famous short examples of the genre, like Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” or Heinlein’s “All You Zombies,” can focus on a single temporal paradox and knot its bow-tie plot quickly. But novels get complex, and if they take advantage of all that the time-travel trope offers, then the way-backs, slip-streams, varied futures, alternate selves, and loops and kinks of possible events can make for quite a labyrinth.
So, to balance all that, a novelist needs a richly human and emotional story that will keep readers’ attentions—and sympathies—even when they’re tossed into a maze.
Joshua Bellin’s Myriad succeeds very well in doing that.
If you tried to follow every twist and turn in this complex novel, you’d surely encounter a loose end or two, but—who cares? The bane of all time-travel is paradox, and as one character admits in the book, the time-travelers don’t think about them much. The story moves fast enough (it’s an outright thriller), and is emotional and intense enough, that you’re too caught up in the many time streams and multi versions of characters and events. (I envy the writer—organizing this plot had to be like wrestling a bear.)
What carries the book and makes it so memorable, though, is the main character’s attempt to organize her own very real life, to take advantage of time travel to escape or correct drastic and painful events in her past. Trauma is a very real topic in this novel, especially how it creates its own form of subjective time travel (and might even lead to actual physical travel).
The narrator, Miriam Randle, works for LifeTime Law Enforcement, a private time-travel agency that prevents crimes before they happen, a situation familiar from Phillip K. Dick and Minority Report. But from this opening premise, the real story moves in many different and interesting directions. On a routine crime-prevention assignment Miriam (or “Myriad,” for there might be more than one of her) encounters dangers that spiral out of control—conspiracies in her own organization, a murderous agent leaping through time, threats to her own dementia-afflicted mother, and yet-to-be resolved and still influential childhood events involving murder, abuse, guilt, deception, abandonment, anger, and loss. Though the multiple plot-lines sustain the fast read, what stays with the reader after finishing the book is the emotional pain in learning how influential the past can be, how easily we could have become different from what we are and wind up living very different lives—or, in other words, just how precarious personality can be.
And the writing is excellent—the use of comparisons and metaphors almost poetic at time. Plus, the use of setting was very effective. The choice of Pittsburgh I especially enjoyed, loving all the local references, like the time-travel company being housed in the splendor of an old train station, and the casual single use of the phrase, “redding up.” Such small narrative quirks nicely stand out even amid all the chases, pursuits, and time jumps.
All in all, highly recommended.
So, to balance all that, a novelist needs a richly human and emotional story that will keep readers’ attentions—and sympathies—even when they’re tossed into a maze.
Joshua Bellin’s Myriad succeeds very well in doing that.
If you tried to follow every twist and turn in this complex novel, you’d surely encounter a loose end or two, but—who cares? The bane of all time-travel is paradox, and as one character admits in the book, the time-travelers don’t think about them much. The story moves fast enough (it’s an outright thriller), and is emotional and intense enough, that you’re too caught up in the many time streams and multi versions of characters and events. (I envy the writer—organizing this plot had to be like wrestling a bear.)
What carries the book and makes it so memorable, though, is the main character’s attempt to organize her own very real life, to take advantage of time travel to escape or correct drastic and painful events in her past. Trauma is a very real topic in this novel, especially how it creates its own form of subjective time travel (and might even lead to actual physical travel).
The narrator, Miriam Randle, works for LifeTime Law Enforcement, a private time-travel agency that prevents crimes before they happen, a situation familiar from Phillip K. Dick and Minority Report. But from this opening premise, the real story moves in many different and interesting directions. On a routine crime-prevention assignment Miriam (or “Myriad,” for there might be more than one of her) encounters dangers that spiral out of control—conspiracies in her own organization, a murderous agent leaping through time, threats to her own dementia-afflicted mother, and yet-to-be resolved and still influential childhood events involving murder, abuse, guilt, deception, abandonment, anger, and loss. Though the multiple plot-lines sustain the fast read, what stays with the reader after finishing the book is the emotional pain in learning how influential the past can be, how easily we could have become different from what we are and wind up living very different lives—or, in other words, just how precarious personality can be.
And the writing is excellent—the use of comparisons and metaphors almost poetic at time. Plus, the use of setting was very effective. The choice of Pittsburgh I especially enjoyed, loving all the local references, like the time-travel company being housed in the splendor of an old train station, and the casual single use of the phrase, “redding up.” Such small narrative quirks nicely stand out even amid all the chases, pursuits, and time jumps.
All in all, highly recommended.
May 31, 2023
Myriad is a relentless time-twisting thriller filled with surprises, invention, and a killer ending. It’s the wildest of wild rides, and lovers of time travel are going to want to strap themselves in for this one.
Miriam, AKA Myriad, is a funny, flawed, fantastic protagonist. She’s broken, but she uses humour to deflect her grief rather than face it. I laughed through the story because of her tongue-in-cheek, irreverent antics. But underneath all the humour, she’s nursing trauma, and the book doesn’t shy away from exploring it.
In fact, one of the strongest aspects of the book is how it treats the key event in Miriam’s life — the death of her twin brother when she was six. Snapshots keep returning us to the moment it happened, grounding the story and maintaining a sense of purpose and drive — reminding us that answers are coming, and that this story is about something more than just the flashy depiction of a future in which time travel is possible.
The mechanics of time travel make total sense here, and it all adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the book. There are consequences for travelling through time — not just the temporal fallout, but the physical toll it takes on a person. And that places a limit on how far back and how often a person can travel. It feels like there’s a countdown as Miriam needs to figure out the secrets of the book before the toll is too much for her.
The pulse-pounding pace of the writing makes this a definite page-turner. I found myself unable to look away, and the cliffhangers never let up. Surprises abound, and they keep getting bigger and bigger at each turn, so even the most outlandish guesses at what’s coming next are likely to be nowhere near as crazy as how it all unfolds. But that’s part of the satisfaction — the glorious feeling of being in the middle of a story which really could go anywhere.
The relationships between the characters are nuanced and complex. There’s nothing simple about this book, and it’s all the more rewarding for it.
In terms of comparisons, it begins with a Minority Report type of vibe, but morphs into something which is more like Predestination (the movie from 2014) in that it’s an intricately crafted, cerebral, emotive experience that’ll get you thinking and then keep you thinking.
Ultimately, it’s all about grief. How do we process it? How do we move on? Is that even possible? When the book tackles its themes head-on, it really shines. Despite all the humour, it takes grief seriously, and it doesn’t trivialise trauma. There’s a lot to admire here, and the use of time travel feels absolutely justified and essential when it comes to the story that’s being told. Its final moments got me in the heart in a way I didn’t expect, and if I could go back in time and read it all over again, I totally would.
Myriad is clever, carefully constructed, and a complete triumph. If you’re looking for a new take on time travel, I can give you a myriad reasons why this is the book for you.
Miriam, AKA Myriad, is a funny, flawed, fantastic protagonist. She’s broken, but she uses humour to deflect her grief rather than face it. I laughed through the story because of her tongue-in-cheek, irreverent antics. But underneath all the humour, she’s nursing trauma, and the book doesn’t shy away from exploring it.
In fact, one of the strongest aspects of the book is how it treats the key event in Miriam’s life — the death of her twin brother when she was six. Snapshots keep returning us to the moment it happened, grounding the story and maintaining a sense of purpose and drive — reminding us that answers are coming, and that this story is about something more than just the flashy depiction of a future in which time travel is possible.
The mechanics of time travel make total sense here, and it all adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the book. There are consequences for travelling through time — not just the temporal fallout, but the physical toll it takes on a person. And that places a limit on how far back and how often a person can travel. It feels like there’s a countdown as Miriam needs to figure out the secrets of the book before the toll is too much for her.
The pulse-pounding pace of the writing makes this a definite page-turner. I found myself unable to look away, and the cliffhangers never let up. Surprises abound, and they keep getting bigger and bigger at each turn, so even the most outlandish guesses at what’s coming next are likely to be nowhere near as crazy as how it all unfolds. But that’s part of the satisfaction — the glorious feeling of being in the middle of a story which really could go anywhere.
The relationships between the characters are nuanced and complex. There’s nothing simple about this book, and it’s all the more rewarding for it.
In terms of comparisons, it begins with a Minority Report type of vibe, but morphs into something which is more like Predestination (the movie from 2014) in that it’s an intricately crafted, cerebral, emotive experience that’ll get you thinking and then keep you thinking.
Ultimately, it’s all about grief. How do we process it? How do we move on? Is that even possible? When the book tackles its themes head-on, it really shines. Despite all the humour, it takes grief seriously, and it doesn’t trivialise trauma. There’s a lot to admire here, and the use of time travel feels absolutely justified and essential when it comes to the story that’s being told. Its final moments got me in the heart in a way I didn’t expect, and if I could go back in time and read it all over again, I totally would.
Myriad is clever, carefully constructed, and a complete triumph. If you’re looking for a new take on time travel, I can give you a myriad reasons why this is the book for you.
May 30, 2023
4.5 out of 5 stars
Myriad by Joshua David Bellin is an incredibly creative, fast-paced and at times puzzling too (as all good science fiction should be!).
The pacing was brilliant, and it continuously kept moving along and kept me engaged. It was such a creative idea. I was so excited for it and it didn’t disappoint.
I find time-travelling in books fascinating and I really appreciate how hard it is to write and to avoid loopholes. At times, I just felt that so much effort had gone into trying to avoid mistakes relating to the time travel and its effects and difficulties that it got a little overwhelming and confusing. It wasn’t always clear exactly what was going on. I would’ve perhaps preferred a little more clarity, but I was quite happy to cruise along, and it didn’t bother me too much.
It was an exciting take on time travel, it felt really modern. I loved our main character, Miriam too. The struggles she had to deal with were unimaginable, but I felt that both her character and how she reacted to those struggles was realistic. I must say I almost felt that with Vax, he had different personalities/ was different people because of how the time travel worked and how he reacted at different points in the story which was a little hard to get my head around.
The plot had so many twists and turns intertwined with each other, only added to by the time travel and going back to some of the more confusing areas and events. Honestly, I don’t believe I understood everything that happened in the end, but I didn’t really mind. It was one of those books where some things were revealed, and other parts are just not quite as clear and kind of fizzle out as sub plots. There was so much going on that I was distracted from parts that weren’t made clear, so I think it ended well and at just the right time for me.
Overall, it was a creative treat of a read!
Thank you, Amy Portsmouth (Angry Robots Books), for my copy.
Myriad by Joshua David Bellin is an incredibly creative, fast-paced and at times puzzling too (as all good science fiction should be!).
The pacing was brilliant, and it continuously kept moving along and kept me engaged. It was such a creative idea. I was so excited for it and it didn’t disappoint.
I find time-travelling in books fascinating and I really appreciate how hard it is to write and to avoid loopholes. At times, I just felt that so much effort had gone into trying to avoid mistakes relating to the time travel and its effects and difficulties that it got a little overwhelming and confusing. It wasn’t always clear exactly what was going on. I would’ve perhaps preferred a little more clarity, but I was quite happy to cruise along, and it didn’t bother me too much.
It was an exciting take on time travel, it felt really modern. I loved our main character, Miriam too. The struggles she had to deal with were unimaginable, but I felt that both her character and how she reacted to those struggles was realistic. I must say I almost felt that with Vax, he had different personalities/ was different people because of how the time travel worked and how he reacted at different points in the story which was a little hard to get my head around.
The plot had so many twists and turns intertwined with each other, only added to by the time travel and going back to some of the more confusing areas and events. Honestly, I don’t believe I understood everything that happened in the end, but I didn’t really mind. It was one of those books where some things were revealed, and other parts are just not quite as clear and kind of fizzle out as sub plots. There was so much going on that I was distracted from parts that weren’t made clear, so I think it ended well and at just the right time for me.
Overall, it was a creative treat of a read!
Thank you, Amy Portsmouth (Angry Robots Books), for my copy.
June 27, 2023
Thanks so much, Joshua David Bellin and Angry Robot Books for my copy of the book!
I don't even know where to start. This book is a wild roller coaster ride and you will be completely immersed from cover to cover.
Our heroine, Miriam Randle, has a lot of baggage and I mean a lot. As a child, she witnessed the death of her twin brother and the grief and survivor guilt has stayed with her for twenty years. Her mother disappeared before her seventh birthday and reappeared seventeen years later, a shell of the person she once was. Now, Miriam has to care for her while working as an operative for a company called LifeTime, a private agency that utilizes short-term time travel to prevent specific crimes from occurring. On top of all this background craziness, she botches an assignment on the anniversary of her brother's death and was framed for murder by another time traveler the very next day! On the run, she attempts to figure out who has put her in this predicament and unravel the truth, becoming entangled in a conspiracy that reaches all the way from the beginning of her trauma to the end of her life and up to the highest levels of LifeTime.
A gripping mystery with mind-bending time travel, this novel packs quite a punch. I love trying to untangle all the mechanics of time travel and 𝘔𝘠𝘙𝘐𝘈𝘋 explores the concept thoroughly with adrenaline-charged action. Ultimately, though, this book is about grief. How one processes and deals with it, how sometimes people don’t deal with it and the consequences of this type of avoidance. Regardless of Miriam or Myriad’s prickly nature, readers will root for her and be on her side.
Trigger warning: school shooting.
I don't even know where to start. This book is a wild roller coaster ride and you will be completely immersed from cover to cover.
Our heroine, Miriam Randle, has a lot of baggage and I mean a lot. As a child, she witnessed the death of her twin brother and the grief and survivor guilt has stayed with her for twenty years. Her mother disappeared before her seventh birthday and reappeared seventeen years later, a shell of the person she once was. Now, Miriam has to care for her while working as an operative for a company called LifeTime, a private agency that utilizes short-term time travel to prevent specific crimes from occurring. On top of all this background craziness, she botches an assignment on the anniversary of her brother's death and was framed for murder by another time traveler the very next day! On the run, she attempts to figure out who has put her in this predicament and unravel the truth, becoming entangled in a conspiracy that reaches all the way from the beginning of her trauma to the end of her life and up to the highest levels of LifeTime.
A gripping mystery with mind-bending time travel, this novel packs quite a punch. I love trying to untangle all the mechanics of time travel and 𝘔𝘠𝘙𝘐𝘈𝘋 explores the concept thoroughly with adrenaline-charged action. Ultimately, though, this book is about grief. How one processes and deals with it, how sometimes people don’t deal with it and the consequences of this type of avoidance. Regardless of Miriam or Myriad’s prickly nature, readers will root for her and be on her side.
Trigger warning: school shooting.
February 12, 2024
A powerful read that effortlessly blends sci-fi and suspense, Myriad invites readers to explore the age-old question, “What if it was possible to change the past?”
Set in the not-too-distant future, the story centers around Miriam—a time-traveling agent whose missions involve stopping crimes before they transpire to save innocent victims’ lives. With a history of personal trauma revolving around the loss of her twin brother in a school shooting, it’s no wonder why Miriam finds herself drawn to a career path that allows her to undo the unthinkable. But when a recent mission goes awry, it forces Miriam to ask difficult questions about the true nature of her work and whether it really is possible to alter the past.
Twisty, heart-wrenching, and full of surprises, author Bellin effortlessly weaves together a complex tapestry that’s as satisfying as it is thought-provoking and unpredictable. What I appreciated most was his ability to take a challenging subject like time travel and turn it into something that was both easily digestible and relatable. While some concepts were more challenging to understand than others, Bellin did an excellent job at making difficult subject matter approachable—especially for someone like myself who does not typically read in the sci-fi genre.
From Bellin’s beautiful writing to the captivating plot to the well-thought-out characters, Myriad is well worth the read from start to finish. I look forward to picking up more books by this great author in the future!
Set in the not-too-distant future, the story centers around Miriam—a time-traveling agent whose missions involve stopping crimes before they transpire to save innocent victims’ lives. With a history of personal trauma revolving around the loss of her twin brother in a school shooting, it’s no wonder why Miriam finds herself drawn to a career path that allows her to undo the unthinkable. But when a recent mission goes awry, it forces Miriam to ask difficult questions about the true nature of her work and whether it really is possible to alter the past.
Twisty, heart-wrenching, and full of surprises, author Bellin effortlessly weaves together a complex tapestry that’s as satisfying as it is thought-provoking and unpredictable. What I appreciated most was his ability to take a challenging subject like time travel and turn it into something that was both easily digestible and relatable. While some concepts were more challenging to understand than others, Bellin did an excellent job at making difficult subject matter approachable—especially for someone like myself who does not typically read in the sci-fi genre.
From Bellin’s beautiful writing to the captivating plot to the well-thought-out characters, Myriad is well worth the read from start to finish. I look forward to picking up more books by this great author in the future!
March 4, 2023
I had the great privilege of reading an A.R.C. of “Myriad” and I can easily review it in one word: WOW! That’s the good kind of wow, as in, this book is *terrific* - a page-turning, twisty, deeply emotional, and suspenseful ride through time with an ending that will kick you in the gut.
A tragic and horrific event in her early life leads Miriam (who prefers the more badass moniker “Myriad”) to a career as a time agent for LifeTime Travel, jumping around in time with her seasoned and cynical partner Vax, setting right what once went wrong, mostly murders—think Minority Report meets Quantum Leap. Exciting enough, but wait, there’s more. A temporal incident leads to Myriad being accused of a crime. On the run, unsure who to trust, her search for answers only uncovers more questions about her family and the childhood trauma she’s been trying to forget.
When I finished this book, I went right back to the beginning to find the clues I missed and the pieces of the puzzle the author so expertly put together. Well done!
A tragic and horrific event in her early life leads Miriam (who prefers the more badass moniker “Myriad”) to a career as a time agent for LifeTime Travel, jumping around in time with her seasoned and cynical partner Vax, setting right what once went wrong, mostly murders—think Minority Report meets Quantum Leap. Exciting enough, but wait, there’s more. A temporal incident leads to Myriad being accused of a crime. On the run, unsure who to trust, her search for answers only uncovers more questions about her family and the childhood trauma she’s been trying to forget.
When I finished this book, I went right back to the beginning to find the clues I missed and the pieces of the puzzle the author so expertly put together. Well done!
June 6, 2023
"Myriad" is a tightly crafted time travel thriller with strong noir and mystery elements that contains enough twists and turns to disorient all but the most intrepid readers. Although some of the technology and mechanisms associated with time travel are, disappointingly, not well explained this novel's primary strength is its portrayal of time travel and it's effects on Miriam the main protagonist. Miriam's journey through time is chaotic, complex and confusing as she jumps from one point to another often looping back to rewrite past events. As the story progresses Miriam comes to the horrifying revelation that seemingly unrelated trauma's from her family's past are deeply interconnected and she is stuck in the middle of an unfolding and perhaps unending process. This book is recommended for science fiction and mystery fans alike who are comfortable with dark and gritty plots.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Angry Robot, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Angry Robot, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
May 7, 2023
Time travel novels are notorious for being hairballs. Matted, tangled, half-digested messes. Don't get me wrong tho, they can be awfully interesting as the cat coughs one up, but what treasure we think we're looking for isn't always the one we really need.
It's a kind of time-cop novel with plenty of mystery, so this is pretty standard. What isn't standard is the core PTSD version of time travel. I think it's pretty clever, but it's not precisely easy to get through. For one, there are many different versions of our main character and she's a mess in almost all of them. It makes for interesting reading if you like hairballs, and doubly so if you like a truly tangled plot.
Fortunately, it does get untangled by the end.
Is it good? Yes. I think so, but manage your expectations. It's almost a bit like a Blake Crouch but heavier on the PTSD -- many multiple versions of it. It wasn't precisely enjoyable but thrillers usually aren't. The tension is real.
It's a kind of time-cop novel with plenty of mystery, so this is pretty standard. What isn't standard is the core PTSD version of time travel. I think it's pretty clever, but it's not precisely easy to get through. For one, there are many different versions of our main character and she's a mess in almost all of them. It makes for interesting reading if you like hairballs, and doubly so if you like a truly tangled plot.
Fortunately, it does get untangled by the end.
Is it good? Yes. I think so, but manage your expectations. It's almost a bit like a Blake Crouch but heavier on the PTSD -- many multiple versions of it. It wasn't precisely enjoyable but thrillers usually aren't. The tension is real.
June 20, 2023
Myriad is a time travel story as much as a story about dealing with grief. Time traveler Miriam lost her twin brother to a school shooter at age six, and she has never recovered. It doesn’t help that every time she travels for her private law enforcement employer to prevent killings before they happen, she relives the death of her brother. When one of her assignments goes wrong and she has to run from her employer, she flees into the past but soon finds out there is far more going on than she ever suspected.
I enjoyed the story despite the grief and violence, which are normally not my thing. The time travel premise (brilliantly executed!) and the mystery together with Miriam’s unique voice telling her own story, made for a great reading experience. I didn’t see the twists and turns coming and couldn’t put the book down. A great read for (not only) time travel fans!
I enjoyed the story despite the grief and violence, which are normally not my thing. The time travel premise (brilliantly executed!) and the mystery together with Miriam’s unique voice telling her own story, made for a great reading experience. I didn’t see the twists and turns coming and couldn’t put the book down. A great read for (not only) time travel fans!
August 9, 2023
I wasn't sure I was going to like this one. Even though time travelling cops sounds really cool, the story was being written in a questionable direction for a bit. With the time travelling being very specific about its rules to justifying any fallacies were mostly psychological, I felt in the beginning, the story could have been thought through better.
It did get more interesting though, and the ending felt pretty cool with some fun revelations about the story as a whole. I also grew to somewhat appreciating a fresh take on how the time travel ended up, since there tended to be a reason for how it worked in the end.
7/10
I don't think we needed to see the beginning as many times as we did.
It did get more interesting though, and the ending felt pretty cool with some fun revelations about the story as a whole. I also grew to somewhat appreciating a fresh take on how the time travel ended up, since there tended to be a reason for how it worked in the end.
7/10
I don't think we needed to see the beginning as many times as we did.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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