Customer Reviews

Broken Time

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This strange story about the growing up of Siggy Lindquist is curiously enthralling.

It takes place in a universe so crowded that anybody of less than stellar abilities and accomplishments is relegated to brutal menial labor on distant outposts of "civilization".

It is at one such outpost that Siggy meets the main protagonists of this tale. Beware that some of the details of her time at the Institute for the Criminally Insane are extremely grotesque and distressing.

Despite my reservations about these vivid descriptions, I found the plot and its characters to be totally involving and fascinating. I liked Siggy immensely and was pleased and touched by her ability to cope and to grow beyond the circumstances that often threatened her. I found the humans, the "speedies" and the rest of the other-than-human beings to be very well realized and so intriguing that they still pop up in my memory and welcome further contemplation.

A good story, good actors well drawn, strange twists and unusual space and time concepts, an exciting and gratifying ending.

I rarely feel that a book is worth 5 stars, but this one got to me and wouldn't let go.

Highly recommended.

I was up until 2 A.M. this morning because I had started reading "Broken Time" after dinner and couldn't put the book down until I finished it. The heroine, Siggy is your basic B-average high school graduate who needs to go off-world to find a job (jobs are very scarce in this future universe), and ends up working as a janitor at the Institute for the Criminally Insane. Siggy grew up in the midst of a galactic cold war that occasionally turned hot, and the technologically superior Enemy is still trying to decide whether or not to exterminate the human race once and for all. It doesn't help our side one bit, when a serial killer who thinks he's the Antichrist is turned loose in alien territory.

All of Maggy Thomas's characters came to life for me, even the alien 'Speedies' and the serial killers in 'Monster Row'. Her heroine, Siggy is open, friendly, and smart, and teaches ballroom dancing just for fun. She is neither passive nor timid, in spite of the fact that she doesn't know what she really wants to do for a living (how many of us did at her age?). She doesn't back down from murderers, sadistic guards, or even angry aliens. Notwithstanding her lowly status, Siggy never gives up on her determination to find the Lost Boy, teach the Speedies how to dance, and make the Galaxy a safer place for humanity. What she does flows naturally from who she is.

"Broken Time" has a strong plot that bubbles along with enough future-tech gobble-de-gook to keep us geekish readers happy trying to deconstruct the theory behind 'time pockets' and artificially speeded-up humans. And there are enough loose threads at its end to make me hope for a sequel.

Maggy, don't disappoint me. I want to read more about the indomitable Siggy!

This book was one that I did not want to stop reading, but had to go to work. It is such an excellent story. The heroine is believable ....the story is an original "mind bending" Sci Fi.

Seldom can one just pick a book by an unknown author and truly enjoy the story. I consider myself most fortunate to be one of the first to have read her. This book is highly recommended.

I am extremely impatient for her next story....I want it available NOW!

Siggy Lindquist has a problem. She's graduating from high school in a distant future when only A-students get the best jobs. The problem is she is a B-student. That's how she ends up being a janitor at the Institute for the Criminally Insane. Of course it is run by a mad scientist type known only as the Director who cons Siggy into speaking to some of the inmates in an effort to learn about its most mysterious residents called The Professor. Siggy can have little inkling that her life will soon be intertwined with the fate of the human race and its uneasy peace with an alien race known as the Speedies. You should know you're in for a lot of fluff in a novel when the dedication of the book is to a cat named Mungy-Bungy. Siggy's ability to dance is used as a foundation for the entire book, she even makes friends with aliens by teaching them how to dance. The relationships between the characters are right out of the babysitter's club series for teenage girls or more likely, from bad soap operas. The asylum scenes are straight from Silence of the Lambs. I couldn't help but visualize Anthony Hopkins as the Professor when I would read the scenes with him in it. Another weakness that almost made me put the book down many times were the inane twentieth century references in the book. In this distant future, television is still going strong, you still use a keyboard and a monitor to surf the net, Daffy Duck and the Looney Tunes are as popular as ever, and ballroom dancing is an awesome negotiating tool for making peace with aliens. Only when the book concentrates on its plot and moving the action forward does it succeed. Any attempt to give the characters background and life fails miserably. There is no depth to this book. Then again, it is stated that this is the author's first novel so maybe she will recognize her potential in her next couple of books.

Amazing book! I was not expecting such a great adventure, wonderful characterization or brilliant imagination. I am in awe. Can't wait till she writes more. Want to read a book where the characters actually learn and grow? Here it is. Want a story that is frightful, suspenseful and witty? Here it is. Want some new insights into what the universe (and others) may hold for us? Check out this little gem of a book. I could not put it down.

The view into the psychology of serial killers, the theory of time, the story of human and alien relations, but mostly the budding awareness of one young woman who finds out just how special and important she is in the scheme of things will stay in my memory for a good long time.

I read this book yesterday...started it in the morning and read nonstop until evening. The book is just wonderful. There's a heroine to care about, a couple of heroes and antiheroes, and a few human monsters tossed in for good measure. The problem is, determining which is which is not always easy because these people have depth and they're full of surprises.

There's also an alien race and a bit of time travel, and yes I know that the way I'm describing it may sound like a bit of a kludge but it's not! It all ties together so beautifully.

I can't wait to see more scifi from this author.

Siggy Lindquist is a janitor in the Institute For the Criminaly Insane (IFCI) - a prison for the really insane criminals. After serving there for a while, Siggy gets assigned to "Monster Row", the place where the most dangerous criminals are being locked away. She has to clean the hallway while, secretly, trying to converse with some of the "Monsters": it's a part of her job which was assigned to her directly from the Director of the IFCI. During this time she gets to know better the three most dangerous prisoners: captain Joseph Bell, Jerry Wolfe (The Tormentor), and Prisoner MS-12 (nobody knows his real name). When two of these prisoners manage to escape and nearly kill Siggy, she finds out that many threads of her life tie in together in a strange and unexpected way, and more than that, she might be called in by the rest of Humanity to help untangle a dangerous diplomatic plot with an enigmatic, technology superior, alien race: the speedies.

While reading this book I could definitely feel that it's the author's first book. It felt unrefined, it felt somewhat unpolished. However, it also felt fresh. I really didn't see how some of the points of the plot would combine to a big story, yet somehow the book managed to pull it off. A cool setting (the far future, even if somehow it's like 20th century earth with many planets.. odd), a very lovabale protagonist, mysterious aliens and a very big riddle - all together create a very fun book!

When I first began to read Broken Time, I was slightly freaked out, especially during the special training that certain people had to go through. However, throughout this entire wonderful book, I found that I was unable to put it down. I finished the entire thing in one day. If you are looking for a good sci fi fantasy to read, I would definitley go with this book! Maggy Thomas has developed the characters and plot ingeniously.

In the distant future, Earthlings have colonized many different types of worlds in numerous galaxies. Though technology has improved the lives of most with its incredible changes, several of the major problems that existed on late twentieth century earth remain. Unemployment still impacts the young. For instance, recent high school graduate Siggy Lindquist leaves her homeworld of Veil and even her galaxy to accept a janitorial job in the high tech prison on the planet Agate, where the most deadly human monsters are incarcerated.

The Director assigns Siggy to work in the maximum-security block commonly known as Monster Row by the staff. Every day for the next seven years, under the direction of her boss, Siggy interacts with mass murderers Jerry Wolf, Joseph Bell, and MS-12. When Siggy is seriously injured during a prison breakout, the institute gives her a generous compensation package that allows Siggy to return to Veil and never deal with a serial killer again. She soon learns she a bit premature on the latter thought.

Maggy Thomas is a bright new voice in science fiction and genre fans will enjoy it because of the complex story line, intricate characterization, and believable alien setting. Readers will accept the existence of non-human sentient beings that distrust Earthlings and their descendants. Siggy is a fascinating protagonist struggling to earn a living in a seemingly menial job when contrasted against the high technology world that surrounds her. The serial killers are intriguing as their so-called humanity hides their ugly souls so well that, at times, readers actually feel sympathy for them. The audience will demand that Ms. Thomas return to the BROKEN TIME universe in the short-term future.

Harriet Klausner

I'll be brief. This novel is one of the best I have read in 40 years. It was grounded in reality and then moved into the unbelievable in a completely believable series of steps. Its style reminded me of the great British SF writer Bob Shaw. It is a story you'd want your daughters to read: the heroine is an amazing role model. Suspend your disbelief, and enjoy. I can't wait for the next novel by Maggy Thomas.