Customer Reviews

Faces in Time: A Time Travel Thriller

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I must admit that time travel stories usually make my brain hurt: I get caught up in the whole paradox issue and can't focus on the story. Faces in Time doesn't do that at all - Aleman's concept of time travel is logical, clearly explained, and unique. No paradoxes here: if you go back in time, there are now two of you, and your future self may just run into your past self. That's what happens to Chester Fuze, and his past self is not at all happy about the appearance of another version of him.

A character-driven action book is such a rare thing; most of the action stories I've read lately barely delve into any sort of characterization. Not so with Faces in Time. These guys are complex and interesting - yet they never bog the story down.

The romance between Chester and Rhonda seems unlikely on the surface (a beautiful movie star interested in a somewhat dorky TV writer?), but Aleman's characters are so believable that you won't doubt for more than a split second. I was pleased at how realistic Rhonda was; Aleman gave her just the right amount of vulnerability without making her passive or boring.

The secondary plot line kept me guessing until the very end. Usually I can see how things will tie together (probably a result of reading too many detective stories), but this time I was taken completely by surprise. I love it when a book can do that!

Faces in Time shows off Aleman's talent with metaphors and descriptions, but the pace is faster and the tone is lighter than Cold Streak. The ending hints at the possibility of a sequel, while still tying together all of the loose pieces. It's satisfying but leaves you wanting a bit more - exactly how an ending should be.

Fans of Aleman's will be thrilled with his latest release, and those new to his writing will definitely want to check out Cold Streak for a darker, more metaphysical journey.

This second book from Lewis Aleman -- following up on his very original revenge and redemption tale "Cold Streak" -- shares little in common with Mr. Aleman's first book, except for the quality of the writing, the author's ability to write fully imagined characters that you will care deeply about, and Aleman's deft ability to move the plot in directions you could never anticipate. Rather than summarize the plot for you, this review simply notes that this story moves briskly; features numerous well-crafted characters; has equal helpings of humor, suspense and romance; and ties its story lines together brilliantly. If you enjoy a well-told story in which you cannot effortlessly predict the contents of the upcoming chapter, "Faces in Time" will be a treat for you.

On a search for a good time travel adventure, I picked up this book based on the Amazon reviews. Unfortunately, I found it completely unreadable, with sentences that defy both grammar and logic, similes that a 4th-grader would find cliched, and a character that comes off as merely pathetic. I wanted to keep reading--I really did, but decided all too soon that there were better things to do with my life. Maybe it gets better after page 30, but somehow I doubt it.

I was barely able to put this book down for a second. It was very unpredictable. Aleman is a master at weaving different threads into one story line. You get to know all the characters and settings so closely that you feel like you're really there. It was a thrilling book with action and some interesting science. I couldnt put it down, and when I read the last page I wished it wasn't over. I was deeply satisfied with the ending of this book.

I love time travel stories. I also appreciate well written books. My love for time travel could not overcome the terrible writing. Save the 99 cents and read the preview. If you get through the preview then maybe this book will be ok for you.

Like others, I bought this book based on some of the good reviews. I should have taken the bad reviews more seriously because they are right on. I knew I may have a problem with this book when I read this on the first page: "The television is a flickering tormentor, basting him in a painful glow like a live bird in an oven." Huh? This is but one of many examples of the bad writing. Also, the explanation of how time travel could be possible given all the paradoxes it would create is extremely weak and contrived. I made it to about page 90 and gave up. I only give it one star because zero is not an option.

If you want to read a book positively throbbing purple prose in every single paragraph, this is the novel for you. Even if you can manage to strip away the overly verbose nattering, you're left with a story full of leaps in logic that make absolutely no sense if you think about any of the elements.

Why does a time machine magically conjure up cars and purple shirts? Eh. It just does! (That'd be fine I guess if Aleman didn't snidely dismiss the concept of causality as "magic" in the same breath.) Why would setting a fire in a school bathroom change who organized a play? Oh well. Why would your past self naturally decide to stalk and kill you if he happened to see you on the sidewalk? No idea, but it happens. Face selling? Sure. Why not?

This book is terrible. It's badly written, it's disjointed, and there's no logical train of thought at all contained within.

I wanted to give this a shot after seeing all the good reviews, so I downloaded the sample chapters for my Kindle. Though I could see that there were ideas here that might be interesting, I found the sentences so ungrammatical and the style so heavy-handed and stilted that the book became unreadable. I don't think I'm a literary snob - I've read everything by Dan Brown and his simple and trashy style would have been a great match for this book. And anyway - you don't need to take my word for it: If the great reviews still tempt you, just download the sample chapters and read them before you decide.

I wanted to like this book. I kept trying to decide whether or not to buy it and finally did. Description is good to give you a feel for the place and the people...but not in such excruciating detail! Needs to be edited. I finally just skipped over all the agonizing minutae. I, also, never really cared much for the two-dimensional characters who lacked anything that would make me care about them. I gave it two stars for a new concept about time travel...even if it, also, included too much unnecessary detail. My advice to the author is to focus on making his characters believable and to drop most of the descriptions of the surroundings. After all, as humans, we only notice half of what's there anyway! ;)

I had to force myself to try to finish..got halfway through and gave up. It was choppy and told from the mind of a psycho..which did not interest me. I flipped to the end and was glad to archive it on my kindle. I would have returned it but it was only 99cents.