Review: Time Salvager

Time Salvager by Wesley Chu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time travel is tough to get right. There are a lot of factors that go into it, and typically works are okay as long as the rules are consistent within the universe. Time Salvager succeeds in that regard, but ultimately peters out in the second half once the concepts have been exhausted a bit.

In the tale we have James, working as a "chronman" to grab resources from the past and bring them into the future for use without destroying the timeline in the process. There are ways to see how actions impact the timeline, which is why there are so many important laws of time to follow. James meets Elise on one of his missions and brings her back to his present to save her life, and now they're on the run.

Great concept, and good execution in the first half. Once we're largely centralized in one spot, though, this becomes more of an action/escape movie than a time travel novel, which, while appealing to some, ends up not being the same strength as the first half. I'd say it's almost like a Michael Bay movie, but since Michael Bay has already optioned this for a movie, it's probably too obvious an observation to make.

I guess I'm not saying to avoid this, but I'm also not necessarily arguing this is as mind-blowing as others seem to think. The characters aren't especially well fleshed-out, much of the plot relies on immensely stupid decision-making, and, especially within the time travel genre, there are other books I'd much prefer to read and recommend. This might appeal to a lot of readers, but just be wary.

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