Andrew Smith's Reviews > Calico
Calico
by
by
![5885760](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1680990034p2/5885760.jpg)
I grabbed a copy of this book without reading the blurb, having grown very fond of this authors writing recently. But to my astonishment, it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. What I was expecting was a crime thriller akin to the fast talking crime novels I’ve been devouring of late. What I actually got started out very much in this vein but quickly morphed into a tale involving strange events that occurred amid what appeared to be a thunderstorm but turned out to be a hole through which people suddenly travelled either forward or backward in time.
It took me a while to get over the shock, and I confess that I struggled to push on through the book once I realised that I’d unintentionally duped myself. Hang on a minute, I found myself thinking, this isn’t what I signed up for! I even stopped reading it for a few days before, rather reluctantly, picking it up for a second go. And I’m glad I did. Once I got into the flow of a tale told in both a present-day Californian desert setting and an accompanying story set in the same area in the late 1800s, I slowly warmed it.
In some ways, it’s odd that I didn’t settle into the story more quickly as I’m a bit of a time travel buff. I think the issue is that I found the time travel activity here somewhat unconvincing, even though the dual stories were interesting enough. The whole thing is a slightly odd mix of a modern day detective seeking to re-boot her career after it was derailed by wayward act and a man setting out to protect a daughter who – in this world he finds himself – has yet to be born. It didn’t quite work for me, and yet I still found myself smiling as I turned the final pages.
My thanks to Severn House for providing an ARC of this book visa NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It took me a while to get over the shock, and I confess that I struggled to push on through the book once I realised that I’d unintentionally duped myself. Hang on a minute, I found myself thinking, this isn’t what I signed up for! I even stopped reading it for a few days before, rather reluctantly, picking it up for a second go. And I’m glad I did. Once I got into the flow of a tale told in both a present-day Californian desert setting and an accompanying story set in the same area in the late 1800s, I slowly warmed it.
In some ways, it’s odd that I didn’t settle into the story more quickly as I’m a bit of a time travel buff. I think the issue is that I found the time travel activity here somewhat unconvincing, even though the dual stories were interesting enough. The whole thing is a slightly odd mix of a modern day detective seeking to re-boot her career after it was derailed by wayward act and a man setting out to protect a daughter who – in this world he finds himself – has yet to be born. It didn’t quite work for me, and yet I still found myself smiling as I turned the final pages.
My thanks to Severn House for providing an ARC of this book visa NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Reading Progress
September 2, 2023
–
Started Reading
September 2, 2023
– Shelved
September 2, 2023
– Shelved as:
netgalley
September 12, 2023
– Shelved as:
science-fiction
September 12, 2023
– Shelved as:
time-travel
September 14, 2023
–
Finished Reading