The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rule One: Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime.
Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds.
Rule Three: You can only observe.
The rules cannot be broken.
The Third Rule of Time Travel follows Beth Darlow, a scientist, who along with her husband, Colson, developed a machine that would allow a user’s consciousness to travel back through time to relive random moments in their lives.
It’s a stunning scientific breakthrough, yet it does have some limitations, and potential hazards. It also may not be quite as dialed in as they originally think.
After Colson is tragically killed, Beth is left to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and to continue their work alone. She’s aware of the machine’s kinks, and she wants to be sure they get them worked out safely.
She’s poured her heart and soul into this project, and handles it with great care. When she starts getting pushed by the big boss though, Beth needs to take some risks in order to please the powers that be. She’s not fully comfortable with the things they’re asking of her, but she feels she has to proceed nonetheless.
That’s when Beth begins to notice unsettling shifts in her reality. Perhaps they didn’t have the full understanding on this technology like they thought they did?
This is such an interesting concept, unsurprisingly, executed so well, with great writing from Fracassi. I actually wish it would have been longer so all the topics could have been expanded upon even further.
This is only the 2nd-novel I’ve read from Fracassi, the 1st being Boys in the Valley, which was my favorite book of 2023. I was so surprised how wildly-different these two books are, but what they share is Fracassi’s smooth, accessible writing style.
I think it is so impressive when an author can jump around amongst different genres, and still deliver in such a believable way. I gotta give him props for that.
But, yeah, this had such a fun set-up. It was compelling from the start, easily drawing me into Beth’s world and current circumstances with her work.
I enjoy following characters who are scientists, so this one definitely scratched that itch. I like how much mystery there was surrounding what had happened to Beth’s husband, as well as the shady feel of the company she works for.
After Beth starts to push the tech and notice glitches, I like how she questioned all of their research and prior beliefs. She didn’t double-down on anything, she wasn’t arrogant in her stance. She was a woman seeking the truth, and I found that very compelling.
Towards the end it did get crazy. I mean the concepts we’re dealing with, they’re not easy to conceptualize always, and I did have fun trying to track everything happening to Beth.
It did give it a bit of a fever-dream feel, but not in an overwhelming way, so I was fine with that. I actually feel like this is one of those books where I could possibly enjoy it even more upon reread.
I would recommend this to any Sci-Fi fans, particularly if you enjoy stories that play with time and what we understand about temporal space.
Thank you to the publisher, Orbit, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This was a very enjoyable read!