Joan Szechtman

This TimeThis Time by Joan Szechtman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I would like to retract that last review...

I reread this book after a few days and picked up nuances I missed the first time around, ignoring the repetition and some of the things that bothered me about the plot - like the rich American from the Portland, Oregon branch of the RIII Society that buys the rights to a 'time machine' and brings the most maligned English monarch that didn't deserve it, Richard III, into the 21st century so he could get first-hand information from Richard rather than hunker down and do the research. I always look for crisp and realistic dialogue and the author did have that, especially Richard's stilted, formal language and mannerisms, but the plot was lacking. The premise was intriguing - a time machine and its crew manages to pull Richard the Third off the battlefield at Redemore Plain (Bosworth)just at the moment the Stanley brothers turn the tables on him - it doesn't get more exciting than this - and into 21st century Portland, Oregon in a mysterious lab.

I still think the plot would have moved better and the story more interesting if it dealt more with how Richard adjusted to his new circumstances. There were touches of that, and some of it sad, humorous, some of it poignant, and those moments in the story grabbed my attention. He was considered an intelligent man but being thrown five hundred plus years into the future, would he have really been able to comprehend our technology as quickly as he does here? I would think that his being a battlefield commander (reportedly one of the best, except for that last, fatalistic charge) and a medieval monarch would have made him feistier and less apt to go along with his situation. And the wealthy scientist's other motivation other than proving something to his 'better educated' chapter members, the one he casually references while in conversation with Richard? That should have been the central motive. I wondered about the setting, too. A setting in the Silicon Valley and better still, England, would have made the story better, in my opinion. But it's my opinion.

The three women he encounters are smitten with him - don't let the posthumous portraits fool you - Richard was smaller in stature and build than his elder brothers Edward and George, but he was considered very handsome and charming according to chroniclers of the time. I get the attraction, but if someone told me he was Richard III, that Richard, I'd still be wary.

Too much emphasis is placed on THE Ricardian mystery - the Princes in the Tower, and yet there are still no answers, and frankly, why does it matter five hundred years after the fact? And why does it matter to people in Portland, Oregon? Nothing was fleshed out.

I loved Richard's character - he was amazing and as interesting at Penman's Richard.

If you are a Ricardian you must read this book, and some of you might just enjoy it.

… (lisätietoja)

This was actually a better book than "This Time." Again, there was repetition in characters' actions and in exposition, but Richard was again a sympathetic character. I felt there were a few 'back stories' that were unnecessary, and the actual motivation of one of the villains escaped me, but I love character-driven stories, and I repeat, Richard III was what held the story together for me. The author gives the reader a man who questioned his actions and regretted them, wanted to begin anew in a time and place in which he had learned to adjust and live.… (lisätietoja)

This story started off great, with a great idea, and disintegrated, in my opinion. The Richard character was sympathetic, engaging, but the plot fizzled - a Portland Oregon businessman pays to have a 'time machine' built and he brings Richard III to the 21st century right before Richard's death at Redemore Plain. The usual question about Richard's role in the disappearance/supposed deaths of his nephews come up, isn't really answered, and you wonder why the rich guy has gone to all this trouble - oh wait, it's to prove to his fellow Ricardians that he can produce scholarly research - so rather than hunker down with the extant texts and do some studying he pulls the engimatic monarch from the battlefield so he can use him like a living, breathing, Cliff Note.

This could have been a better novel, but it was repetitive, some of the sequences were implausible, as was the ending. I'm a Ricardian, by the way, and Richard III is my favorite English monarch, but this book just didn't live up to its premise as far as I'm concerned. I will read the sequel and hope it's better, or redeems this story.… (lisätietoja)

A very Ricardian look at Richard III as a person and not just as a historical figure and how he might react to suddenly being thrust into 21st century American life. It was a fairly quick read as it was only a couple hundred pages (in eBook form). There was just something about the book that I couldn't quite get into, and I think it was the CONSTANT eating and talking about food, there was at least one reference every couple pages if not more. I found the initial plot to be intriguing, and the time travel aspect did not bother me as much as I thought it might (time travel is one of my least favorite plot devices). I am awaiting the sequel and I am hopeful it will pick up where This Time left off.
I would give the book 3.5 stars as 3 seems too few yet 4 seems to many, unfortunately I don't have that option and thusly I will be giving it 3.

* I have a slight amendment to m review: I bought and read this book because I spoke with the author and she was going to send me a review copy of the book that is the sequel, however after reading my review of the first book, she send me an email stating she didn't agree with my review and therefore would not be sending me the copy. I am not going to change the content of my review or my rating because that isn't fair to the book, but I just thought others should know if they ever deal with this author.… (lisätietoja)