A review by Nalini Haynes
Cady lives in an alternate reality where Hillary Clinton won the election. (I suspect Birmo expected her to win but, strangely, this version works with the storyline. Note: I AM AUSTRALIAN. SO IS JOHN BIRMINGHAM. Hence “John Birmingham” = “Birmo”.)
Cady is a kick-ass programmer who’s expecting a cool $4 million to arrive in her back account in about a month, after sales of her phone game have been confirmed. (Birmo does not work in gaming or he’d know people opt out of writing for phones because there’s not enough ca$h in it for indie developers. P’raps Birmo needs to attend PAXAus as research. Just sayin’.)
However, Cady isn’t so kick-ass when it comes to kicking ass. She’s mugged on her way home from dinner with a Buzzfeed journo and her best friend. The other two stayed behind because they were hitting on each other. Cady is on her own in an industrial part of town so no one is around — until a mountain of a man, John Titanic Smith, appears from nowhere and beats the crap out of Cady’s attackers.
Cady wakes up in London in the 1880s. Apparently more muggers weighed in so Titanic Smith triggered his time-travel watch to take them to a random destination. So now she’s a girl in time. Or out of time, from a certain point of view.
What follows is a romp through time and space written by an author well-versed in time travel stories, quantum realities and pop culture. Fan-service references abound, with everything from the inevitable Doctor Who comments to Birmo expressing his love for Apple because he’s a dyed-in-the-wool iSheep.
A Girl In Time passes the literary Bechdel Test because it’s partially from Cady’s point of view and Cady talks to her bestie Georgia a few times. And there’s also a great scene in the kitchen where teh wimminz rise up against their ebil overlords. And more.
I highly recommend A Girl In Time.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Publisher: Gigantic Weapons Corporation (I TOTALLY APPROVE OF THIS PUBLISHER’S NAME!!!)
Format: ebook (paper due out next year), 404 pages. Not page 404, but 404 pages.
A Girl In Time inspires the comedic happies in me. ‘S totes not my fault this review is a little silly. I need more books like this.
