Tej's Reviews > Piercing the Elastic Limit

There are two books in this series but according to the author, Howard Loring, each one is a stand alone. So I started with this one because its a recent release and hasnt yet got any reviews on the board at this time.

This is quite an ambitious novel covering 3 historical ages, another age of a mysterious dating, mighty strange "magical" happenings by harnessing energy from interesting sources and a warping of time travelling missions. Its very engaging, imaginative, well written and enjoyable...but with a caveat which I will come to later. As I normally do, I'll commence with the positives which makes up the bulk of my review.

Loring's narrative flow and prose is very smooth, there is a nice rhythm and beat to it, giving sufficient detail to character and background without ambiguity and overreach. The pacing is fluent but at the sacrifice of any rich detailing of the different eras tapestry, the focus is on the character journeys here. It starts with lengthy expositions in different eras switching between them at a leisurely pace, then as the story develops the narrative switches between these strands more rapidly giving a nice sense of urgency and intrigue. Its very well edited, in fact as its not easy to maintain a readers attention when there are several strands to conduct. At first it was a little confusing in the way dialogue was presented as I didn't feel it was clear-cut who was saying what until I kept reading on but that issue seemed to have dissipated further into the novel, either that, or I subconsciously adjusted to it.

One of the most delightful aspects of the novel is the way the author wraps an intriguing fictional texture around true historical events and figures without bending known facts. According to the author's appendix, much of what is written about these historical figures are authentic and only very minute liberties were taken to bend the truth here and there, humbly admitted by the author himself. I certainly dont mind that at all, by all means bend the truth more if it helps to serve a good story as that's what matters in the end. Needless to say, it appears to be very well researched. It certainly has been educational, its a credit to the novel that it enthused me to find out a more about these fascinating people on ahem...wiki.

Now the problem I have is this, I was far more attached to the real life historical characters than the actual time travelling protagonists. We are also introduced to new time travelling protagonists very late in the novel who end up being the main ones. These characters were not given much breathing space for development and crucially, did not give me any chance to invest in caring what happens to them. However, the characters of Julius Ceasar, a 15th century author, and associates to a maestro were nicely fleshed out in comparison and these were the characters I enjoyed far more than the fictional ones. All three were fascinating and in some cases endearing.

Then we come to the end of the book. Having enjoyed the mystery, intrigue, and its misty ambience thus far, I am afraid I was left very disappointed in its conclusion. Thus far, it has been an enjoyable 4 star time-train journey, sitting at the window watching the beautiful sceneries of different landscapes of time passing by when suddenly, the time-train approaches the end point, its travelling a bit too fast, the emergency brakes are applied and I'm thrust forward banging my head into the seat in front. This was how I felt in the novel's last act. While there are answers to much of the mysteries brought up prior, I didnt feel they were satisfying and quite frankly, I couldnt quite comprehend what it all meant and how it all fits together. Apart from being quite heavy in the "magic energy" arena, the last act seemed so rushed that I didnt feel any emotional connection with the characters involved, largely because of the lack of development with them. I honestly think, this should have been a longer book (274 pages), which is a little bizarre because normally such criticisms are the inverse. The complex structure in the novel's build up was ambitious in a delightful way but the confidence seem to dissipate at the end, going for short cuts. Perhaps a re-read may bring more clarification but I can only base my thoughts on first read and I am not a fan of books or films that demands re-reads/rewatch just to understand it, unless its entertaining enough to read or watch again, they would have to be exceptional works.

If you enjoy cerebral fiction and time travel, I wholeheartedly recommend this book with a caveat to fill in some blanks in the end and perhaps a reread might clarify some plot points. But that's where your prerogative would have to come in. It may well be a book you find en-richening (as I have) but far more forgiving on the fictional character development and its conclusion, than I have given.

I'll give this a 3.5/5. Its an enjoyably intriguing, well written, cerebral journey through time but you may need to wear your seatbelt approaching that last stop to prevent a head injury.