For those that do not remember, five months ago I wrote a review of the opening chapter to an upcoming science fiction novel by the name of A Timeless Abandon. I gave it a glowing review, and stated that the book was something to look out for, because it was going to be amazing.
Having now had the honor of reading the book in its entirety, I can say that my earlier assessment was…
…COMPLETELY CORRECT!
I was blindsided by its quality; moved to tears several times. I genuinely yelled at a digital sheet of paper.
When I review books for this site, I often have to do it in increments, scheduling out how many pages a day I read. This book, however, utterly obliterated my system. My calendar had to be reworked several times, because this book would not let me keep to my plans. I was far too busy gliding across the story. I continuously went over my targets, repeatedly found myself finishing multiple days of reading.
I lost hours to this book.
In fact, you could call the process of reading it…a timeless abandon.
Now, up till this point in the article, my praise has been vague, and there’s a reason for that: I simply don’t know where to begin. This is a massive book, chock full of intrigue. It seems that the concept of “filler” was not something the author wanted to have any truck with, as the story’s pacing never bogs down.
I suppose the best place to start would be with the crux of all good fiction: the characters. It would not be an overstatement to say that some of them breathe. They leap off the page as fully-formed people. I grew to love them over the course of the book, my favorite being Ellie, a child character who manages to come off as not only sympathetic, but someone to root for.
In fact, despite seeming to be an adventure story at the onset, this is a character piece. An exploration of humans, and their emotions. How spirituality can affect a person; and what loneliness is like. While reading, it resonated with me on a surprisingly personal level. I saw a bit of myself in those characters.
Another one of its excellent facets is the focus on science. Sure, for science fiction to work, you have to take some liberties with what can actually happen, but this book goes out of its way to make you understand how things in the world operate. It never leaves you in a cloud of pseudo-science. The explanations are simple, and easy to understand. That may sound like a weird thing to praise, but it is often what makes or breaks a piece of science fiction for me. Cohesion is important, and this book pulls it off with seemingly no effort.
It was, honestly, my absolute pleasure to read. This book…is a trip to the moon, and back. A timeless abandon through humanity. An explosion of emotions. And, perhaps, most of all, and most importantly, a damn fine book.
Click here and you will find a timer ticking down to the release of Collin Pearman’s A Timeless Abandon. Also, if you enjoyed Brandon’s damn fine review, you can find more of his work on his website, Coolerbs Reviews. You should also take a look at his many short stories in our Friday Fiction category.
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