Book Review: Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen

To save his daughter, he’ll go anywhere—and any-when…
Kin Stewart is an everyday family man: working in IT, trying to keep the spark in his marriage, struggling to connect with his teenage daughter, Miranda. But his current life is a far cry from his previous career…as a time-traveling secret agent from 2142.
Stranded in suburban San Francisco since the 1990s after a botched mission, Kin has kept his past hidden from everyone around him, despite the increasing blackouts and memory loss affecting his time-traveler’s brain. Until one afternoon, his “rescue” team arrives—eighteen years too late.
Their mission: return Kin to 2142, where he’s only been gone weeks, not years, and where another family is waiting for him. A family he can’t remember.
Torn between two lives, Kin is desperate for a way to stay connected to both. But when his best efforts threaten to destroy the agency and even history itself, his daughter’s very existence is at risk. It’ll take one final trip across time to save Miranda—even if it means breaking all the rules of time travel in the process.
A uniquely emotional genre-bending debut, Here and Now and Then captures the perfect balance of heart, playfulness, and imagination, offering an intimate glimpse into the crevices of a father’s heart and its capacity to stretch across both space and time to protect the people that mean the most.

I had my eye on this book for a while, and I was right!  part science-fiction, part time travel, this books tells the story of Kin Steward, a regular family man, who is, in reality, a special agent from the future, specifically the year 2142, who got stranded in the past during a mission and lost his memory of his ‘real’ life. I found the premises amazing, and the listener, like Kin, is in the dark, not knowing why Kin is having those terrible headaches and what his real life looks like. The story caught my attention from the beginning and kept me engaged while the veil was slowly lifted and more details of Kin’s real life were revealed.

It was easy to relate to Kin, lost in the world, not knowing what was really important, having to reconcile two different timelines. I wish the secondary characters were a bit more developed, as I didn’t really connect with any of them. The plot was, in general, well built, but credibility and consistency were slightly sacrificed during a couple of times. Well, even like that it was a great book.

Cary Hite delivered a decent narration, but on occasions, the rhythm was off. His portrayal of Kin was good but his female voices sounded all quite similar. Two of the characters were English, so a good ability with accents was needed here. Sadly his British accent some more work. There were noticeable patches in the audio production throughout the book, which I found a bit distracting until, somehow, I got used to them.

All in all, it was a good listen. I really liked the story. I just wish the secondary characters were a bit better written and the narration was a bit more polished.

Story (Plot)
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lomeraniel

My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.

I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.