Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately I have been unable to get into it. I’m DNF’ing at 32%.

"The Continuum" eBook was published in 2018 and was written by Wendy Nikel (https://wendynikel.com). Ms. Nikel has published two novels in her "Places in Time" series.

I categorize this novel as ‘G’. In the future, time travel has been perfected, but it is being held as a closely guarded proprietary technology. The primary use has been for expensive, exclusive vacations in time. The primary character of this story is Elise Morley. This young woman is a history expert who is sent back in time to retrieve travelers who have gone astray.

She is kidnapped by a clandestine organization and forced by them to take a mission into the future. Here she is out of her element but must see the dangerous mission through. Can she succeed without altering the future?

I thought that this was an interesting 3 hour read of 207 pages. This was an enjoyable science fiction story. It read so quickly that it felt more like a novella than a full novel. I think that the cover art was a good choice. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.

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THE CONTINUUM is just a flat-out fun book to read. Just when you think you've read all the time travel books, here's another one, which is truly creative. I was hooked immediately when I saw the "Rules for Time Travel" on page 1.

The story moves right along, without getting too bogged down in technical detail. I especially like the idea that you just carry around a powerful "Worm Hole" device. Just push the button, of course, and your time travel begins.

This book reminds me of those fun books I read as a kid--like the "Danny Dunn" books. I had never read anything from this author before. I am impressed. Fun story + engaging characters. I like it.

Loves me some time travel, so of course when I saw this on NetGalley, I jumped on it. Thanks NetGalley and World Weaver Press for the eARC. The Continuum is a quick jaunt, if you will, into both past and future. Wendy Nikel keeps us guessing with numerous twists and turns, though I wish I were more interested in both the protagonist and the overall plot.

The Continuum opens with Elise Morley in 1912. She is there to Extract a wayward temporal tourist; that’s her job. When she succeeds, she returns to 2012, only for her boss, the enigmatic Dr. Wells, to whisk her away to a top-secret facility. Turns out he has been dealing with some black-ops type people on the side, and that contrary to what he told Elise, the technology they use can also take them into their future. Soon she’s in 2112, attempting to retrieve wayward agent sent to investigate the future and report back. Of course, that’s not all she was lied to about, and she soon finds herself trapped, with no real options. And some dude originally from 1912 is there, somehow, with knowledge and technology far beyond what he should have….

As far as time travel mechanics go, Nikel keeps this pretty simple. The timelines are “synced” in that “Meanwhile, In the Present…” kind of way; you can only travel to the current date, just certain years in the past or future. The technology is crude: for the most part, you have to use a specific machine to get you where you need to go. And there isn’t much in the way of advanced technology beyond that—even in the 2112 setting, Nikel doesn’t invest too much time trying to establish that technology has advanced all that much. Everyone has some suped-up Google Glasses and retinal scans, and that’s about it.

Taken altogether, this means your mileage may vary here. As a SF nerd, I was loving the travel but a little tired of the set-pieces. There is little here in terms of whizz-bang, gee-wow, that’s-new SF territory. A more casual SF reader, or someone just dipping their toes into this subgenre, won’t be as bothered by that. They might prefer the clean-cut action-paced nature of this novel. And I’ll give it that: The Continuum does not linger or waste any time (no pun intended).

I actually really like the situation Elise finds herself in. Cut off from allies, she basically discovers that she can’t return to her present and expect to live, nor can she stay in this future, because reasons. So for a good chunk of the book, she seems to have zero options. This kind of pressure on a protagonist always appeals to me, because it’s when their back is to a wall that you can really see their mettle.

I also like that there doesn’t seem to be any sexual or romantic tension between Elise and her target, Agent Chandler. It would have been very easy for Nikel to go down that route. I’m glad she didn’t—I love reading books where romance, especially with a female protagonist, isn’t on the agenda. Elise and Chandler develop a grudging respect for one another, and they work well enough together.

Ultimately, though, the plot just seems to lose steam. After the climax, the denouement drops a predestination paradox on us that seems to put Elise on a bus, even as it hints that this is not the end of this story arc. And so, I’m just left with a sense of … mehhhhh. Like, what was the point? It doesn’t help that the character development is practically nonexistent: I didn’t learn much about Elise outside of this immediate job, nor did I ever get attached to any of the other named characters, most of whom we saw for about 2 pages, if that. We spend almost all of this book in Elise’s head, yet at the end of all this, I feel like I hardly know her.

The Continuum has its moments and isn’t half-bad, but it doesn’t measure up to my standards. I’m not saying you won’t enjoy it (and wouldn’t judge you if you do), but there is nothing here that grabs me and says, “this is a series you need to be following”. And that’s a shame, because I do love me some time travel.

For years, Elise has been donning corsets, sneaking into castles, and lying through her teeth to enforce the Place in Time Travel Agency's ten essential rules of time travel. Someone has to ensure that travel to the past isn't abused, and most days she welcomes the challenge of tracking down and retrieving clients who have run into trouble on their historical vacations.

But when a dangerous secret organization kidnaps her and coerces her into jumping to the future on a high-stakes assignment, she's got more to worry about than just the time-space continuum. For the first time ever, she's the one out-of-date, out of place, and quickly running out of time.

Disclaimers: Wendy Nikel and I are both members of the same writers' forum, but as far as I can remember we haven't interacted directly. I received a copy via Netgalley for review.

As I would expect, this is a well-crafted, competently-written book. Unfortunately, I felt it was lacking that extra spark that would take it from competence to excellence. The problem may have been that it was too short, with the character arcs and plot arcs resolving too quickly at the end, without enough middle in which they could be earned. Or it may have been that I somehow didn't find the characters' dilemmas visceral and compelling enough, or that the villains were a touch cartoonish, or that the relationships between characters were underdeveloped.

The time travel aspect is well handled, with a surprise ending (which could have had a bit more groundwork laid for it). However, I didn't fully believe that a man from 1912 could understand the workings of, and improve, a miniaturized electronic device, and since this was central to the plot that was a problem.

Enjoyable, and in places textbook (the escalation of the stakes, for example), but missing something vital to make it compelling for me.

Finally, time traveling story that won't send your brain spinning out. Or at least my brain, which still tends to get confused with predetermination paradoxes and all that. Continuum actually followed a fairly reasonable line of logistics and then, of course, the why not factor. This was just an enjoyable quick read set partially in 1912, partially in 2012 and partially in the future. Likeable characters, fast paced, well written...this ended up being a very nice way to spend the morning, always a nice surprise, particularly from an unknown (to me) author. Thanks Netgalley.

I felt like the ending seemed a bit abrupt. I remember getting to about 780% finished with the story and thinking, there's no way this ends — there just isn't time. but everything sort of sprints to a conclusion at the end.